Football Manager 2018

Anyone who's further in in their Celtic saves .... how are you finding managing salaries? Most players were demanding 30k, now it's 50k+

 

* sake all the player values in Scotland just crashed despite being record high in the rankings and my rep being continental.

Seen someone else mention it in this thread and apparently it’s common:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/624090/discussions/0/1693785035829437928/



https://community.sigames.com/topic/420324-player-values-dropping-significantly-as-much-as-50/

* * What a complete waste of time that save has been.

Here’s an example:
James Forrest £14m...now 700k in the space of a day. You could argue it’s more realistic but the point is that these huge drops shouldn’t happen and it’s impacted every single player of mine !!!!

 

This has * my game - players are worth peanuts now. Anyone else came across this?

 

Hardly had a chance to play this over the last week. I'l get on it more this week a little.

 

Update on my save at the moment. Still Sunderland and left Sheffield United after 3 games in the premier league and getting hammered. In December now in my 4th season and currently 5th with Sunderland winning 11 drawing 3 and losing 3. In the UCL last 16 with Sunderland after somehow finishing top of my group above Lyon, Real Madrid and Porto. Realistic i know

Just got the Burnley job with my other manager. They sit bottom of the EPL on 4pts after 18 games and 12 pts from safety. Big job ahead there! Guess who we play first? Sheffield United away.

 

Still just at the start of my second season. This would ruin the game for me.
Still no news from the devs. by the looks of it. Am I right that this mostly occurs at the start of the 2021/22 season?

 

*, what a first CL game that was.

 

Think so man

 

Decided to fire up a Fiorentina save as I can't overcome my Betis depression. Also I've yet to really get engrossed into a Serie A save on 18, closest I got was a season plus with Sampdoria ages ago but that petered out once I got over the cool kit vibes.

Enjoyed doing Fiorentina on 17 and found them easy to manage, but the squad has been well and truly gutted since then: Ilicic, Borja Valero, Carlos Sanchez, Bernadeschi, Vecino, Tello, Salcedo,Kalinic, Babacar, Hagi, all gone.

We look really light on talent, obvious starting point will be forming a new long-term spine around Dragowski, Milenkovic, Benassi, Chiesa and Simeone. Good young players there but will be imperative to keep them around for as long as possible.

Haven't been able to do a great deal on the transfer front, only have £8m to play with. Also have to keep in mind the outgoings already committed to future transfers next season: £8m on Saponara and £2.2m on Biraghi. Saponara is a bit problematic as he can only play as a #10, which basically weds me to playing 4-2-3-1. I also don't have any natural #10s to back him up which is an issue as he's set to miss the first couple of months of the season proper with a pre-existing knee injury. So, step forward my one bit of business...



Pretty chuffed with this, nice cheap depth and have experience of using him in my Lyon save. Probably won't have the £5.5m spare to buy him at the end of this season but should do by the end of the second, * bless the two-year loan.

 

Just landed this chappie on loan.



Looks grand, basically a poor man's Milinkovic-Savic. Have a £10m buy-option clause.

 

Not had a chance to be on this in a few days after i was in Glasgow with the girlfriend. Managed to get a few games done now. First 2 with Burnley...

Sheff Utd 2-2 Burnley
Burnley 2-2 Man Utd

 

Well, *.



Ended up ditching Aouar as soon as I saw Vazquez on the market, because this is the less sensible and more fun thing to do. Not exactly cheap at £5m up front and £8.75 in two installments but I really feel it's worth it. He's a cut above Saponara and between the two I've got a solid one-two punch in terms of depth at #10. Probably my best chance at a short-cut into Europe and the money that brings, which will help land a couple of loan youngsters permanently.

Also loaned in Inter's Pinamonti for two seasons with a £14m buy option, lad's got tons of potential and I'm keen to hitch my wagon to him and see how that pans out in comparison to my previous experience with Cutrone, the other standout young Italian striker in the game (you'd probably put Pellegri into this camp though I've yet to see him really blossom on previous saves).



First really stellar result of the season, quite timely with a tough away trip to Lazio next up.



Early form is decent, have gone on a run of 6 games without conceding. Sportiello is mental in goal, saved two penalties against Napoli to help us earn a draw. Have a hard time dropping him for Dragowski but I've got to give the young lad minutes as he'll be our #1 long-term.

 

January has arrived. Trying to spot bargains but also trimming the squad a bit. Load of players on loans that I can't cancel, which is a pain. Still, have cleared out Gaspar and Dabo on loan to cut down on the amount of RBs I have. Though I did buy a RB, Aritz Elustondo for £1.2m from Sociedad was too good to pass up.

Decided to bring in Matteo Politano who is weirdly on the transfer list at Sassuolo. 2-year loan initially (well, 1.5 since it's January) and I have a nice £7.75m buy clause. This move makes a whole lot more sense than making the Gil Dias loan permanent, as that particular buy clause is just shy of £18m. Though I'll have to carry his £9k wages for another season as the uncancelable loan doesn't expire till 2019. Still, Politano is the much better player.

Loaned out Esseric with a view to selling as he gets no game time, and Rafik Zekhnini who needs the development minutes and won't get much joy sitting behind Politano in the short term. He should have a good first-team run at Benevento.

Finally, made a big Bosman addition from Udinese for next season. Bringing in Lucas Evangelista, which is great business as far as freebies go. Similar mould to Badelj and head and shoulders above Veretout, who I'll look to get rid of as he doesn't have any potential to speak of.

 

Top notch season.



Once we established ourselves in the top four we never looked like slipping out of it. Couldn't quite keep pace with Lazio, but the chasing pack never threatened to unseat us from 3rd. Simeone and Chiesa were joint top scorers in the league with 11 each.



Smoke and a Pancake. Double Dutch.

This is * amazing. Had a tough time deciding on my long-term CB, had a few players in mind but eventually settled on the 'go big or go home' route of just getting the best player I could afford. Very nearly went cheaper with Bastoni but I'll still keep an eye on him as my eventual Astori replacement. Could have landed Yerry Mina cheaply as Barca are offloading him for around £3m, but his wage demands of £155k are silly.

Despite his obvious wunderkind status I've never actually managed De Ligt on FM before, or at least I can't ever remember doing so. Minor downside on the deal was him wanting a fairly hefty contract offer as he wasn't that interested in the club, and his insistence on a release clause. But it's set at £45m and will expire in 2020, so shouldn't prove to be too much of a stumbling block. He also wanted a 5-year deal right from the off which suits me.

Kik Pierie is a godsend, obviously have experience of using him in my Betis save. Looked at a couple of other left backs such as Marcos Alonso and Emerson who keep popping up on the transfer list, but both are a tad expensive for my taste. Plus Kik is young enough to qualify as club-grown in a few years, and we're lacking in HGs. Between De Ligt, Pierie and the returning Diks I'll soon have a very Dutch flavour to my back four.

Ideally I'd be in a position to buy Daniele Rugani, who ended up here on loan in January. Juve had transfer listed him and Benfica came in with a timely bid for Vitor Hugo, who wasn't really getting much playing time as my third-choice CB. I negotiated Benfica up to £14.75m + 5% and pulled the trigger, wouldn't have gotten much more for him in subsequent years as he's already hit his ceiling. Despite the literary associations of his namesake being perfect for a city like Florence I had to make the decision that's best for business.

Rugani wouldn't agree to a permanent transfer as we weren't in the Champions League, but he did come on loan. I negotiated a £19m buy-clause but come the end of the season he still wasn't willing to make the move permanent, offering up excuses varying from the Fiorentina-Juve rivalry to the stature of our club not matching his ambitions. Oh well, * him.

I've managed to get a bit more flexibility with Pinamonti, Inter have agreed to extent the loan through to 2020 and have also knocked a bit off the buy option, it's now just £12m. Couldn't get Lazio to do similar with Murgia as they're looking to give him a first team chance, so I'll have to conjure up £10m before the end of next season to make that particular deal permanent.

Have also got Monaco to agree to a new loan deal for Dias but without the 'no cancel' clause, so I'll be able to send him back asap rather than waiting another year. £9k knocked off the wage books. Looking at a long-term replacement for Badelj, like the look of Barella, Melegoni and Mandragora as possible Italian targets.

I may be approaching a bit of a crossroads with Gio Simeone. He's a bit of a hot and cold striker and has problems with consistency and big matches. In an ideal world I'd keep him around as my #2 long term behind Pinamonti, but Lautaro Martinez has popped onto the market at a tantalizing £8.25m. Might be too good a move to pass up. And being honest, keeping a player around for his name value probably isn't sensible. If his surname was Smith or Stevenson rather than Simeone he'd be out the door.

Barca have made an... interesting appointment.



Go well, Carlo, show Florentino Perez the error of his ways.

 

Wee update for my save with Sunderland & Burnley.

Still going strong with Sunderland, sitting 6th after 29 games 5pts of 4th. In the quarter finals of the UCL beating Monaco 3-0 on agg in the last 16. Still punching well above our weight.

Burnley. Took over them this season sitting bottom and quite far behind the pack. Struggling to get good form going. Can score goals but we let in a huge amount. Defence is absolutely shocking. Sitting 19th 5pts of safety. Need to win a couple to get out of this mess. In the league since ive took over here we have won 2, drawn 5 and lost 4. If we stay up its a massive overhawl needed.

 

What the *...apparently issue was first noticed in November and here we are six months later without a response. Glad I decided against Celtic save this year.

 

It’s a * shambles mate. If it was an English league issue it’d be sorted straight away

 

Anyone had much joy with Shoya Nakajima? A bit put off by his 5 strength, but thinking of having a punt with a view to flipping him for a profit.

 

I signed a Japanese winger in my last Celtic save...sounds like him but cant be sure? If it is him, go for it!