Report: Wigan lodge bid for Robinson

But who expected him to compete with Digne this season? Back him up, maybe, but certainly not compete with him.

The strangest aspect is the bizarre offer. If that's accurately reported, it's beyond ridiculous. Insulting.

Anyway, bottom line is we should absolutely not sell him. Loan him, yes. Sell? No way. Physical gifts like his do not come along every day.

Wigan merely testing the water, surely

For a young international I think this could be good insurance and good for all parties.

Insulting offer for an international. You'll never know how good they are unless they are given a chance. Just look across Stanley Park to see that.

His next loan club should Ideally be in the prem, one of the promoted clubs or mid table types (I shouldn't be so smug, mid table is a good description of us at the moment). This will give him the experience he needs to improve while making mistakes elsewhere and then we'll have him ready to push Digne when Leighton calls time.

I'd send him right back to Wigan. Paul Cook is an outstanding manager who has already improved his defensive fundamentals, and he'll play him every available minute.

Good points (all of them).

I was thinking more along the lines of the Ideal situation, but very little about life is ideal. If he could make it to a prem club and do well it would do his confidence a world of good.

Having said that, if he's making progress at Wigan I'd be happy to go with what you've said and leave him there for another season.

I think another loan or buyback clause would be appropriate now that Baines is here for another year.

Why sell him at all?

He cost us nothing, his wages will be relatively low at this time and if he comes good we're going to happy.

We have time on our side with this kid, Leighton will keep Digne honest, the kid will then mature elsewhere and will be ready for Premier League action in a year or two.

Other than that, this for me is where a buy-back clause is useful; let the lad go for £3m with a buy-back for say £5m in 2 or 3 years; if not, a season-long loan would be best bet.

Same issue with Pennington. He might seem a £5 million player when compared with say £80 million Maguire, but if no Premier League clubs want him, he is essentially worthless.

Your value is based on what someone is willing to pay. If you sell the Crown Jewels at a Bedouin yard sale in Mali, you might get five quid.

Buy backs can go wrong if the player doesn't want to come are expect to much of a salary increase and further lines agents pockets.

He needs games and we have time to see how well he develops over the next few seasons.

Buying back Robinson isn't a tough one, we can dictate what we want to a player at Wigan as we're much much bigger.

If another club came forward, then we can negotiate terms between Wigan and the other club to get a good deal for all.

Any sort of sale has to have a buy-back at exactly what we got for him.