contract questions

Being new to football, as well as football manager I have a few questions about signing players.

When I look at my scouting reports, it mentions that I can approach to sign a player on a pre-contract in so many years. What exactly does that mean? Do I still have to pay transfer fee, or is the player somehow available to the highest bidder? The time is usually far out in the future, but I'm curious if I should consider it when making an offer for a player.

I have some youngsters that I have received email about going onto loan. In the text, it mentions that his contract ends soon and my youngster is considering a contract from a different team and is expected to sign in the next few days. Can I lose a player like this without selling him? Do I need to make an offer to keep him on my team? If I just send him on loan will I end up losing him?

When I went to make an offer on some players, there was a note that they would need a work permit. What is involved with a work permit? Is it difficult to obtain?

1. That means that you can approach them directly without needing to agree an offer with their club. You can offer them a contract, as can other clubs and their current one and the player decides whether to leave and accept an offer from you or another club or remain with his current one. There is no transfer fee involved so the player will go for free if he is over a certain age (24, I think) but compensation will be paid to his club if he is under that age. The compensation is shown on the contract offer screen in the game. I generally don't take any notice of it unless the player it says less than 12 months as usually if it get's to that stage then he is undecided whther to stay or his club are undecided whether to keep him. If it is more than that players will usually sign new deals. Another thing the closer it is being able to approach him then his transfer value will go down so you can actually buy him for less

2. No you can't lose a player like that unless, as above, his contract is due to run-out soon. That message in the game is only regarding a loan contract and he is only going on loan to them and will return whenever you wish (if you put in a recall clause), or the other club wishes or when the loan ends.

3. Work permits are used in England and other countries. Non-EU players need them to join a club in the countries that work permits are used in. Your scout will usually tell you if he will not get one. Players must have played in a certain amount of international matches for their countries to obtain one. Special dispensation is given to players with high reputations or high ability and these are likely to get one as well. Providing you have an affiliated club to lessen the difficulties, you can still buy a player that is not eligible for a permit and they can be loaned out to this club where they can gain EU citizenship and so will not need one anymore.

Hope that helps. If you need any more assistance don't hesitate to ask.

Here is more about work permits

Originally posted by rashidi1 in the FM2008 FAQ

Explain work permits and how to get them

Work Permits are one annoying thing to get around. They are needed in the UK

and Ireland. So how do you get your player a work permit? What does he need to

get one?

Well, if the player you are looking at has one of these nations as either his

main nationality or second nationality (basically the EU + some other nations),

you're fine:

Code:

Austria Germany Norway

Belgium Greece Portugal

Cyprus Holland Slovakia

Czech Republic Hungary Slovenia

Denmark Iceland Spain

Estonia Ireland Sweden

Finland Italy Switzerland

France,including French Guyana Latvia United Kingdom

Guadeloupe Lithuania

Martinique Luxembourg

Reunion Malta

If it isn't, you'll need a permit.

First of all, the player's calibre is taken into account. If he's a very good

player, has many international appearance's etc then he'll most likely get the

permit first time round. If not you can always appeal the decision, and usually

get the decision in your favour.

If your player was rejected a permit, why did this happen? Well, people are

given Work Permits if they are skilled workers. If your target is not much

better than British players, there is no reason, in the governments eyes, to go

for the foreigner and ignore the English players. Its purpose is to protect the

Economy from being saturated with foreigners, and help give the British people

jobs, no matter what the industry. I used the UK as the example, but the same

would apply to other countries needing a work permit.

There are ways to get around this though. First of all, you can get a European

feeder club. This means that even without a permit, you can still buy the

player. By sending him to the European feeder club for a couple of years, he'll

eventually gain EU Citizenship = instant permit. It's a lengthy process, and

I'd only recommend it for players who are 21 or under. Each country takes a

different amount of time for foreigners to gain EU Citizenship there, so here's

the list:

3 years 4 years 7 years 10 years

------- --------- -------- -------

Belgium Spain Denmark Greece

Poland Holland Slovenia

5 years

-----------------------------------------------------------

Austria French Guyana Italy Renuion

Cyprus Germany Latvia Slovakia

Czech Republic Guadeloupe Lithuania Sweden

Estonia Holland Luxembourg Switzerland

Finland Hungary Malta

France Iceland Martinique

Ireland Portugal

As well as loaning out, every so often you can try offering your player a new

contract. He will be reapplied for a permit, and if you're lucky, he may be

granted one.

When searching for a new player too in South American countries, keep an eye

out for his other nationalities. Many Brazilians have Portuguese/Spanish, and

some Argentineans have Italian as a second nationality. If you find players

like this then it means they will get an instant permit.

In Spanish-speaking countries (or ex-Spanish colonies) you wait only 2 years to gain citzenship.

Here are the requirements (point 1 refers to the number of international appearances by the player in question)

1. 75% in last 2 years of competitive matches

2. Nation ranked in top 70 on average in last 2 years (rankings are on the World Cup page)

If neither of these are met then a good CA should get you one on appeal (good premiership player-ish in scout reports).

Thank-you guys!

That helps on some confusing issues.