Manchester United have hit back at Real Madrid as a war of words escalated by claiming that the Spanish club are to blame for David De Gea's move to the Bernabeu breaking down.
Real had released a statement saying they had done "everything" possible to sign De Gea, who was due to join in a £29 million deal that would have seen Keylor Navas go to Old Trafford. Real said United took eight hours to make minor adjustments to negotiations.
The Spanish club had blamed United for not opening negotiations until the final day of the window, but United said the onus for a transfer was on Real, as they were happy to keep De Gea at Old Trafford.
United also said they submitted all their paperwork before the deadline -- which they said the Football Association can prove -- even though Real made major changes to the deal with only 20 minutes remaining.
United revealed they sent their documents to Real with 140 minutes of the window to go but did not receive any response for almost two hours. Real had said it used this time to obtain the players' signatures.
United also said that the deal could not be completed because of Real's failure to upload key documents on to the transfer software programme.
In a statement on their website, United wrote that they felt "compelled to provide some clarification with the following facts."
• Manchester United did not seek contact from Real Madrid for the sale of David. David is a key member of our squad and the club's preference was not to sell.
• No offer was received for David until yesterday.
• At lunchtime yesterday, Real Madrid made its first offer to buy David. A deal was agreed between the clubs, which included Navas being transferred to Old Trafford. The deals were dependent on each other.
• In the last several hours of the process, with Navas at the Real Madrid training ground, Real Madrid were controlling the documentation processes of David, Navas and Real Madrid. Manchester United was in control only of the documentation of Manchester United.
• Manchester United sent transfer documents for both players to Real Madrid at 2042 BST. David's documentation was returned by Real Madrid to Manchester United without the signatory page at 2232 BST.
• At 22:40 BST, minutes before the deadline, major changes to the documentation came through to Manchester United which immediately put the deals at risk.
• Only at 2255 BST were the documents that are needed to cancel David's contract received by Manchester United from Real Madrid.
• At this point Navas' documentation was still not returned by Real Madrid.
• At 2258 BST, the transfer agreement was sent back by Manchester United, uploaded onto TMS and accepted -- all before the deadline.
• It is our understanding that the deals couldn't happen because:
• Real Madrid didn't upload David's documents onto TMS in time (Manchester United did.)
• Real Madrid didn't upload David's documents to the Spanish league in time, per reports it seems some 28 minutes after the deadline
• The fact that Manchester United filed the papers on time was acknowledged by the Football Association, who offered to support that claim in any discussions with FIFA. The Club offered this assistance, as well as its own timestamped documents to Real Madrid but they have chosen not to go down this route."
De Gea has not played for United since July because of concerns that he would be distracted by the uncertainty over his future, with summer signing Sergio Romero playing every game so far and 22-year-old academy graduate Sam Johnstone serving as backup.
Louis van Gaal has yet to include either De Gea or Victor Valdes in a matchday squad so far this season, with the latter also seemingly set to remain at Old Trafford after his transfer to Besiktas fell through.
Anders Lindegaard, though, has joined West Bromwich Albion on a free transfer.