Photo by Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images
Photo by Shaun Brooks - CameraSport via Getty Images
Manchester United’s hopes of signing Lewis Hall next summer have hit a roadblock with the contract extension, or have they?
After failing to sign Lewis Hall this summer, partly due to their own lacklustre planning, Man Utd didn’t buy an alternative.
The message was clear, and it was that United would come back in for their chief target next summer.
Hall is set to sign a contract extension with Newcastle now, and while that sounds like doom on paper, everything changes with one detail.
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Photo by Paul ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images
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Lewis Hall’s extension could be a transfer play
How many times have we seen players sign a contract extension when they were on the verge of an exit, only to leave immediately thereafter?
Hall has seen that things can go wrong at Newcastle, and he has also seen that United aren’t going away.
In such circumstances, it doesn’t make much sense for him to commit to a deal that takes the power out of his hands entirely.
He’s a wanted man, so the best thing he could have done was to negotiate a higher wage for himself and demand an exit route.
Newcastle would happily give the former, but they might have been forced to give away the latter in fear of weakening their position next summer.
If Hall has managed to get a release clause in there with the extension, then it simplifies things for everybody.
Newcastle know how much they will get for Hall if he leaves. Man Utd know how much they need to pay for Hall, so there’s no room for negotiation, and the player has clarity on his future and increased wages.
In modern Premier League, where transfer fees have stopped making sense, this is perhaps the only way through which Hall could move to Old Trafford.
Unless he has found undying loyalty towards Newcastle after just three games under new management, Hall would be misguided if he hasn’t negotiated an exit clause in his extension.
It makes things clear and simpl for everyone involved, and ensures that United can start next summer with their chief target in town should they want.