What a roaring pity it would be if Sam Ricketts were to leave Hull City, even with a passable £2 million to cushion the blow.
Stories are circulating, each with slightly more evident conviction than its predecessor, that Ricketts has chosen not to extend his current contract and is therefore on the market.
The Welsh full back, signed by Phil Parkinson in the summer of 2006, has a year to run on his deal and Portsmouth, bathing in sterling after flogging Glen Johnson to Liverpool, see him as a reliable replacement who won't cost the earth. If they get him, they'll get a fine footballer.
However, for the Tiger Nation, it will represent a disappointing way to say goodbye to a performer who combined real aptitude with a sturdiness and dependability that, collectively, proves a rare commodity.
Ricketts has family by both blood and marriage with homes and business interests in the south of England and it seems he is looking at a move in that direction in order to make his domestic circumstances a little easier to control. If this is the case, nobody should try to stand in his way.
Maybe it's this which prevents commentators on the club from bleating a little about Ricketts. He has never come across as any sort of mercenary - indeed, his career once saw him sink into the non-league game in order to get pitch time, so he is aware of his fortunate situation more than many in his position - and so only the stoniest hearts would not wish him well if he were to leave the KC.
Although the three remaining players who have featured for the Tigers in all four divisions bring out the heftiest chest-beating tendencies within the supporters, Ricketts has, in a controlled and gentile manner, bolted his own place in club folklore by being, quite simply, the best player in his position ever to wear City colours. He is a shoo-in, a right back of class and distinction and was, crucially, as consistent and reliable in his first season with the club - the Parkinson farce in the Championship tightly salvaged by Phil Brown - as he was the following year when the Tigers rolled up in the play-off final and had the audacity to win the damn thing.
And, last season, his character was called into question by a slow, troubled beginning to top-flight life (the swiping own goal against Wigan Athletic early in the campaign was as horrific as any error committed during more hostile times later on) which saw his removal from the team for the first time, with fellow international Paul McShane arriving as a temporary replacement. Ricketts fidgeted on the bench, with occasional run-outs if Andy Dawson was unfit or when McShane was ineligible, and only found himself restored to the line-up when the Irishman's loan expired in the New Year. From here onwards, he re-established himself as defender, attack-minded and blessed with stamina, whose ability to overlap and rain in crosses was complemented by a new, more approachable brand of concentrated defending. He had a couple of superb games - which was rare for any player during the long spring of woe - down the flank as he and Richard Garcia dug up the spirit and connection they'd enjoyed so often during the promotion season, and ultimately he would emerge from the campaign bruised but vindicated by his personal upturn in form and the club's hair-breadth survival. A couple of excellent games in the centre of defence during a painful injury crisis helped him no end.
Ricketts is as good on one flank as he is on another - he has been always a club right back and a country left back - and this rare utility status is something the Tigers have been able to keep as a handy second option, although he has almost always been on the right when playing for City. His face value ability at right back and his kinetic ability at left back (plus now a useful last resort for the middle) means he will be hard to replace. Irrespective of the reasons he gives for rejecting fresh terms with the club, it would be nice to believe that serious effort is being made to persuade him into a change of mind. He really deserves it. But if he does go, he deserves the thanks and good wishes of every single person who saw him play.
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