Love him as a person. His presence in the dressing room, how he conducted himself as a part of our club, how clearly adored he was and still is by all our players...I think there'll be a connection between him and us forever.
On the pitch, though, he was never really more than a back-up. He's a talented player but never quite hit the heights of seeming like a genuine regular option for us. Had some good games, had some poor games, spent a lot of time on the bench. It's not unreasonable to think we could upgrade on him to a better left-back.
He wanted more game-time, we couldn't give it to him, he chose to leave and we got a fair price. I wish he hadn't gone to a rival but still, I don't think it was bad business or a bad decision. It was done with respect on all sides.
The only real stupidity was in selling him without first buying a suitable replacement. I know we were after Cucurella but there was clearly nothing agreed or any significant progress.
Cancelo's always been inconsistent. Gomez is a downgrade on Zinchenko. And Aké's doing a great job defensively but is clearly out of position and we need the option of more going forward from a left-back.
It's needed sorting for years, Zinny wasn't the solution, but selling him without improving on him was stupid.
