His price tag will always be a stick to beat him with (I'd like to think less so blues over time but who knows). The implication is that for that kind of money he should be doing something 'spectacular' when it's fairly unlikely Pep even wants him too. Even if he's a successful rotational player, because of the money, that'll be deemed insufficient despite the fact that most of our squad of top class players fit into that category too. Because of the money he'll almost certainly never justify his existence to some, no matter what.
He can't control all thar noise around him but if he can block it out he can content himself with being an important part of a team that's going to be in the mix all the time and hopefully will win him loads of medals. For someone with his lad about town reputation he doesn't actually strike me as someone for whom it has to be about him (cf. the preening one at the swamp). He seems a team player, which if he wasn't he wouldn't be here anyway. So unless and until Pep, a man who I will reluctantly accept knows a bit more about association football than me, bins him off I'm always happy to see him in the team doing what the coach asks of him. I think his influence will increase over time but not necessarily in a showy kind of way.
