Dan Gosling looks to fly the Everton nest

With the news on the Dan Gosling contract fiasco hitting the headlines (or lowlines) it is appropriate to weigh up just how much Everton will be effected by his apparent imminent departure, my view....not that much.

Gosling is reported to have agreed a verbal contract with Everton that would have more than doubled his current salary, but the club's inability to put the offer in writing has seen the Premier League side with Gosling and deemed him to be a free agent, with Newcastle lurking as potential suitors.

This decision is not likely to have gone down well with the Goodison hierarchy, and in particular, David Moyes. Moyes has shown a lot of faith on Gosling by signing him from Plymouth Argyle and then by involving him in some of the first team's most high profile games.

Gosling has undoubtedly shown signs of promise in his brief Everton career, more often than not making cameo appearances as a substitute and has influenced some games by scoring crucial goals against Liverpool, Manchester United and West Ham United.

However I do not feel that Evertonians should worry too much about Gosling leaving. He is currently injured with a cruciate knee ligament injury he sustained against Wolves at the end of last season and is not likely to be fit for another 4 months.

But it has also been reported that Gosling sighted his belief that he should have started more first team games and in his preferred central midfield role as the reasons for him wanting to leave Goodison.

If Gosling truly believes this then he is yet another example of a deluded young footballer who has got an over inflated opinion of himself, and of his ability.

Does he really believe that he deserves to start in central midfield ahead of Mikel Arteta, Tim Cahill, Marouanne Fellaini or Johnny Heitinga? Not to mention the likes of Leon Osman and Phil Neville, who have also played in that position, and who are all established Premier League performers.

Not a chance.

If appears to me that Gosling may have also recognised the above list of players, plus the emerging talents of Jack Rodwell and realised that he was a long way down the pecking order at Goodison, and decided to leave the club on his own terms with a free transfer.

Not that this it much consolation for Everton as Gosling could have fetched £3 - £5 million in today's transfer market, and this is perhaps the most frustrating thing about this whole fiasco.

Therefore the frustration felt amongst Evertonian's by Gosling's departure should not be with actually losing the player, but with Everton's incompetence, that has seen the club lose a sellable asset that could have commanded a transfer fee which in turn could have been reinvested in the first team squad.