I touched on the situation with Elvis on the transfer thread, back on the 12th August, but I’ll give you a little bit of information on this.
Elvis’ contract was one of the lowest at the Club, having signed a long term deal when he because a pro with us. He did have a pay rise during that contract, however he was still on a lower wage.
Before the end of last season, PB and MM before him, both said to Elvis we’d like you to stay regardless of the division we are in. Elvis made it clear he wasn’t interested in staying with us, which he is entitled to do.
When it came to offering him a deal, we offered the bare minimum to ensure we got compensation should he move on, but he and his agent knew this wasn’t the final offer, and we expected to open negotiations. Once again, Elvis said he had no interest in opening negotiations.
Elvis fully expected to get a move and remain in the EFL, which he was entitled to do, so all communications their end stopped with the Club. As we all know, he then didn’t return to pre-season, as he was a free agent and didn’t have to, but RH was in the same position and did return.
Elvis hasn’t taken part in a pre-season with any club, however he is quite a naturally fit lad, and has and still is, undertaking his own fitness regime to be in the “best” shape possible when the phone rings.
However, the phone hasn’t rung since Orient signed a new right back.
Whether he returned to us, I doubt, he’d have to come back with his tail between his legs, and PB/RM would have him over a barrel in terms of the contract he’d get with us.
Ultimately, he hasn’t done anything “wrong” with the Club. He wasn’t under contract so didn’t have to return to pre-season, he didn’t have to open negotiations with us re a new deal, and he did inform the Club once or twice he had no intention of being here. Again, the Club haven’t done anything “wrong” during this time. Yes we can say about unpaid wages, should have been paid higher (that’s another debate) and so on, but ultimately we wanted to keep him, he didn’t want to stay.
Personally, I’ve never seen the fuss with Elvis. I think he is a very limited footballer (Same with most players that play for us), he got away without much criticism because he was “one of our own” and came through the youth team, and I think JD is a better full back.