If that's the case then spare us the mumbo jumbo about why a club — which is perennially struggling because it continues to make colossal blunders with perplexing judgements — employs such tactics for the good of everyone.
Clauses of that nature are shrewd practices to safeguard the interests of clubs, end of story.
It's mind-boggling to think any club is prepared to curtail the career of a player after he is offered a Major League Soccer contract in the United States.
Thirsty Whale Hawke's Bay United coach Brett Angell isn't shy to throw his net out wide globally in recruiting talent for the ISPS Handa Premiership campaign but he offers his heartfelt blessings to anyone who so much as receives a sniff of a contract in the higher echelons.
In fact, it is Angell's mantra that players under his tutelage have a rite to passage to bigger and better things because that should be every coach and club's edict.
He bid Sam Mason-Smith farewell this summer and has paid a huge price — missing out on the playoffs because a big part of the problem is the inability to find someone who can score goals.
Phoenix haven't played ball with Krishna in turning down a lucrative offer from the Colorado Rapids in the MSL.
Any employer will tell you it's counterproductive to try to coerce gifted employees into staying when their heart's not in the job.
I recall conducting post-match interviews with Krishna at Bluewater Stadium, Park Island, where he bemoaned ex-Phoenix coach Ricki Herbert overlooking him.
Fed up, the multiple national summer league golden boot winner disclosed in 2014 his intention to ply his trade in the MLS or Ukraine after finding no traction in the A-League.
"I'm working hard but there's nothing on the table here so, hopefully, I'll get a professional club," he had said after training with the Phoenix for two seasons.
"They were looking for a target man, someone huge — a No 10 who you can hit long balls to so he can hold the ball — but I know I'm not tall," the class act had said with a wry smile.
If ever there was evidence that coaches and selectors are on a different wavelength when it comes to scouting talent then it's hard to go past the Krishna case.
I recall how he, coming in as a replacement in the squad for Paul Ifill before coming a goal shy of equalling the Englishman's club scoring record of 33 goals, had come off the bench to ignite the Nix with sublime crosses after a frustrated Merrick was at his wit's end.
The substitute never looked back, going on to create numerous goal-scoring passes for Nathan Burns as the team's top scorer before the latter left for Asia.
Krishna, who was last season's top Phoenix goal scorer and who former A-League striker Archie Thompson rates highly, seems to have had a peculiar portfolio this season under coach Darije Kalezic.
He remains an adroit provider of passes to players who still cannot plant the ball in the net. It makes one wonder how much he would have prospered under another franchise in Australia.
Is there anyone in the team who can make crucial passes so Krishna can score?
Maybe that should have been the blueprint for Kalezic who, after a 4-0 flogging away at the hands of Western Sydney Wanderers last Sunday, had the temerity this week to declare his players aren't up to A-League standard.
Really? But he head-hunted striker Andrija Kaluderovic and got Matija Ljujic in the transfer window. The former still can't score with his feet, although he can head them in when someone can provide it with pin-point accuracy, and the latter, after a speculator goal on debut, hasn't shown much.
Wee-Nix winger Logan Rogerson isn't in the frame and Sarpreet Singh, who I argue isn't too far off A-League calibre, warmed the bench on Sunday.
I suppose Kalezic will want another season to show what he can do with his muster.
Auckland City FC captain Mario Bilen, in saluting coach Ramon Tribulietx, said last Sunday in Napier: "They say there are no good players in this country but you can always find them if you know what you're looking for."
Amen to that and perhaps the Phoenix should seriously consider Tribulietx who NZ Football seems to have negated on credentials.
Having elite stripes doesn't necessarily mean you're a great coach — just ask Ifill.
Apparently two medical specialists can't detect Krishna's injury. I say put that down to an employee taking sick leave because, if what his boss says is true, it's pointless soaring like an eagle when among a flock of turkeys.
What's odd is Kalezic ruling out the striker before an impending fitness test on Saturday. In a small fish pond, there's imminent danger of Krishna finding himself out of the water.
If I have a criticism of Krishna, it is that he isn't selfish enough as a forager. But you tend to expect that from a bloke who hails from the humble sugarcane milling town of Labasa.
Therein lies the irony. The modern definition of chivalry is someone having a choice. That is, the choice to do the right things, for the right reasons, at the right times.
It's time Krishna got selfish and put his future before anything else.
