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When Ruben Amorim was asked in the aftermath of his side's 1-1 home draw with West Ham on 4 December if defender Matthijs de Ligt would be fit for the trip to Wolves four days later, the answer was clear – "I think so".
At that point, there had been no explanation for why the Dutchman, who had completely the full 90 minutes of the previous weekend's win at Crystal Palace, had missed his first Premier League game of the season. He had not even been substituted at that point.
Thirteen weeks and 15 games later, De Ligt remains side-lined.
His back injury has still not cleared up and there is no timescale on a return.
Even when I asked head coach Michael Carrick earlier if it was likely De Ligt would be back after next month's international break – United's first game is against Leeds on 11 April – he was reluctant to commit to a timescale.
"Matthijs has had a back issue which has been a bit slow to progress," he said.
"The nature of the injury means it's a difficult one to pin down time wise. He's definitely improving though."
United struggled badly in De Ligt's absence until Harry Maguire's return, which is another reason why it is more likely than not, the England defender will get a new contract before his current one expires in the summer.