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Possible KEY Contract Extensions
I decided to test the waters on a possible contract extension with our best player, Wonderkid Neil Cairney.
His agent was open to talks and when I saw their initial wage demands, while higher than allowed by my board, I knew I could talk them down to a level that would work for our club.
So I left the room and started negotiating with our stalwart striker Giorgos Gesios instead.
Why, you ask?
Well, Gesios had a "match highest earner" clause in his contract and when I signed Cairney last year for 39,000 pounds per week, Gesios has his salary bumped to that number as well. I don't want that clause coming back to haunt me so I went to work with his agent on a new deal.
It took some doing but I finally got his agent to agree to a new deal in principle WITHOUT that clause and from there, I went into a room with Cairney's agent and worked on them.
I was able to get the wages squared away quickly and I had no problem with Cairney having the "match highest earner" clause but the sticking point for me is the "minimum release clause" - it was at 25.5 million pounds and Cairney's agent wanted it kept at the same level.
Remember, last season Liverpool bid close to 26 million for him but we were fortunate that Cairney rejected their contract offer.
So, trying to protect our asset, I decided to hold out for a minimum release clause set at 40 MILLION POUNDS. It took some back and forth but in the end, the agent AGREED to my terms - Cairney is set to get a nice raise, I'd get an extra year on the deal (it would be a four year contract) AND I get some additional peace of mind that someone will need to bid 40 million pounds if they want a chance to buy him, of course, barring our board accepting a smaller deal without my approval.
So, with that all said, we wait to see if the players accept their deals.
Very, VERY exciting!
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