New contract setup

I know some like the new contract, but I have just taken over Port Vale and they have 8 players who have 6 month ish left on their contract. I am basically going to lose them as they will not discuss with me the contract.  They are all leaving on a free, so my star players are all leaving me and I have no money to replace them.

In the real world, players would be talking to managers all the time and managers can start the conversations. All I am now left with is a team with 4 off them agreeing other contract with other teams, so I am now trying to get players in from all over the place.