the writing was on the wall. If he'd been told he would play less and receive a lower wage as a result then you can't really blame him for feeling a bit disrespected, he will understandably take the view that he's made a sizeable contribution over the past 5 years.

Probably the right decision by the club not to go higher though, whilst he'd have been useful to have around - and I reckon he'd have started more games than not when fit - I guess we are trying to get leaner and meaner and avoid allocating too much of the budget on squad fillers. Delicate balance to get right - even with Gana and Alcaraz renewing, we still need more options and things seem to be moving a little slowly in that department so far.