I wouldn't disagree with you and that strengthens my point. We really haven't sold anyone who has gone on to bigger and better things. Long is playing at a very similar standard but is being carried along in a great side.
All I'm saying was it was a weird statement to say we have a history of selling players when we should keep them when the two examples you pulled up were from about ten years ago.
If we take Walters as an example (there are others) then we were a League 1 club (I think) and he's now a very established Premier League players. I would say that is going on to bigger and better things as he looked nothing like a Premier League player at City
Again, if the only examples we have are the odd player from 10 years ago then we're really not that terrible at selling players who go on to be better. Every single club will have examples - a lot much more recently - than that. Look at Pogba and Man United.
Three starts and four sub appearances and in two of those three starts he was pulled off in under an hour, he was poor when he got an opportunity and that's why he was dropped.
On his current form and if he keeps it up we'll need him in the championship and to be fair he deserves another chance in the pl if we stay up. Unfair to write him off already, creativity wise who else have we got
Timeframes have little to do with it. The fact is we have had players (often when we were in the lower leagues) who we let go and have now improved as players. The fact that we've moved forwards as a club makes their improvement seem less impression but Walters, Delaney etc. are better players than when they left us for whatever reason. I'm not saying we're alone in this either as you say
Ben Arfa had already proven himself as a quality Premier League player, it's no wonder he got more chances, but as with Ince he didn't take them.
If we let them go and they are not able to play at the level we play at now I think that's ok. We let Fryatt go to Forest and he's hardly pulling up trees (pardon the pun). Koren at Melbourne City, etc.
Make no mistake, I'm with you that we should sell him, and I reckon we'll get a small profit which is probably the best case scenario. Was a strange transfer to begin with and always got the sense we were a stepping stone for him, but he's proven he can't take that step.
We shouldn't sell Ince at all.....but we will. I still maintain he's not been given a fair run of games at City. Yes Derby are in a lower division, with a different manager and play more positive football than us but he's also been getting regular starts which must help him. I'd rather have Ince in our team than Aluko for example.
He scored two on debut for them, a run of games hardly helped that. He's actually done worse the more games he's played for them, scored mostly in a burst at the start.
The only one that I can think of goes back even further, Brian Marwood, then there was obviously Pancho Pearson.
