I can understand how they feel, after all he certainly isn't the best player we have as every tabloid you read would have you believe. We know how frustrating he can be when he fails to pass, tries to take on too many men, screws up a defence baffling trick, when he sends a shot flying wide and when he injures himself celebrating. However on his day he is possibly the most unplayable player in the league. He made a mug of Paul Konchesky at West Ham, who was having a great season at the time. He completely blitzed Blackburn's defence and scored at Fratton Park when usually Rovers are a very hard team to break him down. His pace also gets the better of slower and weaker defences.
Pompey fans may argue that he doesn't "have his day" often enough, especially last season when he had some really frustrating moments. However, let's not forget the personal trouble he had been through last season. He had a nasty bout of malaria, when he feared for his life during 2005 and then his child died whilst he was in Egypt, and even that was hidden from him by his own FA! Now, if that isn't going to affect his performances throughout the season then I don't know what is!
Strikers are judged on the goals they score. Lua Lua only managed 7 last season and yet was still our top scorer in the league. 7 goals isn't many for your top scorer but he can't take sole responsibility for such a low total considering the personal matters shown in the previous paragraph and the poor service he had during the first half of the season. Especially under Alain Perrin when he found himself playing up front on his own much of the time. Besides, 7 goals isn't bad for a player who's main job isn't to score goals anyway. That was supposed to be Benjani's job however Mr. Mwaruwari seems to be in a similar mould to Lua Lua.
Our number 32 is best at scaring the hell out of defenders, and it usually works with his pace and trickery. His own worst enemy does seem to be himself either when he loses his concentration or does something stupid (like injure himself whilst celebrating). However when he is focused he is a huge asset to this club, as proven when he scored 4 goals in 4 games and probably won the man of the match award in each of those games.
Harry rates him and I can't see him leaving the club, especially for the £2 million fee being bandied around by the journo's. If he is going to be sold then he should go for at least £6 million in my opinion. He gives the team another dimension and when focused he will give even the best defenders a tough time and those qualities do not come cheap. He had a lot on his mind last season so this season, if he stays focused there is absolutely no reason why he can't hassle defenders even more and score at least 10 goals in the Premiership this coming campaign.
For those of you who say "We won't miss him" remember when the same statement was applied to Yakubu? That's right, we did miss him and I believe we would miss that extra spark and ability to turn matches in an instant should Lua Lua be sold.