with that 8.5mill i pretty much rebuilt my entire squad. First, ask the board to increase the percentage of transfer revenue from 40% to 50%, then, get rid off all the deadweight such as ameobi, best, lovenkrands etc. (i sold pretty much my entire team apart from the key members, jonas, collicini, cabaye, tiote and guitierez)
Then go about purchaseing your team, some good buys are ( all prices are the complete sale value of the players i bought, you can stretch the payments out over 48 months or pay them off whatever method you see fit)
GK - krul lol
never bought any yet coz krul is class, but there is a brazilian goalkeeper you can pick up on loan if you want extra cover, i just cant remember his name atm lol)
DR - Bandalovski 22k, Sime Vrsjalko 2.9M, Lamine Gassama - Loan / future fee 1.9M (french league loaded)
3 quality rightbacks on the cheap, bandalovski has been epic on my current save, dont listen to coach reports about the guy, he is immense, lead the league in intercepts for 2 seasons, and have just been offered 12 million for him, not a bad return, you can also retrain this guy to play anywhere along the back 4 and he does them all with relative ease, a real gem of a player in my eyes, Sime is a good young player that has a high reputation and potentially a very high resale value, everyone knows about him, he is very versatile and can play nearly anywhere on the field bar the front line, Gassama is another good option if you have french leagues loaded, i bought bandalovski and loaned him as cover for the season and both of them have been immense, up to you what you do but therey are the best options i can find around atm
DC - Rafael Toloi 2.9M, Johan Martial 2M
the cb postion at newcastle is suprisingly well covered in taylor and collocini, so i opted in buying good talented youth prospects, both players have the potential to be key players for my team, toloi in more of the collocini role, and martial in the taylor role, i played both of them in cup matches and 3 quaters of the way through the first season they eventually replaced my 2 first team cb's due to there form being so good, get them while they are young and cheap or you wont be able to afford them when you need them
DL - Aldrete 2.2m, Erick Pieters 2.5M, Maksim Bordachov 900k, Wayne Bridge loan
newacslte needs a LB quickly, aldrete is a really good cheap option, the only proplem is you MUST! bid for him at the very very start of your FM game (when you get given bugets etc) because Celtic always seem to get him the very next day on my saves, but if you fail to get him pieters is the next best option (best in others eyes, i just find his determination too low for a defender imo) Bordachov and bridge are good backups if needed, but either pieters and aldrete should be your first signing at newcastle as that lb spot is top priority
DM - Adam Vass 675k (italian leagues loaded), Andre Jalil 350k
both top quality players, Adam Vass is a bit of a moaner if not getting first team games, got him for backup to tiote and he started complaining after about 5 games that he wasnt getting enough game time when he had the same amount as tiote lol, but if you can handle him right he is a beast for that price, world class DM for less than 1M, and still really young, a must buy, worth loading the italian leagues just to buy him. Jalil can actually be bought for $0 up front and 350k over 48months, so your pretty much getting him for free, he is very good backup for cabaye, nevr complains and always performs when called upon, 2 very cheap must buy players in my eyes
AM - Bressan 500kish, Adam Lallana 500k + james perch, Giovanni Dos Santos 4.4M
As i dont play with an AM i dont know very much top talent you can get in the first window for cheap, but bressan is good enough standard for cover too ben arfa, a nice little trick is also at the start of every save ive started with newcastle, southhampton always want james perch, use that too your advantage and take adam lallana off them for a fraction of the price, offer 500k + james perch and the boy is yours, just his wage demands are a little high for the actually quality your paying for in my eyes, GDS is currently one of my top performers in my newacstle save used as an inside forward, he can be bought for as little as 900k upfront and the rest over 48months and he is awesome to watch on his day (back to back tyne vs wear derbys in league and cup and he finished the 2 games with 4 goals and 6 assists O_O) seems to be a big game player also, just dont give up on him if his for isnt too your likeing at the start of the season
Fwds - Wilfried 2.5M, Sturridge Loan, Quintero 2.7M, Mouche 130k
quality strikers aint hard to come buy for the measly crumbs we got to spend from carroll, wilfried on one of my saves managed 45 goals in 31 games as a lone advanced forward / poacher, just be warned he is very injury prone, daniel sturridge on loan is a MUST!! sign deal, he has just been immense anywhere ive used him on any fm2012 save ive played thus far, only have to pay 50% of his wages, and if anything sign him now and get among his favoured personell so when his contract expires for chelsea in the future you will be able to pick him up for a lot cheaper than what he is worth, Quintero is an old favourite of mine from previous fm's, and he is still the god of cheap poachers, him and sturridge managed to get 80+ goals between them in my first season as newacstle manager and proppelled me to a 2nd place finish in the league overall, very highly reccomended. Mouche i mention as he is a mixed bag, ive signed him twice now as cover to Dos Santos on my right inside forward position, first time he was immense, scoreing screamers from everywhere and was top scorer in the league cup and fa cup and managed selling him for 15M!, next save not so good, but worth the risk at only 130k, has a dual passport so work permits are fine
thats pretty much my newcastle business in the first window give or take, didnt sign everyone, just though id give you some extra options to pick from. Make sure though that in january you keeps your eyes open for these players
Erick Torres 3.6M, Carlos Fierro 1.2M, Taufic Guarch - not sure of the price atm will have to check
those 3 players are mexicans that i tried to sign at the start but got denied work permits on appeal even though my scouts say they should be accepted, wait for them to get a few caps under there belts and then sign the lot of them, Torres and Fierro are GODS, torres came in straight away and scored 4 goals on his debut from left wing even though he wasnt even competant at the position yet, and fierro is only 16 but if you dont snap him up when you can you will be paying 15M+ if you want to buy him in the future, and guarch is a touch of class aswell
Alex Tiexera(sp?) 5.25M
bought him as cover for cabaye, extremely cheap for his abilitys, can actually be picked up for said price at the very end of the first transfer window due to him not getting a lot of first team football at shaktar, just up to you if you wanna sign him straight away or at a later date
hope this reply was helpfull, just remember to get rid of all your deadwood and play your key players till january at least to increase thier value so you get a better price for them, thankyou and goodnight