I can see why you'd be a bit "hmmm..." about it, but you in 1998, the £5k was I assume a year, and a fairly large percentage of your salary, 5-10%? That's not the case for Duffy. He gets half a good yearly wage a week. £5k for a normal person means a lot and probably means your life is improved, for a footballer on about £20k a week it means their savings get bigger, or their financial team has a bit more to invest.
As a footballer, you spend your life playing against other players who very likely will be earning more than you, despite in Duffy's case, being worse most of the time, Wednesday players for example.
You can't react to it.
If Freeman L comes in on £25k and Duffy is on 18k with his lifts, he'll still be on nearly a million per year.
I don't think Duff is like that, I think he'll be secure, he seems like a down to earth bloke, I think his agent has got him worked up about it and absolutely sold him down the river.