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Football Manager 2019

Discussion in 'Computers and Gaming' started by RabS, Oct 7, 2018.

Discuss Football Manager 2019 in the Computers and Gaming area at TalkCeltic.net.

  1. Mr. Fawlty

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    What a mental season. Injuries starting to take their toll at the worst possible time now, with three of my main DM/CMs being out at various stages with moderate and major knocks. Marin has just torn his groin leaving me with three fit wingers for the run-in. Dael Fry has just sprained his knee ligaments. As I type this out Paddy Roberts has just pulled his knee ligaments, leaving me with two fit wingers. My two second-choice fullbacks are both currently out injured, leaving me with no fullback subs. De Jong is out, recovering from a hammy strain, and will probably miss a crucial CL match. But we're somehow muddling through.

    Had a solid cup run, the peak of which was beating Wenger's Liverpool at home 5-0 in the quarter final. Ended up drawing Man City for the semi, went toe to toe with Allegri's (Pep randomly resigned to take over Spurs after Pocchetino got sacked) boys but Sterling killed us late on with the only goal of the game. So they end up going through to the final to face Spurs. Feels like a lot of wasted effort for scant reward, but we got knocked out of the EFL Cup in our first match so I guess the workload evens itself out when you take that into account.

    Europe has been a blast. Got Schalke for the first knockout round and comfortably navigated them. Then it was Atleti in the quarters, masterful 2-0 win at home in the first leg which gave us the platform to go to the Wanda and just kick them about a bit on the way to a 0-0 draw. Have ended up with PSG for the semis, other semi is Man United against Celtic. Not too disappointed about getting PSG as we seem to match up well against them, having beaten them 0-1 away and 4-2 at home in the group stage.

    [​IMG]

    We just managed a 0-4 win away at Leicester, whilst Millwall did us a massive favour by holding United to a 0-0 draw. As things stand the title is in our hands, win our remaining three fixtures and it's ours. We've got Millwall at home, Southampton at home and then Chelsea away. United have got Chelsea at home and West Brom away. Liverpool are mathetmatically in the running, too. All three of us are still alive in Europe, with United being 4-0 up against Celtic in their CL semi, Liverpool being 5-2 up against Real after their Europa League semi, and ourselves being all square with PSG after a 0-0 draw at the Parc de Princes in our CL semi.

    [​IMG]

    World Cup draw has been rather unkind, we share a group with defending champs France, South Korea and Cameroon. Lewis Cook has just damaged his cruciate ligaments so will be in an arduous race to recover in time for the tournament. Real * of an injury as central midfield is probably the weakest area of the team in terms of depth. Cookie was first name on the teamsheet material, now it's looking like a starting pivot of Winks/Dier with Chalobah being first sub.

    Fiete Arp is my go-to. Can be had for less than 20m from Hamburg early in the game. Develops well, rarely injured. 32 goals in all competitions for me this season with two games to go.
     
  2. M 67

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    @Mr. Fawlty I enjoy your updates but I keep getting my hopes up that you’re saying the update it out!!!
     
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  3. Mr. Fawlty

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    Heads up lads, Jan update has just been released.

    @Outlaw King

    19.3.0 Changelist

    - Fully updated Winter Transfer Database (19.3.0 Database)
    - Stability Fixes
    - Fixed rare issue where some promises would incorrectly complete or cancel immediately after being made
    - Happiness changes regarding players wanting new contract too frequently
    - Travelling tweaks with regards to training schedules
    - Fixed cases of certain facilities or youth levels not upgrading correctly
    - Toned down the extent to which players pick up traits from methods outside of mentoring
    - Tweaks to AI injury numbers
    - Tweaks to training ratings
    - Fixed case of FFP failure being reported incorrectly
    - Continue Game Timeout fixes
    - Various UI fixes

    - Various competition and rule group fixes including (but not limited to):
    - French Ligue 1 prize money corrected
    - English FA Cup 5th round replays scrapped from first season (18/19)
    - Belgium Home grown issues addressed
    - VAR changes for European competitions
    - U23 only rule applied to Dutch Jong teams
    - Danish leagues' substitutes rule corrected to "7 subs named, maximum 3 used"
    - Can now play players registered for Portuguese senior teams in B Team 2nd tier games
    - Italian title and relegation decider games being played simultaneously
    - Italian Serie B expanded to 20 teams from 19/20 season
    - Licensed Northern Ireland PIL fixtures corrected
    - Greek National B Division Maximum foreign player rules corrected

    - Various Match Engine (version 1930) tweaks including (but not limited to):

    - Fixed bug with keeper reach on some high shots
    - Improved keeper reactions to free kick and penalty shots
    - Fixed rare instances of keepers picking up back passes or not reacting to them
    - Fixed keeper controlling ball then never moving to pick it up or kick it
    - Removed a restriction on striker and creative attackers offering out ball
    - Fixed incorrect offside example
    - Fixed couple of issues related to VAR
    - Adjusted attacking player marking when preventing GK distribution at goal kicks
    - Adjusted marking of players coming short for throw-ins
    - Fixed instances of central midfielders bunching close to ball
    - Made players cross slightly earlier when possible
    - Slight encouragement to pass ball forward more when optimal
    - Fixed issue where player marking edge of area at set piece doesn't always engage ball player who receives it outside area
    - Fine-tuned shot and pass accuracy
     
    Last edited: Mar 1, 2019
    M 67 likes this.
  4. M 67

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    I’ve been checking their twitter feed all day.

    Nothing.

    Just home, seen an alert, and was hoping to * it was you...

    ....and you delivered!!! Yassssss! Cheers man, gonna get a right good sesh going
     
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  5. M 67

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    FFS McGregor Christie and Bain's stats are still the same.
     
  6. Peej Gold Member Gold Member

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    McGregor was decent to begin with and his stats always increase during the game to become one of our best.
    Christie only had a burst on to the scene, can see why they be careful, perhaps his hidden stats have went up

    And bain literally came half way through the data inputs for this update, far too little game time to change his...though again he may have better development

    Sent from my F8331 using Tapatalk
     
  7. Bangarangura

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    bit disappointing that wee dembele wasn't in the update
     
  8. dmccourt95

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    Upto the parents is it no
     
  9. Bangarangura

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    I think it is if he's underage. Before the update he turned 16 and signed a professional contract so realistically he should be in the game.
     
  10. M 67

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    :37::37::37::37: * ba humbug to you too sir!
     
  11. Peej Gold Member Gold Member

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    He's still be 15 at the start of a new season though.

    Sent from my F8331 using Tapatalk
     
  12. Peej Gold Member Gold Member

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    Haha, sorry man.

    Did not mean that to come across negatively.

    Sent from my F8331 using Tapatalk
     
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  13. M 67

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    So started up a new Celtic save. As usual, budgets initially disabled.

    Wage bill is huge so cancelled Arzini and Toljans loans, saving £50k a week straight away.

    By the time I get rid of the following, a further 200k a week will be off the wage bill:
    DDV - free
    Gordon (£1m-£2m)
    Lustig - free
    Gamboa - free
    Hendry (£250-£500k)
    Benkovic - loan
    Commper (£100-£250k)
    Boyata (£8-£10m)
    Izzy - free
    Allan - free
    Eboue - might actually just loan him out
    Benyu - as above
    Bitton (£7.5m - £12m)
    Mulumbu (£5m - £8m)
    Burke - loan end
    Sinclair (£10-£15m)
    Hayes - (£100k - £500k)
    Weah - loan end
    Bayo - valued at £5m but remains to be seen how much someone would pay

    Above is based on previous sale values in my saves.

    I’ll possibly get rid of Rogic too as he struggles in my high tempo teams.

    That’ll give me great flexibility to sort the team out.

    Got my backroom staff sorted, meaning the training is decent and scouting pretty widespread.

    Added the usual suspects to my shortlist.

    Knocked out away to Killie in first league cup game (thanks to a penalty) but qualified for CL group stages. Beat Shaktar at home first game, drew away to juve now have a double header vs Schalke.

    Sheep qualified for Europa group stages, huns and hibs out.

    Will post some screenies later!
     
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  14. Mr. Fawlty

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    Pretty decent season thus far. Has taken a while to really get going as I dithered when deciding on a formation. Squad initially had no left wingers so I was planning on going down the two strikers route with a 4-3-1-2. But I've not got any experience of making that work so I lost my bottle a bit, and halfway through pre-season just decided to go with my tried and tested posession + wide men approach. Did have a couple of #10s in the side, with Saponara on loan and Praet, and Gaston Ramirez... more on him later. But I wanted to base the system around a DM, having enjoyed that type of approach with Brentford. So I settled on a 4-1-4-1 DM Wide, which is just FM's pedantic way of saying 4-3-3.

    This approach would mean having Saponara wasting away on the bench for a season (his pre-existing loan includes a no-cancel clause), but I didn't intend to activate his buy option so why invest minutes in him. For what it's worth he hasn't complained, despite it being January and him having made the grand total of 1 appearance from the bench.

    I didn't have an awful lot of saleable assets but I immediately identified Gaston Ramirez as being the first name to move out of the club. I already had ample RW options so he had no natural role in the system. Premier League clubs were sniffing around and I attracted a couple of 10.25m offers from Leicester and Southampton, with Ramirez eventually opting to join the Foxes.

    Only other player that made sense to sell was Edgar Barreto. Liked the look of him as a midfield destroyer, albeit a slow one, but the main issue was his age (34) and the fact that he had a year left on his contract. Already had 4 starting CM options to rotate between two spots (Praet, Linetty, Jankto, Eckdal) so I opted to cash in, getting 1.1m from Rennes in return but more importantly shifting his 30kish wages off of the books.

    Had a decent budget after the Ramirez sale so set about bringing some young talent on board. Didn't have a single player at the club regarded as Samp-trained so needed to get that sorted out ASAP. Not an issue with so many players under the 22 y/o registration age but will become an issue in the future. So main objective of the window was to bring in at least 4 players young enough to qualify as club-trained after three years. I ended up getting 6.

    Primary target I wanted was Brescia's Tonali, new Pirlo, DM extrodinaire. Was planning on devoting a lot of money to him but turned out to be reasonably cheap at 5.5m. Then looked to adress the complete absence of LWs, first getting my go-to Croat wunderkind Antonio Marin from Dinamo for a package totalling 12m. Rather than adding another player at the postion permanently I stretched my budget by loaning in Pione Sisto.

    Trincao had just signed a new contract at Braga so wasn't interested in a permanent move, but he was willing to come on loan. They agreed to a stupidly low 700k buy option, so I'm hoping to make that move permanent in the summer. Made a couple of moves for highly rated youngsters who are a fair way off being ready for first team football. Bought Atalanta's Cortinovis (LW) for 2.2m, and Roma's Riccardi (CM) for 4.6m.

    Final signing was a bit of a gamble, and arguably not strictly nessecary. But despite having Juve's young GK Emil Audero arriving next season as his loan becomes a permanent move, I'm a bit unsure about him reaching his potential as his determination is a pathetic 4, which I've been unable to improve via mentoring so far. Opted to hedge my bets somewhat by investing in another young goalkeeper, this time Milan's Plizzari who was highly reccomended by my scouts. Probably spent more than is wise as I ended up paying a total of 12.25m for him, most of that spread out in instalments, but I think he could prove to be a better keeper than Audero long term. He'll also qualify as Samp-trained.

    [​IMG]

    Here's how the table stands at the halfway point. We've slowly been climbing up towards the European places after enduring a sluggish start, Struggling to replicate the irl form of Quags, but he's my best striker so I generally start him. But have been trying Gabbiadini up top of late, and I've also just promised Caprari a run in the side.

    [​IMG]

    Lost our opening game against Parma, went 2-0 up against Juve but ended up getting slaughtered by Ronaldo. 3-0 over Milan was a nice way to get my first win.

    With January looming I signed a contract extension which bumped my wage budget up, and I set off to examine the market for an upgrade or two. Omar Colley had been a 3rd-choice CB for me but I'd frozen him out of the team after he logged a 5.8 rating in a heavy loss to Juve. Bit harsh, maybe, but Tonelli-Andersen has proven a reliable and consistent partnership. Nevertheless having him sitting around doing nothing made little sense, particularly as he had a hefty 30k+ contract, so it was time to move him on. Sold him to Sassuolo for 4.7m.

    I wanted to replace him with more of a ball-playing center half. John Souttar immediately sprang to mind from my time managing him in my Brentford save. There were a few English clubs sniffing around him but none were making moves, so it was the perfect time to strike and secure a long-term cornerstone for my defence. Cost 7.75m in total, though his wage demands were low so he's on a nice 11.5k 3 + 1yr contract, so he's a lot cheaper than the player he's replacing.

    We've got Alex Ferrari arriving next season on a pre-arranged transfer (currently on loan), so between him, Joachim Andersen and Souttar I've got 3/4 centre backs sorted. Also have Tonelli on loan from Napoli with a buy option so he could end up being purchased, but I'm not sure if the 8m clause represents good value so I may look to the market to see if I can get something else done for a bit less money (thinking old fave Markovic, though can't move for him at the moment due to the non-EU quota).
     
  15. Peej Gold Member Gold Member

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    New update, getting myself in to a new Celtic save. Feel like I haven't played much this year.

    Started with looking at the backline mostly:
    https://gyazo.com/5da44029c29cdbe75e19680cb8315116

    [​IMG]
    Gordon is being a * and not wanting to leave, but Woodman and Bain are going to be fighting it out for the number 1 spot this season. Woodman actually looks decent, so think he may come out on top.

    Odoi comes in as Boyata leaves, Boyata maybe better overall, but he wasn't for staying and got a decent offer for him, had to take it. Odoi is good cover for Ajer and Benkovic, with Jozo in there as well. Gives me time to look forward to the following season and find another CB.
    Gutman has been recalled from his loan and I've made him backup to Tierney. Got to see what he has going on. Ralston was loaned out, but as I made my mind up for Gutman I figured I'd recall him as well and do likewise with Lustig. Ralston is rated in this game, so not going to waste that talent. Toljan got his contract ripped up ( good thinking @Outlaw King ).
    Varesanovic actually looks good as well, free transfer who I originally brought in on a trial. One look at his stats and age and I had to just go for it. Free transfer, what's to lose?
    [​IMG]
    https://gyazo.com/0ab6f1ad0763e52261b340177c1d5e9c

    As for the season so far, going with a 4231 to start with and my line ups are looking decent

    [​IMG]
    https://gyazo.com/ca03b33d57aae86b988ed9234bb2b0f0[​IMG]
    https://gyazo.com/3bb68a996cf6d001f5a00ba51c9cd369

    [​IMG]
    https://gyazo.com/5306ba6e27b43a5ac265577174f72aae

    Reasonable start to the season, not too fussed about the draw at Cluj, it was early on and took care of it later on. The Hearts defeat annoyed me though, since made up for it with beating the huns - Killie sit top though with ten points.

    Got myself in to a CL group stage with Barcelona, Porto and CSKA Moscow.
    [​IMG]
    https://gyazo.com/84a64d10956ab4e1d0266a5d2a1c32b0

    Second spot isn't too far out my reach, but would accept 3rd place as a good first season achievement.


    Summer window is now closed, with still £4.8million and 70k wages in the kitty. Not too shabby to go in to the January window and spruce up any weak spots that show their heads by then, mainly the backline I'd imagine.

    Going to try and see this season out with what i have and assess the entire squad, keeping eyes on Henderson, Perez, Gutman and the likes. Bayo has started reasonably well and got a call up to Ivory Coast, may be tough keeping him, Eddie and Griff all happy.
     
  16. M 67

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    Most of your images aren’t working dude.
     
  17. Vinnie BBQ Justice is lost Justice is raped Justice is gone.

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    None of them are for me.
     
  18. Vinnie BBQ Justice is lost Justice is raped Justice is gone.

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    Started a new save too and what a debut for Weah.

    [​IMG]
     
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  19. Mr. Fawlty

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    #corruption #agnelli #fiat #conspiracy #calciopolimk.2 #cheating #corruption #dodgyrefs

    [​IMG]

    This is some next level bullshit right here. Lazio lead the league for the bulk of the season. Playing Juve away on the final day, up 1-0 and set to win the scudetto on head-to-head. The ref sends a Lazio player off, but even then Juve still can't find a breakthrough. Then Khedira somehow magics up a couple of goals in injury time. I call bullshit, this is a vast conspiracy orchestrated by the dark forces controlling the Italian game.

    [​IMG]

    As for us, really solid second half of the season. We've become the draw masters, can't recall the last time I've had as many as 14 in a season. Amusing to see our eternal foes Genoa relegated. We played them at 'home' in the penultimate league match of the season. I was desperate to get the win which would seal their doom, only to see them ground out a 0-0. I feared we'd given them the initiative to orchestrate a final day escape, but then had a look at the fixture list and saw they were facing Inter, which basically foretold certain doom. And so it transpired.

    [​IMG]

    The average league positions graph paints a pretty rosy picture of our steady improvement. Feared the sack at one point during those sluggish early months, but once the tactical familiarity was bedded in we really turned a corner and kicked on. But enough with the metaphors.

    Big managerial change took place in the latter portion of the season as Citeh decided to sack Guardiola and replace him with Carlo, which left the Napoli job vacant for Wenger to stroll into. We exchanged press conference pleasantries, apparently he's a big fan of mine. I had anticipated Allegri getting the sack had Lazio not been cruelly denied the title, and Conte rocking up at the Allianz to replace him. But he's surely earned a stay of execution after that final day Houdini act. Conte is off the table, having taken the Man United job when they decided against keeping OGS in charge. I applied for the United job with a view to extracting some more transfer funds from my own board when they begged me to stay, but Woodward informed me that I missed the shortlist completely. Oh well. Currently trying to repeat the trick with the vacant Schalke job.

    I've noticed that SI have clamped down on the old 'please sack your agent' exploit. Used to be able to ask a player complaining about a pay rise to sack his agent, he'd usually agree and then his concerns would conveniently disappear. But now he'll hire a new agent but still be demanding a chat about his contract. Probably a good stumbling block to uphold/enforce, makes things a bit trickier.

    [​IMG]

    Apparently we're the pass masters of Italian football. Not just Italian but in fact European, had a look around at the other top leagues and we're essentially 2000+ ahead of everyone else, even the likes of Barca are trailing in our wake.
    I think the Europa League will be good for us next season, we've got the depth of squad to handle it. So a good opportunity to develop the younger players and get them starting minutes. The gap to the CL spots is a big one and I don't think we'll be bridging it in the short term, particularly because we lack the means to go out and purchase a serious goalscorer.

    Quags has unfortunately decided to retire. Probably a result of me dropping him from the team at about the halfway point of the season. Caprari who I'd largely ignored up to that point came to me with a playing time request, gave him a run in the team and he surprised me by going on a scoring run and popping up with important goals. Tried to persuade Quags to stick around but he turned down the chance to put off retirement for another year. Probably for the best, really, Caprari and Gabbiadini will be enough striker depth, now that we've got Cornet (Jan purchase when I spotted he was available for 3m, hoping to repeat my Brentford save antics and flip him for big money) and Trincao on the right wing we no longer need Gabbiadini starting there. Long term target is Pinamonti if I can convince Inter to let him go cheaply, though he's out of reach at the moment. Sadly my go-to German faves are off the table due to Arp's irl Bayern move being reflected in the Jan update, and Eggestein turning down the chance of a Bosman move to re-sign with Bremen.

    [​IMG]

    The individual stats are remarkable in the sense that they're mundane. Can't recall the last FM season I've had in which not a single player breached the double figures mark in either goals or assists. Standout performer in the fans eyes was actually complete wing back Junior Tavares, who comfortably won player of the season honours with over 50% of the ballot.

    Was happy with Sisto's production, but not sure if I can afford the 8m to activate my buy option. Think we'll be on shaky financial ground once the money for the pre-existing Audero and Jankto transfers goes out of the club coffers. I'm guessing Atalanta will activate their own buy option on Zapata, and I think we've got a couple of other guys out on loan with buy clauses. But even then we're probably still looking at a transfer deficit.
     
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  20. Mr. Fawlty

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    [​IMG]

    In theory I've signed 15 players in a single window here, which is mad. But in reality 4 of these moves were pre-arranged and had nothing to do with me, Thorsby is nowhere near first team standard so is going straight out on loan to St Etienne, Tavares + Trincao were already here on loan last season with buy options, and Markovic is being loaned straight away. So when you really drill down, I've actually *only* added 8 players to the first team. So it was actually a very restrained window. Ahem.

    Thankfully the money for the pre-existing Audero/Ferrari/Jankto transfers had already been accounted for and didn't disappear from the books, had feared the budget being decimated.

    I was going to add Markovic to the mix as my 4th CB, only to notice that he'd sat out for 5 months with a damaged spine so my old scouting reports on his potential were rendered largely moot. Opted to snap him up but as a flip project as he's good value, signed for 1.6m but will make 2m by loaning him out to Nesta's newly promoted Perugia.

    That said, I'm switching focus now to AS Monaco's Benoit Badiashile, of Thierry Henry chair press conference fame. He looks the part, massive potential up there with my other wunderkinder.

    Just about had the money to get Sisto in, but despite his solid season I opted to go in a different direction with a view to making the squad more Italian. So went for Chievo's Vignato instead. Had to bung on an extra mil or so to his loyalty bonus when Juve annoyingly came in for him, but well worth it to fend them off.

    Bought Vagnoman to bolster the defence, have enjoyed using him in the past on my Koln save.

    Another big move was for Zaniolo, who Roma had basically been ignoring. Still fetched a high price, mind, a total of 24m but only 9m up front. Will displace Linetty to be my long-term starting #8, delighted to snap him up.

    My last piece of business I wanted to get done was a striker, the biggest weak point of the star fleet of young talent I've assembled thus far. There were no stellar young strikers at the club at the beginning of the save, I've not yet signed one, and the ones we've already got are rather mediocre.

    David Kownacki returned from his loan spell with Dussedorf, averaging over 7.00 across a full season of Bundesliga action (9 goals 25), and he looks a decent bench prospect. They had a 10.7m buy option but weirdly offered 10m, which I rejected, and they never came back in for him.

    Gabbiadini, as much as I wish this wasn't the case, is a fraud. He averaged 6.77 across 33 league apps and whilst I'm sure some of that can be explained by him shifting from #9 to RW with some regularity, he simply doesn't justify his 60k p/w pay packet which makes him comfortably the highest-paid player at the club. Fiorentina are flush with cash having just sold Chiesa to Spurs for 85m, they appear to be Gabbiadini's favoured destination and have bid 5.75m for him, a touch above his value.

    By the time I'd flogged the flotsam and jetsam of the squad (sales totaled 44m, along with 15.5m loan income), and got the board to plead for me to turn down the lure of Schalke's warm bosom by offering me a bigger wage budget, I'd ended up with a decent chunk of money to chase Pinamonti with. Inter weren't letting him go cheaply, and I loathe breaking my wheeling and dealing habits to pay over the odds for someone. But aside from Pietro Pellegri Pinamonti is the outstanding young Italian striker in the game, so I've got to give it a go. Pellegri's Genoa ties means he'll probably never fancy a move, and he's more expensive than Pinamonti anyway. The only other candidate in this strata is Cutrone, but Lazio have just signed him for 39m so he's off the table.

    In the end it took a mammoth 32m up front, 14.5m in installments and 10% of profit to get Inter to agree to part ways with him. Thankfully his wage demands weren't nearly as unreasonable. It's a high price to pay for a jewel in the crown. But my team is set with young pieces across all of the other positions, so I probably won't miss the money. There is probably a cheaper solution to a long-term goalscorer, but what would be the point of doing an Italian save and not having an Italian striker be your spearhead.

    Speaking of Italian strikers, Roberto Inglise was on the chopping block at Napoli. With Quags not retiring until November I didn't really need to add another striker to the mix, and I generally like to operate with two. But given the ages of Pinamonti and Kowanacki I thought it made sense to add a more experienced body like Inglise to the squad in order to shoulder some of the workload. Could have signed him permanently but it was much cheaper to do a loan as Napoli were only asking for 30% of his wages to be covered, and zero loan fee. So he's marvelously cheap. Tied him down for two seasons, have a 4.1m buy option as well.

    After the Pinamonti move decimated the balance sheet I was keen on offloading a player who had a high value but wasn't contributing a great deal on the pitch, and who I wasn't all that bothered about retaining. Dennis Praet fit this mold the most, on paper he looks solid but never really hit top form. My scouts came to me raving about Nicolas Dominguez from Velez Sarsfield, a very solid young CM with a touch less flair and trickery compared to Praet, but with a much more well-rounded set of attributes. Most importantly, he was very cheap. The whole point of this exercise. So we managed to get Newcastle to bite on Praet at 16.25m + 5%, and bought Dominguez for 4.8m. Had some competition from Lazio but thankfully he turned them down.

    I like how they have appeared to change the best opinion/worst opinion manager relationships, now you start with a clean slate and I think they develop based on press conference interaction, whereas previously you started off with a bunch of managers disliking you just based on who you were managing or who you had selected as a favourite club.

    So it's now the start of December and the Samp creche (average age of 21.57 following Quags hanging up his boots) are absolutely romping it in the league. Only blemish thus far was a 3-0 away loss to Juve when they got a dodgy early peno and never looked back. But other than that the only other match in which we dropped points was a 0-0 away to Inter.

    New signings are integrating really smoothly. Only real negative on the injury front was losing Trincao to a broken toe which kept him out of action for 7 weeks, losing 2 strength points from his attributes in the process. But other than that we've been reasonably healthy.

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    Europe has been a breeze, swept to 6 wins from 6 in a group containing some vaguely reputable names.

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    At this rate we appear to be on course for the title, but I'm not getting carried away just yet.
    Finances are in reasonable shape despite the summer splurge. Currently in the black to the tune of about 5.6m, largely thanks to European prize money. Still of course have some outstanding transfer debt to be paid out in installments (49.9m according to the debt and loans page) over the next couple of years. But there's not going to be much business on the agenda in any case, that's the whole point of buying big and buying young.

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    23-man squad is in lovely shape here. Medium term I want to develop Audero a bit more and flip him for decent money, as Plizzari is very much my man for the long haul in goal. I've got Cortinovis coming through the ranks so the plan is to sell Maxwel Cornet whenever a good offer comes along, and then have Trincao/Vignato holding down the right wing with Marin and Cortinovis on the left. Riccardi is earmarked for a first team spot, probably replacing Jankto if he develops as he should. Other than that I'm basically happy with how everything looks. Keep this lot together and they should do well.