DubaiSpur
Ian Walker
The fact that we have gone into this season with 3 of those borders on negligence from our Chairman IMO.
To be fair, I don't think Levy's at fault for this. It's just one of those things - we thought they would sign, Poch thought they would sign, they didn't. Given that the environment at the club has generally been one of trust for the past couple of years, and other key players have signed deals (Dele, Hugo, Kane), it didn't seem unreasonable.
Personally, I think we're on the cusp of a sea change when it comes to players - the era of Bosmans is about to come about. Players are now educated enough to know that they hold the cards as their contracts tick down, and clubs are willing to pay massive wages and signing-on fees to get them on frees. In general, that outweighs any risk from a potential injury close to the end of the deal - because players know that their current clubs would prefer they sign a contract anyway, just to get some money for them later. There's no real risk to running down your contract that outweighs the potential benefits if you're fit and firing when it ends.
There are a lot of big players with contracts ending over the next two years. Time will tell, but I'm betting a lot of them will move for free.
Nuno Espirito Santo hinted as much when it came to football and the transfer market - he said we'd see a sea change in football in a couple of years, but he didn't want to be specific. I think this is what he was referring to.