My personal opinion with the Eels and Gutho - is they obviously want him to stay but it's always been for less than he is worth. Through the negotiation they've offered him less repeatedly than he wanted both in dollars and years. I think they put the captaincy on him too as a stealth move to try make him feel tied to the club with this added burden of being the "leader", but good on him - he's 24 - 4 years takes him to 28 and if he's still fit and healthy he gets a 3 year deal then after which he can go to the UK.
If he was set on staying he would have happily said they're close, but this has taken 6 months to get here. In 6 months of negotiations you have ample opportunity to work something out. And we worked out before that there are 8/9 teams that could use a fullback. So whether it's to us or someone else, I'd say there is a deal elsewhere for what he wants on the table and he'll take it.