From Villans To Heroes

[rawket]

Still planning out my moves in the upcoming transfer window so in the meantime, I'd thought it be cool to do a short summary of some of the players' performances this season while I assess the squad.

Discussing the first team and only the first team, which excludes players such as Given and Cole, I present

Most Impressive Players

Lucas Romero
The young midfielder is the engine of an otherwise unremarkable Villa side, providing both dynamism and composure. In his first season in English top flight, Romero has proven himself to be a leading player for the club, and has the potential to go further. Averaging a 7.25 in performance ratings, he rarely missed a game for Villa and has never had a bad game. It is no surprise that Liverpool and PSG are reported to be readying offers for the Argentine this coming window and it will be a challenge for the club to keep their gem of a player.

Tom Cleverley
Brought in on a loan deal, Cleverley quickly established himself in the club's starting lineup, ahead of the likes of Ashley Westwood and Fabian Delph. One of the better passers and crossers at the club, the Englishman has been another key player in the Villan midfield and has laid on 9 assists for his teammates. His loan deal is coming to an end and the club must quickly decide if they are to table a contract offer to the 25 year old, who will be a free agent in the summer.

Brad Guzan
The American shot-stopper has saved the club from embarrassment countless times through the season, making very important saves to help the club compete despite a less-than-threatening strike force. Although his contract situation has been subject to much speculation from the first day, Guzan has been professional in his football and not let it distract him. He has not missed a competitive game for the Villans and the club have made the decision to tie him down permanently for the next 4 years. With Nicola Leali joining when the window opens, and Jed Steer coming through, Aston Villa now have some promising talent between the sticks and it will be interesting to see who the club will play next season.

Most Unconvincing Players*

Libor Kozak
Coming back from a broken leg, he never really got on even in the reserves and was put on the transfer list in January, although no clubs came forward to make an offer. His lack of pace is suspected to be the issue why he has seen little game time this season, only making 9 substitute appearances. His time this season has been plagued by injuries and with his value falling sharply and the manager offering little to suggest a bigger role, the club will definitely be looking to offload him in the summer.

Philippe Senderos
The experienced centre half made only 3 appearances for the club, which has an abundance of defenders, before being shipped out to Chievo on loan in January. He never really got going (or got the chance) and will be wanting out after a disappointing season with the club. The club is unlikely to keep him as well and will not stand in his way should he demand to leave.

Andi Weimann
Unfortunately, the Austrian has failed to live up to expectations following an exciting pre-season. Consistently inconsistent, the striker has fumbled chances and snatched at others as he struggled to find the goals the club needed. With Aston Villa now set to make a return to continental football next season, the club are unlikely to be willing to place as much faith as they have in an unreliable source of goals. Expect the player to make a move in the summer should an offer come in.

Most Surprising Players

Leandro Bacuna
The Dutch utility man was first seen as surplus, then an opportunity to bring in revenue (which never materialised). But when the club was forced to play him, he proved himself to be a good player despite his average attributes. The club must now decide if the 23 year old will continue his football at Aston Villa or somewhere else come next season.

Matt Lowton
With Alan Hutton performing considerably well, Lowton was overlooked for much of the first half of the season. Although Hutton is better defensively, Lowton's crossing from the right flank offered a new dimension to Aston Villa's otherwise blunt attack. The club have signed Patric from Barcelona, who looks set to start at right back. They now have to make a decision on Lowton's (and Hutton's) future at the club.

*Too many. Here are the top 3.

 

[rawket]

I have managed to tie down Meulensteen, Tancredi and Bonaiuti to long term deals for the same amount of wages they are currently getting. And I've mutually terminated all the contracts of my scouts and physios, minus those I brought in. Because Aston Villa simply doesn't have scouts who are at all competent in judging player ability or potential, nor does the club have any physios with decent physiotherapy ratings. And we have 4 Under 18 physios. If the game is any reflection of the club in real life, I can see why we're heading nowhere.

In other news, the board has most generously granted my requests to increase the salaries we can offer coaches and physios. Which isn't really much actually. Probably like £300 more.

Moving on to rebuilding the squad. I have high doubts I will get a decent enough transfer kitty to play with, so if I am to improve on the squad I currently have, I will have to move some players on. Oh and given the standard of the squad, that's a lot of players I am open to selling. Shay Given and Joe Cole have announced their retirement after not seeing a game at all this season. That means I'm finally freeing up 7% of my wage budget after an entire season of trying.

Anyway, I have compiled a list of the players in my squad, including the players who are set to join on free transfers when the window opens on 1st July. Fringe players whose contracts expire this summer are not included.

Squad List:

GK
Brad Guzan
Nicola Leali
Jed Steer

D(L)
Aly Cissokho
Antonio Barecca
Joe Bennett
Antonio Luna

D(R)
Patric
Alan Hutton
Matt Lowton

D(C)
Eder Alvarez Balanta
Jores Okore
Matteo Bianchetti
Ron Vlaar
Philippe Senderos
Ciaran Clark

DM
Carlos Sanchez
Lucas Romero
Kristoffer Ajer
Yacouba Sylla

M(C)
Ashley Westwood
Fabian Delph
Leandro Bacuna
Kieran Richardson
Gary Gardner

AM(R/L)
Jack Grealish
Zakaria Bakkali
Pavel Savitskiy
Gabby Agbonlahor
Andi Weimann
Aleksandar Tonev

ST(C)
Christian Benteke
Mour Samb
Callum Robinson
Libor Kozak
Nicklas Helenius

The players in bold are those which I foresee myself keeping hold of. Whether they will see first team action, or go on loan to further their development is a different question. However, should an acceptable offer come in, I may choose to let go of them too. Those in italics are the players who I will desperately try to offload this window for hopefully decent amounts of cash.

The rest, I am open to selling or keeping depending on how the situation turns out. This is where I'd like to gather some opinions and advice on what to do with each of them.

Starting with the defence, I have Patric coming in, who is defensively better than Hutton and Lowton and will most certainly start for me. Between Lowton and Hutton who should I sell, assuming I'm going for a 2 players in every position policy. Hutton has the pace and acceleration (15,15) which Patric and Lowton don't offer but is 30 years now and has wages of 30k p/w (a bit much for backup). Lowton is at 17.5k, and offers crossing (15).

Regarding centre backs, I'm not sure what to do with Vlaar and Senderos. They have determined and resolute personalities and could be good as mentors, but their wages are 35.5k and 20k. And they likely won't see much action with Bianchetti, Balanta and Okore. Umtiti is still available to sign I think and I just might take him too if his wage demands are reasonable. I have little experience playing in Europe so I don't know how many players I will be needing for depth. But I have little intention of paying high wages to backups who won't see much game time.

Another issue is that Vlaar is captain now and a key player in the squad. Trying to actively offload him might spark conflict with the players at the club, but clubs may not be interested if I just sit and wait since he did sign a new deal at the start of the season until 2018. Any tips?

For midfielders, I think I will continue to use a 3-man midfield for the large part of next season. And I'm looking to up the quality of my midfielders seeing as we are now playing continental football, and will be pushing for a European spot again next season. I'm looking at bringing in maybe 2 midfielders if possible. Cleverley is available for free and will be one of the main targets. I'm also looking at Ward-Prowse, whose set piece skills will really help in a side that lacks just that. Feel free to offer any other suggestions.

With my plans laid out, I'd like some advice on who to offload. Westwood is a tidy passer and playmaker, but that's about it. Delph has the pace and acceleration to make runs in the midfield and technically good, but not brilliant. Bacuna seems a lot like a second Delph, although his mental stats are lower and he has better heading. They're all 2.5 or 3 ★ in my largely average squad and I would like for a better standard of midfield. Delph is also a key player and selling him actively like Vlaar might cause some upset.

Gabby Agbonlahor is someone who occasionally does the work but very often is plain inconsistent. As a winger, his crossing is average, his technical ability is poor for a BPL player and he lacks vision, flair and composure. He does have 18 pace and 19 acceleration, but I've hardly seen that extra speed come to be of much advantage. He is the club's biggest burden, drawing 55k p/w wages, being a fan favourite, but not good enough to start. He needs to make way for a better wide player, but like Vlaar again, I don't foresee selling him peacefully. Plus the fans love him. And he loves the club and might not leave. I smell a PR disaster. Even though quite frankly irl I believe the fans appreciate him but understand he is not good enough and won't kick up a fuss over the club selling him. But when translated into the programme, it's a less grey and more black and white issue.

Also looking for a striker and maybe a backup winger. A pacey striker who can offer a different dimension to our attack from Benteke (assuming he stays) would be nice. Someone like Munir, but cheaper and less likely to waste shots perhaps.

Would love to get some responses for this, especially regarding player sales. Cheers guys for all the support and views so far!

 

[kolas79]

When I set a team out I sometimes look at what the opposition formation will be and adjust instructions for them. No wide players = exploit the flanks. Things along those lines

January Transfer Window Update

I've terminated Simone Pepe's loan following his injury. I was fortunate to be able to secure Munir on loan from Barcelona. A quick and agile striker who can offer a different option from Benteke, and will probably be more reliable than the very inconsistent Agbonlahor.

I've also been tracking two young Brazilians my scout had recommended, and they've recently been released by their clubs. Not world beaters, but decent enough potential to make a profit from. Plus their wages are pretty low. Managed to sign them but neither earned a work permit so they can't even feature in my reserves. Bummer. Going to desperately try to get them out on loan.

Since my transfer budget is still in the red, and I've no idea if Lerner will provide enough the next season, I decided to look at some players whose contracts are expiring. And I've found some pretty good talents that I've managed to snag from their clubs.

There's a known issue with the game where you can offer a much better contract than their current club, but they'd choose the 1k/w over the 20k/w salary, which really defies logic and SI should look to correct this.

Nevertheless, as long as I offer a "very acceptable" contract to the player, they will sign immediately, thus giving their current club no chance to put in an offer. I will have to offer more than what they're asking though, which isn't always peanuts. And since I'm broke and cannot pay anything out of my budget, I have to convince them not to include sign on fees and agent fees. High salaries and bonuses then.

Anyway, on to the players:

Nicola Leali (GK)

Juventus' loss here as I'd like to think he can improve more on his handling, kicking, one on ones, aerial ability and command of area. Perhaps the long term replacement for Brad Guzan? I've yet to decide if I should send him out on loan or keep him at the club and maybe rotate. He'll get much fewer games if he stays though.

Zakaria Bakkali (AML)

Excellent dribbling, technique, flair and off the ball with good enough pace and acceleration. Shooting can be worked on. Will definitely boost the squad's attack. Would like to have him play opposite Grealish on the left wing, though I could use him as a striker as well. His strength and stamina though, is meh. And he's really lazy. Not sure how much I can pull up.

Matteo Bianchetti (CB)

Good heading ability, and defensively very sound with good marking, tackling and positioning. With his strong mental stats, especially his bravery, concentration and leadership, he'll go far in his career, and he's only 21. Might be the direct replacement for Ron Vlaar, if any clubs are still interested in buying him after he signed a 4 year contract. Only obvious issue with Bianchetti is his lack of pace, which is a real bummer.

Antonio Barreca (LB)

Still much potential to fulfill but at 19 I think he will improve a lot. His positioning will need some serious work, but his crossing looks good. Will have to get him a tutor to pull up his determination. Looks like he can develop into a good header and he is naturally fit. Composure also looks great.

Patric (RB)

Unwanted Barcelona graduate who at just 21 has very good tackling, marking and positioning stats, making him very solid defensively. Other mental attributes like anticipation, bravery and concentration are great as well. His quickness leaves more to be desired though, as well as his crossing and as he's close to his full potential I'm not sure how much more it can increase. But still a good upgrade in the right back department, where I am looking to offload Lowton or Hutton at the end of the season.

Mour Samb (ST)

Young 20 year old Senegalese striker with a determined personality, which should help him develop faster. Has decent finishing, first touch, heading, technique, off the ball and anticipation which I hope will increase. Only issue is he is physically weak with low strength and jumping reach. Would like to improve his work rate as well.

I'd like to approach to sign Cleverley as his contract runs out in June as well, but I think because he's on loan now I can't put in an offer. He's been a consistent performer in midfield and I would like to keep him, especially since United have zero interest in using him.

I also let Senderos and Richardson out on loan till the end of the season, with future fees included. Hopefully Chievo and Crystal Palace will buy them eventually, since no other club seems to be interested. Did the same to some other reserve team players whom I have little interest in keeping.

I've tried to sell Kozak this window as he isn't featuring in the squad but Feyenoord and Club Brugge felt his wages were too high.

Also, Tottenham's interest in Benteke led him to push for a transfer, claiming he doesn't think Villa will make it continentally and isn't willing to wait. So I told him I'd accept offers if they matched our valuation, but interest from Tottenham, OM, Porto, Lazio and SLB never materialized. Now he's unhappy that I didn't fulfill my promise. Seriously. Maybe if he had scored more instead of putting in 6.20 matches clubs might actually really consider buying him. Did I mention he missed two penalties?

And as the window draws to a close, I continue to desperately push Clark and Cole. But as they're currently injured, they're not going anywhere.

My adice is to go for Leali and you want regret it ! Very good young goalkeeper !

 

[rawket]

My adice is to go for Leali and you want regret it ! Very good young goalkeeper !

Oh haha, Leali has already signed a pre-contract with me and will join us on 1st July. Cheers anyway!

 

[Zlatan Lumic]

Congratulations for getting into Europe! I knew you could do it. ^^

...and it's nice to see that you extended Guzan's contract. Truth to be told, I'm vocal against extend the contract of a player that despite having spent years in the club and knowing how precarious its economy is has the nerve to ask to almost double his wage to stay here...
...but then again, getting goallies as good as Guzan for a club like ours isn't an easy feat... and Lealli and Steed are not ready to be first goallies yet... So it was pretty much a necessity.

As for defense, getting rid of Vlaar is pretty much out of the question, he's the captain and despite losing its place in the starting eleven he might offer quality football and more considering that you're bound to play four competitions this year.
And Senderos... well... let's be frank here: Here's not good enough, his wages are way too high for his role on the team and he's the fifth choice for a center back on the team... A youngster would benefit more than him in such a role.
Besides... you still have Clark, who might be necessary for Europa League (as you need to fill a quota of players developed in your club).

As for wingers... well, you were just unlucky with Weimann, my experiences with the Austrian were actually quite positive and he ended pushing Gabby out of the starting eleven.
Selling Gabby might be a tad out of the question, the guy is pretty much a living symbol in this game... You can try and extend his contract while trying to lower his wage, if he loves the club as much as he says he should accept (reducing your burden quite a bit in the process) but then again, even that will be a pain to achieve...
If you need a replacement for him, try scouting at Andrija Zivkovic (Partizan Belgrade) as he turns into an absolute beast.

Finally strikers... Experience from previous installments in the FM series actually lead me to believe that Helenius needs a chance to prove his worth (specially if Benteke leaves as they are the same type of player basically speaking), I recall a save game with Real Sociedad (FM2k13) where the guy ended up thrid in the top scoring table in his first year (only behind Messi and Ronaldo) and in one Copa del Rey match the guy singlehandledly manage to silence the whole Santiago Bernabeu (4-4 all four goals scored by him...I think I still have that match saved if you want it).
However I don't know how good he is in this game though...
As for reinforcements try scouting players like Luciano Vietto (Villarreal), Sergio Araujo (Boca Juniors (or Las Palmas depending if they actually sign him after the loan)) or Ezequiel Ponce (Newell's Old Boys) as they should do the trick...

Good luck with the new season and I hope this text wall was helpful... even if it was mildly.

.P.S.: As for midfield... Honestly... I don't know what to tell you... Maybe players like Gastón Gil Romero (Estudiantes de La Plata) or Roberto Pereyra (Juventus/Udinese) could be useful...

 

[kolas79]

When I set a team out I sometimes look at what the opposition formation will be and adjust instructions for them. No wide players = exploit the flanks. Things along those lines

Oh haha, Leali has already signed a pre-contract with me and will join us on 1st July. Cheers anyway!

I saw it but I sent the post before finished reading the whole story !!! ha ha ha !!

 

[rawket]

Congratulations for getting into Europe! I knew you could do it. ^^

...and it's nice to see that you extended Guzan's contract. Truth to be told, I'm vocal against extend the contract of a player that despite having spent years in the club and knowing how precarious its economy is has the nerve to ask to almost double his wage to stay here...
...but then again, getting goallies as good as Guzan for a club like ours isn't an easy feat... and Lealli and Steed are not ready to be first goallies yet... So it was pretty much a necessity.

As for defense, getting rid of Vlaar is pretty much out of the question, he's the captain and despite losing its place in the starting eleven he might offer quality football and more considering that you're bound to play four competitions this year.
And Senderos... well... let's be frank here: Here's not good enough, his wages are way too high for his role on the team and he's the fifth choice for a center back on the team... A youngster would benefit more than him in such a role.
Besides... you still have Clark, who might be necessary for Europa League (as you need to fill a quota of players developed in your club).

As for wingers... well, you were just unlucky with Weimann, my experiences with the Austrian were actually quite positive and he ended pushing Gabby out of the starting eleven.
Selling Gabby might be a tad out of the question, the guy is pretty much a living symbol in this game... You can try and extend his contract while trying to lower his wage, if he loves the club as much as he says he should accept (reducing your burden quite a bit in the process) but then again, even that will be a pain to achieve...
If you need a replacement for him, try scouting at Andrija Zivkovic (Partizan Belgrade) as he turns into an absolute beast.

Finally strikers... Experience from previous installments in the FM series actually lead me to believe that Helenius needs a chance to prove his worth (specially if Benteke leaves as they are the same type of player basically speaking), I recall a save game with Real Sociedad (FM2k13) where the guy ended up thrid in the top scoring table in his first year (only behind Messi and Ronaldo) and in one Copa del Rey match the guy singlehandledly manage to silence the whole Santiago Bernabeu (4-4 all four goals scored by him...I think I still have that match saved if you want it).
However I don't know how good he is in this game though...
As for reinforcements try scouting players like Luciano Vietto (Villarreal), Sergio Araujo (Boca Juniors (or Las Palmas depending if they actually sign him after the loan)) or Ezequiel Ponce (Newell's Old Boys) as they should do the trick...

Good luck with the new season and I hope this text wall was helpful... even if it was mildly.

.P.S.: As for midfield... Honestly... I don't know what to tell you... Maybe players like Gastón Gil Romero (Estudiantes de La Plata) or Roberto Pereyra (Juventus/Udinese) could be useful...

Cheers for the very detailed response mate! Completely agree with you on Guzan. It's a pain that I've to offer him such a big contract to keep him but he's definitely above Leali and Steer right now and has been pretty good in goal. I might loan Leali out next season and keep Steer as backup.

Thanks for reminding me about the home-grown quota. It completely slipped my mind. Min. 8 home-grown and 4 trained at the club right? There might be a problem if I do offload the likes of Clark, Westwood, Delph, Weimann and Agbonlahor. So glad you brought this up as I have to be extra careful when offloading players. Perhaps I really do need Cleverley and Ward-Prowse.

I'll think the defence situation over. Senderos will probably leave. And I might have to keep Clark after all just to fulfill the trained at club quota. Such a pain. And I don't think I can afford to continue taking chances with Weimann but he's also one of the rare "trained at club" players. As is Gabby. Though I could just register my youth players like Henry Smith.

I think Helenius's stock has dipped a lot since joining Villa. Back then he did seem pretty good but his development has taken a hit these 2 years. He's close to max potential I think, and unfortunately doesn't have the kind of ability I'm looking for.

Zivkovic looks like a classic winger who delivers crosses etc. But he's playing on the right with a left foot? oO) Would love to sign him but Porto has already arranged a transfer. And it's not even June! Must be a real talent. At first glance he fits the description of the sort of wide player I'm looking for though. I have Bakkali coming in and he's a solid IF, but I'm keen on adding a traditional dribble and cross player for tactical flexibility.

I'll look at Vietto and Araujo. Vietto though has 4 years left in his contract and I get the feeling th club will demand insane amounts (relative to my budget, which I think won't be a lot). Araujo may be available to sign for free after his loan ends. I missed out on Ponce last time round but if I can afford it I'll make a bid this window. But I don't think the two have the ability to really win me more matches right now. Maybe in the future. Looking for a more finished product, someone to really jump in and challenge Benteke.

Thanks again!

 

[Zlatan Lumic]

Min. 8 home-grown and 4 trained at the club right?

Exactly and they must be 21 years old at leaast (so Grealish and Robinson wouldn't be able to fill the quota yet).

It's a shame about Helenius, he could have been a blessing if he developed properly... But oh well...x_X
Getting a striker to replace Benteke right now won't be easy and more taking into consideration Villa's battered budget.
If you had some money to spend I would encourage to go after either Charlie Austin or Assambalonga, since they always perform greatly on Premiership teams... or checking out Álvaro Morata's status on Juventus (usually ends up on transfer list and he loves Premiership).
As for cheaper options... Maybe Kramaric (Rijeka) could serve you well... as long as he's still there.

.P.S.: He might be a tad green but if you can sign Araujo (loan him if needed for a year or two), the guy took me all the way from Liga Adelante to Champions League almost all on his own in my last save with Las Palmas.

 

[rawket]

Exactly and they must be 21 years old at leaast (so Grealish and Robinson wouldn't be able to fill the quota yet).

It's a shame about Helenius, he could have been a blessing if he developed properly... But oh well...x_X
Getting a striker to replace Benteke right now won't be easy and more taking into consideration Villa's battered budget.
If you had some money to spend I would encourage to go after either Charlie Austin or Assambalonga, since they always perform greatly on Premiership teams... or checking out Álvaro Morata's status on Juventus (usually ends up on transfer list and he loves Premiership).
As for cheaper options... Maybe Kramaric (Rijeka) could serve you well... as long as he's still there.

.P.S.: He might be a tad green but if you can sign Araujo (loan him if needed for a year or two), the guy took me all the way from Liga Adelante to Champions League almost all on his own in my last save with Las Palmas.

Wait, Grealish and Robinson don't count? :O ****. Do I really need all 25 spots or can I leave blanks in a pinch?

I thought if I could offload enough players I could put together a decent budget of ~10mil. Should be able to afford someone. But probably won't raise that much now. :/

Is that the Kramaric that Leicester are going after right now? Cuz he's not in my db lol. Austin's too slow. Looking for a fast poacher kinda player. Assombalonga netted 21 for Nottingham and they've won promotion. He's valued at 8.5mil and may be too much.

You've convinced me; I'll have a serious look at Araujo.

 

[Zlatan Lumic]

Grealish and Robinson are home-grown players, yet at the same time they're Under 21 so it's not necessary for them to be registered in order to play in Europe (the thing would be different if they were Under 21 but not developed in your club), but still you should have the quota filled without them.

25 is the maximum number of players that you can register, the minimum is 15 as far as I can remember.

.P.S.: So Kramaric signed for Leicester in real life? Atta boys, they were as sly as their nickname this time around.

 

[avfctom]

Hello mate,

I'd just like to start with congratulating you on such a fantastic first season in charge! I myself as a Villa fan have had many saves with Villa, and no matter what I do, i cannot break even the top half in my first season!

In regards to players, i think you have to get rid of your fringe players! Weimann, Senderos and Agbonlahor should all be leaving for me. Yes Gabby is a villan through and through, but he's not good enough for the PL, and you can get at least a few mill for him before he rots on your bench. Weimann, well, that might be a personal thing for me, because i despise him in real life (his half hearted finishing, his awful passing etc) so i think he never deserves to pull the villa shirt over his head, and well Senderos just isn't needed in your squad, CB is your strongest position, and like mentioned above, you should really have a youth talent as back up instead of Senderos. I'd also love to see you sign Gary Gardner up to a new contract, he really is a good player and if given the right development, can become a decent PL midfielder. Also, he is villa through and through, and has only been kept away from the first team due to injury problems. If he had a clean bill of health over the past few years, im adamant he would be playing Premier League football now.

Anyway, onto potential players who you could sign, if you want a bit of technical ability in the centre of the park added to the ability to pass a ball, take a look at Sergi Roberto from Barca. He's usually available on the cheap in the second season, and is a very consistent performer. For striker, perhaps take a look at Danny Ings? I picked him up for 1.1 million on my save with QPR and when hes in form, hes unstoppable. I'd also suggest looking at the teams who were relegated and maybe picking up any decent unhappy, decent players from their squads. If you want a bit of home grown talent maybe have a gander at Will Hughes, or even Jordan Mutch from QPR is a decent player, or even delve into League 1 and pick up Dele Alli, a fantastic talent. On the subject of gems, if nobody has snapped him up yet, look at Odegaard, and Humam Tariq, both become unbelievable players.

You have a very strong spine of Guzan-Balanta-Romero-Benteke there anyway, so i wouldn't get overly worried over your dealings this summer.

Followed this since the start and am enjoying it, love how much you're involving your followers in it rather than just posting the updates and going from there. As i read it, i almost feel like one of your coaching staff in a staff meeting - love it!

Hope i've helped!

 

[rawket]

Grealish and Robinson are home-grown players, yet at the same time they're Under 21 so it's not necessary for them to be registered in order to play in Europe (the thing would be different if they were Under 21 but not developed in your club), but still you should have the quota filled without them.

25 is the maximum number of players that you can register, the minimum is 15 as far as I can remember.

.P.S.: So Kramaric signed for Leicester in real life? Atta boys, they were as sly as their nickname this time around.

Yes, they've beat Chelsea to him. Reports say they agreed on a fee of £9.7mil and £23k p/w wages.
But like FM players, the biggest hurdle is the work permit. Croatia joined the EU in 2013 but UK has some restriction of access to the labour market thing in place for Croats until 2020 so yeah, Leicester will have to put up a convincing enough argument.

Have a soft spot for them Foxes. Would love to see Kramaric light up the BPL and haul them out of relegation.

Hello mate,

I'd just like to start with congratulating you on such a fantastic first season in charge! I myself as a Villa fan have had many saves with Villa, and no matter what I do, i cannot break even the top half in my first season!

In regards to players, i think you have to get rid of your fringe players! Weimann, Senderos and Agbonlahor should all be leaving for me. Yes Gabby is a villan through and through, but he's not good enough for the PL, and you can get at least a few mill for him before he rots on your bench. Weimann, well, that might be a personal thing for me, because i despise him in real life (his half hearted finishing, his awful passing etc) so i think he never deserves to pull the villa shirt over his head, and well Senderos just isn't needed in your squad, CB is your strongest position, and like mentioned above, you should really have a youth talent as back up instead of Senderos. I'd also love to see you sign Gary Gardner up to a new contract, he really is a good player and if given the right development, can become a decent PL midfielder. Also, he is villa through and through, and has only been kept away from the first team due to injury problems. If he had a clean bill of health over the past few years, im adamant he would be playing Premier League football now.

Anyway, onto potential players who you could sign, if you want a bit of technical ability in the centre of the park added to the ability to pass a ball, take a look at Sergi Roberto from Barca. He's usually available on the cheap in the second season, and is a very consistent performer. For striker, perhaps take a look at Danny Ings? I picked him up for 1.1 million on my save with QPR and when hes in form, hes unstoppable. I'd also suggest looking at the teams who were relegated and maybe picking up any decent unhappy, decent players from their squads. If you want a bit of home grown talent maybe have a gander at Will Hughes, or even Jordan Mutch from QPR is a decent player, or even delve into League 1 and pick up Dele Alli, a fantastic talent. On the subject of gems, if nobody has snapped him up yet, look at Odegaard, and Humam Tariq, both become unbelievable players.

You have a very strong spine of Guzan-Balanta-Romero-Benteke there anyway, so i wouldn't get overly worried over your dealings this summer.

Followed this since the start and am enjoying it, love how much you're involving your followers in it rather than just posting the updates and going from there. As i read it, i almost feel like one of your coaching staff in a staff meeting - love it!

Hope i've helped!

Thanks for the response. I'm glad you're enjoying the thread.

Villa can challenge for so much more beyond surviving relegation, if Lerner simply loosens up just a tiny bit more. We don't need a fancy budget, just a reasonable one (£15mil?). I think we can all agree that if enough effort is put in to look, we can find good experienced players for ~5mil plus future clauses if need be (e.g. Vlaar, Sanchez). That'd be like 2 or maybe 3 good players every season. May seem overly optimistic, but we'd have a much better squad and won't have to resort to taking gambles on cheap championship level players (Sylla, Luna, Tonev). And it would be easier to work our way back up again. Rant over.

Gardner is too injury prone for me. I could maybe extend his contract just so he can fully reach his potential before selling him, but it would be too much of a hassle for not much profit. Especially if his development drags longer due to some injury.

Weimann irl is turning into Gabby No. 2. Pace! Energy! Poor technical ability! Tried to work on his composure etc. this season but he has made little improvement. Hopefully he does better irl. If I do go ahead with the whole Gabby thing, and no one buys him because of his 55k wages, it will be a major failure.

I'll consider Roberto. Barca have listed him for £2.4mil which is half his value. He draws pretty high wages though. Also, he seems a little too similar to Cleverley, aside from improved defensive skills. Idk I just need an upgrade on Westwood/Bacuna/Delph. I'll give Alli and Hughes a scout.

Cheers!

 

[rawket]

Preliminary Scouting Reports

Sergi Roberto is available for a cut-price £2.4mil. Seems pretty decent for that price, though his wages might be an issue.

Will Hughes and Dele Alli are both extremely interested in a move. Hughes can challenge for a starting spot but Dele Alli isn't quite there yet. Bummer: Hughes will cost a fair bit of money with my scout reckoning anywhere from £8mil to £14mil.

Roberto Pereyra and Luciano Vietto have no interest in joining Aston Villa at the moment. Pereyra's contract is up in summer though, which means I can still make him a convincing first offer to tempt him. Would probably demand huge wages though since he's already on £37k at Juve.

Scouting Sergio Araujo is apparently impossible as my scout keeps returning with only a few per cent increases in knowledge. And his report card is pretty empty. I can gather that I might be able to get him for less than 3mil.

I'm not sure Danny Ings is a good enough poacher for Europe, though his pace and mental stats seem pretty decent. Diego Poyet (scouted him since West Ham is going down) can be obtained for £7.25mil to £13.5mil so not particularly affordable, like Hughes. Both are extremely interested in joining though.

Jordon Mutch isn't for sale, says QPR. Would also cost a lot if he did.

Ward-Prowse is transfer listed for £4.3mil, which seems pretty affordable, especially if I pay the bulk in installments.

Not sure I really trust my scouts but yeah. At the moment, Cleverley free, Roberto for £2.4 and Ward-Prowse for £4.3mil seems the way to go. And then the big-money question on whether I should attempt to tempt Pereyra with a key player role and big wages. I believe I can offer up to £70k now under Mr Jenkins. He might have work permit issues too.


EDIT:

MAJOR TRANSFER UPDATE

£20.27mil. Well.
I think this changes things a fair bit.

 

[OlliLFC]

Wow. That really does change things!

 

[rawket]

Transfer Update
The (very significant) increase in transfer budget has got me to reconsider some of my targets. I was looking at a budget of maybe 10mil or so but now that I have double of that, I need to have a serious look at the squad and see where I should best invest my money.

Prices for good players seem to be rather inflated and I want to be very wary of
1. Overspending and running into debt (again)
2. Paying overly high wages to players and wrecking the wage structure I have in mind.

Villa after all still is somewhat a mid-table club, with mid-table finances. I aim to try to get as far as I can in the Europa League because the revenue it will bring in will be enormous. I think. If however, that doesn't work out and worse, I miss out on Europe next season, I need to ensure the club can support the expenditure and not go in the red. I know Mr Jenkins has been very reasonable with finances, but his profile isn't a tycoon so his pockets may not be very deep despite his generosity so far.

A successful transfer window hinges greatly on planning ahead. Very far ahead. It's important not rush head on into things. One has to take a very methodical approach to signings and have a plan in mind, as well as a backup plan, and a backup for the backup. And I honestly love this part of the game the most - assessing the squad, scouting players, weighing up options.

So, as usual, I crawl very slowly through my save, rarely progressing unless I have to. I will briefly cover my objectives going into this window, and the possible options (feel free to suggest more) etc. so these few posts will be a drag.


My priorities are to:

1. Get rid of deadwood.
This is long overdue and since Villa have so many players who simply just don't cut it, I will be looking to offload them to clear them off our books. Not going to pay for their wages if they don't even feature. This extends to the youth players. I will be clearing out the youth teams and keeping only those who have decent potential.

2. Find a striker who will challenge Benteke for his place in the XI.
This is so that when Benteke doesn't perform, I have someone else to rely on. Last season, my backups were Agbonlahor and Weimann, who themselves are dreadfully inconsistent. That is, until Munir stepped in for the last bit of the season. I won't have the same thing happen again and so this is very high on my list of objectives. As Benteke is offers a very physical approach to the game, I'd like my new addition to offer a different dimension to our attack. Also, in the event Benteke eventually leaves (for an expensive fee of course), I have someone to rely on while I seek a replacement.

Target:
A pacey, intelligent Poacher/Advanced Forward who's adept at finishing off chances. Or maybe a False 9 player (but that then makes the squad rely more on the other players, who frankly aren't that good yet).

3. Sign a good wide player.
Aston Villa lack natural width. With Munir gone, we don't have good wingers (Grealish is still somewhat raw, but developing) who can beat the full back and put in a cross for Benteke. To make us more threatening going forward, I will need to upgrade on Agbonlahor and Weimann (again, terrible). I still convince myself selling N'Zogbia and freezing out Cole was the right thing to do. Savitskiy is coming back after finally getting a work permit. Bakkali is coming in on a free. Both may or may not be good enough to be picked week in week out though.

Target:
A quick winger, who can cross and has good vision (hopefully). Else an Inside Forward would suffice too. Anyone who can offer quality on the wings.

4. Improve the quality of the midfield.
Since I use the 4-3-3 a lot, having a strong 3-man midfield will allow me to win the battle in the centre of the field, and also create the chances for my forwards and wide players. The 3-man midfield comprises of one player each to defend, support and attack. Romero is my key man and I have yet to really settle on a fixed role for him. I started by playing him as a box-to-box, but because he's the best in my midfield, I switched him to a playmaking role, usually as Regista where he has a bit more space and less pressure from the opposition (I think). Though this has kept Sanchez out of the side, and he is a very good anchor man, and especially important for me in games where the opposition uses an AM or a deeper lying striker.

I think moving forward, it would be defensively more sound to keep an Anchor in the side, so Romero will probably see more box-to-box action next season. I could try him in the attacking role as a Roaming or Advanced Playmaker though, then I'll use Delph as the box-to-box. He's pretty okay-rounded, but not really excelling in any aspect. I will need a good enough backup, in case Delph gets hurt. Or maybe an upgrade on Delph.

If I follow through with the former option of Romero as the box-to-box, Delph is the backup. But then I will need to get myself a good playmaker. Westwood is a decent playmaker, and I really like his vision, decisions and passing but physically he's slow and lacks strength. I will need more from my playmaker in that aspect to keep hold of the ball or win the ball. Cleverley has finished his loan and seemed pretty decent as a playmaker last season. Hope to get him to sign with us permanently.

Targets:
An intelligent, mobile playmaker and/or a high energy box-to-box midfielder.

5. Improve the quality of full backs.
Lowest on my list, but still an area for improvement. Will see if there's cash leftover. Patric is coming in at right back and I believe he can be first choice, ahead of Hutton and Lowton (who between the two of them one has to go, probably Hutton due to age/wages). None of the 3 are particularly excellent in their role. Just good. Which for now seems ok for me. But if I can't bring in a winger, the team will have to rely on the wing backs to provide the width. And they may not be great going forward.

Cissokho will stay, with Barecca coming in to back him up at left back. Cissokho played almost every game last season, until he got that knee twist thing late on. And he has been consistently good for us. Not amazing. But good enough. Like his mates on the opposite flank, he's not great going forward though.

Target:
I won't be hunting for a LB or RB specifically, but if one is available I will consider. Especially since the depth in that area is looking just fine. But if I were to sign one (or two) I'll be looking for good defending ability (marking, tackling, positioning) and good pace plus crossing.

So that's my plan in brief. I'm hunting for the personel in each area and weighing up my options now and will post how it goes. The striker issue is still unsolved though. A lot of them will cost a lot/aren't interested. If you have any recommendations though, feel free to leave a comment. The budget's been increased significantly since the last time so I don't have to necessarily trawl through the lesser players now. I think.

Will post soon on my bids and how they went.

 

[rawket]

So I start off by offering Kozak and Gardner out to clubs. Bristol City and Nottingham Forest respond immediately, and we come to an agreement for the two players. Bristol City will take Gardner for his value - 750k, while paying 32k over 12 months which essentially adds nothing. Kozak will join newly promoted Forest for 2.3mil, his value as well, and I managed to get a 10% future fee clause in. Neither side are financially great and won't pay a lot for these fringe players, but at least they're off the club's books for now.


Then Kozak demanded Villa pay him 5.75k p/w until 2017 to join Forest. What. Can't Forest afford 20k p/w wages for a player with international experience? Well, it's better than keeping him around. I made some calculations and, I'll probably be paying Kozak ~600k over the 2 years so, it's not too bad I guess. But seriously, if Forest can't afford such wages they won't survive next season.


With that out of the way, I focused my attention on bolstering my squad. Cleverley's loan has ended and he's now free to sign. I've spoken a lot about signing him again for our side, yes. He has pretty decent playmaking stats, and is pretty mobile too, having decent quickness and dribbling. And more importantly, he is home-grown. Which is going to be a real problem for me but I'll tackle that later. So I quickly approached to sign Cleverley and made him an offer. He was on 40k p/w wages, but demanded an almost 30k increase. We negotiated for a long time, throwing offers and demands back and forth. I finally got him to agree to 59k p/w, which mind you is immensely high in the Villa squad, plus a very generous appearance fee. And some pretty nice bonuses. I got pretty ****** here because he kept demanding an "Avoid Relegation" bonus but puh-lease, Villa has moved on from that dreadful stage. I hope. He and his agent would take a few days to consider the offer. Arsenal is also on high alert and are watching him as well.


With Cleverley settled, I switched my focus to another home-grown talented midfielder. He's young, his side got relegated, he's James Ward-Prowse. He's been listed for transfer and not only does that make him a cheap option which I like, he can cross and he can take set-pieces. Plus, he's pretty versatile and can cover AM and AMR as well, allowing me flexibility during matches. This is why he's my first real signing this window (Cleverley doesn't count, I played an entire season with him so I didn't have to do much research). His teamwork and work rate is good, and he has good vision to craft chances and pretty decent decisions, which I hope will improve in his time with us. I agreed a deal with Southampton which sees us pay 400k initial fee and 4.3mil over 2 years. Just to make sure I don't blow my whole budget before finding all my targets. Ward-Prowse had very decent wage demands and the contract negotiations went smoothly. Except he also demanded an "Avoid Relegation" bonus. This is getting on my nerves.

Looking outside of England, I've scouted Roberto Pereyra as suggested, whose contract runs out in the summer. Which means he's free. Or somewhat, minus the agent fees and whatnot. Another playmaker here, and he will probably compete with Ward-Prowse while Romero plays the supporting midfield role. Then I can have Delph as backup and I'm all good in the department. He wasn't interested in joining us, so I tried to make him a decent first offer. It got out of hand pretty quick, with him demanding pretty high wages, like Cleverley. I eventually talked him into a wage just below 60k.

Sergi Roberto is another player whose name has been suggested so I gave him a scout and he turned out to be a pretty decent player. I find him similar to, but has more defensive ability than Cleverley. He's also listed for half-price, which is 2.4mil. Again I tried to pay in installments so I reached an agreement with Barca to take him for 2.5mil over 12 months. But Roberto's wages were a stumbling block. Like Pereyra and Cleverley he wanted high wages, though not as high. But unlike the two, he may not feature as much in the squad and I was pretty hesitant to hand him 55k+ wages if he was only backup to them. Plus there's still Romero and Ward-Prowse. The scout report suggested Roberto would be good in a box-to-box role though. And he would be an upgrade on Delph. I negotiated a contract, and submitted it anyway. If it comes to this, maybe I'll offload Delph and make room for Roberto. Romero could sometimes be shifted to the Regista role, so there's an opening. Losing Delph though would mean losing a home-grown player. Not sure I will have too many of those left come July. I'll cross the bridge when I come to it.

Inspired by Roberto's price, I set off to hunt more transfer listed players to see if I could nab any more bargains.

Turns out, there are quite a few and I immediately had my scout look into them. Notice I usually say "scout" not "scouts"? Yeah, did I mention I sacked all the sub-par scouts at Villa? Now I'm surviving on Filho, who has 18 for Judging Ability and Judging Potential. So he's the best bet I have. Though sometimes I still don't trust those reports. Below are the listed players with their estimated price tag.


Carl Jenkinson (1.4mil)
Michael Keane (1.1mil)
Raffidine Abdullah (450k)
Gaston Ramirez (8mil)
Lacina Traore (2.2mil)

There was also Inigo Martinez who was listed, but he wasn't interested in joining. He would have been a good replacement should Vlaar leave as he has some leadership and good defending ability. Although one issue I have with him is his lack of aerial ability, which would be a big risk as crosses from opponents often lead to goals conceded for us.

Of the 5, Ramirez would probably go straight into the XI as an AML. Great vision and flair, good dribbling, decent crossing. With him and Grealish as classic wingers hitting crosses to Benteke, maybe we can finally score more goals from crosses (which doesn't happen often enough). I'm going to delay this one though. I'd like to consider more winger options before shelling out 8mil, which probably will be worth it but would possibly hurt my chances of landing a good striker. Which I have yet to find a target for, so it's best not to spend all the cash now. Besides, do I really need Ramirez? I was thinking Pereyra could play out wide for me as a winger, or even a wide playmaker. This might free up the playmaking role in midfield for Cleverley/Ward-Prowse. And then Romero or Roberto can be the support. And Sanchez the anchor. Seems pretty good. So I won't make a move now, but I'll keep a close eye. I'm sure some other club will swoop in for Ramirez too.

Moving on to Lacina Traore and Jenkinson. Both can be pretty good backups for ST and RB. Of course the right back area is overloaded with Hutton and Lowton also available. Jenkinson might be better though, I haven't done a detailed comparison between him and Hutton/Lowton yet. Maybe I could sell Hutton and Lowton and bring him in. He's home-grown, so Lowton won't be a loss for us. Traore isn't the quick finisher I'm targeting, but he's able to match Benteke on a lot of fronts. He's a pretty similar type of player to Benteke. Their speed and technical attributes are almost the same, but Benteke has better composure, determination and ability to contribute to build up play. And Benteke beats him in strength, stamina and balance. Still, at 2.2mil he's probably a bargain. Plus he could still improve his finishing and technique a bit more. Depending on his wages, which might be in the 40k range, I'll consider bringing him in as backup. But even so, I still need my quick finisher player.

Keane and Abdullah could be good prospects for the future. If I have leftover cash, I will look to sign them as well.

As I crawl through my save, I get a message regarding the Cleverley bid. He's rejected our higher wages to play for Arsenal. I can't say I'm not disappointed, because he was to play a key role in our midfield. But seeing as that didn't work out, the Pereyra bid was probably a good idea. Ward-Prowse and him will be our side's key playmaking maestros.

Except Pereyra failed to get a work permit. This isn't going well. I did NOT sign an Argentine talent on high wages just so he can fail to gain a work permit and not play for us. After Cleverley, now this? I frantically click the appeal option and cross my fingers. Maybe Villa is just destined for disaster. The work permit decision will be announced in a few days.

In the meantime, Roberto and Ward-Prowse have signed for us, and will join us when the window opens on 9th June. If I can't get Pereyra, at least I have the two of them, and they are definitely improvements for our midfield.



In other news...
FA Cup final between West Ham and Southampton, both are relegated from the Premier League.

#lambertisahero

 

[Zlatan Lumic]

You've been frantically scouting the market left and right all this time huh...
It's a shame about the midfield area though, both Cleverley and Pereyra could have helped push Villa into the next level, but hey Sergi Roberto has a lot of potential and getting Ward-Prowse for less than 5 millions? That was one heck of a bargain.

Besides not all is lost (assuming that Pereyra won't be able to come, which is quite likely), with West Ham relegated maybe you can take advantage there... A player like Ravel Morrison could be useful (young, with room to grow, able to play anywhere on the midfield)...

You're doing great so far, which is quite a relief.

.P.S.: 8 millions for Ramirez? Probably not worthy, the player might be good and all... But spending almost half of your budget on a player when there are still gaps waiting to be filled seems quite unwise to me.

 

[rawket]

You've been frantically scouting the market left and right all this time huh...
It's a shame about the midfield area though, both Cleverley and Pereyra could have helped push Villa into the next level, but hey Sergi Roberto has a lot of potential and getting Ward-Prowse for less than 5 millions? That was one heck of a bargain.

Besides not all is lost (assuming that Pereyra won't be able to come, which is quite likely), with West Ham relegated maybe you can take advantage there... A player like Ravel Morrison could be useful (young, with room to grow, able to play anywhere on the midfield)...

You're doing great so far, which is quite a relief.

.P.S.: 8 millions for Ramirez? Probably not worthy, the player might be good and all... But spending almost half of your budget on a player when there are still gaps waiting to be filled seems quite unwise to me.

I scouted him. West Ham won't want to sell him. Not about to pay more for someone who has character issues. :/
Poyet also will command a high fee from West Ham.

 

[rawket]

It's been a few days since my last post and I've crawled my way into the first week of July. As things stand I believe my transfers are going well, but I'm probably only around halfway through in achieving my transfer window objectives. Alright, let's skip the boring preamble and jump right into it.

Sergi Roberto and Ward-Prowse also join the club when the window opened. And on 1st July the likes of Nicola Leali, Matteo Bianchetti, Antonio Barreca, Patric, Zakaria Bakkali and Mour Samb joined us after their contracts expired. You'd be pleased to hear that Pereyra obtained his work permit after the appeal, and will be playing a key role in the side this season (hopefully).

Onto the big issue of strikers, I scouted a list of many names, looking for the one. Mauro Icardi was considered and looked very accomplished, but his asking price was somewhere in the £20mil range. I also had a look at the young star Donis Avdijaj, whose value was very reasonable (i.e. really really cheap), but was not for sale. At all. At any price. I even offered £40mil which I don't have and which Schalke rejected. Not disheartened, I continued my search and stumbled upon Berardi, who seemed to be available for ~£10mil. But he is co-owned by Juventus and Sassuolo, and both demanded at least twice the value for each of their parts, bringing the total cost to ~£20mil. Too much.

I found 5 more targets: Léo Baptistão, Gabriel Barbosa, Carlos Fierro, Alexandre Lacazette and Guido Vadala.
The first 3 seemed rather similar. Atletico, though, weren't prepared to let go of Léo that easily and the best I could negotiate was a £15.5mil deal overall, with £5.5mil up front and £10mil over 48 months. Barbosa on the other hand was available for £9mil. And Carlos Fierro had a £9.25mil release clause (which means I must pay all £9.25mil up front). So clearly Léo was to be struck off the list.

Now, Lacazette was available for £7mil. Which was the cheapest option so far. But his wage demands were £80k p/w which for Villa is WAY too high. I finally managed to negotiate it to £70k p/w but really, after serious thought, in no way was I going to shell out that much. I weighed up Barbosa and Fierro. The former's ability to play as AM would be handy, but as things stand I hardly use an AM, given my preference for a more balanced 4-3-3. And I already have the likes of Pereyra, Ward-Prowse, Roberto and Bakkali who could easily fill that role. But with another 6 clubs looking to sign him, he demanded around £40k p/w, and like £2.2mil signing on fee. Plus £1.1mil agent fee. So I went with Carlos Fierro in the end. He's a humble South American who knows that he can't just waltz in and demand insane wages. I signed him on £18k p/w. His signing-on fee and agent fee were very low too.

I have my eye on Vadala, who has great potential and is available for a pretty cheap fee. But at the moment he's not the accomplished striker I'm looking for, though I'm snapping him up for £2mil upfront and 3mil over £12 months. His wages are £3.2k p/w, but after 10 senior games it will jump to £8.75k p/w. The deal's not through yet, but I'm hoping it will be tied up soon.

I also managed to offload a fair number of players. I probably won't meet the home-grown quota (at best I'll scrape through), but I'm prepared to leave blanks if need be. I've decided that clearing out some of the deadwood now would be the better option in the long run. I probably won't get too far in the Europa League anyway. The club has decent depth now, but I think there's still a gap between the first choice players and the backup/rotation guys.

So following Libor Kozak's £2.3mil move to Forest and Gary Gardner's £775k move to Bristol City, I sold Westwood to Leicester for £5.25mil. With the new players coming in, there was hardly a role for Westwood in the side. Especially since he hardly got a good run in the side last season. Plus he had more or less reached his potential with us and it was probably time for him to move on. But Crewe Alexandra got around £800k of the deal due to the sell-on clause in Westwood's contract.

I also let Hutton join Newcastle for £2.8mil. If I don't move him on this window, I might have serious difficulty in the future as he'll be past 30 and likely won't have as many games in the side as he did this season. Which would cause his value to plunge further. So cashing in now seemed a good option. It would also free up £30k in the wage budget. £30k p/w for a backup fullback seems a lot to be paying. Lowton is on half of that. It didn't work out that well though as he demanded money to move, but since offering him out to other clubs broke our relationship, I can't turn back now. Still better than paying £30k p/w though.

Kieran Richardson also moved on to QPR for £2.5mil, which was pretty impressive as his value was a mere £1.7mil. And he had joined on a free last season. Hopefully he gets more games with QPR this season.

Now, the big fishies. You can probably tell I'm rather ****** with Weimann and Agbonlahor after last season. I'm not completely sure why. Maybe it's because I really can't put up with the 7.3 then 6.2 then 5.9 then 7.8 performances. Maybe it's also because they're so poor irl week in week out I can't wait to rid myself of them.

In any case, I managed to secure a £7.5mil deal for Weimann. Which was a pretty good deal since his value had plunged to ~£3mil after his goal droughts. But I'm worried too, as he's now with Nottingham. Sound familiar? Because so is Kozak. And they already have Assombalonga in their squad. And they'll be playing in the BPL this season after winning promotion. Pretty potent strike force. If everything goes right for them that is. I'm hoping Kozak will continue to be injured and Weimann will continue to be consistently inconsistent.

And the real deal comes with the sale of Agbonlahor. As expected, it was a PR nightmare but my urge to get rid of him was too strong. Besides, like in the Hutton case, he'll likely see much less action, and his value will drop. It's still pretty high at £7.5mil so cashing in now would be practical. I'm not the sentimental kind anyway. I offered him out, and he got ****** and wanted to discuss the issue. I told him we have too many players in his role and so we had to move him on. He didn't like it and asked what he could do better so he could stay and fight for his place. I read through every single conversation option then, but none of them said "improve EVERYTHING". So I went with the "I made up my mind and you can't do anything about it" option. Which really infuriated him I believe. He went on to cry about it to his teammates, and I had to hold a meeting with him, Delph, Westwood(before I sold him) and Lowton. None of whom would really feature in my squad this season. Ha!

I convinced Westwood and Lowton to let it go~

But Delph wouldn't. Not that it bothers me though. Maybe it will later on.

That was back in early June but it took forever before a decent offer came in. £9mil. From Watford. No nego. I took it in an instant. The likes of Palace and Stoke came in with low ball bids like £6mil. Psshhhh... After what seemed like eternity, Agbonlahor rejected their contract offer because the following terms weren't acceptable:

• Salary
• Appearance Bonus
• Signing-On Fee
• Agent Fee
• Automatic Contract Extension Option For Club

So he blew the whole £9mil transfer I was eagerly waiting to complete. Intentionally I believe. He's on £55k p/w and I want him out. So after another few days offering him out, West Brom came in with an offer of 8mil. Now that's pretty unexpected, considering West Brom and Villa have a very strong rivalry. I'm not sure their fans would be happy. Or ours. I pushed for £9mil but they returned a non-negotiable £8.5 mil. Like £8.25mil up front and £250k over 12 months. Not too bad really. This time the contract talks went relatively smoothly and were concluded within days. But the catch is, like Hutton, Gabby wants money to move. And it's £18.25k p/w until 2018. But like Hutton, you can't just go back on a PR breakdown. So no turning back, move forward, pay him the money and send him off to West Brom. As expected, fans from both sides didn't like the deal. Villa fans loved him to bits and seemed pretty upset. But at least we made a fair bit of cash on this deal. That almost covers the Fierro deal. And Fierro's wages are much cheaper. And he's a better player. I hope.

Additionally, I also managed to bring in two regens, one Cameroonian left back whom I had agreed a contract with in the early part of last season, as well as a very promising young Croatian starlet who cost a mere £215k to bring to England.

Here is the profile of Ivica Kobetic, snagged from Lokomotiva. And he's rated 5★ potential.

While I'm pretty excited about grooming Kobetic into the next top midfielder (who will also be home-grown), I'm a little disappointed with my African regen. My impression from earlier scouting reports seemed to be that he was going to be decently good (3.5★) but now that he's joined he seems pretty average (2.5★) and might be a failed signing. Especially since he has no work permit and therefore can't get any games to aid his development so that I can quickly sell him on. Ugh, can't trust these scouts.

On the topic of work permits, I put in a request back in June to the board for a feeder club so that we could obtain work permits for our players. To which they were wholly in agreement with and began the search. But disappointingly (yet quite expected) they return after a month of anxious waiting to inform me that they see no benefit in such a link at this point in time. Which is rather ridiculous considering I have 4 players without work permits (2 young Brazilians, Mour Samb, and this Cameroonian regen). 6 if I hadn't been lucky enough to get one for Savitskiy and Pereyra.

I did manage to get them to increase the physios and coaches allowed and I took the opportunity to clean out the rest of the backroom staff whom I didn't want and bring in those I want. Compensation fees are peanuts now. It feels good to have some cash.

Overall, I've spent around £16.75mil, while my sales have raised a good £29.5mil. I have more cash than I started with, which all seems rather unreal.

I still have yet to offload Helenius, Sylla, Tonev, Bennett, Luna and Senderos though. Plus, neither Savitskiy or Bakkali are BPL standard and so I might still need a winger. And I still have to try to get Mour Samb, the two Brazilian kids and the Cameroonian regen out on loan to try to secure work permits. It's 5th July and there's still lots to be done.

Meanwhile, we played Borussia Mönchengladbach in a friendly which we won 2-1.

Pereyra showed his lethal shooting skills by scoring from outside the box into the top corner, while Benteke and Savitskiy combined well to put us 2-0 up. Okore gave away a cheap penalty and his performance went downhill from there. I'm glad it did though. Gives me the opportunity to fine him, which resulted in him saying he would motivate himself more. Which corresponds with an increase in his work rate attribute.

That's all for now. I'll get back to desperately shipping out the last of the deadwood.


P.S. Cheers for your support and views this last season. I'm really glad the save is going well, although it seems too well right now. It seems like the part of the original challenge - tight finances - is somewhat gone. And as with all Villa saves that's usually the key part. I'm not sure how this season will go. It may have much less kick now and I do understand if you guys lose interest in it. But I'll do what I can to keep the save interesting.

As always, your comments and inputs are most appreciated.

 

[Zlatan Lumic]

So I went with Carlos Fierro in the end. He's a humble South American who knows that he can't just waltz in and demand insane wages.

North American, he hails from Mexico after all.

It's been a while (I was starting to miss my share from activity in Villa Park), and it's no wonder why...You've definitely had quite the summer so far...
Good signings so far (it's nice to see that Pereyra got a permit, it would have been a major pain to look for a replacement for him), the team is definitely shaping out nicely and don't worry about Fierro by the way as he ALWAYS work out wonderfully in FM (it doesn't matter the installment, he never lets trainers down).

You managed to get yourself rid of quite the amount of deadwood, but I'm afraid you'll definitely have trouble with EL's registration (in the worst case scenario, go on vacation one day and let the assistant manager do the chore... it always works).
Truth to be told as a villan I'm pretty much disappointed to see Gabby go to West Brom... but then again I'm royally ****** off at him for showing so little love to the club and choosing to go there so nonchalantly isntead of going over Watford... Does that guy really have claret and blue imprinted in his heart?

Anyway, keep it up ^^

.P.S.: That Croatian... I can't wait to see how he develops... Wouldn't it be lovely if he turned out to be the new Zvonimir Boban or something like that? <3