He has a huge benchmark to reach if he’s going to be here long-term.
On his wages, he has to be a consistent starter in the team. A player on that much money can’t be a consistent sub, especially when the starters who’s taken his positions in the team are on less and are delivering.
The nonchalant body language on the pitch last season was worrying. I think if he was seen trying and stuff just wasnt coming off then people would be more forgiving about it, but it didn’t look that. As someone mentioned, there was one instance where he could have pounced on a loose ball in the penalty box to at worst make the opposition goalkeeper panic and at best score a goal, but he barely broke a sweat and just strolled back. It was one of the times when everyone going apeshit mad seemed justified.
Then we’ve got the issue of his contract running down. The cynical view could be that he plays his bollocks off to get that juicy new contract and then reverts back to being what we’ve been seeing the past 12 months at least. That nonchant body language would fuel that cynicism, and you’d only have to look to Aubameyang and Arsenal to see a similar example of falling into that trap.
And finally even if he is truly committed, and he does improve his stats, there’s no guarantee that ETH is going to like him and play him regularly. He is one of the biggest earners at the club and when you’re on the big bucks, the pressure to perform is huge. You can’t just fall back into being an impact sub as a top earner. You’ve reached the point of no return in that instance because no-ones going to lower their own wages. You have to be a starter and you have to perform to justify those wages or face leaving quite soon… and if ETH can’t fit him in, then he’ll say to sell him as he’s surplus to requirements.