With Aluko being the latest player the club have allowed to get to the last year of his contract before starting negotiations on a new one, can I ask if Worzel Gummidge is in charge of player contracts at City? We should have a policy of signing players for an extra year with an agreement that it will be reviewed by both parties two years before it terminates. If either party prefers not to extend the contract at that stage the player is put on the transfer list and sold at market value. please log in to view this image Maybe we should ask Mr Crow Man?
I suspect Aluko dictated the terms of his contract, we were not alone in trying to sign him and he was free.
Maybe in those circumstances it's more difficult, but the club need to get on top of this even if means having a policy of flogging players early like I understand Spurs have.
Possibly. I just don't like seeing the club continually held to ransom because whoever deals with contracts isn't ahead of the game. There must be a way of re-negotiating contracts earlier than we do in order have some control over events. Even if that sometimes means calling a player's / agent's bluff by putting them on the transfer list if they refuse to sign.
We're held to ransom by players who have better options, like Aluko did. He had offers from top flight clubs around the world including in Spain and Italy, so we really had no choice but to offer him what he wanted as he held the cards, where as if we were the best option for a player I'd expect it to be the opposite.