Before anybody states the obvious, yea I know how a contact works and that you cannot just rip it up.
However, what you can do is take walkers squad number, tell him he won’t play again in the first team and that we won’t loan him out either. Essentially, he will sit for another year of his contact (he has one remaining). Then give him an alternative which is an immediate mutual termination and release.
So his options are he sits for another year and maybe plays a few reserve games, his stock sinks lower and if somebody signs him at the end of the next contact he will have hardly played for 4 years. Or he gets out now and is a free agent and he can possibly get a contact with somebody at a half decent level.
I feel for the lad I really do, but we signed him to a five year contact and haven't had much back on that so I have no issue in playing hardball with him over his future. There is absolutely no way we are going to sign him past his current contact.
If you can get rid of Walker then you can give Hardaker two years and probably get Hooley in as well. Myler is a good full back, I suppose the difference with Smith is that he doesn’t really seem overly fussed about the structured full back into the line cut out pass winger in the corner, that was essentially Agar’s main attacking play and myler was a massive part of it.
