Manchester United Will Not Sign Aymeric Laporte This Window

The convoluted world of the biannual soccer transfer window doesn't get any clearer, and now, poor David Moyes is the latest victim of a confused system that proves that in football, nothing is ever as simple as perhaps it should be.

From the moment Moyes arrived at Real Sociedad, he was under no illusion that he would have to strengthen his squad. To that end, he earmarked what he felt were the right people at the right price for the San Sebastian club.

One such player was Swedish club AIK Solna's winger, Nabil Bahoui. So confident was everyone that the deal would go through that it actually appeared as a done deal on the LFP website.

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

The Spanish transfer deadline closed on Friday night. Unfortunately, the appropriate paperwork failed to arrive on time even though the first contacts were made around 5 p.m., which meant Moyes had failed to get his man.

The extra 72 hours could well have made a difference in the Bahoui deal, but it also seriously affected his ability to get players he was looking at on the English market.

The problem is that while some of the clubs don't have a problem with certain players moving, they often want to leave it until the very last minute because—not to put too fine of a point on it—they use the players as bargaining chips to get other players.

Alvaro Barrientos/Associated Press

There is therefore little point in going to the auction when you aren't actually allowed to make a bid. Now with the club announcing that Carlos Vela underwent surgery for a knee injury and will be out six to eight weeks, it becomes clearer than ever that now Moyes has just one objective—La Liga survival.

But while that isn't the best news in the world for Real Sociedad, at least it's clear then. Isn't it? No?

While the transfer market closed in Spain late on Friday night to any purchases, clubs can still sell to any association where the window is still open.

Which brings us around nicely to the rumoured departure of Aymeric Laporte from Athletic Bilbao to Manchester United.

Athletic were expecting an attempt to buy one of their players (note I avoid the word "bid" because it implies a willingness for both parties to negotiate on the price, and that's one thing we know Athletic don't do), and consequently, they started to look around for a replacement.

Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Getty Images

When no bid is forthcoming, there is another path that can be taken.

The player and the club can by mutual agreement rescind the contract between them, leaving him free to join another club—except, of course, if they leave it until after the window in the Spanish association has closed. Then he won't be able to join another club until the next window.

So Laporte can only be bought by paying his €42m buyout clause and taxes. All this adds up to making the young, very promising but not yet completely proven Laporte very expensive.

Manchester United will not be buying Laporte this window.