Recreating Parma of the 90s

[Indiesta_FM]

The way I currently enjoy playing the game is to try and recreate classic teams into the modern era using current players as best as i can. I have a real soft spot for teams that punched above there weight and played a specific style of football. I have always kept this to myself and I’ve enjoyed doing the research behind each team and there sets of players. However I am struggling with my latest self inflicted challenge and thought I would branch out to the community for some help/ideas. Currently I want to work on re-creating the Parma team from the late 90’s under Alberto Malesani that won the UEFA Cup, with a few inclusions of players that made there name at Parma earlier in the decade like Ginafranco Zola (I’m aware that he had left by this point), Faustino Asprilla etc.

Recreating a tactic will be difficult due to the lack of content available for this period. I aim to use a hybrid of Gasperinis tactic with Atalanta as they used a similar formation and possibly Inzaghi’s tactic with Lazio. The goal is to play entertaining attacking football. My aim is to build a squad of modern day players that are similar to the 90s team and would love some suggestions/opinions.

Preferably I would like to keep nationalities the same but I know this may not be possible. Also I’m aware that budget may be a real issue and I will need to have 2 shortlists for each player with a ‘if I had unlimited money’ target and a more ‘cost effective’ targets depending on how the save and finances progress. But to be clear I’m not after the best in the world but more of a realistic version of players as they were at the time (many went on to be world class but might not have been at the time).I usually aim for 3-5 year saves to see how well I can do over that period.

So without further a due, this is the main stay of players that I’m looking for:

GK - the next Gianluigi Buffon - not much of a description needed here. A young Italian keeper with potential. Key player to find.

RWB/RM- Diego Fuser - a fast, athletic and hardworking wingback (preferably Italian). Manuel Lazari would be a target but probably out of reach early game.

LWB/LM - Paolo Vanoli - a reliable wing back - quite satisfied with Guiessepe Pezzella for this role.

CB - Lillian Thurman - Frances most capped, an athletic ball playing defender. Key player to emulate.

CB- Roberto Sensini - a tough Argentinian stopper. First thoughts are Ramiro Funes Mori from Villarreal but open to suggestions.

CB - Fabio Cannavaro - the last defender to win the Ballon D’or and probably the position I’m struggling with the most. A small but brilliant defender. Anticipation and match intelligence are key for this player. The closest I can think of currently would be Armado Izzo from Torino. Key player to emulate.

These 3 are the rock and very important to this team.

CM/CDM- Dino Baggio - a tall box to box Italian midfielder with good long shots and decent attributes everywhere. if Marco Parolo was a few years younger he would be top of my list. Cristante, Mandragorra, Gagliardini, Benassi, Maggiore are options that spring to mind? Suggestions welcomed. Key player to emulate.

CM/CDM- Alain Boghassian - Again a tall, athletic, very fit midfielder who can get up and down.
Preferably french.

AM- Juan Sebastian Verón - Argentinian playmaker: creative, good shooting and technical. Preferably young and starting there journey in Europe. Star player to find.

ST - Enrico Chiesa - A Pacey clinical Italian striker. In a perfect world it would be Immobile or Federico Chiesa, however this would be very hard to achieve. My thoughts stray towards Kevin Lasagna.

ST- Hernan Crespo - one of the hottest strikers around at the time an all round, young Argentinian striker. Again struggling with this. Maybe Maximillano Romero? Star player to find.

The front 3 partnership again is important to build.

ST - Faustino Asprilla- the cult hero who was a pacey striker with the ability to do something unexpected. Preferably Colombian. Roger Martinez maybe?

AM/CF - Gianfranco Zola - the magician a small, technical, creative attacking midfielder who can play as a a forward. Decent free kicks would be a plus. Great alternative forward option. Ideally I think Lorenzo Insigne would be the closest to Zola but probably Impossible to achieve without an investment. Perhaps Simone Verde as an alternative? Suggestions welcomed

CM/AM - Milo Kranic - a tall attacking midfielder who is creative. Pasalic maybe?

CM/AM - Stefano Fiore - Italian midfielder who can play centre midfield and attacking midfield. - Roberto Soriano?

Cover for each positions as well - preferably Italian Players.

So there we have it. For the moment this is what I’m looking to build. Tough task I know. Hopefully I can perform well tactically and increase the reputation of the club, gain extra funds through sales that don’t fit the agenda and maybe get lucky and pick up some targets on the cheap. Please let me know any suggestions for players that I can take on board it would be greatly appreciated. I look forward to any discussions on who I should go after and why. If anyone does anything similar I would love to hear it, and if this is successful I will post more classic teams I would like to emulate.

Cheers

 

[CraigTagg]

Love this!

Will definitely give this type of save/challenge a go at some point either with Parma or another retro cult team of the 90s

Not sure if you're still needing any suggestions but some I would look at whilst also trying to be realistic of Parmas budget would be,

Manuel Gasparini = the next Gianluigi Buffon - not much of a description needed here. A young Italian keeper with potential. Key player to find.

Thiago Almada =
Juan Sebastian Verón - Argentinian playmaker: creative, good shooting and technical. Preferably young and starting there journey in Europe. Star player to find.

Lucien Agoume =
CM/CDM- Alain Boghassian - Again a tall, athletic, very fit midfielder who can get up and down.
Preferably french.

Alessandro Bastoni =
Fabio Cannavaro - the last defender to win the Ballon D’or and probably the position I’m struggling with the most. A small but brilliant defender. Anticipation and match intelligence are key for this player. The closest I can think of currently would be Armado Izzo from Torino. Key player to emulate.

Jérôme Onguéné = Lillian Thurman - Frances most capped, an athletic ball playing defender. Key player to emulate

Alfredo Morelos = Faustino Asprilla- the cult hero who was a pacey striker with the ability to do something unexpected. Preferably Colombian

Bruno Petkovic = Milo Kranic - a tall attacking midfielder who is creative

A few other names to consider,

Manuel Locatelli
Santiago Cáseres
Nehuén Pérez
Ezequiel Barco
Giacomo Raspadori
Filippo Romagna

 

[itsAKDB]

I like this idea a lot, it appeals to my sense of nostalgia. I would suggest Valencia 01-02 for another possible save. I do wonder though is 3-5 years going to be long enough to make this work, mostly because of finance/reputation issues re building the ideal team?

 

[Indiesta_FM]

Love this!

Will definitely give this type of save/challenge a go at some point either with Parma or another retro cult team of the 90s

Not sure if you're still needing any suggestions but some I would look at whilst also trying to be realistic of Parmas budget would be,

Manuel Gasparini = the next Gianluigi Buffon - not much of a description needed here. A young Italian keeper with potential. Key player to find.

Thiago Almada =
Juan Sebastian Verón - Argentinian playmaker: creative, good shooting and technical. Preferably young and starting there journey in Europe. Star player to find.

Lucien Agoume =
CM/CDM- Alain Boghassian - Again a tall, athletic, very fit midfielder who can get up and down.
Preferably french.

Alessandro Bastoni =
Fabio Cannavaro - the last defender to win the Ballon D’or and probably the position I’m struggling with the most. A small but brilliant defender. Anticipation and match intelligence are key for this player. The closest I can think of currently would be Armado Izzo from Torino. Key player to emulate.

Jérôme Onguéné = Lillian Thurman - Frances most capped, an athletic ball playing defender. Key player to emulate

Alfredo Morelos = Faustino Asprilla- the cult hero who was a pacey striker with the ability to do something unexpected. Preferably Colombian

Bruno Petkovic = Milo Kranic - a tall attacking midfielder who is creative

A few other names to consider,

Manuel Locatelli
Santiago Cáseres
Nehuén Pérez
Ezequiel Barco
Giacomo Raspadori
Filippo Romagna

Hi mate, thanks so much for the reply I was starting to loose hope!! Love those suggestions, I had a few in my shortlists already but the ones I didn’t I have added. Particularly like the goalkeeper and defensive ideas. Perfect timing as well As I’ve just finished my first season finishing 5th, loosing out on the Champions league on the last day to Torino (not to bothered as the Europa League is what made Parma the loveable cult team).

The budget has been a real issue as I’ve got a measly £15 mil to spend and most of the players with any value were loan to buys and they may be difficult to move on. Il post an update over the weekend of how and what movements I make during the summer. This may take longer than my usual 5 years. Any suggestions on who you think could be my Crespo? Tough to find a powerhouse Argentinian striker at the moment. I was thinking Giovanni Simeone?

But please have a crack at something like this mate and let me know how you get on and how you do things differently. Other teams I’ve considered emulating is Ancelottis Milan and the Christmas tree tactic. Trying to find the next pirlo, Kaka, seedorf etc. Or do some of these playing styles no longer exist, I’d imagine a player like Gattuso might be hard to find In today’s game. Also Pellegrinis Villarreal and the magic rectangle tactic or the Villarreal of 2010 ish with a young Cazorla, Nilmar, Rossi, Valero, Senna with the same sort of playing style.

 

[Indiesta_FM]

I like this idea a lot, it appeals to my sense of nostalgia. I would suggest Valencia 01-02 for another possible save. I do wonder though is 3-5 years going to be long enough to make this work, mostly because of finance/reputation issues re building the ideal team?

Thanks for the response and what a Great shout with Valencia. Personally I love doing the research behind these teams, there playing style and key players and then trying to bring that to FM. That Valencia team isn’t one I’m massively familiar with other than Benitez was in charge but that would be fun to get stuck into and learn something new.
5 years usually stop me getting too bored with a save, And I like to see what I can win in that time. But this is by know means a rule, you can go at this for as long as you wanted mate. I agree it will definitely depend on the finances of the club As well.I’m finding with Parma it might take me longer until I get squad that I’m after and the player resemblances. Valencia however could possibly be shorter as I’d imagine selling any players that don’t fit will generate more money than my Parma save and they’ll be ale to attract more players early game.

Any other ”cult” teams that spring to mind?

 

[CraigTagg]

Hi mate, thanks so much for the reply I was starting to loose hope!! Love those suggestions, I had a few in my shortlists already but the ones I didn’t I have added. Particularly like the goalkeeper and defensive ideas. Perfect timing as well As I’ve just finished my first season finishing 5th, loosing out on the Champions league on the last day to Torino (not to bothered as the Europa League is what made Parma the loveable cult team).

The budget has been a real issue as I’ve got a measly £15 mil to spend and most of the players with any value were loan to buys and they may be difficult to move on. Il post an update over the weekend of how and what movements I make during the summer. This may take longer than my usual 5 years. Any suggestions on who you think could be my Crespo? Tough to find a powerhouse Argentinian striker at the moment. I was thinking Giovanni Simeone?

But please have a crack at something like this mate and let me know how you get on and how you do things differently. Other teams I’ve considered emulating is Ancelottis Milan and the Christmas tree tactic. Trying to find the next pirlo, Kaka, seedorf etc. Or do some of these playing styles no longer exist, I’d imagine a player like Gattuso might be hard to find In today’s game. Also Pellegrinis Villarreal and the magic rectangle tactic or the Villarreal of 2010 ish with a young Cazorla, Nilmar, Rossi, Valero, Senna with the same sort of playing style.

The Crespo style striker I think will be a difficult one to replicate. Lautaro Martinez is the one who springs to mind but unfortunately way out of the budget. Simeone could be a good shout, let me know how he gets on if you go with him. Have you started the second season yet?

I loved Villarreal under Pellegrini, so that's another good shout for a potential team to takeover. I'd maybe even go with the mide 00's era. Juan Roman Riquelme is probably one of my favourite players of all time and then there was the likes of Forlan, Sorin, Godin and MArcos Senna

 

[Indiesta_FM]

Season one of recreating Parma of the 90s has ended. I finished fifth (which IMO was a massive over achievement given the squad) and I was in the champions league position only to loose at home to Torino on the final day which meant they leap frogged us. Mixed emotions regarding this as a couple of Europa League Runs will help with the Nostalgia of the save but loosing out on champions league money and the reputation this will bring. Not to mention I had my eye on a couple of Torino Players which have now become even more difficult to attract. The highlights of the season were league doubles over both Inter Milan & Lazio. But crashing out of the Cup early also to Inter was a dampener.

It was quite clear from the offset that at first this would be budget cut side to start with which I can slowly look to replace with more star players as the save goes on. Starting with the first transfer window disabled and tactically using a few variations of a Gasperini inspired 3-4-1-2 things got off to a flyer before suffering my first loss to the dominating Juventus. A steady first half of the season had me drop as low as 8th and as high as second.

I mainly used the time between matches to scout my targets for each historic player with the aim of drawing up a strong shortlist of a varied price ranges. Disappointingly I had little to no budget in January, so I knew my focus had to be on finishing as high as possible to scrape every bit of money I could from the club come the seasons end. That being said I did do some business in January allowing Brugman, Siligardi and Scozzarella to leave the club and making one move for what could possibly be my Low Budget Juan Sebastian Veron.

Meet Cristian Ferreira.

A pre contract was agreed for the summer which I agreed to buy now for £625k. His long shots, and set piece skills are what attracted me to him (as well as being Argentinian) and the scout reports were decent too. I aim to train his vision and passing and hopefully this can be steal. I loaned him straight out to Trapani to get valuable game time before season two. Post 2 to follow with the summer transfer window.

 

[Indiesta_FM]

The most frustrating thing about this first season was that any player of value and of a good selling age was on loan at the club and joining permanently at the end of the season and therefore difficult to move on straight away. Once the season had ended I was given a Budget of £15 million and I moved on any players out on loan or in the under 20s I could tp gain some extra funds. Any attempt to sign players was difficult due to hardly being able to offer a wage over £5k. I realised this was due to all the pending loan to buys I had. So the agonising wait until July 1st began whilst I prayed my targets weren’t snapped up whilst I was helpless.

Once last years loanees were on board I set to work. Firstly, I prioritised the centre back positions and Goalkeepers as none of the players I had fit into what I’m looking for. Out go Bruno Alves on a free and Gagliolo permanently for £6million. Colombi the back up keeper leaves permanently and Deamku leaves on loan with wages covered. Luigi Sepe joins permanently and will Tutor my new young keepers whilst rotating the number 1 spot. The replacements:

Failed attempts to sign Meret and Gasperini meant I went with my 3rd choice in Plizzari from A.C. Milan go be my first attempt at Gianluigi Buffon. Still very excited by this. Alastra is promoted and has the chance to fight to be Buffons heir.

Alan Franco Joins from Independiente for £3.5mill to act as my Roberto Sensini. Argentinian,Strong, brave, great anticipation.

My first choice Cannavaro was Armando Izzo from Torino who was far to expensive and unfortunately left for China. Secondly I moved for Bastoni on loan with a view to buy but he also decided to move on loan to China. My third choice was Fillpo Romagna who I was priced out of. Finally I settled on and now dubbed my Budget Cannavaro: Andrea Cistana from Brescia who joins for £6 million.

Joris Gnagnon joins from Sevilla for £9.5 mil to be my Lillian Thuram. Strong, aggressive, good in the tackle And French!

Antonio Fradella joins for £80k from Empoli to act as cover and Simone Lacoponi remains to see out his contract.

Next up wingbacks: Matteo Darmian had a great season for me but he isn’t the attacking wing back that Fuser was so being vigilante he is sold to Dinamo Zagreb for £6 million. Also being 30 and not on loan meant he was one of my only real options to sell. Vincent Laurini leaves for £1 mill. In come Samuele Birindelli on a free to act as my Fuser cover.
But the main coup was Cristian Piccini on loan from Valencia with an option to buy for £7million. He will act as my Diego Fuser. On the left Giuseppe Pezzella joins permanently and I am more than happy for him to be my Paolo Vanoli. Luca Ranieri joins on loan to act as LWB/LCB cover.

Centre midfield: Kuraj leaves permanently and Sprocati goes out on loan as well as those previously mentioned. Grassi joins permanently along with Ricardo Maggiore who will act as cover and could potentially grow into the Dino Baggio Role. Kurtic and Barilla stay at least until January where they will probably be moved on.
The main action of the window was the signing of Roberto Gagliardini on loan from Inter with a £12 million agreed fee. He will play the Dino Baggio role and hopefully for years to come. Ricardo Sapponara joins on loan from fiorentina and will act as my Stefano Fiore for the time being.

Strikers: Gervinho moves to Galatasaray. Karamoh to AC Milan. Andreas Adorante leaves on loan. Inglesse joins permanently and I will keep him for the season before trying to move on. Cornelius has another year on loan before joining and I will try to sell.
My ‘budget’ version of Enrico Chiesa is the signing of Kevin Lasagna from Udinese for £3.3 mil. I have also signed a ‘budget’ Asprilla in Roger Martinez from Club America for £7.75 mil.

All in all really happy with what I’ve assembled so far. I could talk for hours about who my targets were and who I went after but I wouldn’t want to make this post any longer!!!! It’s definitely a restricted version but it has everything I’m looking for in this save and I’m excited for season two. Theirs still work to be done in moving players on and getting in the style of players I couldn’t in this window. I will also be looking to upgrade each version of this squad if I can.

The hunt still goes on for my Crespo, Zola, Kranic, Benarrivo and Boghassian.