Cant disagree with any of that.Given the prognosis on his recovery you would have to say it looks highly unlikely. He's a massive asset for us, worth at least as much as Clarke. Burnley have supposedly bid £10M for Clarke turned down.
it's very unlikely anyone is going to bid that sort of money for someone still coming back from a long term injury.
The only way I could see him being sold is if he gets back training a little earlier. Plays in the last pre-season game for around an hour and we decide he can start against Ipswich.
Then he would need to hit the ground running and score about 5 goals in August. Then and only then maybe someone from the premier league would maybe take a punt on a £10M plus last minute bid.
However, we still aren't under any obligation to sell him. It's all very well saying get the cash when it's there but if costs us promotion it's over a £100M down the drain.