i understand pad, i'm not an idiot. barkley looked dire for us under moyes, under your philosophy he would have been sold to a championship side for pennies. instead we gave him a full run out and he's class, worth 50m (or thereabouts) now.
we'll never know unless they get an actual run out. same goes for joel, he looked class for wigan, and it would be a real shame to not give him a solid run of games to prove himself. his physical frame alone is worth the run, courtois esque size and wing span.