The odds have always been stacked against Nelson signing a new contract.
1. He ran down his contract at Plymouth
2. He’s seen other Oxford players eg Dunkley, Rothwell, Lundstram and Ledson all run down their contracts into the final year and then leave for relatively small or no fees.
KR has done the right thing to withdraw the captaincy given the lack of progress re a new contract.
The club needs to rethink how it can prevent this type of thing happening e.g longer initial contracts for key players and begin renewal negotiations much earlier, allowing more time for the player to be sold on the clubs terms if negotiations stall.
I seem to recall Hanson was signed on a 4 year contract, which may mean KR is already on this.