He's doing fine, and fine might be good enough for Unai (we genuinely don't know what instructions he's playing to, but Unai keeps picking him, so he's doing something right). A couple of assists in his last couple of games doesn't hurt.
The reality is, he's going to be expensive in terms of wages, and previously I'd have thought, "well, he's free, so him getting an extra 70k a week above what we might be willing to pay, over four years, is only £20m, and we'd pay that on a 'punt' for an unknown quantity, so why not.
But these days, where wages are now a big factor for UEFA, I'm not sure adding very high earners is something we can afford to do? If he's willing to be reasonable on wages, and fit within our structure, then I don't mind signing him. I think we can probably do better, but with financial contraints as they are, I don't know how much we'd have to price in a 'gamble' on someone to replace him.
He's a known quantity. Frustrating at times, clearly very talented, capable of something special, and the manager seems to like him (well, like him more than the current alternatives, at least).
