Is my Bosman transfer messed up?

[SpHSpH]

Renato Steffen has a contract that ends in 2016. I tried to transfer for him during the January 2016 window. I did not do "sign on contract expire" - I did an actual transfer by paying the transfer fee to his original club.

His club accepted my offer, and then I negotiated a contract with Steffen, and then he accepted my contract, and then I closed the deal.

Now, when I go to the squad report, Steffen DOES list on my roster (good) but his status is "Joining FC Lorient upon contract expire" (not good). Does this mean he will stay with my club for the rest of the season - but then disappear in the summer to go join FC Lorient?

I have read about some messes with paying the contract for a player who is not on your team ... but I thought that I was able to avoid that problem by signing the player outright (rather than doing the Bosman transfer). Am I boned?

[Skyflame21]

I think with your transfer might have come after he already agreed to his bosman move. Yes, you can still transfer for him but he will move on the bosman contract in the summer. Basically you rented him for 6 months. Not sure if that is how its suppose to work i.e. a glitch but that seems to be how it works in the game.

[SpHSpH]

This is very annoying.

So, yeah, he will play for my team from February through May ... and then be on his way to a different club. The transfer fee that I paid ($$$ + player) is certainly not worth it for four months of service.

And, from what I have read elsewhere, I might still be paying his wages when he is playing for the other club in the following seasons (and, possibly more important, he might count as a player against the 52 max slots that I have on my roster).

Yes ... this is very annoying.

[SpHSpH]

Follow up on this ...

In my other career mode save, Swansea, it is nearly the January transfer window. I had made it my plan to try for Charlie Austin from QPR. He has an expiring contract in 2016 (this save was started before he made the real-life switch to S'hampton).

Is it possible for me to transfer him to Swansea for real? I do not want another 5-month "rental" ... nor do I want to do this the "Bosman" way and wait until July 2016 for him to join. I want to do in-game what S'hampton did in real-life ... I want to pay QPR a transfer fee, agree to terms with Austin, and have him on the Swansea roster (and only the Swansea roster) beginning February 2016.

Do I have to do lots of re-saves and hope I never see the email about another club approaching the player to sign after his contract expires?

[Skyflame21]

The only way I saw to work around this is to do both. Sign him to the bosman contract and also make the transfer. I do bosman first so you know you have him in July. Then make the transfer for the remaining part of the season. It shouldn't cost much after he signs his bosman. The team usually will take less knowing he's gone anyway. Unless it's a start... Messi, Ronaldo, etc.

Kind of annoying but best way I've found of getting around the issue

[Skyflame21]

I noticed that if you can get the transfer done quickly, you might be able to resign him. I'm not sure if it locks out resigning once the player reaches his 6 months remaining on his contract.

[SpHSpH]

I see your reasoning with the "do both" suggestion. Will I end up being charged 2x for his weekly wages?

I can (FIRST) enter into a Bosman agreement with just the player - and he will have to accept wages / contract length / bonuses. And then I (SECOND) agree to transfer terms with his current club - and then again have the player accept a new contract.

The "contract" step happens twice ... that is why I am curious about how the game will "bill" me for that value. And, also, will the player count twice against my roster limit of 52 players? Hmmm ...

- - - -

Just wondering ... it *IS* possible to sign a player via transfer even when he has six months remaining on his deal, right? As I said earlier ... this is EXACTLY what just happened with Charlie Austin, QPR, and S'hampton.

[Skyflame21]

I'm not sure how that would happen. I'd like to think you pay the transfer wages until the upcoming July when the bosman contract would then take over. But I do not know how that would actually work.

Definitely save prior to so you can go back if it completely messed up your Season.