Yes, but surely we can 'cope' until then. Same rules apply of course, only offer what we feel he is worth at that stage and walk away if it's not acceptable. No more than £20m I would have thought. A lot can happen between now and then though, could be a new kid on the block in January.
Sure we can cope but there's a lot of points to drop between now and then if he really is as vital a piece of the jigsaw as Pep seemed to think.
I'd rather we kept Nacho or looked for lower league players ready to step up to the plate because with the two forwards we have plus the cast of thousands attacking midfielders and wingers we bloody well should be able to cope if one of them is out.