Min Fee Release Clause vs Non at all?

[rc1269]

I'm debating between having, vs fighting against, min fee release clauses for my high prospect players, and wonder what others think about this.  Here's my basic take:

1.  I usually play in mid level clubs, meaning if I ever find a great prospect and then tutor him to perfection, it's just a matter of time before some big club wants to come take him from me.  So, realistically, what is my best bet at preventing his departure?  (player happiness notwithstanding)

2.  Usually I opt to force no MFRC's, if I can.  In the more recent updates (or maybe it was just FM 17), agents are becoming more demanding and sometimes I can't exclude it even if I want to. 

3.  If I don't have a MFRC, the convo usually goes like this later on:

"Why did you block my transfer to Barcelona/Man Utd/etc...  it would have been a great opportunity, yada yada..."

the only answer that won't completely upset them usually is: 

"The finances weren't right.  If they come back with XXXX bid then I'll sell."
"okay, great.  let's talk numbers..."

Then you go through a song and dance where your player forces you to pick a number that you basically know that said megaclub can/will easily pay, and that's that. 

4.  Option B....  try to add a MFRC to the contract, but make it egregiously high.  Often times I've noticed that if I pay a player just a little more, then I can put on $180mm MFRC vs the, say, $30mm they originally ask for.  If my ultimate goal is retention, then it's worth it.  

 

Here's are my two questions --

 

A.  Does having a MFRC (vs none) dissuade the AI from attempting making bids at levels below the MFRC?  Which is to say, if I don't want to have a conflict with a player, am I better off with him having a $180mm MFRC vs non at all, knowing that the AI is much less likely to ever approach him in the first place?  I can't prove this, but I feel like maybe it's the case.

B.  I can't seem to recall, but does anybody know if the player dialog options (such as in the convo mentioned above) change at all if they have a MFRC?  Typically the player essentially asks, "what priced do you require to accept the bid?" - if they have a MFRC on their contract, do they still ask you that question - and demand a commitment to sell - if a bid comes in that's below the MFRC?  I can't believe that I haven't had this scenario come up, but I can't recall if the dialog is different.

 

All thoughts and experiences are welcomed!

 

 

[ryan045]

I tend to stay away from Release Clauses but I'd imagine there would be some dialog for that when talking to the player about a move, My only experience is from buying players from La Liga, Most players seem to have one there and it's difficult to get them to accept anything lower than the release clause in there contract.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

3 hours ago, rc1269 said:

Here's are my two questions --

 

A.  Does having a MFRC (vs none) dissuade the AI from attempting making bids at levels below the MFRC?  Which is to say, if I don't want to have a conflict with a player, am I better off with him having a $180mm MFRC vs non at all, knowing that the AI is much less likely to ever approach him in the first place?  I can't prove this, but I feel like maybe it's the case.

B.  I can't seem to recall, but does anybody know if the player dialog options (such as in the convo mentioned above) change at all if they have a MFRC?  Typically the player essentially asks, "what priced do you require to accept the bid?" - if they have a MFRC on their contract, do they still ask you that question - and demand a commitment to sell - if a bid comes in that's below the MFRC?  I can't believe that I haven't had this scenario come up, but I can't recall if the dialog is different.

All thoughts and experiences are welcomed!

 

No the AI still bid for your players below their release clause (or with addons so the clause won't be activated, though if you ask for more than their release clause the AI will just activate the clause if they can afford the full fee upfront), one of my players has a £500K release clause to teams in higher divisions, he is worth £300K and I keep on offers upto £475K for him, with no one wanting him enough to activate the clause, on the plus side I have now been promoted to the Championship so only Premier League sides can activate the clause but he isn't good for them, instead I get the bigger League One sides trying to sign him.

Yes there is an option in the player talk screen to say you will only sell him if someone activates the clause, though not sure if the game means actually activate the clause or just recieve an offer worth the same - in the above situation I could tell the player when Rangers made a bid for him they'd need to activate his release fee (which Rangers cannot do as it doesn't apply to them), but no-one so far has made an offer meeting his release clause regardless of whether it applies to them or not.

[beardymouse]

I was wondering this exact thing today. I have Pedro Pereira moaning (as all my high PA players are) that he wants to move to a bigger club for the wages. I said 'only if a club meets your release fee', which is £56m. I had bids of £51m but nobody activated the release and everyone seems happy.

Contrast that with players without a release clause. They tend to moan and moan and moan. If I say 'only if a bid comes in that we deem acceptable', the player tries to have a ridiculously low figure - one that would never get me an adequate replacement.

On a related note. I'm now in the Champions League. Why don't I see my targets being unsettled when I make a bid that's rejected? Why can't those players demand a release at a low figure?

[Urg]

5 minutes ago, beardymouse said:

I was wondering this exact thing today. I have Pedro Pereira moaning (as all my high PA players are) that he wants to move to a bigger club for the wages. I said 'only if a club meets your release fee', which is £56m. I had bids of £51m but nobody activated the release and everyone seems happy.

Contrast that with players without a release clause. They tend to moan and moan and moan. If I say 'only if a bid comes in that we deem acceptable', the player tries to have a ridiculously low figure - one that would never get me an adequate replacement.

On a related note. I'm now in the Champions League. Why don't I see my targets being unsettled when I make a bid that's rejected? Why can't those players demand a release at a low figure?

You can unsettle players too. It usually requires some effort though. Multiple rejected bids, declaring interest in transfer, marking it as a top transfer (and then getting your own players to tell him to join you) are all tools you can use. This can take months, so it's good to start before transfer windows.

[kozmik]

3 hours ago, beardymouse said:

I was wondering this exact thing today. I have Pedro Pereira moaning (as all my high PA players are) that he wants to move to a bigger club for the wages. I said 'only if a club meets your release fee', which is £56m. I had bids of £51m but nobody activated the release and everyone seems happy.

Contrast that with players without a release clause. They tend to moan and moan and moan. If I say 'only if a bid comes in that we deem acceptable', the player tries to have a ridiculously low figure - one that would never get me an adequate replacement.

On a related note. I'm now in the Champions League. Why don't I see my targets being unsettled when I make a bid that's rejected? Why can't those players demand a release at a low figure?

I had a defender who was wanted by Dortmund, he came in demanding a transfer so I told him I'd only sell him if his release clause is met, as he was a key player and it was late in January. He said something to the effect of "that's completely unreasonable, no one is ever going to pay that, I won't have you hold my career back" etc. He was valued at about 10 million. His release clause was 14,5 million. Which is what Dortmund bid a couple of days later, only for the player to turn them down because their contract offer wasn't good enough. For whatever reason he remained unhappy so I couldn't offer him a new deal to get rid of the clause, so Liverpool snapped him up next summer. Managed to replace him with a better player for a few million more, though.

As for unsettling players, one trick you should definitely use in addition to what @Urg said is to go watch the player yourself. They seem to appreciate it. But unsettling can take time and doesn't always happen, it depends on many different things.

[michaeltmurrayuk]

16 hours ago, beardymouse said:

On a related note. I'm now in the Champions League. Why don't I see my targets being unsettled when I make a bid that's rejected? Why can't those players demand a release at a low figure?

AI players can become unsettled and sign new contracts with low release clauses - over the versions I've signed a few players who have been unhappy about a bid being rejected, they have then signed a new contract with a release clause lower than what I offered and I've snapped them up in the next transfer window

[ryan045]

Same happened with me going for Suarez, I pestered him for months and months and he signed 2 new contracts with Barca lowering his release clause significantly. Just picked him up for £40M which is nice beacuse his release clause at the start of the game is something ridiculous