Unless there is another shocking plot twist in the coming months, Spanish soccer giant Real Madrid looks like it will miss out on one of its main transfer targets next summer.
President Florentino Perez landed his white whale in ex-Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe this summer, and looked set to repeat the same formula with Alphonso Davies.
As with Mbappe, that would entail the Canada international running down his contract at Bayern Munich, and then fleeing to the Bernabeu free of charge which would represent a huge coup in Perez delivering one of the world's best left backs for nothing.
Outlets such as The Athletic reported that Madrid already had a verbal agreement in principle with Davies, yet as Ferland Mendy and Fran Garcia struggled to convince in their shared position, there was also talk about snatching Davies early for a cut free ahead of the current season.
Madrid and Bayern couldn't seem to agree on a price, though, and Perez refusing to engage Lille by paying what it believed Leny Yoro was worth meant that it missed out on the center back too.
Manchester United stumped up the required cash, and how Madrid could have done with the young Frenchman given injuries suffered by the likes of Eder Militao and Davies' former Bayern teammate, which means that Toni Rudiger is the only natural center back in the squad amid Raul Asencio's surprise ascent to the elite.
As things look, Davies could join Yoro - who picked up a serious knock for United and is also sidelined - in failing to arrive at the Bernabeu. In an unexpected U-turn for many, it appears that the 24-year-old is on the brink of renewing his contract with the Bavarians which expires on June 30 next year.
"Generally speaking, I can confirm that we are in good talks with him and we are really positive," Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund said this week, in bad news to Los Blancos fans.
Davies' entourage is believed by SPORT - citing anonymous sources - to be asking for a signing bonus of $15.8 million (€15 million) and a salary of around $10.6 million (€10 million) a season.
Madrid has to better that offer, or perhaps focus solely on trying to secure Jude Bellingham's close friend and right back Trent Alexander Arnold who is in a similar predicament to Davies at Liverpool in terms of nearing free agency.