Toby Alderweireld forged his name as one of the best centre-backs in the Premier League, yet Tottenham Hotspur appeared happy to see the Belgian international walk out of the club last summer.
Now, the 29-year-old’s contract is winding down and is set to expire come the end of the current season.
Spurs does have an option to trigger a one-year extension on the current deal, but doing so would activate a £25 million release clause for the final two weeks of the next summer transfer window.
Most linked with a move for the defender who played in every match of his first season in North London was Manchester United, with the 6 foot 1 defender lined up to solve Jose Mourinho’s defensive crisis.
Tottenham fans would have been happy to hear Alderweireld later come out claiming not to be disappointed with another season at the Lilywhites, but there is plenty of reason for concern at the club.
It may be naivety or simply blindness that Tottenham Hotspur have allowed a situation like this to unfold, where arguably one of the best centre-backs the Premier League has seen in recent years is allowed to see his contract run down to its final season.
The defender made an instant impact on the Spurs backline upon his arrival, playing every game of the league season on way to a return to a top four finish, missing out on the title as Leicester City’s rags to riches story came out on top.
Why then would the club let a player that made such an impact leave for free, or even risk a low-fee move, on the back of a lesser involved campaign when injury ruled him out for 129 days and 29 matches?
Speaking to the media while on international duty, Alderweireld stated: "Honestly, I am absolutely not thinking about it [no new contract] at the moment.
"I feel good, play a lot right now and, therefore, am happy. We shall see."
One injured season and a transfer saga later, Alderweireld is back in the Tottenham team.
An injury to fellow-Belgian centre-back Jan Vertonghan has seen the younger countrymen thrust back into the Spurs line-up, proving how pivotal he is to Pochettino’s squad, especially having not signed anyone in the summer.
Again, if a player is so vital to the set-up, how can a club be open to the idea of letting him go? Only three players can realistically be called upon regularly to fill the centre-back positions other than Alderweireld, a thin number if success is a target.
The idea of a new stadium coming at all costs, even of trophies, was something battered against Arsenal when the other North London side made the move from Highbury to the Emirates Stadium.
The sheer cost of changing stadia and the loans the club had to repay meant its transfer budget shrunk compared to its title-chasing rivals and finishing in the top four become a year on year necessity.
With a stadium rebuild under-way, a similar fate may be on its way for the former White Hart Lane residents, having already gone one window without acquiring fresh talent to the first team.
The failure to retain the services of a player like Alderweireld may see Tottenham slip away from the status as one of the nearly-men to what Arsenal endured.