Annoying...

2016.

Trying to build upon my previous season's Euro-position finish in the English Premiership with Sunderland, I scoured the world looking for a suitable right-back to replace Darijo Srna, but all the players that fit my "ideal" for that position were either not interested in joining or the club wouldn't let them go.

In desperation I ended up buying Mazzerani for £68 million, yes Sixty-Eight Million Pounds on a five-year contract of £75,000 per week + bonuses. (I had to sell a few hot prospects and one or two key players to fund it).

Took ages to settle in... was producing regular 6.8 - 7.0 performances but rarely higher until close to the end of the season, when he has finally started to produce the onfield displays that I was expecting of him.

2017

I won the Premiership (hurray! my first one with my current manager incarnation) and were into July... lots of interest and bids for my players flying around... one of my star midfielders (whom I've been building up since he was a nipper and has only just this year established himself as a key player, before getting injured for 3 months and missing the latter part of the season) has already been unsettled and so I ended up having to sell him for a measly £10m when personally I rated him so much higher.

Mazzerani's profile page now lists him as worth £34m - half the price I paid for him.

Arsenal (who finished 2nd) declare interest in him and make a bid for exactly £34m, of which £20m is over 24 months.

I scoff at the measly bid... "do they really expect me to take a 34m loss over 1 season for one of my key players who has only just settled in?"

On the bid page - "Mazzerani's agent indicated that he would like the chance to discuss terms with Arsenal"

So I negotiate the bid... I want £80m if they're going to steal one of my best players in the run up to my title defence. Arsenal withdraw their offer.

Mazzerani is now "frustrated at not being allowed to move clubs", "unhappy with his manager", and "unsettled by the speculation regarding his future".

How is this possible? How can a player's worth deteriorate to HALF in one season when he's only in his mid-late 20s? I know I paid over the odds, (he was listed as worth about £16m at the time I bought him) but surely it is unreasonable to expect me to lose so much money on him after only a single season?

Why is there no way to interact with the player and explain that I'm not willing to lose £34m on him after such a short time at the club and that I find Arsenal's bid deeply insulting?

I'd say let it lie, keep his asking price at £80m and he should forget about it soon enough. if he doesn't you have 5 years to get rid of him.

As for his value, no player in the game is valued at £68m so his natural value slowly went down to a realistic value. The highest valued player I've seen in the game (not including players that have just been bought) is around £38m.

Because he had a normal '6.8 to 7' rating season... and you payed over the odds for him... and the fact Arsenal are a bigger club and might try to get him cheaper. This is happened a lot to me with bigger teams, it seems impossible to keep a good player without some kind of soap opera and ending with the player not signing a new contract and meaning that you have to cash in on him... Although, you have him for 5 years, he'll forget about it if you play well and if he continues to play like he did at the end of the season, you might have a 80m bid near the end of his contract.

I'd say let it lie, keep his asking price at £80m and he should forget about it soon enough. if he doesn't you have 5 years to get rid of him.

As for his value, no player in the game is valued at £68m so his natural value slowly went down to a realistic value. The highest valued player I've seen in the game (not including players that have just been bought) is around £38m.

I agree that there should be some depreciation of his value, but it seems unreasonable to me that the player should get upset at me refusing to sell him for half the price I paid for him after one year. Especially when that bid was for exactly the "worth" on his profile page, not a penny more, and him being an indispensable key player.

Because he had a normal '6.8 to 7' rating season... and you payed over the odds for him... and the fact Arsenal are a bigger club and might try to get him cheaper. This is happened a lot to me with bigger teams, it seems impossible to keep a good player without some kind of soap opera and ending with the player not signing a new contract and meaning that you have to cash in on him... Although, you have him for 5 years, he'll forget about it if you play well and if he continues to play like he did at the end of the season, you might have a 80m bid near the end of his contract.

Granted, Arsenal are a richer team than my Sunderland team (I'm 7th in the "Rich List", Arsenal are WAY ahead in 1st), and obviously London's a more attractive metropolitan area, but I won the Premier League and Euro Cup double in the season that just finished... surely that should make a difference on the "attractiveness" index?