There’s schoolboy mistakes… and then there’s this.
Manchester United sent a scout to watch a game in Iceland – even though it was being played in Qatar.
The Premier League club were keen to have someone in place to run the rule over Iceland’s friendly against Czech Republic yesterday.
CLAIM YOUR FREE £20 BET Sun Bets are offering this great offer when you sign up and bet a fiver
They applied directly to the Icelandic Football Association for a match ticket which was happily issued to them.
But when the scout arrived at the national stadium in Reykjavik to collect his accreditation he was stunned to discover the lights off and turnstiles locked.
The United rep, understood to have travelled from Denmark for the day, was then shocked to discover the game was actually being played 5,500 miles away in Doha.
Icelandic site Fotbolti.net says the scout then had to stay the night in Reykjavik.
There have been no indications whether United had intended to watch any one player in particular or if they were just seeing the talent on show.
But since Jose Mourinho arrived at Old Trafford the club has worked hard to beef up their scouting operation.
Mourinho believed United were missing out on promising players to rival sides because the department was not working efficiently.
Shortly after he took charge of the club he raided Juventus for their highly-rated talent spotter Javier Ribalta.
The Spaniard was brought in to head up the new-look scouting operation at Old Trafford, having been credited for helping find the players that made Juve such a dominant force in Italy.
And earlier this season the Premier League club poached Lech Poznan’s Piotr Sadowski to oversee their system in central and east Europe.
The actual match played in Qatar saw Iceland begin their preparations for the World Cup with a 2-1 defeat.
WATCH: