Of course at the time it seemed a good decision to cash him in for £18M given his injuries, I don't think anybody would have argued with that.
Now add in the benefit of hindsight, he's a 27 year old English centre forward who has been relatively injury free for 2-3 years and is about to finish a season with 20+ goals. Be certainly worth a lot more than £18M
Absolutely, and those of us who watched him could see there was a player there if he remained injury free and got a run of games.
I don't think his talent was ever in doubt, and it was a great gesture by the club the way they dealt with the situation i.e. a loan, then option to buy at a good price.
Point is, I don't think we had our kecks pulled down, I think we just did the right thing by/for the player, which could do us plenty of good in the long run.
Of course, it wasn't all about altruism, but from a PR perspective, it was good stuff.
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