Clubs have a tough choice to make when a key player starts to enter the final 12 months of their contract. They need to decide if they should cash in, pay over the odds for a new contract or let him go for free. You also have to consider that they player might not give their full effort to make sure they don’t get injured.
It’s the situation that Bournemouth face over Ryan Fraser and it looks like they want him to stay.
According to an exclusive on 90min.com, Fraser has been offered a new contract worth £100k a week to stay with Bournemouth. The story goes on to say clubs like Arsenal, Chelsea and many others have been interested in him so he would have a lot of clubs to pick from if he did leave for free.
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He scored six times and provided 14 assists in the league last season so he’s clearly a productive player at this level. It would remain to be seen if he could actually step up and play for a truly giant club.
There’s no other details on the contract yet apart from the reported salary. It’s quite common to see players sign new deals with a relatively low release clause to ensure they get their move and the club can make some money on the sale.
Another interesting thing to note is according to The Daily Record, Aberdeen included a 20% sell-on clause when they sold him to Bournemouth, so they will be desperate to see him stay and then be sold on for a decent transfer fee.
He’s struggled to make any sort of impact an international level, however he does play for a rotten Scotland side so it’s impossible to judge him on those performances.
Bournemouth have until January to sort out a new deal before he can start to speak to European clubs about a pre-contract agreement.