As long as they fulfill their contractual duties, I don't see why this should be questionable behaviour from a moral perspective. If a player wants to leave but you want to keep him unless someone pays the amount you're asking for, you'll make him stay. Honestly, if you give players long contracts with salaries no other club is willing to pay, this is bad management on your part and you can't blame the players for that. If a professional club for whatever reason offered me a 1m a year contract and I sign it only for them to realize that I'm not good enough and nobody will pay me the same amount, they can't expect me to accept a wage cut just to compensate for a bad decision by the club.It is not a disgrace, but every summer there are hundreds of examples like this. A project, a new coach, or one who no longer trusts a certain player.
Either he stays or his agent finds him a new team. I am not 100% sure about China because it was also said that his family did not want to go.
This situation is reached because Barnett was asked to bring in offers, and they didn't bother to try anything all summer.
It is not a case of a new coach who comes to your house and wants to kick you out. They have known each other from the beginning, when he was indisputable to now, when he no longer sees him as part of the group.
Another example is Mariano, who at 27 has already made it clear that he will not leave if he is not paid more.
He does not care if he has to stay four years in the bench.
He signed and the club has to honor the contract but...
I think clubs take it for granted that players are assets that they can move from one team to another as they please. But players aren't regular assets. Maybe stories like Bale, Sanchez, Mariano etc. make top clubs think twice in the future if they want to offer such ridiculously high salaries just because they can.