I read a quote from John Williams saying that he spoke to Neil before he left for international duty and said they would talk about his future as soon as he came back from the international break.
If your friend (who isnt being very profesional) is correct this is true and we havent even sat down with our player yet couldnt this be tapping up in some way?
Anyway, havent we already talked this to death in an 8 page Neil thread already?