I'm now completely comfortable that he's staying, Madrid clearly don't have the cash and he seems to be knuckling down and resigned to being here this season. Which is great because we severely lack creativity without him. Losing him this season would have been us finishing 8th or similar, now we have a chance to push for top 4 if he doesnt down tools and keeps putting some effort in.
Next summer, Madrid will come in hard and we'll sell for the right price. We have 12months to scout properly for a replacement, anyone think we will be doing that? I suspect not. We'll probably start scouting for his replacement two days before his sale is official. And end up with someone like SMS for £140m.