Player/Agent Incompetence?

I've seen many strange things in transfer negotiations, but never a player/agent not understanding what they've just said...

I had a bid accepted for a guy who's on squad rotation for another club at £22,500 p/w. He asked to be first team for me at £20,500 p/w; I could only offer him that wage as a key player so I did. He rejects it, saying he feels he's deserving of a better basic salary. So I rejigged my budgets so I could offer him £20,500 as a first team player; he rejects that. So I offer him £22,500 as a key player; he rejects that and says he would never consider joining my club for that kind of deal. So I offered him £22,500 as a first team player; again, he would never consider it. Even offering him a raise just got that same "would never consider joining" response.

I wouldn't mind if he'd asked for stupid money, but he's made a perfectly reasonable offer that I've accepted in full and he's just flatly turned it down, and it's actively got worse as I've offered him more money. WTF?

I wouldn't call it incompetence. A player makes a demand, and when he sees that the team has succomb to it, he decides he wants more.

what about signing on fee

Did this negotiation go on something during the end season where you just got promoted and had some sort of cash injection?

Because depending on which division you play for, their demands could vary quite alot.

Just like when turning from semi pro to pro. The pay for the exact same player will go up from like 400 p/w to like 2-3k p/w. So if you happen to offer them contracts at the wrong time, you have to pay alot more.

It was during pre-season (Premiership, early July) and yes, the signing on fee was exactly as he requested.