So wanted "one last save" on FM18. Decided to go back to Mexico, and after toying around with other options, I went back to Lobos BUAP. They are the smallest and weakest side in the Liga MX, and heavily reliant on players on loan. The upside is that once you can get a couple of young players, you can play them immediately and watch them blossom. Mexican produces some great newgens. So does the United States, and they are always available on no compensation because of the amateur rules there. And South America makes a great shopping mall.
Snapped up a couple first-day newgens, most of whom were unattached. An American Striker named Michael Kuntz, a Mexican winger named Daniel Coyote, and an American right-winger named Noble. A pretty decent DM and then some South Americans who couldn't join until they were 18, but they can join on "trial" until then. They can't play league matches while on trail but they can play youth matches. Best addition was real player, Farinha, who is an 18 year old Brazilian DM free agent who makes for a pretty good Segundo Volante. And he has the potential to develop. He stared pretty much from day one. The club lacks wide attacking players, who I ended up retraining three of the strikers to play wide.
Did well in the first season, making the Apertura playoffs and winning the Closura entirely. The other big problem with Lobos is that their sponsorship money is so far behind the rest of the league that you lose money. Quite a lot of money. Attendances aren't bad but well below the rest of Liga MX, and the tickets are so cheap that even selling out every week would only help so much. The balance went down to like minus 6m by the end of the first season. The new sponsorship money was nowhere near enough to cover that negative balance, despite some of the bigger Liga MX clubs getting like 35m a year. I've posted it as a bug before and SI said they would look into it but I seriously doubt they ever did. The negative balance meant I got pretty much no transfer funds. The first youth intake for the club was hot garbage, but that's not surprising because the facilities are pretty poor. I was able to grab a couple of nice prospects from other Mexican clubs, including a 16 year old leftback who immediately became my starting LB. Had to get a GK on loan from another Liga MX club for season 2.
My big hope was for a big sale. I've had a couple saves with this same club previously on FM18. On one, money ceased to matter after I lost a LB then a striker to Dortmund in the second and third summer, respectively. Got something like 25m and 35m, so yeah, money trouble solved. That was the hope again here. My last couple of non-Mexico saves have been Russia and Brazil. Clubs in Germany, France, and Portugal have been particularly aggressive in those saves. In the Lokomotiv Moscow save, I got almost 100m for 2 players from Monaco and they would have bought the rest of my squad if I was willing. So I was hopeful that I could get some big clubs interested here. Two problems, though. One is that I need to develop Mexican players for the home-grown rules, so I was hoping it wasn't my best young Mexicans they wanted. And two, the value of some of my players moved up slowly. No real bites after the first season. I did sell my best striker but didn't get all that much - he scored regularly but he rotated with Kuntz so his value went up more slowly. I sold him so I could give more matches to Kuntz and a Paraguayan newgen behind him. I hoped to rustle up a RB, with no luck. And with the veteran fullbacks on the roster all declining badly (pace is gone on all of them), I decided to start retraining the American RW Noble to play RB. He wasn't brilliant, as he doesn't really have the defensive skills yet. But he worked well enough.
Second season went well as well. Won the CONCACAF Champions League, which isn't really all that challenging since its other Liga MX clubs and MLS sides (which are a step down in quality, generally). The payout is a massive $450K so not exactly enough to solve the money concerns. Farinha was a monster - averaged over 8.00 per match for the first half of the season. Kuntz did well as the main striker, and Coyote is really developing. The season just ended, and after being 7m in the hole, the new sponsorships put us at just 2m in the hole. The board injected some money too. So again, relying on the hope of selling a player to even things out and have some money to spend. Listing someone and proactively trying to sell them usually means getting less, so was just hoping some rich clubs would target someone. Had Flamingo put in a bid for Farinha around March 2019, but it was like 5.5m structured and non-negotiable. Said no and he didn't complain. Benfica wanted him for a bit but never made a bid (all my hopes right there, dashed). His value is like 6.5m now. I would take anything over $10m as long as much of it was up front. Then Tigres made an enquiry on my Peruvian winger (who I converted from a striker). He's one of those players who performs quite well but has no real outstanding attributes (nothing over 15, but almost everything of importance between 10 and 14), but he's also old enough not to have much room to get better. I asked for 10m. Tigres countered with 6m, which is basically his value. I asked for 10m again, flat. They accepted. So money troubles not quite solved, but at least alleviated.
So we were 6m to the good. I got 2m in transfer funds. Played a bit later than intended last night and got partway thru the summer of 2019. Got the board to agree to upgraded training facility, youth recruitment, and youth coaching. That's a step forward. I spent almost a million on a 17 year old Mexican RB newgen with 5 star potential. He is my immediate starter. Spent less on a 16 year old Mexican keeper and DM, since they came from 2nd division clubs. Paid compensation for a 5 star Bolivian striker (not needed) and 5 star Chilean DC (sorta needed). Unfortunately, the Chilean doesn't join immediately. Tried to get a really impressive 5-star newgen left winger from Lanus but they wanted too much and I figured I could wait on him. So I will probably move Noble back from RB to RW and use a few other young players as cover. I'm in this weird situation where I have depth at weird places, and none at others. Because I haven't had much to spend, and I've been targeting Mexican players, the actual focused squad building has been... minimal. I have gone after newgens who I could sign cheap, on minimal compensation, or on free. So you take what you can get.
Heading into season 3, I have two good central defenders, a third who is poor for the level but Mexican, a developing 19 year old American who isn't ready, and a 5 star Paraguayan newgen who was unemployed and is turning into a monster while on long-term trial, but doesn't join for awhile. I don't want to buy a central defender because once the Chilean and Paraguayan join, I don't want them blocked. Maybe a loan. GK is similar. My only senior GK is a guy who has been backup for two years because he's not adequate for this level, and he's declining. I have 2 16 year olds of decent potential but inadequate quality at the moment. Trying to sign one on a free, but some Brazilian clubs have also made him offers. That 17 year old RB is backed up by Noble (did well, but not a RB) and a re-trained Colombian (actually an MC). Have a glut of central mids, so some have been retrained to play wide, deeper, etc. I did try listing the 30 year old left winger (retrained from striker) as he's going to decline and lose value. But no one has made a decent bid yet. I would still sell Farinha in a heartbeat if the bid is decent. Toying with the possibility of selling Cortez, my MC. I have several players who can play there quite well, and he'***** his potential cap. His value is like 7m and he's on high-ish wages, but he's a club favorite. If I knew I could get 4-5m, I would list him. Have a feeling I will end up getting like 2 or 3m and ticking off the other players and the supporters. Still might do it.
Realize its common to rely on newgens and end up with a young squad. And yet its still exciting when you look across you squad and see all this young potential. Not sure what will happen with GK, but the better of the two 16 year olds will be rotated in. My two center backs are mid to later 20s, but my starting LB is about to turn 18 and my first choice RB is just turned 17. Farinha is 20 but his backup/replacement is 18. The other starting DM is 18. Cortez is mid-20s, but his replacements are 18 and 19 years old. Coyote on the left wing is about to turn 18. Noble on the RW is 19 and the backups are 18. Up top, Kuntz is 20 but the Paraguayan and Bolivian are both 18. Potential all over the place. If I can keep the side mostly together for another two seasons, it could be a real powerhouse. I do hope to / need to sell players, but I'm really hopeful its only certain expendable ones (it won't be lol). Its been a fun save, and kinda cool to go outside the typical leagues that most of us run in.
