All this fear about Nani possibly leaving, I just dont understand the panic of "oh what should we do if he goes..."
Big names come and go and we have seen bigger names leave before, nobody is bigger than the club. If he leaves we will carry on as we usually do.
If we sell him and he's not been a cock to SAF / the club, then it's sending the wrong message.
Kagawa esp. has been a wonderful signing in terms of the financials and quality, RvP as a WC player, but buying a 29 year old and selling your 25 year old whose not too far behind him in terms of quality, and is on less than half the wages (90k vs ~200k) and would fetch comparable fee's is stupid (We won't get more than 35 million for Nani and he's cheaper even over just 3 years due to the massive gulf in wages!) is certainly not good for the club.
I'd much rather have Nani than RvP if one of them had to go and both were willing to play for the club and give there all.
Nobody's bigger than the club, but I'd fear for the club if we started selling 4-5 big names... say if Rooney, RvP, Kagawa, Valencia and De Gea were sold next season, you could use that same logic; they still aren't bigger than the club.
How do you think AC milan feel? Because the club's had it's heart ripped out; yes AC Milan will move on, but they've lost their 2 best players, one of which was a leading player in his position, and have also lost 5-6 players who've been there for ages. Uncertain times.
Now, I don't want everyone to get the wrong impression; the main loss of Nani would be of a quality player on the cusp of his prime years. But, of lesser importance considering the circumstances, there is a very small chance that it could have bigger circumstances down the road. I don't see who buys RvP for that kind of money, and then hard-balls a ridiculously talented winger over 20-30k.
Losing Nani is a step in the wrong direction, and once you start going in that direction, you're far more prone to going full tilt and ending up where Liverpool is. We've got a gem in Nani, and he's at a stage where he's far better than he was when we persisted with him; why sell him now? It's like Arsenal selling RvP; he's just begun to play every game and perform regularly, and then he's lost, no Nani's not as consistent, but he's on the cusp of that. As Wenger said, he's uncovered the talent, and made them into who they are, and then when they become big players, they go play and be big players for someone else. Nasri, Clichy, RvP and Fabregas aren't bigger than Arsenal, but look where they are. We've got plenty more quality in the squad, but if we came 3rd this year, and SAF decided to leave to boot, lots of fans will fear for the club, and it's totally expected. Heck, lots were fearing for the club after City beat us, and if we go 3rd which is possible (You can pick up odds of 3/4 on us coming in the top 2 which isn't as short as I expected; that was before our Fulham game) we'll be behind 2 clubs, and with a manager trying to fill the boots of possibly the greatest of all time in managerial greats.
The players all said they got a lift when RvP came. They'll experience a bigger loss at seeing Nani, a player who no doubt they are good friends with, leaving and becoming a great player for another club, possibly a rival. Let me tell you, Rafael and Evra do not want to be playing against Nani.
If, as the papers were reporting, we're refusing to budge over Nani's 120-130 k demands, I'll be fecking livid. Even if we do give in, it's shocking if it indeed has been allowed to go on for so long, over such a decent wage demand from Nani's side. I would've expected him to be gunning for 150k or something, and have seen that as the going rate. If Young's meant to be on 100-110 k a week; especially on the back of an 18 million quid fee, then Nani's got every right to be going for far more than 120-130k.