Yeah, I'm not questioning his ability or effort and I don't blame him for eventually wanting to move on, it's just clearly not because of loyalty that he remained at Middlesbrough as long as he did.
I dunno, still staying with a club and performing, wanting the club to do well, but wanting to better yourself is still pretty loyal I would say, or as loyal as someone could be expected to be. Maybe being quantified as loyal is going the extra mile, but this is probably asking too much for someone's career, so someone not hitting the "loyal" bar, isn't really a put down?
Players had less power then, but it wasn't necessarily a good thing, and when counterbalanced with short careers it makes it even worse. If players don't submit a transfer request then the club might have no idea that they want to better themselves, there's no harm in that, it's just honesty I think.
Nearly everyone who classes themself as loyal, would want a better job, with a better company, if they could get one, whether they ask for it or not, it's all the same. But they either don't try as they're lazy, and have it easy or they think they're not good enough to go for the role they want. I wouldn't exactly say sticking with a company and underperforming or being disruptive is loyal either, this is probably disloyal, loads of people do this these days, and most or untouchable if they do the bare minimum, which is often a low bar.
There are not many people in the world who wilfully take less money, at a lesser company, at a lesser standard, out of the good of their heart. Sure there are plenty who accept it, but plenty would leave or go for better if they had the chance.
He was clearly playing out of his skin, so even if that's playing for a move I'm fine with that, as everyone wins, that's loyal enough for me. What I would consider more disloyal is throwing out your teddies, not performing or not even turning up, so the club is forced into a sale or letting you rot etc. We've had quite a few like this.
Nowadays good players have relegation release clauses etc, and I don't think that's being disloyal, it's just a fair trade for services.
People don't question Juninho's loyalty (and they shouldn't), and he did the same thing basically, except possibly had a clause guaranteeing it. Sure he came back, but only when we were in the prem.
