Any information on early transfers? Just curious.
I guess by early transfers, you mean during the first couple of seasons of my save.
2013/14
I had a limited transfer budget to begin with:
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Tom Ince was my first signing for 3.2-million from Blackpool, with Kelvin Davies and Guly do Prado going to them in part exchange. Ince has been consistent for me ever since, whether playing in the M_L or AM_L position. His info says that he's also good on the right hand side as an Inside Forward, but I prefer wingers to get to the byline and put crosses in, which he does very effectively. He was voted 3rd in the World Golden Ball 2021.
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Simone Pepe, a right-winger who came to me on-loan from Juventus, was my only other signing during the first season. He was very quick and had a knack of scoring counter-attacking goals.
2014/15
The second season probably represented my worst in the transfer market, as most of my preferred targets wouldn't entertain the prospect of coming to St. Mary's. The positive stand-outs were:
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Fraser Forster, GK, from Celtic for 4.7-million.
- Mexican centre-back
Hector Moreno lacked a little height but read the game well. I signed him from Espanyol for 10-million. The way I replaced him worked out really well; I signed a 4.5 star potential teenaged regen from the Belgian side Genk when Moreno still had a year left to run on his contract at the age of 30. So I loaned Roel Rutten back to Genk for a season, where he played 50 matches - resulting in his 'current' rating getting closer to his 'potential'. When Moreno left on a free at the end of that season, Rutten arrived as a soon-to-be world class defender to replace him - and then we won the Premier League title for the first time.
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John Stones was a bit pricey at 5.75-million, but he has been a reliable back-up to Nathaniel Clyne at right-back and has never complained about not being first choice. He can also deputise at centre-back.
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Anton Putsila, M-L, signed on a free from Volga NN in Russia, scored a few goals and then went to Swansea City for a healthy profit the following season.
2015/16
This was where things started to pick-up, despite Nicola Cortese's insistence that I sign more Italians:
- Adam Lallana's real-life rise to prominence post-dates the release of FM14, so while he was a decent squad player, I had to bring somebody else in. I signed
Jonjo Shelvey for 9.5-million and trained him to play in the AM_R and the M_R positions, to add to his existing competencies at M_C and AM_C. He's been excellent for me, especially as a right-sided winger, and with good long-range shooting ability and height, he scores plenty of goals. He's also good at penalties. Now that I've progressed the save, he's more of a squad player, but is still reliable - and very distinctive during the 3D match animation with that bald head!
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Tin Jedvaj is one of FM14's known super kids. I got lucky when Roma transfer-listed him after a mediocre loan spell with Ajax, enabling me to pick him up for 2.4-million. He's a Croatian centre-back and being able to pair him with Dejan Lovren meant that he settled in and picked up English quickly. His scouted star rating has declined recently, despite him only being mid-20s, but his performances are still good. He's tall and quick.
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Paolo Dybala from Sampdoria didn't suit my original 4-5-1 Assymetric system, so I eventually sold him to Stuttgart. But I'm sure he would have done better as the Shadow Striker in the 4-4-1-1 system that I play now.
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Simone Pasa was a decent DM_C.
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Daley Blind, a 6.25million signing from Ajax, could never usurp Luke Shaw at left-back but the man's hair is magnificent!
2016/17
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Alberto Masi, D_C, came to me on a free from Juventus and did well despite being a rotation player. I sold him to Granada for 15-million two seasons later and replaced with a similarly rated free signing from Dortmund who is two years younger.
- I signed
Ross Barkley but never got the best out of him - mainly due to injury and the form of other players. But he did well in flashes and if I hadn't had Shelvey, for example, he might have done better for me. Inevitably, since releasing him he has scored and created goals against me for Leicester City.
2017/18
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Jack Butland came in from Stoke City for 9-million to replace Forster, and did so well during his three seasons at St. Mary's that I sold him to Monaco for 26-million (and replaced him with a 5-star potential Egyptian regen keeper, released on a free by Barcelona).
The only other real players that I have signed since were an ageing
Bastian Schweinsteiger (I only signed him to prove that I could!) and the Mexico captain
Diego Reyes, who was out-of-my-league when he was at Porto at the beginning of the game, but eventually came to me via CSKA Moscow and a 34-million minimum fee release clause to add a bit of experience to my squad of high-potential regens.
I still have Nathaniel Clyne (30), Luke Shaw (26), James Ward-Prowse (27) and Jay Rodriguez (32). Morgan Schneiderlin only left for Genoa this past summer after being the captain all this time; Dejan Lovren went to Juve Stabia last January and Adam Lallana had been out-of-favour for over a year before we mutually agreed to terminate his contract at round-a-bout the same time.
The early sales of Victor Wanyama (20-million to Real Madrid) and Jack Cork (6-million to Arsenal, with Emmanuel Frimpong in part-exchange) gave me plenty of transfer money to play with. The club was taken over two seasons ago and the stadium's capacity increased to 42,790.
This season, after selling Erik Gomez - a Mexican regen Striker who scored 66 goals in three seasons - to Manchester United for 70-million, I now have 59-million left in the transfer kitty and a 5-million wage budget that is double the actual wage bill. But I can't sign anybody new unless they are a teenager, because I can't register them for either the Premier League or Champions League without leaving one of my existing players out. Not that I want any more players for this season. I've got several Saints Academy players who I'm trying to blend into the squad and feeder club arrangements with Fiorentina, Coventry City and Eastleigh to help develop them to their maximum potential. Selling those who don't quite make the grade provides a useful bump to the transfer budget, too.
It's well-worth scouting Mexico, by-the-way. A lot of their players can speak English, so they don't take so long to settle into their new club, and the players that were so successful at the various levels of FIFA's youth competitions over the last few years are now that bit more mature. They produce good regens, too.
The team is very good and I think the players suit the 4-4-1-1 tactic well. Just for imagination:
) The squad can handle Championship program very well. About Gary Mackay-Steven. Very clever player with flair, but gets injured every second match. It's so annoying, that I was thinking about selling him a few times. Lansbury has stamina attribute on 12, but never notice and big problems.