A player approaching the end of his contract is a dangerous beast, as any club official would testify. Especially if they is a good player, a player of value to the team or a potential sellable asset. Today we’ve got a couple of examples, both from Serie A. Napoli captain Lorenzo Insigne and Fiorentina striker Dusan Vlahovic.Insigne and Osimhen 😎Napoli = 🔝 of Serie A#UEL pic.twitter.com/huZdYxwzuF— UEFA Europa League (@EuropaLeague) September 27, 2021 Insigne has entered the final year of his contract and is expected to sign on. After spending his entire career with the club, few could imagine him playing for any other team. But it counts for nothing, really. If Lionel Messi could play for a club other than Barcelona – then anything is possible.”I only think about playing and about what happens on the pitch. My agent takes care of the other issues. I always put the team in front, I always work hard and I always arrive with a smile. I don’t think about the contract, there’s time to discuss with the club. My agent and the club will take care of it, I still have one year.”At 30 years of age, Insigne may not be a player who could bring a lot of money to Napoli in case the club decides to sell him. But the fact he’s still stalling with a new contract suggests that he might like to try playing in a different shirt – maybe for a club who could offer him much better terms than the Neapolitans. Sunday, 19.00: (4.00) Fiorentina (3.60) Napoli (2.00)The case of Dusan Vlahovic is different, but it also shows how powerless clubs are when it comes to contract negotiations. Even though the prolific Serbian goalscorer’s deal runs until June 2023, his club Fiorentina is already getting nervous. Unless he signs the contract that’s been offered to him, he’ll enter his final year of contract at the end of the season. And if that happens – Fiorentina will have no control whatsoever.Fiorentina president Rocco Commisso admits he is ‘getting irritated’ by Vlahovic’s contract extension talks. “I don’t know if he’ll sign, let’s all just stay calm. I told Dusan that he is taking a huge risk not signing this deal. We are offering him a five-year contract worth $47 million. I had to work a whole year to earn what he would in two or three days. I don’t know how football reached this stage. We’ve been working on it for months, some days are more positive than others. I speak to Dusan and he says he’s only focusing on the pitch and I should talk to his agents, then I talk to his agents and they say I have to speak to the player.”Vlahovic to DAZN: “My idol? The player I like the most is Ibrahimovic for his character and desire to never give up. He never lets anyone to command him, in addition to his outstanding plays.” pic.twitter.com/0CFs8TC0v9— Milan Eye (@MilanEye) September 21, 2021 The Serbian striker snubbed huge potential transfers over the summer to Atletico Madrid, Tottenham Hotspur and Inter. His current form is so good that he’ll undoubtedly draw interest from some of the wealthiest clubs soon. Fiorentina are desperate to tie the player to a long-term contract and thus make their position in any future transfer negotiations a favourable one. But, you see, the player is “focusing on the pitch”.In the world of modern professional football, players can afford to act innocent, “focus on the pitch”, let their contract expire and leave to whoever offers them a satisfactory contract, leaving their old club with no income. Of course, there is the whole ethical and almost philosophical debate in it: does the player owe any kind of loyalty to his club? After all, it says nothing in their deals that they should bring transfer fees to their employers. The fact is that professional footballers only need to focus on the pitch. But there are some rules that aren’t written on paper.##EDITORS_CHOICE##While we wait to see how this contract saga concludes, Insigne and Vlahovic will meet on the pitch on Sunday, when their current clubs meet in a Serie A fixture.
