I feel like not getting what the protagonist 'wants' is okay. I mean the way I would see it is that the protagonist gives an idea to the audience that he/she/them badly wants something. But in reality they 'need' something hiding in plain sight. For example the protagonist might want money for a cause. But in reality he just needs that cause to be solved. So not giving what protagonist wants but eventually giving him what he needs is probably in my head a better approach for the story. However what I see you are asking for is that the protagonist gets neither. In that case I want to ask why he is the protagonist and if the story's real protagonist is the antagonist you are thinking? Just a thought.