Free Agents – Clarification of Who We Can and Can’t Sign

More than one person has contacted me this morning to tell me that we’re on the verge of making a double-signing; a striker from Fleetwood and a defender from Nottingham Forest.

It doesn’t matter that it isn’t the transfer window just yet, because both players have been released by their clubs so they can sign for us. The defender, one presumes, is Alexander Milošević, who was recently released by Forest and who would be massively out of our pay grade. As for the striker, who knows. James Wallace?

The clear problem here is the understanding of the transfer window; it’s the same issue with those wanting us to bring Matt Rhead back to the club. A team can only sign a free agent IF that player was a free agent before the transfer window closed. Milošević, as utterly far-fetched as that would be, couldn’t sign for us because he was only released this week. There is a get around of sorts – if the Player was last registered as (or is currently being registered as) a Scholar or Academy Player. So we could make a permanent move for a young player released yesterday who didn’t have a professional contract.

James Wallace actually could sign for us; he was released by Fleetwood at the end of last season, but as he’s a midfielder it’s unlikely. However, if you do want to start these rumours then it’s vitally important to ensure they’re actually viable. Make sure you check to see when the player you’re linking us was released and, just as an aside, that the player you’re linking us with doesn’t demand five-figure sums per week as the former Forest man undoubtedly would.

Who could we sign? I’ve done lots of these articles before, but to add some additional context here are a handful of players we could still make a move for. Many of them could not add the sort of qualities Michael Appleton is looking for. He wants young players to come to the club, not those who have already served much of their career. I’ve tried to drop in a few younger players who might not currently have clubs, just for discussion.

When thinking we’re going to be active between now and January, read this list and then try to say there’s an ace up the manager’s sleeve; the cold, hard facts are that we’re going to get through the next few months with what we’ve got, unless we take a punt on one of this lot.