There are pros and cons with both staying and going from his perspective. Personally I think the fact that this isn't a new discussion shows that he never intended to stay with us though. Last summer he refused to sign a new contract too, and it can't have been because he felt unjustly overlooked as an 18 year old. If he had signed back in June he could have had half a year's worth of regular playing time by now on loan for a smaller club.
It wouldn't have given him a hefty sign-on fee though and it wouldn't have landed his agent a bunch of cash, and I'm convinced those are the real issues. We might or might not have offered him a potential £60K per week contract recently to get him to stay, but even if we did it's not very likely that was the base salary. I imagine the deal was heavily performance-based.
He has waited us out to make sure we have no possible advantage here. We can't sell him now and get a buyback clause either should he turn good; who'd want to buy a player in January when they can have him for free five months later? And why would Balogun move now and miss out on a big payday?
