FM09- Problem signing players?

I don't know if anyone else has had this problem but when I tried to sign a player in my first season, a number of teams made offers for him also. But after that, nothing. For weeks it just kept repeating that Sheff Utd. had made an offer of 250,000 for this player. Nothing gets accepted, no contract negotiations, nothing. I tried withdrawing my offer and making another, same thing. The only way I got out of it was by permanently withdrawing the offer. Subsequently the player signed for another squad. Not helpful.

I've had no problems signing, in fact it seems to have been easier than previous years. That may be down to my stupidly high budget though