Exploring options at end of contract - Any way to stop it?

[busngabb]

On my current save Giorgio Scalvini has been with me for 3 years now and is 25. He announced he was going to explore his options at the end of his contract and he's now one month shy of being able to sign for other clubs. The other clubs interested in him are Dortmund, Leipzig and Atalanta. He's flat out refusing to consider a new contract and seemingly wants to join a far less capable side than the one he's already in. We've won the Premier League four years in a row and have made the last two Champions League finals. Two of the clubs he's keen to join aren't even in the Champions League and Dortmund haven't won the German League once one the save.

Is there any way to walk a player back from this? Or is it just set in the game that he'll leave once they decide to explore their options at the end of the season.

[XaW]

I've had a few suddenly being open to talk about contract towards the very end of the contract, like within the last month or so, but most have either left my club on a free, or have an arranged transfer by then.

[busngabb]

Not sure I'll get to that point with Scalvini. Hopefully those clubs won't be able to afford his wages, but eventually an elite club is going to come along.

Just seems odd that I can't offer him something. The agents are just a brick wall, no interest in negotiating. I should be able to say 'Appreciate you don't want to negotiate, but here's what a new contract could look like £500k p/w, 5 years, £8m signing bonus' etc. It might force you to go above a normal offer, but I can't believe in real life that clubs couldn't submit an offer even if they'd been told the player wasn't interested.

 

[Platinum]

Yeah sometimes they jsut change their mind over time, but trying to build your relationship with the player always helps

[starbugg]

This happens far too often in my game, I check all my players contracts at the start of the season and renew before it gets down to 18 months.

If it goes beyond 18 months, a few of them say they are going to explore their options at the end of their contract.

I have lost a number of very good players to frees so now when they say this I sell them as quick as possible because it's hard to change their minds.

Looks like it's catching, I've just had an 18 year old potential wonder kid on a 3 year contract say he was going to "explore his options" after just one year.

And if you are wondering the vast majority of my squad love me very very much 🥰🥰🥰

[phnompenhandy]

Very common in real life. If Mbappe can't be strong-armed by PSG, you just gotta accept you probably won't either.

[DominicForza]

4 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

Very common in real life. If Mbappe can't be strong-armed by PSG, you just gotta accept you probably won't either.

Its become more common and I strongly suspect will become much more common.  It is strongly in an ascending player's interest to see out the final year of their contact and be able to negotiate from a position of strength with the club(s) of their choosing and not having their current club dictate terms.  Additionally, free transfers aren't free.  A player out of contract not only has leverage picking clubs but can get a significantly higher signing bonus and or loyalty bonus, in effect receiving their own transfer fee.  Add in that players of have lucrative loyalty bonuses in their existing contract, staying for the length of their contract is highly lucrative.

Obviously Mbappe is at the extreme of this, but reportedly when PSG got him to sign extension last year, in addition to huge salary, they also gave him, if I recall, a reported €150m.   PSG either wanted him to extend his contract again or be sold this past summer, but Mbappe would only agree to transfer if he received his full €150m loyal bonus.  And why wouldn't he?  

Barca (at least claimed) to be outraged that Ousmane Dembele left for PSG for only €50-55m, but that low release clause is how they got him to sign a contact last summer when he was on a free.  

 

Of course players are going to do this.  They'd be fools not to.  Its not like the clubs stop charging for tickets, broadcasting revenues, merchandise, etc.   No one forces either party to sign a contract.  

 

The best way IN GAME to keep players from seeing out their contracts is to give extensions (and invariably raises) well ahead of them approaching their final year.  That will often trigger other players seeking new contracts...and such is how it goes. 

[SergeiG]

In my games, the players usually come to talk to me before they decide it and I can convince(or threat) them to sign a new contract, unless they're unhappy or on the transfer list already.

Was Scalvini unhappy for some reason? Maybe he just wants a new challenge or something, It's less common but it happens, some players are like that(like Zlatan bouncing from league to league).

[busngabb]

11 hours ago, SergeiG said:

In my games, the players usually come to talk to me before they decide it and I can convince(or threat) them to sign a new contract, unless they're unhappy or on the transfer list already.

Was Scalvini unhappy for some reason? Maybe he just wants a new challenge or something, It's less common but it happens, some players are like that(like Zlatan bouncing from league to league).

No, he isn't unhappy as such, but there is a note that he wants to win the CHampions League this season. But moving to a club who are not in the Champions League is an odd strategy to achieve that.

[busngabb]

18 hours ago, phnompenhandy said:

Very common in real life. If Mbappe can't be strong-armed by PSG, you just gotta accept you probably won't either.

But he has been strong armed by PSG twice and he's still there now. Even if he was going to leave to join Real or take the Saudi money, PSG could still offer him a contract, but you can't do that on FM. In FM, it would be impossible to get him to sign the previous contract he accepted with them as you can't even make an offer. He's on £180k a week for me now and looking at the clubs after him, the most any of them pay is £150,000 a week. It just seems silly that he'd take such a huge step down in quality of the team, I could understand it if he was potentially moving to Milan, the big club near his home town, or a PSG or Real/Barca level team. But to walk away from the Premier League without even considering the offer is just so unrealistic.

I guess I'll have to let him walk, wait 6 months until he's kicking off that they didn't reach the Champions League and buy him back.

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by busngabb

[XaW]

9 hours ago, busngabb said:

But he has been strong armed by PSG twice and he's still there now. Even if he was going to leave to join Real or take the Saudi money, PSG could still offer him a contract, but you can't do that on FM. In FM, it would be impossible to get him to sign the previous contract he accepted with them as you can't even make an offer. He's on £180k a week for me now and looking at the clubs after him, the most any of them pay is £150,000 a week. It just seems silly that he'd take such a huge step down in quality of the team, I could understand it if he was potentially moving to Milan, the big club near his home town, or a PSG or Real/Barca level team. But to walk away from the Premier League without even considering the offer is just so unrealistic.

I guess I'll have to let him walk, wait 6 months until he's kicking off that they didn't reach the Champions League and buy him back.

 

Do remember that "exploring options" often means the player wants to leave to somewhere new. So for some, no matter the pay they'd want to leave. Not ever person is so hung up on money that they will follow it without any other variable. Perhaps a player just hates living in England, don't appreciate the culture, or a myriad of other issues. So no matter what you are willing to offer would make the player interested, they just want to go somewhere else. Why would they want to listen to whatever you want to offer? Their answer would be "no", no matter what number you write.

[WelshMourinho]

Yeah you basically have to sell immediately/in the summer as it triggers when they get 18 months left, or let them go on a free/hope they change their mind.

Feel like this is a feature that needs more fleshing out anyway. It triggers at the same time every single time, and just appears to be random. You can have the happiest player at the club but if you let him get to the 18 months expiry point FM might just decide he wants to move on.

In future to stop it, keep an eye on those who have 2 years left and make a decision on whether you want to keep that player. If not, try and sell immediately to get the most value. If you want to keep them for an extended period of time, be prepared to offer a new contract within the next 5 months.

FWIW, if it gets to the point where they say they're considering leaving, I've found telling them the atmosphere at the club is positive and they usually agree and back down. I'm sure that's probably only depending on your club atmosphere bar on the dynamics page though, so double check that first.

[busngabb]

1 hour ago, WelshMourinho said:

Yeah you basically have to sell immediately/in the summer as it triggers when they get 18 months left, or let them go on a free/hope they change their mind.

Feel like this is a feature that needs more fleshing out anyway. It triggers at the same time every single time, and just appears to be random. You can have the happiest player at the club but if you let him get to the 18 months expiry point FM might just decide he wants to move on.

In future to stop it, keep an eye on those who have 2 years left and make a decision on whether you want to keep that player. If not, try and sell immediately to get the most value. If you want to keep them for an extended period of time, be prepared to offer a new contract within the next 5 months.

FWIW, if it gets to the point where they say they're considering leaving, I've found telling them the atmosphere at the club is positive and they usually agree and back down. I'm sure that's probably only depending on your club atmosphere bar on the dynamics page though, so double check that first.

All that is fine, they are happy. It's possibly the club reputation thing again, which is terribly reflected all across Football Manager.

The problem I have is that any elite level player seems to always have clubs interest in them. For example I've got Zaire Emery, full happiness, but he wouldn't contemplate a new contract because there is interest in him. He won't accept a move when those clubs bid, then tells me he wants to explore his options at the end of his contract. So there is almost nothing you can do to keep players. It feels very much like they've just chucked the 'considering his options' thing in without even thinking about the consequences. Of course in real life it does happen, players do occasionally do it, as mentioned earlier some will have a strong desire to move to a certain club/country/competition level etc, but it just feels like every player does it now, en-masse. I've got five in my squad now that are considering their options, but who won't accept moves when I try to sell them and who won't even consider new contracts. It would perhaps be more realistic if out of those 5 players, 4 or so just used it as a negotiation tactic for a new deal, but the daftness of the agent system on the game means you can't even send them an offer and they don't ever seem to come back to the table to negotiate. Knowing FM's reputation system, they'll walk to clubs not in the Champions League for a third of the wages they're on now, then kick off within a year.