I really don't understand the sudden kerfuffle about player options. In the case of Blaize.....how is he holding the club to ransom any more than he would be if his contract finished in 2024 with no options? We'd be competing with other clubs for his signature from 2025 onwards. We are currently competing with other clubs for his signature for the same period, because if we want him to sign for longer, we'll no doubt offer to upgrade his 2025 deal and the PO becomes redundant. The PO is only a problem if we don't want to keep him.
Yeh, we've got 5 players with POs (and we don't know the exercise price), but they're not exercisable at the same time (1 for 2025, 3 for 2026 and 1 for 2027). Of all the problems with our recruitment performance, this seems to me like a 5th order issue, and is well behind things like the positions of focus.