As I remember it he said publicly that he was happy where he was - which is fair enough, but not the sort of "come and get me" that helps a player engineer a move.
I've seen videos of that penalty and it's clear from them that the keeper began to move before Rickie struck the ball. He deliberately placed it where the keeper wasn't - not what Sharp did at all.
I don't actually remember anyone thinking we didn't need to bring a couple of new faces in over Christmas (though I'm sure you can dig up a post to prove me wrong) yawn.