He was brilliant in 2011/2012, was half decent in 2012/2013, was surprisingly good in 2013/2014, and finally was frozen out in 2014/2015. Troubles with managers aside, his team-mates mostly liked him (by all accounts), and he didn't slag off the club in the media, despite being ostracized towards the end.
The real reason we all wanted him out was probably because we believed that we'd be able to use his wages to buy someone more suited to the side. Well, either that or, as
@parklane1 points out, because he used to play for the Arse.
I've resisted on commenting on him too much, because I've had a taste of the problems he's described himself as having, and I know what it means to come out in public and admit that he has them. I can also sympathize with the horror he must have lived with for the past few years, constantly re-remembering that day when he held a dying team-mate in his arms as bullets and blood flew all around him.
Sod his value to the club, he's a human being. And I hope things get better for him, now that he's reached a (somewhat) amicable settlement with us.