FM24 - The Youth Path

[misterioBean]

5th August 2024
Preseason, First Transfers and First European Fixtures

Preseason

We had a pretty good preseason and most of our players are now fit and ready for the upcoming season.
In between these games, we had some Europa League fixtures as well.

Our first opponents were Union Saint-Gilloise, a team we faced previously in a friendly and beat 5-2.

UEFA Europa League
League Path Second Qualifying Round 1st Leg

We dominated the 1st leg and got a 4-0 win.
Dieu Michel scored on his 1st team debut which is always great to see.

UEFA Europa League
League Path Second Qualifying Round 2nd Leg

We couldn't get another win in Belgium though.
Despite playing very well on the 1st half, they dominated us on the 2nd and scored two goals to equalize the game.

Our next opponents are the Czech side Mladá Boleslav.

August

Not an easy start in the league by any means, specially when we have some European fixtures inbetween matches against Sporting and Porto.

Transfers Out

Nélson Oliveira left the club to join Goztepe for 40k.
I said I wanted him gone so there he goes.

Unfortunately, Handel was sold to PSG for a whopping fee of 2m...
I really have no idea why his value is always this low but as you can see even as a PSG player it maxes at 2m.
Anyway, when PSG came in for him and I rejected the first bid he got mad and since I don't want any mutiny in the club I agreed with the player I would accept a new offer if they paid 2m. They offered that exact amount and I included a 50% future fee clause so if he ends up being sold we will get half of the transfer.

Other than this two, we just had a bunch of loans.

Transfers In

We had 14 players joining the club in July but one of them was Kaio César who was already here so let's just say 13.

Darren Robinson was the first one to join as his contract at Derby County was ending.
He doesn't look awful and he's still 19 so maybe he can develop well. If not, he'll be sold for profit.

Another player who had his previous deal ending was Aurelio Oehlers.
Again, he doesn't look too bad and hopefully can develop. If not we'll just sell him later.

3rd free transfer of the window as we sign the ex-Dortmund left back Jaden Korzynietz after his contract ran out.
Similar situation to the last two.

The last free transfer we had joining us was the midfielder Daniil Dushevskiy. He signed for us back in March and was at the club in trial. Now his official contract started and it's another situation like the last 3.
He has a good personality and good mentals for his age so if he can develop he'll be brought into the 1st team.

The first transfer fee we spent was on the Brazilian winger Jhonatan Kauan, who joins us from Internacional for 575k.
Not sure if he'll develop much though.

We then spent another 650k on another winger. This one came in from Slovan Bratislava and looks beeter than Kauan in my opinion. Lacks a bit of mental attributes but I'm hoping he can develop them.

We then paid 195k for the Danish striker Axel Bertelsen from Nordsjaelland. He looks good and only needs to develop his composure and decisions a bit more. If he does I'll call him up.

425k were spent to bring in the 19 year old midfielder from North Macedonia Martin Gjorgievski.
He looks promising and can play everywhere in the midfield so it's a good option to have at the club nontheless.

We keep strenghtening our midfield with the 18 year old Colombian Caleb Morelos, wjo joined from Deportivo Cali for 325k.

Morelos was joined by his compatriot Elin Rivero, who joined us from Atlético Nacional for 350k.

Viktor Radojevic joined our club for 975k and was the most expensive signing we made this season so far.
He's a decent wing back and now we have a proper backup for that position. He'll still be playing in our B team for now to develop his attributes but he may become better than Zé Carlos as Mangas backup very soon.

Matteo Cucinotta joined us from Deportivo Riestra in Argentina for 165k and looks very good in my opinion. He's definitely a player we can compare to Telmo Arcanjo as he fills in the same wide playmaker role. I may train him at the midfield just because he lacks some speed but I think that for the price he looks very promising.

Our last transfer in July was the Dutch striker Jesper Uneken from PSV for a fee of 500k.
Looks promising as well and I hope he can develop well to come into the 1st team soon.​

 

[misterioBean]

3rd September 2024
Better Than Expected

UEFA Europa League
League Path Third Qualifying Round 1st Leg

Good win to start the month as we beat Mladá Boleslav 3-0 in Guimarães.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 1

We start our league campaihn with a 1-1 draw against Sporting playing in Lisbon. Not a bad result considering our opponent but we dominated the game and totally desearved the win.

UEFA Europa League
League Path Third Qualifying Round 2nd Leg

When we travelled to Czechia Boleslav gave us a bigger challenge but it still wasn't enough to stop us and we beat them 6-2 on aggregate.

Liga Portugal Betclic

Amazing win against Porto for the league as we took a while to score and it took a penalty shot to open the scoreboard but we dominated the game once again so it was a well desearved win.

UEFA Europa League
League Path Playoff 1st Leg

We got drawn against Galatasaray in the Playoffs and we knew it would be a big challenge.
When we played at the D. Afonso Henriques, we couldn't get more than a 3-3 draw. Zaniolo was just amazing on this day.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 3

Despite not beating the Turks, we once again dominated for the league and beat our rivals Braga playing away from home.
Once again, we dominated the game but we take quite a while to score the first goal.

UEFA Europa League
League Path Playoffs 2nd Leg

I came into this game thinking it was over for us, but then Dieu scored twice in 10 minutes and Galatasaray wasn't doing anything to get back at us. Tiago Silva then really sealed the win for us with a penalty and we are going to the Europa League League Phase.

Our Europa League fixtures are not the best but could also be worst.
We have some manageable games and can maybe squeeze in some draws and sneaky wins against the stronger sides.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 4

Despite our amazing month in August, the first September fixture brought us our first defeat in the league against Boavista.
Terrible result in a not so good performance but I had to rotate our side a bit due to fixture congestion.

League Table

After 4 game we sit in the 6th position but we already played 3 of the hardest games we have in the calendar year and there's only Benfica left amongst them so we will probably go up some places soon.

September

We now have 2 weeks with no games followed by 4 games in 2 weeks so we'll have to manage our squad's fitness well in order to prevent injuries.

Transfers Out

We had some heartbreaking news when Varela came to talk to me asking to leave for a better side.
He was the league's best goalkeeper last season and was also a team leader here. When I rejected his request he turned pretty much the whole squad against me so I had to let him go.

He joined Espanyol for a fee of only 11m and Benfica got 50% of that so we only made 5.5m with this sale.
It felt liek rubbing salt on an open wound...

The only other player leaving the club on a permanent deal was Zé Carlos.
Despite being only 22 years old and being a very good squad player to have in the club due to his versatility, his performances last season were not very good and he doesn't have much more potential left in him.

He joined the Italian side Sassuolo for 1.4m.

Transfers In

The first player to join us in August was the right back Kyriany Sabbe from Club Brugge.
The 19 year old Belgian cost us 900k and looks good. I'm hoping he develops well in the next few years.

We then signed another striker for our youth teams.
Marco Bruhn joined the club from Hillerod for only 300k and looks promising as well.

We then splashed the cash to bring in the Colombian wonderkid Josen Escobar.
We paid 8.75m upfront with the rest being paid in installments and after he plays 50 games for the club but in my opinion it was totally worth it.

He has been on my sight since last season and when I started seeing teams like Liverpool and Tottenham putting in bids for him I had to try to ****** him from them. He refused their contract offers and accepted ours instead and I am so happy he did.
I mean just look at him, I don't have to say anything else.

And last but not least, we signed a new left back to be Ricardo Mangas backup.
The Senegalese 19 year old Malick Diouf joined us from Slavia Prague for a fee of 8.5m.​

 

[misterioBean]

1st October 2024
Cruising in the League

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 5

After our poor performance against Boavista, we bounced back against Rio Ave beating them 3-1 in game that only really had 45 minutes. The 1st half was very boring but Rio Ave started the 2nd very strong and scored almost immediately.
Two penalties and a banger from Escobar gave us the win though.

UEFA Europa League
League Phase Gameday 1

Probably the easiest game in our fixture list for the Europa League finished in a 4-0 win for our team.

Unfortunately, Telmo Arcanjo picked up an 8 week injury and will be out for pretty much two months.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 6

We then beat Famalicão 3-1 away from home as Tiago Silva scored yet another penalty.
We have been getting a lot of those at the start of the season...

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 7

We finish up the month of September with another 3-1 win.
This time we beat Farense at Guimarães.

Also, I'm very pleased to see Dieu Michel is scoring on his 1st season in the first team but Agazzi is also scoring goals so we finally have some competition for the striker position.

League Table

As expected, we are now 3rd in the league just behind Porto and Benfica.

October

October will be a pretty stacked month as we play for all competitions we are in right now.
As it was last season, I'll give Taça de Portugal a lot of attention but not so much for the Allianz Cup since winning it brings absolitely nothing to us.​

 

[misterioBean]

1st November 2024
Not the Best Month

UEFA Europa League
League Phase Gameday 2

Considering who we were facing and where we were playing, I think a 1-1 draw here is good.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 8

This one wasn't though.
We really were not in our best days against Chaves and were only able to draw with a late penalty.

Taça de Portugal Placard
Third Round

We played with our backup team against Sporting Covilhã and were able to beat them 3-0.
We will be playing against Benfica next...

UEFA Europa League
League Phase Gameday 3

We couldn't get a point against RB Salzburg and get our first loss at the Europa League.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 9

We get yet another draw in the league against Casa Pia and this turned out to be a very bad month for us.

Allianz Cup
Third Phase

We at least got another win against Mafra for the Allianz Cup with our backup team.

Our other opponents are Casa Pia who drew against Mafra so all we need is a draw and we will qualify for the Semi Finals.

League Table

We went from 3rd to 6th in a heartbeat.
The draws we got this month really hurt us but I'm hoping we can turn it around in November.

November

Some easy fixtures for the league and not so easy ones against Lazio and Benfica but I think we can get a good result against Strasbourg.​

 

[misterioBean]

1st December 2024
That's Better

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 10

We got back to winning ways against newly promoted Santa Clara in a 2-1 win.
Of course we had to concede a goal against a former player of ours as well... At least we got the win.

Kaio César got injured during this week in training and was out for 3 weeks.
Fortunately for us, Arcanjo got back from his injury.

UEFA Europa League
League Phase Gameday 4

I am speechless. What a performance and what a result against Lazio.
I really thought this would be one of the hardest teams to get a good result against.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 11

We then beat AVS 5-1 using our backup team.
Adrián Butzke, our 3rd choice striker, scored 4 goals in this game, as many as he scored last season.

Taça de Portugal Placard
Fourth Round

Once again, I have no words to describe how I felt watching this game.
4-1 against the team that, at the time at least, was 1st in the league? Truly magical stuff.

We go for more as we face our rivals SC Braga in the next round.

UEFA Europa League
League Phase Gameday 5

Not quite as good as the last few performances, but we still beat Strasbourg for the Europa League and finished November with 5 wins in 5 games.

League Table

We finished November one place higher than we were previously.
Boavista are very strong this season and Benfica is unbeaten so far.
We are 2 games behind schedule though, so winds in both those games could send us to the podium.

December

Quite busy end to the calendar year. Another game against Benfica, one more Europa League fixture and the last game of the Allianz Cup Group Stage will take place in December, along some other easier fixtures.

Random Stuff

The board accepted some improvements to our youth development so hopefully we'll have some good kids coming through in the future.​

 

[misterioBean]

3rd January 2025
Brand New Year, Brand New Faces

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 12

A bit of a dejavu against Benfica as we beat them yet again.
They just can't hold us this season even though they are the leaders of the table.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 13

I had to use our backup team and we were unable to open the scoreboard against Estoril. Very boring game.

UEFA Europa League
League Phase Gameday 6

Another good win against Mainz in the Europa League. We are really putting in a performance this season!

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 14

Another game for our backups and another win for the team.

Allianz Cup
Third Phase Gameday 3

We went with our backup team yet again for the Allianz cup and still beat Casa Pia 4-3 to top the group.

We were drawn against Benfica and will be facing them yet again.
Hopefully, the result won't change.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 15

We finished up the year with a 3-1 win over our local rivalries Vizela in another good performance.

League Table

With all that, we are now tailgating Benfica, only 3 points behind them in the 2nd position.
However, Sporting also share the same points as we do and Boavista are just one win away from us.

UEFA Europa League Table

For the Europa League, we already guaranteed a place in the playoff rounds but are very well headed to finish in the top 8.

January

Stacked month to begin the new year including imporant cup and European fixtures alongside difficult games against Porto and Sporting for the league.

Youth Intake Preview

I was honestly expecting a lot more than this but this is not 100% accurate so I'm hopeful we'll get some good players this year.

Transfers In

Mads Beyer joined the club on a free transfer from Brondby.
He doesn't look terrible but won't be a big star as well. Sad to see his value is that low though.

In December, we started raiding some Portuguese clubs and the first player to sign for us was the midfielder Tiago Pinto from Benfica for 250k. I hope he develops well as he is only 18 years old.

A second signing from Benfica was the center back Guilherme Gaspar for only 58k.
Even though he is a natural CB, I'm training him to be a defensive midfielder with a playmaker role as I think it suits him better. Let's see how he develops.

The last signing from Benfica was Guilherme Afonso, who signed for us for a fee of 350k.
Not sure what to make of this one as he doesn't really look that good but he does show potential so maybe he will blow up soon?

The last signing from this year's "Portuguese Winter Raid" was the winger Micael Sanhá from Sporting.
We paid 400k + 100k after 50 games in the league to have him at our club.

We also signed a South African for the team. Luphumlo Sifumba joined the club for 400k.
He is an AMC who's happy playing in a shadow striker role so obviously I'm training him to be a striker.

The last signing we made so far was the right back Mario Virtuso, who cost us 200k to bring in.
Looks decent but not sure of he will develop much.​

 

[misterioBean]

1st February 2025
End of the Winter Window and Hitting a Down Low

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 16

We started the year with a good win over Portimonense with another goal from Dieu Michel.

Taça de Portugal Placard
Fifth Round

We followed it up with another win against Braga for the cup to secure a place in the next round.
We'll be facing Famalicão in the Sixth Round.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 17

We had to fight for a draw against Gil Vicente using our backup team.
We played well but couldn't really get shots on target and that was the main reason why we couldn't win this one.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 18

Good result against Porto in my opinion.
They are a much stronger side and we actually played very well.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 19

Unfortunately Sporting came to Guimarães with a lot of firepower and were very good defensively so we couldn't really do anything worthy to get any points here.

UEFA Europa League
League Phase Gameday 7

We had to travel to Holland next to face Feyenoord and once again failed every chance we got during the game which resulted in a goaless draw.

Allianz Cup
Semi Final

I decided to use our backup team in the league cup but Benfica came with everything they got and completely destroyed our team. Unfortunate but I don't care about this competition.

UEFA Europa League
League Phase Gameday 8

We finally ended our bad streak against Crvena Zvezda, beating them 2-1 with two goals scored after the 90 minutes.

League Table

Despite our bad form, we kept the 3rd place but Boavista re right behind us.
Last season champions Porto sit in 5th and it seems like this year will be a race between both Lisbon teams, Benfica and Sporting.

UEFA Europa League League Phase

After the 8 European fixtures we were able to finish 5th in the Europa League and are going straight to the next round.

February

February will be softer in terms of number of games and also the teams we will face are not as strong as the ones we faced in January but Boavista will bea very tricky game and we also have the cup game right after and I really want to winthis one to reach the Finals again.

Transfers Out

The only first team player to leave us this winter was the 23 year old Manu Silva.
He wanted to leave and PSV offered us 8M + 50% of a future transfer so I think it was a pretty good deal.

Transfers In

Rooney Troya was free in the market after his contract ended with Universidad Católica so we picked him up and sent him on loan so he can develop. He has a good personality and very high determination so I'm expecting his attributes to improve with time.

Joaquin Lavega is a very good looking winger but I think he's better suited as a striker due to his finishing capabilities.
If he candevelop his mentals he can become a deadly weapon in front of goal.
I don't really like the low determination though.

Gustav Aabro was the first of 7 deadline day signings.
He cost us basically nothing to bring in and looks decent with very high potential. Let's hope he can reach it.

We then started to spend a little more money on a few players.
Neo Jonsson joined us from Kobenhavn for 1.3m and he looks very promising.

We then made our 2nd South African signing. The 18 year old Luke Baartman joins Vitória SC for 475k and he looks amazing.

We got a lot of promising wingers already but they just kept showing up on reports.
The Brazilian Louback joins us from Atlético Mineiro for 230k.

Noa Mikic was the most expensive signing we made.
He cost us 2.9m to bring in but looks so good I couldn't turn him down.

We made our 2nd Brazilian signing but this one is a striker.
Kelwin joins us for 220k.

The last signing of the window was, of course, another winger.
Leandro Rodriguez comes in with a price tag of 500k.​

 

[misterioBean]

1st March 2025
After the Storm Comes the Calm

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 20

After the run of bad form, we were able to beat Boavista playing at the Bessa.
Not the best performance we ever had but we played well enough.

Taça de Portugal Placard
Sixth Round

Due to fixture congestion I had to rotate our side a bit for the cup game and because of that this one was a bit closer than what we would like it to be. Fortunately, Nuno Santos sored a goal after coming off the bench to send us through the Semi Finals, where we will be facing Sporting CP.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 21

We followed it with another 2-1 win over Rio Ave in a game that imploded at the last 20 minutes.
Kaio César got inspired by Nuno Santos and did exactly the same.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 22

We then travelled to Algarve to face Farense and came back to the North with a 4-0 win.

Taça de Portugal Placard
Semi Final 1st Leg

Very balanced game in the 1st leg against Sporting.
We came out on top because they missed a lot of chances but our performance was not that good.

League Table

We keep the 3rd placefor now as we get closer to the end of the season.
Only 11 games left in the league but a 3rd place will only qualify us for the Europa League.

March

Speaking of the Europa League, we got Chelsea on the Round of 16.
Very unfortunate because our European journey will most likely come to an end here.
For the league, we'll have another derby against Braga and I expect us to win it.​

 

[misterioBean]

1st April 2025
Absolutely Shocked

In my last post I forgot to post one match which led to gamedays not coinciding.

The match in question was a 1-0 win over Famalicão for the league.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 24

After our last game, I rotated he team against Chaves and got lucky when we were awarded a penalty on the 91st minute.

UEFA Europa League
Round of 16 First Leg

I'm sorry, what?
We were being completely dominated the whole game and still came out with a win afer Badiashile scored an own goal following a late corner, absolute cinema.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 25

Our backup team did a good job against Nacional coming back from Madeira with a 2-0 win.

UEFA Europa League
Round of 16 2nd Leg

Once again Chelsea had us against our goal the entire game but we were able to hold them and even score another goal in the only shot on target we got the whole game. Absolutely astonishing work from our team.

We will be facing Benfica in the Quarter Finals and I'm very optimistic for this one.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 26

Unfortunately, we could only get a draw against Braga playing at our own stadium which really was a bummer.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 27

We were able to bounce back right after against Casa Pia with a 2-0 win.

League Table

With only 7 games left in the season, we sit in the 2nd position tailgated by Sporting who are one game behind in schedule and can get the same points as us if they win. Goal difference is also very close so we may even go back to 3rd place which is not that bad considering we don't really have a good enough team for the UCL.

April

Very busy month considering we are approaching the end of the season but we need wins in all the competitions if we want to get some good results this season.

We will also be facing Benfica 3 times in 10 days so this will be big challenge for our team.

Random Stuff

Our youth intake this year was not too bad and we have two good players who can develop a lot.

The board also accepted to improve the training facilities but due to our finances not being that good at the moment they rejected improving the youth facilities as well. Maybe next season...​

 

[misterioBean]

2nd May 2025
How to Bottle

Taça de Portugal Placard
Semi Final 2nd Leg

We were once again able to outclass Sporting and beat them 4-1 on aggregate and for the 2nd season in a row we will be playing in the Taça de Portugal Final.

Our opponent will be the last of the big 3, FC Porto.
We already eliminated Braga, Benfica and Sporting. Could this be the year in which not only we win the competition for the first time since 2013 and the second time ever, but also by eliminating all the other big teams in Portugal?

In all honesty, looking at the path we had to go through to get here I think we desearve to lift the cup, but football is a funny sport and everything can happen even though our chances are not very high. On the other hand, we still haven't lost to Porto this season and even won the first game so... maybe it's our season.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 28

Once again, we had to rotate our team and by doing that we drew 2-2 when we travelled to Açores to face Santa Clara.
This complicates our chances of qualifying for the UCL.

UEFA Europa League
Quarter Final 1st Leg

This was a very sad game to watch.
Seeing them score on the 92nd minute after we turned the score in 3 minutes was harsh.
We now have to face them in Lisbon which will only make it more difficult.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 29

Thankfully, our backup team was able to beat AVS and, the fun part, both of our goals were scored by our wing backs.

UEFA Europa League
Quarter Final 2nd Leg

I only have 3 words: What. A. Game.
Both teams came to this game with only one goal in mind: score more than the opposition.
In the end, we came out on top but this game had a total of 34 shots, 50% of which were on target.

Just an amazing game to watch and even if we ended up losing I would have said the same thing. This is truly one of those games that can make you switch moods multiple times in just a few seconds.

We will face Tottenham in the Semi Finals and, to be honest, if we already beat Chelsea, what's stopping us from beating Tottenham?

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 30

Sadly, Benfica got their revenge on us and beat us 3-1 in the league.

Liga Portugal Betclic
Gameday 31

Our backups did an extremely good job against Estoril though.
Arcanjo scored 2 goals and assisted for another 2. He's on excellent form and the only reason why he was playing this game was because of an injury he picked up some weels prior.

UEFA Europa League
Semi Final 1st Leg

What a result this was.
Arcanjo came in clutch to secure us a draw on the 95th minute.
Now we just have to make a good performance in Portugal and we could make it to the UEL Final.
What a time to be a Vitória SC supporter.

League Table

With all the slips we had lately, Sporting has overtaken us and are now 2 points ahead of us in the 2nd place.
FC Porto are right behind us on 4th with only 2 points less but at least we already secured an European place.

May

We have 5 games left in the season, maybe 6 if we can beat Tottenham but every single game is a final.
We need to win every game to secure the 3rd place and secure a place in the UEL League Phase. Unfortunately, 4th place sends us to the UEL League Path, which is not too bad but is also not ideal.

We also have the Taça de Portugal Final on the 1st of June.​

 

[misterioBean]

Hello everyone. Just a quick update on this.

I haven't had much time to play lately and even though my schedule is starting to free up a bit I don't really have the motivation for it.

I think I'll spend some time off the game and enjoy the European championship and come back when it's over. If not I will most likely wait until the end of the transfer window and start a new save then.

Anyway thanks for following me through this far. See you soon.