To sell or to keep? The factors Blackpool must weigh up with Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Fulham target Josh Bowler

God forbid, if the worst happens and Josh Bowler does depart within the next nine days, let’s hope it’s for more money than that.

But according to the latest reports, that’s what long-time admirers Nottingham Forest are offering for the 23-year-old’s services, with Bournemouth and Fulham also still hovering.

With only a year remaining on his contract, you can see why Forest are preparing to table a relatively low bid.

But when they’re forking out £42.5m (including add-ons) for Morgan Gibbs-White, Blackpool fans are well within their rights to feel a little nonplussed about potentially losing their star man for comparative peanuts.

I must admit, I’m stuck in two minds.

It goes without saying we all want Bowler to remain at Bloomfield Road: he’s a mercurial talent, the likes of which we’ve not seen at Bloomfield Road since Wes Hoolahan and Charlie Adam.

But we also live in the real world. This is what Blackpool’s model is based on: developing talent, in this instance one that arrived on a free transfer, before selling on for a profit, with that cash then being reinvested back into the side.

How galling will it be to lose a player of Bowler’s brilliance for absolutely nothing come the end of the season? That’s the exact type of thing we want to move on from.

But at the same time, is £2.5m, heck, even £3m worth it? How much is another season of Bowler in tangerine worth to the club? He could be the difference between a relegation fight and mid-table security, he’s that good.

Bowler deserves heaps of credit because, despite all the speculation, he’s not let it affect his performances at all. Despite what a few idiots might have said after the Swansea game, the winger has been in scintillating form so far this season and is thriving in Michael Appleton’s more attack-minded system.

As Appleton said himself recently, it’s almost as if Bowler is gladly taking on the responsibility of being Blackpool’s creative spark. It’s down to him to make things happen.

That’s also got to be a concern though, because if he does go, where does that creative spark come from?

It’s easy for us on the outside to tell the club to offer a bumper new contract with a release clause in it, but it’s not quite as simple as that.

Appleton recently revealed the club have held talks with Bowler and his agent, so of course it’s something that has been discussed.

But Bowler holds all the aces here. It appears he’s keen to make the step up to the Premier League and who can blame him? He deserves it. So why would he be committing his long-term future to the Seasiders at this particular juncture?

Of course Bowler is enjoying his football on the Fylde coast and I’m sure he doesn’t want the club to lose out either. But he’s also got his own career to think about, which is why there needs to be an acceptable resolution for all parties.

When asked if Bowler will remain a Blackpool player after September 1, Appleton said: “Who knows?

“There’s clearly a lot of interest in the lad and we’re aware he’s an absolute talent. He did ever so well for the football club last season and we want him to continue to do that this season.

“We’ve clearly got to be in a position where if he does go, we can act quickly.

“But at the same time, I’m pretty confident my board won’t allow him to go for cheap, so you’ve got to weigh up the risk and the reward in these situations because we know his contract is up.

“Is the reward worth the risk and they’re the discussions we’ll have in the next 10 days to two weeks.”

One thing is for sure, Blackpool need this resolving sooner rather than later. What we don’t need is a situation where Bowler leaves on deadline day, giving them precious time to bring in a replacement.