Bigpapa42

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Okay, so after toying around with Vitesse and Southampton, I’m starting a game with Swansea that I’m hoping will last a while. I tend to plan and over-think things but it helps from regretting what was done at the start of a game. You get about €6m to start with if you take the second level expectations (top half), which is achievable. I like to plan things so I’m seeking some suggestions on who to bring in.

The intent is to use the CE Beautiful Play 4-3-3 tactic. I like that its relatively similar to a tactic I built for Dortmund on FM14, though it seems much more effective than what I created. It suits the club pretty well, too.

The squad is solid, without a lot of overt weaknesses to address. But it can also be significantly improved, like most mid-level clubs. There isn’t a huge amount of young potential in the squad – a few promising youth players who need significant development before they will really challenge for a spot. So adding some youth prospects is definitely something I’d like to do. There are three positions in the squad that worry me to some degree and I want to try to stretch the money as far as possible. There isn't really anyone expendable in the squad that I want to get rid of, besides the on-loan Michu who Napoli don't seem to want to buy. In a test save, there was an offer for Neil Taylor from another Prem club (I want to say Newcastle, but its often Sunderland who target him) and I got a below-market, structured offer. Attempted to negotiate to something nice and they walked away, leaving him upset. So I might have to consider selling him if I get a good offer. There is often interest in Wayne Routledge and I sold him on FM14 but I was running a narrow formation. The offers that come in aren't worth selling a useful wide player.

So the areas of concern:

DM – there are a few players who can play there – Leon Britton (starts injured), Jonjo Shelvey, KI Sung-Yeung, Tom Carroll, or even Ashley Richards. They mostly all more DLP/Regista types than midfield destroyers who can also pass, which is what I think works beautifully in the tactic.

DL & DR – the starting pair are okay in Neil Taylor and Angel Rangel. The backups are a bit iffy in Dwight Tiendalli and Jazz Richards. Both of the latter are right sided players and neither can cross, so they aren’t really ideal. And according to the coaches, neither will improve much.

Now, my ideal choices would be Lucas Romero for the DM spot, and either Pavel Kaderabek or Gino Peruzzi. Any of them should join and would be within the wage range. That would give me two starting caliber players, but the cost (€6m for Romero and €3m for either defender) would eat up most of my transfer budget on structured deals. A bit of my transfer budget will go to some younger players. The Danish trio (Souter, Ajar, & Odeggard), Savitsky, and probably Lewis Macleod. Would like to add a developmental GK – probably Sondre Rossbach – but don’t know if I should spend that.

So that’s a long winded way of saying I’m looking for other suggestions for a DM and DR and DL. For the DM, a good defensive minded player but with at least decent passing. For the fullbacks/wingbacks, all-around players who can contribute to both attack and defense. I like the thought of young British players but they tend to be very costly, so as long as a Work Permit is a possibility, I'm willing.

Been scouring player suggestions for options. Some players I have or am considering:

Ali Deli - is really appealing but he’s a more attacking MC and that’s not what I need at the start.
Jon Flanagan - a nice option but may not join and Liverpool want a lot
Josip Radosevic - more potential than ready star, and only likely to join on loan
Joshua Kimmich - potential to be a nice all-around DMC but strength, positioning and marking would need work
Ryan McLaughlin - Liverpool asked for €44m so I think that's a polite way of saying no
Sam Byram - Leeds ask for over €20m. Even if I negotiate down....
Joel Ward - quite appealing. And equally pricey
David Pavelka - looks solid, and scouts say about €3m

Anyone have other suggestions for me?
 
For an unorthodox DM option, Humam Tariq (the Iraqi CAM) often starts with decent tackling, aggression and marking (13+ in at least 2 saves) so can scout him and see if he's got that. He only costs GBP250k anyway.

And who's this Souter you're talking about? Is it John Souttar at Dundee United?

Apart from that, you can't go wrong with Lucas Romero, and you can barely get better than that either. Other options are Lucas Silva and Gaston Gil Romero.

Perruzzi is an assist machine for me at Hull, he's set up about 14 in 18 games for me by early December. Other RB alternatives could be Aurier, Corchia, Fabinho, Mayke, Alex Silva or Vrsalkjo (but I don't know how much they'd be) or Petar Stojanovic as a young backup/future 1st teamer. Just remember, there are very few young potentially world class RB's on the game. I mean Rafael is the second highest rated!?!


For LB, if you can, just splash the cash and buy Balanta. He's better in the middle, but is probably better at LB than Taylor. If not, there's also Jonathan Silva, Kongolo, Jose Luis Gaya, Alex Telles, Baba Rahman, Masuaka or Nicolas Tagliafico. Dhurgham Ismail is probably super cheap (also in Iraq).

I don't know how much most of these guys would cost, but I hope that it's a helpful list nonetheless (i know they aren't British, but British and cheap don't exactly go hand-in-hand). Just scout these guys en-masse and see what the reports say. Good luck!
 
Thanks for the reply. Sorry, its John Hou Sæter. Meant to check the spelling and forgot. He's actually got the makings of a decent DM but needs time to develop.

Tariq is an interesting thought, and I actually did consider it. Depends on the random attributes he gets in the given game. Part of my hesitation is that I would want to start the positional and skill development ASAP and he usually needs to be loaned out for a bit to get a Work Permit.

Had Ishmael on FM14 so I'm quite the fan. Lots of random attributes so he can be rather useless in some games. Work permit is similarly a problem.

I know what you mean about the potential WC RBs. In my Southampton save, I was expecting to lose Clyne so I was looking for RB options, with a pretty big budget. Not nearly as many top level and potential top level ones as I expected. I see why so many people end up finding class regens at that position ASAP.
 
For DM, try and see if you can get Ruben Neves from Porto on loan. He's loan listed, but I dunno if he'll be interested in joining you or not (Also, loan fee). But he's pretty decent. Maybe try and see if United want to sell Fletcher on the cheap? Although, his wages could be a problem.

Lucas Romero is usually the better of the two 'Romeros', but I find Gaston Gil to be cheaper generally. Try and flex the fee to over 48 months, and it should work out cheap. Oh, and see if Sergi Samper has signed a new deal at Barca. If so, he'll generally be loan listed, so if he's interested in joining you. Also, for the future - Kristoffer Ajer - Dirt cheap, and decent for a mid-table team.

RB - you really won't get that many good RB for cheap. Peruzzi is your best bet. Again, stretch fee to over 48 months, and it should be possible.

LB - I dunno that many good, cheap LB. Wait and see if Gaya is loan listed (he generally tends to be, and in the first season, is already pretty good for mid table teams.) Balanta is a beast, but is outstanding as a CB. LB does not seem to bring out the best in him..
 
In my Swans save I didn't sign anybody in the first window, but in Jan I sold Taylor and Rangel(€9m and 500k) and signed Oviedo and Peruzzi (€5.5 and €3.5) and they have been insanely good.

In the 2015 summer window I got Ben Davies(loan) Kranevitter (€7m best player in squad) and Wieser (free, cover for wb from Bayern). These are obviously only the transfers that affect the positions you were talking about.

I would also highly recommend cleverly and Ben Arfa (both free for summer 2015) as for GK I got Tim Horn from Kiln on a free in summer 2016. Amazing gk. Hope I helped. As for the English thing I had the same issue and so splashed the cash (€40m :/) on Luke Shaw in summer 2016. But my youth players are starting to come through now. Hope my suggestions were of help. :)
 
Appreciate all the suggetsions, folks.

Ruben Neves is really appealing because of his potential. And having him on loan would likely allow a positive relationship and that would make signing him later easier. But he's similar to Radosevic or Ajer (I forgot he's more defensive than Hou Saeter) in that he needs to do some developing before he can really be a starter.

Lucas Romero is a common, gimme signing but he's so good. Gaston Gil Romdero and Kranevitter are similar and look to cost around the same. I am tempted to try one of those two as I'v had LR on a few FM14 games. But LR is the best of the three and most suited to what I want, so its hard to go with one of the others. I could wait until January or even the second summer window, but their prices might rise and there is a good chance they get snapped up by bigger clubs. So it makes it hard to wait.

Balanta is so appealing. But CB is probably my position of least need and he's an okay FB, not a great WB, so it would be a total luxury signing and I don't have the money for that. Yet.

Thanks for the suggestions, Bujakaa. Erkin in particular looks appealing. Will have to give him a close look.

Itumeleng Khune is a monster bargain. Much like Andre Hansen. But I have a solid starter in Fabianski and Tremell is a reasonable backup with skills to mentor. A quality backup would be a luxury purchase, even if they are a bargain.

So my though of possibly playing Jazz Richards in midfield isn't much more appealing than playing him at rightback. He's just not very skilled. Will likely try to sell him but can't see anyone paying all that much for him. Oh, and Pavel Kaderabek apparently isn't interested in joniing, according to my scouts. Which is disappointing, since he was willing to join Southampton and the reputations are similar.

Edit - yes, very helpful Cai. Nice to see others are playing as Swansea. You probably just convinced me to go after Peruzzi. Would love to hear more about what you did, signed, etc.
 
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Thanks for the reply. Sorry, its John Hou Sæter. Meant to check the spelling and forgot. He's actually got the makings of a decent DM but needs time to develop.

Tariq is an interesting thought, and I actually did consider it. Depends on the random attributes he gets in the given game. Part of my hesitation is that I would want to start the positional and skill development ASAP and he usually needs to be loaned out for a bit to get a Work Permit.

Had Ishmael on FM14 so I'm quite the fan. Lots of random attributes so he can be rather useless in some games. Work permit is similarly a problem.

I know what you mean about the potential WC RBs. In my Southampton save, I was expecting to lose Clyne so I was looking for RB options, with a pretty big budget. Not nearly as many top level and potential top level ones as I expected. I see why so many people end up finding class regens at that position ASAP.


Ahh, okay, Saeter looks fairly decent! A lot of random attributes though. Oh yeah, i forgot about the work permit for Humam Tariq. He'll get it by January, but I suppose you wouldn't want to wait that long.
Ismail is awesome. I did an Iraq game last year, and it was brilliant! Got to the World Cup, with Tariq and Ismail being two of the stars.

Ruben Neves is also a good bet, he's one of the few CM wonderkids who can actually occasionally (flexi PA) get better than Lucas Romero.

Yeah, that's true. Peruzzi is potentially the same as Clyne btw, so he is a good bet.

And as for keepers, I can do better than the 900k Khune. I got Sergio Romero for 375k on transfer deadline day :p (he was transferlisted for 750k, but they couldnt get rid of him). Only wanted 20k in wages too! Bargain.
 
I had a ridiculous amount of success (and luck, basically no injuries) with Swansea. I won the Champions league(!!!!!) And premier league in the second season!!!!! And the Capitol One Cup 1st season.
The Champions league was lucky in that I had PSG, zenit and Moscow in the knockouts and a injury hit Bayern in the final, but nonetheless...

Hatem Ben Arfa was an absolute beast, got him free in summer 2015 ( had to sell him for €25m due to release clause) and Cleverly ( also free) is class. And Peruzzi was insane all season long. What I found is that the board are very lenient when it comes to facilities and wage budget. Swansea have a incredibly strong squad though IMO and if you can stay injury free (I did with low training) you can do really well.

I actually have a YouTube channel if you want to see my tactics/transfers in detail. My YouTube channel is CaiSwans.
http://m.youtube.com/channel/UCfqteoCcwf4lw7RAXdAcTwQ

Shameless advertising :) My tactics for season 2 video gives a good overview as to who I signed and how I played.
 
Oh, nice, Cai. I actually have watched a few of your videos but didn't realize you had updated on the Swansea game. will be watching those. Think you've convinced me on Peruzzi. And impressive amount of success. nice work.

think I might have to grab Ismail, Eric. I can wait out the WPs.

As for Khune, he looks better than Fabianski on paper. But its not really a position I need to strength immediately. Its more about wanting a developmental player for there. Getting a backup who is going to supercede Fab is likely gonna be messy, as he's on 50k wages.
 
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