The "free skills" are strength/speed & stamina ....everything else will cost you wages.
I've pasted (below) a handy little chart to show how much each player should cost you (roughly), please post back if your players highest skills don't match the wages shown in this chart. Hope this helps.

Skill / Wage

1 500
2 800
3 900
4 1300
5 2400
6 2700
7 3200
8 4800
9 6600
10 9000
11 13000
12 17100
13 22300
14 28900
15 37300
16 46800
17 57800
18 70600
19 85400
20 102200

Will this come into effect next week

Do they not go up during the season?

happens at season changeover, (so this saturday).

wages are based on the highest trainable non fitness skill.

I always turn over 3-4 players every season end. Individual player wages of $28-46K. So normally $100-150Kish trimmed per season.

For example, just sold 2 players with wages of $36/37K each. And fired a $57K 31yo. All done before yesterdays financial update, so saved $130K wages this offseason week.

Still got another 2 I'm thinking about turning over. Another with $36K wage, and a kicker that will be $46K wages next season, (currently $23K).

It's all part of the game.

today is saturday. and yes it is today. read the news titled 'preseason' if you require confirmation.

i picked my youthpull early too 16yo 4.5 talent 19 con. he turns 17 today. dumb me. lol