If we have to pay him in full, no matter what happens then it would be better to let him rot in the reserves where he can add quality cover to our forward line when available rather then send him away to a club where he may come back haunting us.
As a boss, I lead people every day. My experience is if you let people rot, team spirit suffers. Also, you never know what people talk about when you're not there.
Especially if you're in competitive business - meaning you treat everybody equally : "come on lads, put all your effort in this, and the best players of you plays" - then it's bloody important to be fair. If a person works hard and isn't rewarded, that gets noticed too. Sooner or later that person will ask himself : why should I bother ? The worst thing is, other persons notice it too.
My opinion is unload players who don't play. That's also a way of appreciating people's talents: You acknowledge that they are good players and want to play.
Football, or work, isn't slavery. You should never stop a person who only try to live the dream to the best of their ability. That's what everyone wants, so fair enough.