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There is still a false pretext for players to leave the clubs without paying. In all cases negligence on the part of the club is assumed. That they have somehow been outsmarted by an elusive agent and the waiting predator beneficiary. Even as Oliver Kay of The Athletic reflected on the Gini Wijnaldum situation in Liverpool on Wednesday, he adopted a similar tone, saying:
The midfielder is about to enter the last six months of his contract, which means that, unless a new contract is agreed before January 1, he is only nine days away from being able to sign a pre-contract to sign for Barcelona, Inter Milan or another foreign club on a free transfer at the end of the season. “
There are no criticisms of the piece or the writer, it is very well balanced and argued. However, he takes advantage of the subconscious fear of failure around players leaving clubs for free. The narrative is fraught with subconscious dangers. We recently wrote about the situation in Liverpool in 2023, where several major player deals are about to expire, which were based on the same indirect fear.
And to raise the question that if, as Kay writes, Liverpool are willing to let Wijnaldum go and aware of the inevitable need for an eventual dismantling of the current squad, what if they take a similar stance with others ? Currently, the three forwards, the captain, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri are facing contract expiration in 2023. Without a doubt, the mature ones like Chamberlain and Fabinho probably will be offered. new offers, but the others are so safe?
Van Dijk has yet to receive a new contract since signing for the club, despite the fact that his track record is well above what it was originally when he signed. And what do you do with the first three? Surely if you are going to sign one you have to make an effort to sign all of them. The problem is, they will all be over 30 in 2023 and, like Wijnaldum, will be looking to maximize their earning potential with his next deal.
It shouldn’t be underestimated how complex this can make things, just look at Liverpool’s own prodigal son Steven Gerrard. If anyone had deserved to leave Liverpool on his terms, it was Gerrard, but the contract negotiations broke down due to the perception of his age and value. It can be argued that the club is in a different place now, but the same is true to some extent with Wijnaldum.
And so we return to the original question, what if a large part of the Liverpool team left without a fee attached? Would the perceived beneficiary of a scenario be automatically assumed to be people like Mohamed Salah or Roberto Firmino and their representatives? Emre Can is a name that is constantly thrown into the hat, but he remains one of the best, not worst, Liverpool outings of recent times despite the separation of any transfer fees.
It is a difficult decision, but the club and the coach know it perfectly, as well as the players. Given how much Liverpool have benefited from this roster and the value for money that nearly all the signings have proven to be, the situation with Wijnaldum is one that we may see repeated more than once in the next few years.
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