I hope you are right Bozza, the ramifications of him staying would surely outweigh the benefits now.
We can only hope the club have a suitable replacement lined up and that is a tough ask at this late stage.
For a player to hand a transfer request in at this late stage is shambolic. Cuts deeper when you look back at how the club stuck by him when recovering from serious injury.
Just reading between the lines here and putting 2+2 and probably making 85 ! , but is it possible the club kept his transfer request quiet until now ? .. Not saying they have and purely speculating and putting the theory out there .
i guess its something we will never find out