I think Macca should be rewarded with a new deal no matter what. He's a gem.
About the Bellingham stuff, I never bought into the official line. We would have known that he chose Real way before the window started, maybe in the beginning of the year, but no later than April for sure. We knew what our plans for the summer would have been by the opening of the transfer window. Announcing the pulling out of Bellingham then allowed the Club to pursue other deals quietly, and I believe Macca was the beneficiary of that.
We pulled out of the Bellingham deal on the 11th of April. That was a couple days after the home draw with Arsenal pretty much ended our top 4 hopes. That left us 10 points behind United with only 9 games left. I think it was the lack of the CL that left us with a massive hole in the budget.
With a limited budget and no announcement of any investment Macca for £35m would have been very tempting and may have been we agreed to a release clause. I think you are right about a new deal. It is what we tend to do. We have a lot to sort out this summer though so the leak about a release clause may be an attempt to bump a deal for Macca up the pecking order.
