Losing your best players

Having just had a very successful first season with Man City on version 8.02 (finished 3rd, only 3 points off the title) a lot of my players are wanted by the so called 'bigger' sides. The likes of Lloris, Nihat, Huntelaar and Makoun are all unhappy at not being allowed to leave - even though they've only been there a year..

Is there any way you can tie these players down and stop them getting unsettled by clubs bidding ridiculously small fees for them?

Having just had a very successful first season with Man City on version 8.02 (finished 3rd, only 3 points off the title) a lot of my players are wanted by the so called 'bigger' sides. The likes of Lloris, Nihat, Huntelaar and Makoun are all unhappy at not being allowed to leave - even though they've only been there a year..

Is there any way you can tie these players down and stop them getting unsettled by clubs bidding ridiculously small fees for them?

give them long term contracts and refuse to sell them.

they still usually play well unless they get really really unhappy

Set high "asking prices" and play them a lot. They'll be happy enough a couple of weeks into the season. Perhaps it's a programming issue, but the unhappiness tends to wane once the season is under way.

You COULD try offering new contracts, but that rarely works when other teams are bidding for them.

i find that if you set a high asking price then some players will moan that your pricing them out of the market.

players do get over things. they moan then they get happy again when they realise that no one really wants them.

i had the same problem as Man City. I came 6th in my first season. i then had to sell petrov, 15mil, richards 25mil(chelsea) and elano(barca) 30mil. crippled my team and it looks like i am about to lose corluka for 20mil to ac milan now as well. i know it a lot of money but as i am man city i have not been able to sign the big name players needed to take their places. i have been forced to simply sign the best young players and bring them through. this however did work. Henri Langsbury for one is absolutely fantastic with michael johnson in midfield although johnson leaving for liverpool in 30mil deal at end of season. all these deals were accepted by the chairman. so there is really nothing you can do about it

i had the same problem as Man City. I came 6th in my first season. i then had to sell petrov, 15mil, richards 25mil(chelsea) and elano(barca) 30mil. crippled my team and it looks like i am about to lose corluka for 20mil to ac milan now as well. i know it a lot of money but as i am man city i have not been able to sign the big name players needed to take their places. i have been forced to simply sign the best young players and bring them through. this however did work. Henri Langsbury for one is absolutely fantastic with michael johnson in midfield although johnson leaving for liverpool in 30mil deal at end of season. all these deals were accepted by the chairman. so there is really nothing you can do about it

that's a now very rich chairman!!

yeah i know and when he only gives you 50% of the money to spend you know he likes his money!!!

At Morton in FM07 I tended to find once a player got unhappy about wanting to move to a bigger club it was impossible to change him from that.

So far in FM08 I have only had a few experiences of it - mostly Per Mertesacker at Werder Bremen whom I have consistently refused to sell to the likes of Roma and Inter (I countered their bids with a higher demand and they always withdrew). Each time though his unhappiness has disappeared, as others have mentioned, once the season got underway properly.

i accidently sold my best player, had a couple of beers and was half playing, half watching scrubs, a bid came in i thought "yeah nice one hes rubbish", but i forgot the player i was trying to sell and my star player had the same name.

whats worse is after this i was like "wll at least i got a few quid for him, its not the end of the world" but now i also forgot about my 50 percent sell on fee, all in all i lost my bext player and got half what he was worth. dont drink and manage kids.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by backpackant:

Set high "asking prices" and play them a lot. They'll be happy enough a couple of weeks into the season. Perhaps it's a programming issue, but the unhappiness tends to wane once the season is under way.

You COULD try offering new contracts, but that rarely works when other teams are bidding for them. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Surely it correlates to the end of the transfer window?

barzagli wanted to leave sevilla in 08/09 and was unhappy that i rejected a milan bid. i made him captain, which pleased the whole squad and of course he backtracked. but i've lost great players to release fees in fm07, which is why i set massive release clauses. it sorta counters a bid being rejected and making a player unhappy, and its win-win if a big club bid the £45M release fee you set.

Feeling the pain, while playing as Paderborn I lost my biggest star, Christoph Weber to Aachen

Thanks to the economical crisis, chairman didn't even let me touch a penny of the 180K I got from the deal