CM4 - Why are other teams signing my players?
 

In my Columbus Crew dynasty, Kyle Martino and Brian West had contracts expiring at the end of the year. New England snuck in and signed Martino, and he will transfer at the end of the season. LA did the same to West. Huh? :confused: I never agreed to transfer them, but every time I look at a player on another team whose contract is expiring at the end of the year, it appears that I have to "transfer" draft picks for them. What gives?

Hmmm. Check to see if your Assistant GM is handling contracts (if you have one). It this is not the case, check each of your players and make sure that you don't have them set up to accept any transfer offer. Otherwise I don't know what to say.

I know you are playing MLS, but maybe a hint of European Soccer is creeping in... In Europe you can offer a contract to another team's players 6 months before it expires, effective when it expires.

This is what I think is going on. When you look at your player roster, use the contract status view. You can sort by expiration date. Once they are within six months of that expiration date, anyone, who's contract expires at the end of the season, can talk with other teams. You can stop the process by renegotiating with them before this time. I think the roster view will show these player's contract status as 'unprotected'.

I don't know anything about soccer, but play alot of CM. So I know I am not using the correct terminology, but I'm sure someone will soon. I think this might be called a Bosman transfer, but I really don't know.

Yes, a Bosman transfer is the correct term. I've learned quite a lot about European soccer from CM :)

Thanks for the info. I still wonder how I can use the Bosman transfer to my benefit. I haven't found a player who I can negotiate with without going through the "transfer" process. I tried to renegotiate with Martino, but he liked New England more. I suppose it is because I had him ranked as a backup even though I was playing him like a first team.

Okay yanks- the Bosman is actually an example of player power for once. In the early 90's, a Belgian footballer named Jean-Marc Bosman (Im not sure about the first name) had an expiring contract, and didnt like the offer his club gave him. Another club was interested, but his club, having at this time essentialy veto power, demanded a ridiculous transfer fee- no FA so to speak in that league. As it happened, I believe the subsequent lawsuit went all the way to the European Court of HUman Rights, and the right of a player to free agency (he can start negotiating when he has up to 6 months left on his contract) became known forever as the "Bosman" ruling. As for Bosman ? He made his move, had a so-so career, and is new in relative poverty- curt flood, so to speak.

You could go to Player Search and set up a search whereby you filter out all the US based players who's contracts are expiring, then sort by contract (I think the game considers anyone with a contract expiring within a year as "expiring"). That should give you a list of all the available US based players. If you are still playing CM01-02 then you can check the "Interested" button and filter out only the players that are interesting in joining your team as well.

Bosman only applies to players under 24 years of age. Therefore, you should be able to sign any player 24 years and older with less than 6 months remaining on his contract.