Gosling, when offered an extension to his contract in May 2009 declared "there's no other club I'd rather be at" [18] however no extension was agreed and his contract with Everton was due to expire in June 2011. In June 2010, Gosling and his advisers discovered a legal loophole governing the contracts of players under the age of 24, and demanded the young fringe player be able to leave as a free agent at the end of his current contract. This would enable him to negotiate a higher wage and a substantial signing on fee with any other potential club. On 6 July 2010 the Daily Mirror reported that the PFCC tribunal's decision allowed Gosling to leave Everton with no compensation being paid to the club, as an extension to his current contract was only ever offered verbally and not in writing.[19] The tribunal agreed with Gosling that because Everton had made contract offers verbally and not in writing, then they were not valid. Had Everton's contract offer been in writing the Merseyside club would have been entitled to compensation should Gosling have moved to another English club (but not to a non-English club). The tribunal's decision also meant that Plymouth Argyle F.C. would receive no monetary amount despite a sell-on clause in Gosling's Everton contract. The Daily Mail reported that the player had rejected a verbal offer of a £15,000 a week contract from Everton[20] because his father felt he deserved pay parity with the young £30 million rated Everton star Jack Rodwell
Apologies if this has already been covered but, if Gosling's contract runs until summer 2011, why is he allowed to leave with a year of it still remaining? Is Gosling's father his agent? It sounds like young Dan has had he head turned. It's alright him being a free agent, but he's however many months away from being able to play football after a bad injury. Will we need to pay up the final year of his contract? Will he sue us for his rehabilitation on the injury he recieved whilst playing for us? If not, it seems odd that he will risk being without an income and being responsible for the cost of his own rehabilitation with no guarantee that he will pass a fitness test at another club. I'm sure that we won't have heard the end of this one.
It is a shame to lose him but, if he wanted to go, who's to say that he wouldn't have run down the last year of his contract anyway? I suppose it's swings and roundabouts. How much would Beckford and Mucha have been worth on the open market? Leeds and Legia Warsaw probably feel as hard done to as us.
