If the question was as simple as the club's financial ability to keep a focused, talented player who would want to be here, I'd absolutely agree. But just because we CAN afford to keep him doesn't mean we ought to. For all his talent, the cost in dignity to the club to retain and REWARD a player who repeatedly and persistently speaks with such reckless contempt for the notion that Everton are good enough for his ambitions is too much--especially when the club now has the finances to replace him (not that I'm saying that such a thing would be easy). What signal does it send to the rest of the squad to reward such an egregious lack of professionalism in this manner? What tone does it set in a new era where Everton ought to be looked at as a destination to make the first significant player move in the form of a ridiculously lucrative contract for a want-away? Some people call that ambition. But if my wife told me she didn't love me anymore and wanted someone else, offering her a bigger house and money to spend might keep her for a bit, but it wouldn't change her heart and it certainly wouldn't keep her from bringing up the issue of leaving again in the future. There's ZERO dignity in such an approach. Everton ought to now be above this mentality moving forward.
