Shauny's future

It has been an interesting week for Shaun. Firstly, there was his excellent substitute display for England against Egypt - which, in far out-shining Walcott, should have gone someway to putting him on the plane to South Africa. Then, probably against his will, Ian Wright decided it was time to take Shaun's contract negogiations public.

There has been a lot said about footballing greed in the light of these comments, but I am inclined to believe SWP when he says: "This is not about my bank account, it's about where I want to be and doing what I want to do."

The club's reluctance to give him pay parity with other players who have joined (Bridge, Lescott, Toure etc.) has made him consider his part in the future of City. I don't doubt his commitment to the club. He says: "It's all to do with staying at a club I love and where the fans love me. These City fans made me and I'll always be in their debt for that. I feel like I owe them the rest of my career. So I'll put pen to paper on a five-year deal right now, longer if they want. Quite simply, I want to play at City for the rest of my life." These emotional comments are probably true, but he will also want a contract that reflects how much the club value his worth to the team, and this is the problem.

Shaun has gone from being a certain-starter and integral part of Mark Hughes's team to a player fighting for a place with Adam Johnson, Bellamy and even Petrov when he is fit. I think this uncertainty is part of the reason he has been pushing for a contract when there is still two seasons to run on it. Any player who does not feel like he is an important part of the first team now must be dreading the reinforcements of the summer. The News of the World feels this is strong enough a factor for Adebayor to be looking for an exit, for fear of the arrival of Higuain. If even one or two of the more fanciful rumours come to pass this summer (Ribery, Di Maria, Balotelli, Krasic), then SWP must also be wondering about how highly he is held in the minds of those in charge at City.

A number of comments surrounding this subject have revealed Shaun's frustration since the arrival of Mancini - why, when the rumour mongerers started putting it about that Mancini would only last til Mourinho's arrival in the summer, announce to the press that Mourinho is the best manager you have ever worked with? And even with this story his comments seem to run against the popular belief that Cook and Marwood are solely in charge of these sort of matters: "At one stage I was very confident that would happen. It looked like everything would be sorted when Mark Hughes was in charge. He was keen to agree a new deal. But since he left, there has been nothing."

I think SWP would be better suited to dropping the contract talks until the summer and really working hard to prove his worth to Mancini. He is good enough for the first team as it is, so why not prove it on the pitch rather than forcing others to prove it with contract offers. And if he succeeds then the contract should follow. Let's just hope that Ian Wright's intervention doesn't cost his son another World Cup like last time around.