José Mourinho, the Real Madrid coach, handed French midfielder Eduardo Camavinga a start in the friendly against Fiorentina to judge whether he could still count on him.
The answer on the pitch fell flat. Camavinga turned in one of his weakest displays in a Real Madrid shirt.
Sport newspaper reported that he lost concentration repeatedly, misplaced passes and made technical errors beneath a player of his talent, reviving the doubts over his true level.
Puzzling barely covers his situation. He has every attribute to succeed, yet he now makes headlines for repeated mistakes and lapses in focus, with clips of his blunders spreading across social media.
Once untouchable at Real Madrid, Camavinga now finds the club's hierarchy ready to listen to offers for him without hesitation.
The obstacle lies with the player himself. Camavinga has no thoughts of leaving and has told the board he wants to stay and fight to reclaim his place.
His level has dropped sharply. He has failed to nail down a regular spot in the starting eleven, and his development seems to have stalled, going backwards rather than forwards.
Inconsistency has crept into his game. He leans heavily on individual flashes of brilliance while his reliability on the pitch fades.
Positioning errors and lapses in concentration have become frequent, giving the ball away is now routine, and his decisions keep raising doubts. Some of his technical skills have become a source of criticism rather than praise.