If Joel had a few enemies around the town and the club wanted shut of him because his personal life was affecting team morale, then I'm pretty sure either him or his agent would be negotiating a pay-off based on the length of his contract.

For me, as soon as someone wants to pay Wigan the remainder of his contract then I'd let the lad leave. If he wants to leave that badly, then maybe he should buy his own contract out. If the figures quoted are correct, he'd make that back by the end of his 1st year.

Not sure I follow what you're saying about French RU - would the French RFU not respect an English RU club's registration?

I'm sure a judge would rule in Wigan's favour, by the way.

But if I were Sarries I would offer say £200k to settle Wigan's claim, if Wigan refused the offer and took the case all the way to court and were not awarded more than £200k by the court then Wigan would normally be liable for Sarries' costs (in addition to having to pay their own) incurred after the date of the offer.

That's why Wigan aren't in a strong position. The player just isn't worth much, you couldn't argue otherwise in court given the (relatively) small amounts British RL players like Joel are paid. If IL fights this he could end up with a legal bill bigger than the compensation for Joel leaving.

This whole situation is getting tiresome. The club should release an official statement either confirming or denying the talks. Everyone seem to know its true anyway through word of mouth but it would be nice to hear from the club on the matter.

We need an announcement that an announcement will soon be announced.

The question running around in my head is why sign a 5 year deal, knowing that if a bigger offer came in ie. RU or NRL for that matter, that you would want to leave?

Is there something going on behind the scenes at Wigan making the players feel un-easy or unhappy?

Maybe I'm just thinking too far outside the box but IMHO something just isn't right about him signing a 5year deal and then not long down the line wanting to leave.

I wouldnt read that much into it mate, Money talks. Also given the fact that since he signed that new deal hes now won everything worth winning in the English game and feels like he needed a new challenge?

Hopefully as someone has posted his friends and family have had words with him and managed to talk him out of it though

I've found a problem with this. It's probably just a rumour. Will we get compensation then?

Wigans position is very poor.

Let's assume JT want's to go and Sarries want to pay £100k. Wigan want £300k.

What can Wigan do? Refuse to sell to Sarries, (even assuming that they are allowed to). JT effectively refuses to play (wasting both money and CC space).

I fail to see how Wigans hand is strong in this one.

Wigan Observer tonight reckon the fee is £250-000 and will be sorted in the next few days, well that should get us a decent centre if they aren't going to play Josh there.

Well if Sarries don't pay up, why should Wigan release him? Thats like you wanting to sell your house for arguments sake, £100,000. But someone only bidding £75,000 for it, are you really going to take less then the valuation? No. Until you get the right offer, why should you accept? Exact same with Wigan and Joel. This is all pure speculation mind you, anything could be going on with it now.

If he wanted to leave he shouldn't of signed a 5year deal. Simples.

Not selling your house wouldn't have a detrimental effect on your livelihood though. You would simply ask for a price and if it wasn't forthcoming then you'd stay with the status quo.

The problem Wigan have is that if we refuse Joel a transfer because we haven't got what we feel is value for money then he may refuse to play or play poorly. That has a detrimental effect on results, performances and team morale overall.

£250,000 is probably a reasonable amount considering the arguments about the strength of our position in these negotiations.

You don't get this do you?

That analogy simply doesn't work.

Ok let me put it another way, using the example I gave.

Option 1 - Wigan take £100k, benefit from not paying JT's salary, benefit from not having JT's salary count on the Communist Cap.

Option 2 - Wigan get no transfer fee, have to pay JT's salary even though he doesn't play and have it counted on the Communist Cap.

Now what's your point again?