With the summer transfer window fast approaching, Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag appears intent on sparking something of a mass clearout at Old Trafford, with the Dutchman ready to shift the 'deadwood' at the club ahead of next season.
With the former Ajax head coach keen to put his stamp on the current squad, the 53-year-old is reportedly hoping to remove the remnants of the previous managerial regimes by ruthlessly showing a host of first-team stars the door.
It would appear that a number of those who were brought in by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in recent years could already be on the scrap heap, with club captain Harry Maguire reportedly up for grabs, while the Red Devils could also be open to offers for fellow 2019 arrival, Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
That duo could well be joined among the outgoings this summer by another of Solskjaer's signings, Alex Telles, with the Brazil international – who is currently on loan at Sevilla – having proven a rather wasted addition since his £15.4m arrival from Porto back in October 2020.
How much is Telles worth now?
Having been among a batch of deadline day signings in that belated summer window – alongside the likes of Facundo Pellistri, Edinson Cavani and Amad Diallo – Telles appeared something of a coup at the time due to the bargain nature of the fee, after scoring 26 goals and providing 57 assists in 195 games at his former club.
In truth, however, the only real good that appeared to come from the left-back's move to Manchester was the positive effect that it had in spurring on Luke Shaw, with the latter man – who ended that 2020/21 campaign as the club's Players' Player of the Year – admitting that the increased "competition" had been a benefit to his own game.
After making just nine Premier League appearances in his debut campaign, Telles would go on to feature far more regularly the following season after making 21 top-flight outings, notably scoring his solitary goal for the club in the comeback win over Villarreal in the Champions League.
Despite that increased game time, however, the 5 foot 11 dud never truly managed to impress from his full-back berth, with writer Casey Evans describing him as "genuinely awful" at the tail-end of last season.
Any hope of seeing the 11-cap menace enjoy an improvement under Ten Hag was seemingly dashed last summer as United snapped up Tyrell Malacia from Feyenoord, with Telles having also been utilised as merely a makeshift centre-back option in pre-season.
With it becoming clear that the 30-year-old was surplus to requirements under the new boss, he was shipped off to Spain on a season-long loan deal, with now just over 12 months remaining on his existing deal back at the Theatre of Dreams.
As stated above, the top-four hopefuls do appear set to try and cash in on the one-time Inter Milan man this summer, albeit with it unlikely that they will be able to recoup a significant fee, with the player now said to be worth as little as £5m, according to CIES Football Observatory.
That represents around £10m less than what Solskjaer and co paid for the defender just under three years ago, with it easy to see that the move now looks like a notable blunder for the Norwegian and the United board.
Even so, that limited valuation should not stop Ten Hag and co from cashing in at the end of the season, with the hope being that Telles won't provide a parting 'gift' by steering the La Liga outfit past the Red Devils in the Europa League quarter-finals.