I will probably have to ensure each player will transfer back to their original club in the game file to prevent players signing newer, shorter contracts. I opened the game save and saw that their wage demands for a new shorter contract (max length in game = five years) were rather affordable at least for the bigger clubs, so I'll probably have to set them to rejoin their former clubs so that they don't run out of contract and then leave the club after going rogue and signing a new shorter one without my control...
Complicated stuff, but I need to make sure each and every player is there for the seven years and don't go into perpetual free agency because of dumb in-game board of directors
So, say: Steven Gerrard to join Liverpool on 1.7.2019 et cetera, when their current contracts run out that is.
Or I'll just send them in the 2020's to some lower-tier Scottish clubs! Either way, doing this, all of the players will play out all seven seasons of our draft with their status intact.