I think you answered your own question; Liverpool wanted a sale rather than loan. We needed to delay paying and they didn't want to strengthen us without being paid. Hence 10 appearances.
But if we're deliberately not playing him, meaning he has no time to impress, and in the meantime other players make their own case for that role - we could decide that we're not going to get to ten matches.
So Liverpool don't get paid, and they have an unhappy player who is probably worth a lot less than he was if they had just sold him to someone last summer.
Yes and if that is the case it’s hardly going to paint us in a positive light with other clubs or players. At the very least it’ll make them think twice.
But the plan is to keep him and for him to be ouir player. He doesn't need to impress on the pitch, he's done that and all he needs to do is continue working hard in training, adapting and we'll be fine financially when we trigger it in January.
