14 Aug 2025 22:21:25
To replly to your question ed25
"if next year Wirtz gets tapped up by Man City and they offer him a 50% pay rise and offer Liverpool £200m for him then he asks to leave what do you say? "
Take the the money! He doesn't want to be at our club, we've nearly doubled our investment, no player is bigger than the club, take the money all day long.
{Ed025's Note - fair play to you mate...but thats not football...thats Monopoly..
14 Aug 2025 22:31:31
That is football now to be fair Ed. I think most fans are realising it now. There’s the odd romantic still out there though.
{Ed025's Note - and thats me FF..
14 Aug 2025 22:55:50
Ask Bayer Leverkusen ?.
14 Aug 2025 23:06:24
Never change Ed25!
{Ed025's Note - i cant even if i want to Davey...cheers mate..
14 Aug 2025 23:08:19
is it football? can anyone point to an example like this?
15 Aug 2025 01:59:51
Absolutely Faith there are countless examples like it.
Nunez to Liverpool, Solanke to Spurs, Pedro to Chelsea, Caicedo to Chelsea, Gyokeres to Arsenal, Mbeumo to Utd etc etc etc.
All players who excelled at there club but wanted to move to further their careers. All signed for smaller fees and sold for huge profit.
You can bet their clubs didn’t want to lose them but they wanted to go so they got the best deal they could. It literally happens all of the time.
The discussion on contracts is an interesting one. You could say that players should honour their contracts. They signed a 5 year deal so they should honour it but so frequently they don’t. So why do clubs sign players to 5 or 6 year contracts and we are now even seeing 9 or 10 year contracts? 2 reasons. The spread the cost over the contract period for PSR and to hold a players value if they want to sell.
So if the clubs are using the lengths of contracts to benefit and protect themselves financially why are we so up in arms when a player wants to leave with 3 years left when his value is significantly high? I mean, that’s why the club gave him a long contract to start with. To hold his value as an asset.
Otherwise no kids would ever get more than a year so the club could just cast them off the books if they don’t work out.
The contract protects the players from just being dropped but the crucial part here is that the contract protects to club should the player want to leave during the contract period. They get handsomely financially compensated based on the quality of the player and the length of his contract.
So let’s not pretend that players have all of the power. Top players do yes, but that’s because they’ve earned it. Tell me an industry where the highest performers don’t have all the power.
The vast, vast, vast majority of footballers are at the mercy of their club and clubs are absolutely ruthless when it comes to dropping players they don’t want.
14 Aug 2025 23:45:01
What, where a player leaves a club for many more millions than he signed for and the selling club let him go without making a fuss?
I would say that describes most transfers.
Haaland, Bellingham, Wirtz, to name a few.
15 Aug 2025 05:42:44
Take the money and do what exactly? Florian Wirtz is generational, you don’t sell those players!
15 Aug 2025 06:24:32
A contract is simply a legal document not a moral agreement.
Imagine getting a 3 year contract in a flour mill and someone offers you a cushy tech job with a pay rise. There seems to be a lot of posters on here who would refuse the leg-up because they feel morally bound to sweep bread mix for the next few years instead. In reality, i doubt they’d choose that option though.
15 Aug 2025 09:16:07
Harry, that’s the whole point being made here, there’s no point in keeping a player who want’s to leave.
It’s about maximising the return and showing future players that if they sign for the club they can move on under the right conditions.
Newcastle seem to have mucked up that last part.