what I mean is, when he comes back he is going to have to find form and fitness in the middle of a premier league season, when other players will have laid claim to the starting positions in centre midfield, and we may well have done what you suggest and signed a replacement who ends up...
Shame. the year we almost went up Kayal was our star player and we were looking so forward to him playing in the prem. Last year was a stop-start struggle, but we know that brilliant player is in there and we were hoping to see it this year. Now the odds of us never doing so are much shorter :(