Oh GROAN. Thanks so much for the update THT/LCAB - it's nice to know the story behind the scenes.
I'm with Nels, I cannot believe he caved. Especially since he basically got trotted out like a show pony after the World Cup and played every single game except 1. Every time I watch him take the field in the new year I'm going to be frustrated knowing it's second place to where he wanted to be (and should be).
LD and his agent are not dumb. As a result, I'm wondering if there was some sort of promise along with him caving? Aka, did he say, fine - I will give you the 6 months to do your TV rights deal, but then in the summer you had better come up with a realistic price tag for me, none of this $20 million business?
I'm also now very interested to see what he says in his interview with the OS. Will he basically stick to his "I want to be here permanently" stance - giving credence to the fact that he tried to make a different deal with MLS? And more importantly, I'm sure he will use the article as a way to make inroads with Moyes.
Again - I know this is over for Jan, but I like speculating about the future because clearly LD is not done with Everton. I know some folks act like he's going to be 34 tomorrow, but he's not, and we've all seen how things change. I need my Chrimbo hug too.
EDIT: I looked it up out of curiousity, and oh look, the TV rights deal needs to be completed by March to televise games at the start of the season. Currently the only game that's being televised is Seattle vs LA on ESPN. Hmm.....