The money we spent has absolutely no bearing on whether or not we should sell him - only how much we should sell him for. "He didn't live up to his price tag? Get rid of him" doesn't make much sense.
Yep, because Gastón asked for us to spend that on him.
I've been speaking about this on Twitter.
I basically said that I think we'd come to regret the decision to sell, should it happen.
At current, our set-up does not play to Gastón's assets. Lambert, who is slow by all accounts and plays with his back to goal, does not work with the likes of Gastón and Lallana flicking those threaded balls in behind. He may anticipate them occasionally, but more often that not he can't make it. As recent as this weekend, we had multiple chances to hit Spurs on the break, but as a unit we were too slow and there were occasions when Lambert took all the pace and sting out of our attacks.
Now I love Rickie as much as the next Saints fan, but he's not the ideal player for the situation at current. He's a popular character and rightly so, but we need to be careful with regard to looking at how to continue our progression at the same time. I'm not calling for Lambert to be left by the wayside, but as said, at current the formation and the way in which we attack is occasionally hampered and stalled.
Until we introduce more quality and mobility into the final third, we won't see the best of Gastón. He needs more time to settle anyway, in my opinion, and has shown some real flashes of brilliance - beyond that of any attacking player that we currently have at the club.
We need to add the necessary depth to the squad, to supplement the formation and promote this ethos that Pochettino seems to want to introduce.
But first, safety.