um-
For what it's worth, was in the pub with a relatively junior employee of the club after the game just after the news broke, and he phoned a more senior employee of the club for confirmation. So the deal must have been a fairly closely guarded secret. Seems that the whole 'hip injury' thing was a smokescreen designed to put Southampton off the trail. But they didn't fall for it. Reckon the player was ill-advised to join in the lap of honour - and the news broke literally about two minutes after the lap had safely cleared H Block where the player was enthusiastically shaking hands with fans. Cynical or what?
Good luck to the boy, bear him no ill-will whatsoever.
But the club could have handled it better.
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