I have to agree with Art here. Yes, he has been thrown in and out of the team, but that's his job at the end of the day. He may be a natural winger, but of course he won't be getting any games there. He was a decent winger because of his workrate and effort in tracking back; not because of his ability. Now that his engine is going though, he really won't have anything more to offer for us at the highest level.
Some may find it disloyal, but football can be a brutal business at times. You cannot afford to hang onto players for too long due to sentimentality. In fact, I think we're being kinder to him if we sell him during the summer, because it means he'll actually get to play football next season, as opposed to simply staying here and sitting in the reserves. Look at what happened to Berbatov. A lot felt that he was a waste this season and that if we weren't going to play him, then he should have just been moved on. I think that it's the same for Park really. He's been a good servant, but he won't feature, so why keep him hanging around? It doesn't make a lot of sense to me.
I think on balance I agree with this, or most of it - certainly the sentiment of it. I have been a big fan of Park's over the years and defended him many times against those that have questioned his ability of the sense of him being a United player. Great attitude, great ability, I remember some years ago he used to really bring out the best in others, especially Rooney, with his workrate and his unselfish style of play.
Somehow the Berbs comparison doesnt feel quite appropriate for me. Berbs is a player of enormous individual skill and brilliance. Somehow him languishing in the reserves feels wrong in a way that with Park just doesnt. A player like Berbs needs to play, it is almost a crime against football to have him sitting on the bench (or in the stands) when he could be doing so much for another team. A player like him needs to be watched and appreciated. Like buying a work of art and then stashing it in a vault for safe keeping, when it needs to be on a wall and admired.
Park is a workhorse, a battler and a trier. If Berbs is a work of art, to keep with the investment analogy, Park is a Gilt: not the sexiest investment ever, not likely to make you rich and certainly not something you are going to put up on the wall. But an integral part of a sensible investment strategy nonetheless. Dependable and safe. Not that he doesnt have ability, but Park is ultimately the archetypal squad player. As long as he features in SAF's plans to some extent and will get occasional games, either by tactical choice or as emergency backup in times of injury crisis, I see no reason not to keep him IF he is satisfied with that role.
I guess that is what it comes down to. If like Berbs he would rather play then I would send him off and wish him well. I cant see his chances as being plentiful in the coming season. But if he is content with a position on the squad fringes I would trust him in that role more than most because of his work ethic and general attitude, as well as his ability. Players on the very fringes of the squad are always going to be inferior to the first XI, by definition. So it is no problem that he is in decline. He still has enough left to do a job I reckon, if he is used sensibly, in roles he is suited to.