On the other hand, he delivers those assists this season. He must be at 5 if I'm not mistaken. If he managed to stay as effective as he's been lately, he'd be an ok bench player considering how many glaring issues this squad has. A lot of ifs and buts here, I know. He could accept that lower salary and then we'd have a cheap squad player as he's pretty much amortized by now.
If we let him go, it has to be for an upgrade and that will cost money. If we can get someone better, let him go.
His current value in the books is 15,2m, including salary.
If he signs a new contract for 3 years with the same wages it will decrease to 12,4m and with a contract for 4 years it will decrease 11,8m.
So indeed unless he accepts a lesser salary, it might become interesting, but we have to realize that he financially occupies the spot of a new (good) player, while adding the bare minimum.
He’s less cancerous than Douglas Costa or Ramsey tho. Basically always fit, never complains etc. But he should be realistic and accept that he isn’t a 4m per year player.