Cannot offer key player a new contract :(

OK, I get the whole "I've only just signed a new contract so I'm not prepared to talk about a new one" thing but this situation is slightly out of the ordinary and I really think under these circumstances the player should at least talk to me.

I have this player and he is GOAL MACHINE, I mean seriously a "goal a game" striker. Check his stats:

When I originally signed him, his agent insisted on an £18m release clause, fair enough, seemed reasonable. Ever since I realised he was a freaking god, I've been trying to get him on a new contract with either no release clause, or a higher one, but he/his agent simply would not budge. It got to the point where he had less than a year left so in September just gone I signed him up on a new 4-year contract, again with the £18m release clause.

Now it is January and Boro have come in with a an offer of £27.5m (£18.5m over 18 months, £3.6m after 10 goals). This was automatically accepted as it exceeds his release fee.

Fair enough, I haven't got a problem with any of this so far. The problem is, Boro have offered him a contract (obviously) and I cannot counter-offer because he "recently" (3 months ago) signed a new one, so I am about to lose him.

Now if he chose Boro's contract over mine then fair enough, it's all part of the game but to not even have the chance to offer one I think is a little bit unfair. So.... what do you chaps think?

Not sure if it works the same way for the AI but I would assume that he will rejects Boro's for the same reason, then again i'm not sure this has never happened to me.

I think the more alarming thing is Boro paying £27.5m for a player they can get for £18m. The AI really is terrible sometimes.

Also I thought the bid only got automatically accepted if ti was the full amount in cash. In your situation that isnt the case so you should be able to reject the bid.

Yeah me too. The deal breaks down as: £5.5m up front, £18.5m over 18 months (so, actually £17.83m up front, which I guess triggered the clause - FM rounds numbers up/down in the oddest of ways when talking about transfer fees etc so I will assume that the up-front fee and the portion of the spread payment that was payable immediately add up to £18m). Then another £3.5m after 10 league goals (that will take him about 10 games then!)

Anyway it matters not as he accepted their offer and is no longer a Fulham player. Git.

EDIT: He's wangled himself a £55m release fee on his new contract with Boro! And £145 grand a week + £14k appearance and goal bonuses, which I would have gladly matched, had I been given the chance!

I support the implementing of agents in the game but in my opinion there are a few things that should be considered in the future. The not interested in negotiating a contract is one of them, especially if it is one of your own players. Sometimes when money is tight it can be difficult to resign some players and the negotiations fall through, then you might sell a player or two or free up some more money in another way and think well now I have the money to pay this guy. Hit offer new contract and you get told that the agent/player isn't interested in negotiating due to the previous breakdown in talks. Well sure I can buy that but somehow I think you should still be able to throw down a paper and say this is the deal we are prepared to offer and that way maybe lure the parties back to the negotiation table.

Agreed with the OP and mimland, too. It wouldnt be too hard to code an exception to the rule that players dont go into contract negotiations within 3 month after a new contract when they are offered a contract by another club.

It's really frustrating how difficult it is to budge a player on minimum release clauses, practically have to bribe the player and agent by as much money as you want to raise the fee by, to the point it seems almost pointless to raise it, as you're spending 5 million to raise it by 5 million. It's just too rigid and I don't feel it accurately models the changing reputation of both player *and* club - and their potential.

I bought a player who was worth 9 million (pounds) to me at the time, few years later with 33 mill release clause, he's now worth £19m and his stats havent changed a bit - just my club and his reputation have changed, so the valuation has too. So he's looking a very juicy target for other clubs, because he's less than double his value for the minimum release clause, yet I'm finding it extremely difficult to get him to drop it - despite winning the champions league he still wants it there.

call me a cheater but I edit the release clauses with the editor. I don't think its very realistic and it makes no sense that a player wouldn't agree to a release clause higher than his current value when he agreed to the earlier one years ago

call me a cheater

Cheater1010101

If a player demands a release clause that is sensible from his point of view (often the same as you bid for him), this is the same as him saying he doesn't want to stay at your club. It is much easier to remove the clause altogether than to increase it.

My star defender wanted a ridiculously low (i.e some clubs may want to pay that as it is lower than what I would demand) release clause, so I resorted to giving him more than he wanted in wages and bonuses... and maxed out his agent's fee in order to remove it - and he accepted. Doubling it would never have worked...

Moral of this story is next time dont be a cheap skate

When you gave him his current deal you should have offered him a ridiculous wage that other clubs would be unwilling to match. You say you would have gladly matched Boro's offer but you had the chance (granted hindsight is a wonderful thing) As Biggus said with a release clause its best to offer silly money (if you can afford to) and remove them, especially for key players.