This is where the club really can't win. If we kept him and allowed him to run down his contract and leave on a free then the club are criticised for allowing that to happen. If we cash in on him whilst he still has some value then the club are criticised for not keeping him. Despite showing potential, when he left us he hadn't broken in and established himself in the first team. Yes, it is easy now with hindsight to say he was going to be a top player, but I would argue there have been many players who showed the same level of potential at the same point as him who didn't go on and make it. Bottom line is he wanted to leave so it came down to either cashing in or letting him run his contract down. Sadly we can't stockpile reserve and loan players indefinitely against their will, that is kind of illegal. Well unless you are Chelsea of course.