Sometimes , just sometimes weirdly I’d like us to go down just so some people would finally understand the gravitas of what would happen .
These players , many on our books are basically a business in themselves , personal sponsors , staff , management, image rights etc in a very short career window . If you think they’d stay . Relegation changes the power balance immediately , the club doesn’t have the clout , financially and in statue to hold the cards
Relegation turns transfer requests from “conflict” into “process.”
There is no process to simply cancel a contract from the player side. Just as Kulusevski’s contract stops us not paying him while he is injured or Ndombele when he decides he cannot be bothered so a long term deal means a player can only leave if the club agrees a deal. If our players values are not met they won’t go irrelevant if they have sponsors or not, nobody forced them to sign a legally binding contract. Unless they have a relegation release clause which apparently they do not there isn’t a legal mechanism for their leaving. Obviously if clubs pays a value we deem acceptable they will go but that is not for the player to determine.
