With money so tight, much like Watkins the question needs to be asked, how much will we get for him next summer compared to this? He's a wonderful player but apparently we've put a club record contract in front of him and until now he hasn't signed. Fuck Champions League, I never heard him complaining picking up his salary every month, having the best medical care money could buy when he was injured.
Footballers are entirely entitled to do this. I don't blame them looking after number 1 for a moment, if it is something they're legally entitled to do.
I cant see why he wouldn't sign the higher salaried contract but with a release clause if we don't make the CL.
Of course they are, that's stating the obvious but I do wonder what are his motives. If he doesn't want to play for us I'd prefer he fucked off now rather than later or worst still at the end of his contract for nothing. As for looking after number 1, how many millions is enough? Maybe it's not greed, maybe playing in the CL will enhance his chances of getting in the French squad, maybe it's his agent looking after number 1 or he's been tapped up. What I do know is next summer we are going to face similar financial headaches as the UEFA financial rules kick in for the PL. If player trading is our only real way to try and compete, then we need to maximise sales values no matter who they are.
Quote from: pauliewalnuts on July 11, 2025, 09:36:32 AMFootballers are entirely entitled to do this. I don't blame them looking after number 1 for a moment, if it is something they're legally entitled to do.I don't see why more of them don't.
Quote from: LeeB on July 11, 2025, 11:47:33 AMQuote from: pauliewalnuts on July 11, 2025, 09:36:32 AMFootballers are entirely entitled to do this. I don't blame them looking after number 1 for a moment, if it is something they're legally entitled to do.I don't see why more of them don't.Do they need to, Lee? It seems the big money in football has moved from the clubs to the players. There doesn't seem to be as much money about for transfers but players salaries appear to have gone up astronomically.Not sure how true the values are here but it's interesting and even fun when you look at other clubs.https://www.capology.com/club/aston-villa/salaries/
We can’t really sign players who run down their contracts and then get annoyed if they do the same thing with us.
There's the risk of getting injured with only a few months left on your contract I suppose. You'd be up shit creek then (relatively speaking of course).