Player demanding a release clause, what are my options??

[jcp1417]

i'm in League One and have a legit 18 year old wonderkid. I have him under contract for 2 more seasons. Naturally he wants a new contract, but he's demanding a release clause. The release clause is only 550K which will quickly be met in my opinion. 

If I set the contract to start to after the season, I'd get an extra 2 years out of him, but that release clause is concerning. 

Should I go forward with the contract now or leave it open until the last minute, hoping for a better offer, or even better, no demand for a release clause?

[swae]

I've got the same problem, two more seasons on a kid that deserves x5 his current pay but won't negotiate a new contract without a ridiculous release clause that's already a fair bit below his current market value. I'm just waiting it out because there's no way I'd agree to a clause that would instantly be met and I've just had to accept an unhappy player who's performances severely dropped off because of this.

There isn't even the option to ask the player to sack the agent like in older versions, unless the agent comes demanding a contract.

 

I think you can only try offering him for a fee that's acceptable (or maybe less with a big sell-on %) or do what I've been doing and constantly check their contract demands every few months.

[turnip]

The other thing is to see if you can change the Expiry Date of the clause so that it expires sooner. This used to be easier to do (it was pretty cheaty), but a clause that expires in 12 or 18 months means you only have to worry for that period of time. If the expiry date isn't 'red-locked', you could maybe bung his agent and the player a few thousand more in signing bonuses to attempt this - it won't be cheap though; the AI seems to recognise that this is a bit of the contract that has significant value. 

Another thing you can do is try to get an Optional Contract Extension in there - this gives you one 'free' cancellation of a bid, even if it meets the MFRC. It's not a long-term solution, but with a bit of luck you could cancel a bid that meets his MFRC and then offer him out for something with a few clauses/extras that would be more lucrative over time.

 

Ultimately, though, you're not going to keep him. Probably makes more sense to work out how to scrape as much money out of a transfer as you can. 

[9craiggibson]

A way round this I have found is getting your DOF to renegotiate a renewal. As soon as you have selected this option, you can change the contract he has offered. A lot of the time the DOF offers a contract without the forced requirement of a release clause, if this is the case i leave the contract offer as is. If they have offered a contract with a release clause you have the option to remove it and maybe try increase wages/sign on etc

A good DOF makes a big difference here I'd imagine...

Edited December 2, 2021 by 9craiggibson

[swae]

On 02/12/2021 at 16:28, 9craiggibson said:

A way round this I have found is getting your DOF to renegotiate a renewal. As soon as you have selected this option, you can change the contract he has offered. A lot of the time the DOF offers a contract without the forced requirement of a release clause, if this is the case i leave the contract offer as is. If they have offered a contract with a release clause you have the option to remove it and maybe try increase wages/sign on etc

A good DOF makes a big difference here I'd imagine...

Good to know. Every version of FM there are these wee workarounds.

I resolved my situation by just waiting it out until the player dropped his concern, a couple weeks later they entered negotiations without any pre-conditions.

[phd_angel]

On 03/12/2021 at 14:26, swae said:

I resolved my situation by just waiting it out until the player dropped his concern, a couple weeks later they entered negotiations without any pre-conditions.

Ha, love this. Sometimes waiting is the best solution in life…

[AndyRokit]

Found an interesting option for an orange-locked clause:

1. Drop the length of the contract down to the minimum (typically till the end of the season)
2. Set the release clause expiry to the min (which will now be the end of the season) and red-lock it
3. Set the length of the contract back to whatever you want

Doesn't guarantee that you won't lose them in the next transfer window, but if you survive that, you're set!