Steve Cohen thought his $2.6 billion deal to buy the Mets in installments over five years would give him some control that would grow over that time to help make team decisions during the transition. The Mets owners disagreed and a deal, for now, is off, sources said.

This could be the latest in a string of deals in which the Wilpon family bought and sold Mets stakes that have ended in contentious fashion.

The implosion in talks was sparked by disagreement over the opaque five-year window in which Cohen was set to take gradual control of the team from the controlling Wilpon family.

According to people familiar with the negotiations, the Wilpons recently made it clear to Cohen that while he would be paying hundreds of millions of dollars every year, they would in fact retain control over all decision-making regarding the franchise until the end of the five years.

That was met with displeasure from Cohen, a trader so famous for his yearn to control his operations that he was known to keep the trading floor at his previous hedge fund set at exactly 69 degrees.

From the beginning, the structure of waiting five years to turn over the team was seen as ripe for conflict. While early reporting on the deal was the Wilpons would be majority owners until Year 5, insiders gave a clear sense that Cohen’s cash infusions would afford him the right to a seat at the table when it came to buying talent or front-office hiring within that window.

As late as early January, sources close to Cohen were openly sanguine that he would be taking gradual control of the Mets in addition to his role running his hedge fund, Point72 Capital.

From discussions with those familiar with the talks, it is unclear if the confusion over whether Cohen would be making team decisions during the five-year window was merely a miscommunication or a last-minute surprise from the Wilpons, as some sources allege.

The Wilpons are gaining a reputation for deals that include strange-ending twists.

• The Wilpons in March 2019 bought back a 12 percent stake in the team from Comcast and Charter Communications at a lower-than-expected $1.5 billion valuation. Months later, the Wilpons agreed to sell the team to Cohen for $2.6 billion. If the Wilpons knew a Cohen deal was coming it looks like a suspicious trade, sources said.

• In 2011, hedge-fund manager David Einhorn accused the Wilpons of trying to rewrite his deal to buy a minority stake in the team at the eleventh hour of talks. The deal fell apart.

• The Wilpons in 2002 gained control of the Mets from Nelson Doubleday by paying a below market $391 million valuation with the help of an MLB commissioner Bud Selig-chosen arbitrator, a source said.

Doubleday at the time said, “The appraisal process that placed an artificially low valuation on the New York Mets was fundamentally flawed,’’ and unsuccessfully sued Fred Wilpon for more money.

The Mets and Cohen declined comment.