Absolutely this.
Selling him would risk upsetting the equilibrium of the squad. He's our talisman and I believe we owe him a significant degree of loyalty and indulgence for a number of reasons.
It's possible that he won't be the main man, attacking wise, for as long as we anticipated, but that doesn't mean he should be readily dicarded. He needs more quality around him in the attacking part of the squad to reduce our overarching reliance upon him.
He's willingly given us his best years and is owed the benefit of the doubt in return, imo.