I think we can all agree we both overpaid for him and his wages were too high. A five year deal plus optional 2 years is very rare, and it's worked more to his benefit than the club's. I think it was assumed he was gonna be the next big thing and he would appreciate in value so the club was protecting what it thought might become a Bale like situation, with a Real Madrid or Barcelona coming in and the long contract was to increase our bargaining power.
The situation from his perspective is that no-one else will pay him higher wages than here, like they would Toby or many of our other players. In these cases we're either forced to give them better deals or sell them, like with Walker and now Toby probably. But no-one gonna offer us big money for us. I think if he had a shorter contract the club would have been forced to make a decision one way or the other, new contract or sell him. Sissoko's in a similar situaton and could well be here still next season. I don't think it's an ideal situation for us or either player.