FM_TNSSO
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Chapter 53: A Good Start And A Winnable Europa League Group
Stevie McPake never really found his feet in France and after just a season with us, he returns to Scotland. We made £1.7 million from the sale to Celtic which isn't too shabby as we picked him up on a free.
Another player that hasn't quite come on as much as I'd have liked is Guo Yuze, so when Koln came in with a bid of £5.5 million rising to £8 million with add ons, I snapped their hand off.
I continue to seek out these absolute bargains and here's another. Andres Garcia was miserable as sin at Atletico Madrid, playing in their B team. Now I know it's only the B team, but he has 75 goals in 117 games, so was well worth the £2.7 million I paid for him...even if he flops, I'll get a lot more than that back if I need to sell him!
Then it was time for another player to leave. Chris Richards joined the club last Summer on a free transfer and only managed 9 games as he was ravaged with injuries. I didn't think he was all that good if I'm honest, so when West Ham were willing to stump up £11.5 million for him, I was happy to accept and let him leave.
So my transfer budget was back up to £13.5 million again, but I desperately needed to bring a centre back in after allowing Bamba and Richards to leave this Summer. My first signing to cover the central defence role is former Portugal under 21, Jorge Silva. He joins from Mallorca where he had a blinding season last year, for £4.5 million.
Stevie McPake never really found his feet in France and after just a season with us, he returns to Scotland. We made £1.7 million from the sale to Celtic which isn't too shabby as we picked him up on a free.
Another player that hasn't quite come on as much as I'd have liked is Guo Yuze, so when Koln came in with a bid of £5.5 million rising to £8 million with add ons, I snapped their hand off.
I continue to seek out these absolute bargains and here's another. Andres Garcia was miserable as sin at Atletico Madrid, playing in their B team. Now I know it's only the B team, but he has 75 goals in 117 games, so was well worth the £2.7 million I paid for him...even if he flops, I'll get a lot more than that back if I need to sell him!
Then it was time for another player to leave. Chris Richards joined the club last Summer on a free transfer and only managed 9 games as he was ravaged with injuries. I didn't think he was all that good if I'm honest, so when West Ham were willing to stump up £11.5 million for him, I was happy to accept and let him leave.
So my transfer budget was back up to £13.5 million again, but I desperately needed to bring a centre back in after allowing Bamba and Richards to leave this Summer. My first signing to cover the central defence role is former Portugal under 21, Jorge Silva. He joins from Mallorca where he had a blinding season last year, for £4.5 million.
Investment in the future is something I've always focused on and this signing is further proof. We raid Bordeaux for their French U18s centre back Youssef Tagnaouti, who joins us for a fee of £1.7 million. Hopefully he'll fulfill his potential and become a key player for us in years to come.
Pre season started off slowly with a couple of draws, but got better and better and I feel suitably prepared that my squad is ready for the competitive games to start.
With Ligue 1 just about to commence, we have a look at the season preview as always. Our stature in the country continues to grow, as does our respect from the bookies. They have us finishing in the top 6 this year and we are starting to establish ourselves as one of the top sides in France.
As we lined up for our first game of the season against Sochaux, there was no less than 7 debutants present in the starting lineup! The question was how long would it take all the newbies to gel and settle in at the club...
Ligue 1; Well for our first competitive game with the overhauled squad, we didn't do too badly. A solid 1-0 win away from home will do.
Continuing the trend of brining youngsters into the club, I sign another. Lasse Uhlig joins from Schalke for a fee of £2.8 million. With him being 18 years old, I may look to send him out on loan for this season and see how he gets on...I reckon he's good enough to play at Ligue 2 level already.
Ligue 1; We were well on top for majority of the game against Nantes, so it would have been unjustified to lose this game. I was pleased when we got the late equalizer, but it feels like 2 points lost after how much we dominated.
Ligue 1; We were straight back to winning ways against Amiens though. An easy game for us where we were in control from the first minute to the last.
We will come up against Lazio again in the group stage of this year's Europa League after knocking them out of the competition last year. I've got to fancy that it will be us two that qualify from this group unless there is a major upset.
Ligue 1; Stade Rennais have been tricky opponents for us in the past, so I'm really pleased with this win away from home.
Still early days, but a solid start from us and only PSG sit above us after 4 games.
