Nick Haugton?

[Notts78]

He'll be gone in January - probably to Posh for around 50k + sell on clause. A good season or two with them and he could net us a more substantial sum.

That makes no business sense IMO. Not to Posh anyway. They can sign him for free in January (but he joins them in June)… the risk is he gets injured, but is that not the same for most?
It’s very much up to Rubes now. We have zero say other than we can choose not to sell in January. We can’t force him to move to a club, even if we accept an offer. He might choose to stay with us until the end of the season and move to a club of his choice (who he signed for in January). No risk to Rubes that way as the contract can’t be ripped up if he gets injured, and we get a player we love who will be committed to our promotion push.
It might be interesting if we are flying come January what Rubes does and whether we can tempt him with a new contract. I suppose it depends on whether Championship or a decent L1 clubs comes calling…. Assuming he gets no interest from good clubs ‘back home’.

[tommopie8]

That makes no business sense IMO. Not to Posh anyway. They can sign him for free in January (but he joins them in June)… the risk is he gets injured, but is that not the same for most?
It’s very much up to Rubes now. We have zero say other than we can choose not to sell in January. We can’t force him to move to a club, even if we accept an offer. He might choose to stay with us until the end of the season and move to a club of his choice (who he signed for in January). No risk to Rubes that way as the contract can’t be ripped up if he gets injured, and we get a player we love who will be committed to our promotion push.
It might be interesting if we are flying come January what Rubes does and whether we can tempt him with a new contract. I suppose it depends on whether Championship or a decent L1 clubs comes calling…. Assuming he gets no interest from good clubs ‘back home’.

Unless I'm wrong - domestically you can't approach a player officially until the last month of their contract so when the season is over in Ruben's case.

They could agree a gentleman's agreement and he could break his leg. A top L1 club might want him to bed in within their squad and see if he can hack it at that level. If he can, £50k is a paltry amount for a team of that ilk and would stave off any potential competition in case he has a blinding season.

[Notts78]

Unless I'm wrong - domestically you can't approach a player officially until the last month of their contract so when the season is over in Ruben's case.

They could agree a gentleman's agreement and he could break his leg. A top L1 club might want him to bed in within their squad and see if he can hack it at that level. If he can, £50k is a paltry amount for a team of that ilk and would stave off any potential competition in case he has a blinding season.

I believe an approach and a Pre-Contract can be done 6 months prior to the existing contract ending.

You sign the player on what is known as a pre-contract agreement, for the player to join your club on a free transfer when their current contract expires. You can only sign players this way who have less than six months remaining on their contract, and are over the age of 23

[tommopie8]

I believe an approach and a Pre-Contract can be done 6 months prior to the existing contract ending.

You sign the player on what is known as a pre-contract agreement, for the player to join your club on a free transfer when their current contract expires. You can only sign players this way who have less than six months remaining on their contract, and are over the age of 23

That's the case with international transfers - couldn't find any evidence of it being used domestically.