FM10- Is it too hard to sell players?

As Sunderland, I offered Kenwyne Jones to clubs for £2million, and his actual value was £4.6million. I got no offers. I tried £1million and even £0...still no offers. Yes, I transfer listed and set to not needed first. I ended up having to pay him £3.6million on a mutual termination to get him off the books! In real-life Sunderland have been rumoured to have turned down big-money bids for him from Tottenham etc, yet I can't even give him away, let alone get £2million for him (less than half his in game value). It's not just him either; here's some more examples:

Richardson- value £3.9m...offered for £3m, then £2m, best bid received £2m

Malbranque- value £3.5m...offered for £3m, then £2m, then £1m, best bid £1m

Ferdinand- value £3.4m...offered for £2m, then £1m, then free, best bid loan!

Nosworthy- value £2.2m...offered for £1m, then £500k, best bid £500k

Fulop- value £2.6m...offered for £1m, then £500k, then free, best bit loan!

Murphy- value £2.4m...offered for £1m, then £500k, then free, no bids, forced to mutually terminate

Healy- value £3.4m...offered for £1m, then £500k, then free, no bids, forced to mutually terminate

Then in Janurary (listed them on the 1st, so you can get bids for those who joined in the summer at this point, proved by me listing and receiving a £2million bid for Paula Da Silva)

Bent- value £10m...offered for £5m, best bid received loan!

Campbell- value £3.6m...offered for £2m, then £1m, no bids received!

Now is it it just me, or are these bids a lot lower than in FM09? I mean, I'm always transfer listing players for less than their value, but finding it amazingly difficult to receive any bids.

Thoughts please

Surely it is ridiculous that I can't even give Kenwyne Jones, Ferdinand, Healy, Fulop and Murphy away for free, let alone sell them lol. Also, I'm sure Richardson and Malbranque would go for a lot more than £2m and £1m respectively in real-life.

I have found it harder to sell on FM10 than it was on FM09, which is a shame because before 09 it was nigh-on impossible to even give players away and I thought 09 was a step in the right direction (even if it always was Man City buying my players!).

On my current FM10 demo save as Man City I'm struggling to get anywhere near a players valuation when selling. Paradoxically though, I have to shell out a fortune to buy players, even reserve players who are not transfer listed will cost 2x their face value.

Would like to hear more players' thoughts on this.

Neil - I hope that's the case, will see when the full game is release.

Even if teams have settled squads though, they all have transfer budgets as they are enabled in the 1st window. I've never had these kind of problems selling players at the start of the game in FM09. Surely I should still be at least getting bids for the likes of Kenwyne Jones and Anton Ferdinand, whether they are overpaid or not. They're transfer listed and thus unhappy, if clubs can't afford their wages, wouldn't they just ask me to make up the difference in wages till the end of his contract, like in FM09, just before the transfer goes through?

IE Jones wants £10,000 per week until the end of his contract in order to agree a deal with Stoke or whatever?

Also, a striker of the calibre of Darren Bent and valued at £10m, I can't even get a bid when I list him at £5m in Janurary? Surely this can't be right. If this was FM09, I'd be able to get bids of £10-15m for him easily.

Anyway thanks for replying and I really hope it's easier to sell players in the full game.

I think part of the problem here is it's a demo with a small database, there aren't that many players flying about and you would expect teams to have relatively settled squads. Of course players of this ilk should be signed and this is something we have been looking into, but some of the players you've mentioned people wouldn't be expected to pay their wages as they are being overpaid.

Thanks for bringing this up, as said it's something we're aware of and are looking into. Thanks.

I have faced similar problems but when you look at it, maybe this happens because the computer see's no reason to buy anymore players as the squads at the start of the game are in fact the same real life squads at the end of the transfer window. (if that makes sense, it does in my head anyways:confused:)

The only reason teams will bid for some of your players at a lower rate is because it may be an offer they cant say no too. If you waited until the end of the 1st season and offered the same players you would probably get more interest as teams have more money and are more willing to replace/ sell some of their own players.

I have faced similar problems but when you look at it, maybe this happens because the computer see's no reason to buy anymore players as the squads at the start of the game are in fact the same real life squads at the end of the transfer window. (if that makes sense, it does in my head anyways:confused:)

The only reason teams will bid for some of your players at a lower rate is because it may be an offer they cant say no too. If you waited until the end of the 1st season and offered the same players you would probably get more interest as teams have more money and are more willing to replace/ sell some of their own players.

I agree that it is only 6 months, and in my experiences there is more transfer activity both ins and outs after the first season. But I have not even tried to sell anyboady so I cant speak in terms of that.

i don't know. man utd just offered me 32 milion for Maicon

Transfer budgets are enabled in the first window though. It was never an issue selling players in the first window in last years game. I don't think this explains it tbh. There's clearly something wrong when I can't even give away Jones and Ferdinand for £0!

I have faced similar problems but when you look at it, maybe this happens because the computer see's no reason to buy anymore players as the squads at the start of the game are in fact the same real life squads at the end of the transfer window. (if that makes sense, it does in my head anyways:confused:)

The only reason teams will bid for some of your players at a lower rate is because it may be an offer they cant say no too. If you waited until the end of the 1st season and offered the same players you would probably get more interest as teams have more money and are more willing to replace/ sell some of their own players.

Infact it's easier to sell in this game. I got awesome loan offers for loads of players and also great offers for fletch carrick and oshea

I think part of the problem here is it's a demo with a small database, there aren't that many players flying about and you would expect teams to have relatively settled squads. Of course players of this ilk should be signed and this is something we have been looking into, but some of the players you've mentioned people wouldn't be expected to pay their wages as they are being overpaid.

Thanks for bringing this up, as said it's something we're aware of and are looking into. Thanks.

This is a pre-historic issue, Neil. It's been this way in both 07, 08, 09. Maaany high class players are impossible to unload. Even if a club can't pay his wages they should at least approach you and then try negotiating with the player. There would ALWAYS be someone to pick up the likes of Jones, Ferdinand. A L W A Y S! If you're honestly putting the blame on the demo/small database you haven't played the older games, which I very much doubt.

Please put the transfers right !

keep in mind that the demo only has a small database, that means theres much fewer clubs who are active and will sign players.

As a result any players you are trying to get shot off will have a much lower chance of being sold because there simply isnt enough teams who can realisticly put a bid in for them.

If the database was larger then there would be more clubs looking for players and it would be easier to sell them.

Plus as mentioned if your players are on high wages most teams wont bother trying to get them because they cant afford to pay those wages, so unless you litteraly have the next Rooney or Ronaldo in your team then the clubs that can afford to match or better their wages arent going to be interested in signing players that arent good enough.

How does the small database make a difference? The database size is only how many players are in the game. There is still a whole Premiership to buy your players, as well as clubs all across Europe. You don't need a large database to sell players.

Large wages don't matter, as the player should ask you to make those up till the end of their contract like in FM09, so that shouldn't prevent clubs from making bids. Are you telling me that someone wouldn't pay £0 for Kenwyne Jones just because of his wage demands? He's not costing them anything, plus the player can always ask me to make up any wage deficit before he agrees to move there.

keep in mind that the demo only has a small database, that means theres much fewer clubs who are active and will sign players.

As a result any players you are trying to get shot off will have a much lower chance of being sold because there simply isnt enough teams who can realisticly put a bid in for them.

If the database was larger then there would be more clubs looking for players and it would be easier to sell them.

Plus as mentioned if your players are on high wages most teams wont bother trying to get them because they cant afford to pay those wages, so unless you litteraly have the next Rooney or Ronaldo in your team then the clubs that can afford to match or better their wages arent going to be interested in signing players that arent good enough.

Transfer budgets are enabled in the first window though. It was never an issue selling players in the first window in last years game. I don't think this explains it tbh. There's clearly something wrong when I can't even give away Jones and Ferdinand for £0!

Firstly, I note that Neil has already responded that this is a known issue, so I'm clearly not saying it is not.

This is just a thought, as I've not tried selling anyone myself, and had very little time free to play the demo much as yet.

Could it be that you are offering these players out, rather than having clubs attempting to buy players you do not want to sell?

If you don't want to sell a player, but another club wants him, it would stand to reason that they'll have to pay over the odds for him, even double his value sometimes, to lure you into selling.

If however, we're talking about players you no longer want, and are actively seeking to get rid of, perhaps the clubs they're being offered to take the opposite view, that if you don't consider them worthy of your team, then they're not worth their currently stated value?

Perhaps even only half that, or less?

I don't know how that would translate into game coding, and I'm not saying that is definitely the case, or that I necessary agree with it. Just an idea I thought perhaps worth suggesting.

Personally i have not found it a problem. I was for example able to get rid of Kieron Dyer (3.5mil to Sunderland ironically!), Nigel Quashie, Jonathon Spector and Danny Gabbidon all at aproximately their market value.

One thing I did notice however is that you will find it harder to sell players towards the end of the transfer window. This is presumably because budgets are used up and gaps in squads have been filled.

Not sure how you managed that, as outlined in the OP I always offered my players out for less than their market value.

Just to clarify, I always try to sell the players I don't want straight after I take over in July, as I then know exactly what budget I have to bring my own players in. So it's nothing to do with selling players near the end of the window, quite the opposite.

Personally i have not found it a problem. I was for example able to get rid of Kieron Dyer (3.5mil to Sunderland ironically!), Nigel Quashie, Jonathon Spector and Danny Gabbidon all at aproximately their market value.

One thing I did notice however is that you will find it harder to sell players towards the end of the transfer window. This is presumably because budgets are used up and gaps in squads have been filled.

I too find it difficult to sell players!

Are there any soak test results on that?

I haven't had much difficulty selling I offloaded Ferrira,Kalou,Belletti, and some others with ease I found if I played them or benched them a little in pre-season and played them in cup games offers came straight in.

well if it needs fixing it wont be fixed untill the first patch at least

its not easy to sell it depends on your team if your united, everyone will want to buy your players cause they are from a popular well known team. But when i was Braintree i couldn't sell any i could only sell 2 that's it LOL

An update...

I saved the game on January 1st and went back to see how bad this situation really is:

Offered Darren Bent to clubs for £0 this time...no bids at all, couple of loan bids that's it (and not even ones with a view to buy). So a striker valued at £10million can't even be given away.

Also offered Frazier Campbell to clubs for £0...no bids, 1 solitary loan bid, despite him being valued at £3.6m

The transfer system has been like this for many years and I will say that cm10 beats fm10 with regards to the transfer system.

Dont forget that FM tries to reflect real life as much as possible. If you are trying to sell a plyer then you are selling him for a reason, i.e. hes not good enough/better players out there/age. If a club is generally interested in your player then the chances of a sale are higher but there has to be demand for a player to make the sale more likely.

I wouldnt know, having used a threadbare squad on the demo, selling players is a luxury i could ill afford

Surely you're not suggesting that not being able to attract bids for Jones, Bent, Campbell and Ferdinand (just to name four) at £0 (£0!!!) reflects real-life?

I didn't have these problems in last years game, that's for sure.

Dont forget that FM tries to reflect real life as much as possible. If you are trying to sell a plyer then you are selling him for a reason, i.e. hes not good enough/better players out there/age. If a club is generally interested in your player then the chances of a sale are higher but there has to be demand for a player to make the sale more likely.

Surely you're not suggesting that not being able to attract bids for Jones, Bent, Campbell and Ferdinand (just to name four) at £0 (£0!!!) reflects real-life?

I didn't have these problems in last years game, that's for sure.

Oh no I was just playing devils advocate! Just saying some counter arguements. Yeah I understand your problems and generally I do think that it is hard to sell players and for a decent price as the AI teams generally take me for ransom when I want to but their players. lol

Have only tried to sell one player so far - Senderos. His value was around £3.5m, I offered him out for £6m and immediately got matching £6m bids from Everton and Hull.

I found my best negotiation was when I didnt even try to get more.

Man City came in and offered for Lucas. The price was his value (something like 4.6mil)...I accepted. Roma came in and offerered slightly more so I cancelled his negotiation with City and accepted Roma's. Then Lyon came in and offere more. So I cancelled Roma's and accepted Lyons. Man City came back, offered more and etc. etc. until eventually Man City offered 11mil (over double the original offer) and that's what it stuck too. I was suprised by this as at no point did I offer him out to any clubs, or negotiate an offer. So to get over double was very pleasing

While we're on the topic of Sunderland, how come Cana, Cattermole, Turner, Ferdinand, Reid, Jones and Bent are all rubbish in the demo?

Have their stats been "corrected" according to their real-life ability for the full version?

After all, Bent/Jones are the most prolific partnership in the Premiership so far this season, Cana and Catts have been incredible, Turner and Ferdinand have shown they are solid players capable of denying the likes of Liverpool, and Reid is like a new man this season after shedding a stone in weight pre-season, and has looked astounding on the left wing.

I have not noticed a problem so far in the demo. Regarding the OP situation, I think that him not receiving any offers for those players is due to the fact that teams usually made offers for players only when thay are sure that the player will accept the transfer.

Since 2 of those players (Bent and Campbell) have recently joined Sunderland and are unlikely to move (if it is like in FM09), the AI most likely does not make any offer.

Re Jones and Ferdinand maybe teams are not making offers because they think that those players will not accept to move to lower reputation teams.

While we're on the topic of Sunderland, how come Cana, Cattermole, Turner, Ferdinand, Reid, Jones and Bent are all rubbish in the demo?

Have their stats been "corrected" according to their real-life ability for the full version?

After all, Bent/Jones are the most prolific partnership in the Premiership so far this season, Cana and Catts have been incredible, Turner and Ferdinand have shown they are solid players capable of denying the likes of Liverpool, and Reid is like a new man this season after shedding a stone in weight pre-season, and has looked astounding on the left wing.

If you feel that that some players are under rated then go to data issues forum and go to Sunderland. But don't just have a rant - say what attributes you think are incorrect, what they should be changed to, and give some evidence why. I have seen in the past two nights the Italian researcher has gone onto the Italy data issues read the relevant complaints and has changes many of the players for the next patch. But I guess it depends on the researcher - the chances of the researcher changing the attributes is unlikely but the Italian researcher seems to be bowing to everyones request which I don't personally agree with, but it may have something to do with previous things that have happened!

I clearly stated I offered out Bent and Campbell at the start of January (not in the the summer as you can't sell players in the same window they joined). There's no problem getting offers for players as long as it's not the same window in which they joined. I got no offer for either player at £0. In other words, not 1 team is willing to take a striker with a value of £10m, even for free.

I have not noticed a problem so far in the demo. Regarding the OP situation, I think that him not receiving any offers for those players is due to the fact that teams usually made offers for players only when thay are sure that the player will accept the transfer.

Since 2 of those players (Bent and Campbell) have recently joined Sunderland and are unlikely to move (if it is like in FM09), the AI most likely does not make any offer.

Re Jones and Ferdinand maybe teams are not making offers because they think that those players will not accept to move to lower reputation teams.

If I remember correctly, in FM09 players were willing to move to another team only after one year so you will probably have to wait till summer.

On the other hand, since the only teams interested in those players most likely have a lower reputations than Sunderland, the players don't want to move and the AI does not make an offer.

Nope that's definitely not the case, many times in FM09 I sold players in January after buying them in the summer, and I also sold many players in the summer after signing them in January. One window is all you need to wait, same as in real-life. Even in Fm10, I listed and managed to get a bid for Da Silva in January, and he had only joined in the summer, just like Bent and Campbell. So you're wrong there dude.

As to your other suggestion, are you saying not one team in the Premiership or across Europe with a similar rep or a slightly lower one, should be putting in bids for Bent, Jones, Campbell or Ferdinand for £0?

If I remember correctly, in FM09 players were willing to move to another team only after one year so you will probably have to wait till summer.

On the other hand, since the only teams interested in those players most likely have a lower reputations than Sunderland, the players don't want to move and the AI does not make an offer.

Playing as Spurs in demo , i've recieved plenty of bids. Sold Essou Ekotto, Bentley and had bids for Bostock and Modric.

Transfers though have been a perenial problem with fm over the years

It's sort of funny that I have experienced problems with the AI harassing my team. Especially as Fiorentina, where player values are horribly low, for some reason. I had Vargas, Gilardino, Jovetic, Montolivo and Mutu being virtually harassed by the major clubs in the game. So much so, that I had to put each one up for sale, as they demanded to be put on the transfer market.

And no, I unfortunately don't have a save with it because it made me so angry I quit and restarted as another team

How does the small database make a difference? The database size is only how many players are in the game. There is still a whole Premiership to buy your players, as well as clubs all across Europe. You don't need a large database to sell players.

Large wages don't matter, as the player should ask you to make those up till the end of their contract like in FM09, so that shouldn't prevent clubs from making bids. Are you telling me that someone wouldn't pay £0 for Kenwyne Jones just because of his wage demands? He's not costing them anything, plus the player can always ask me to make up any wage deficit before he agrees to move there.

Read my post again.

Specificaly the bits that say

"less active teams to buy players"

"if your players are being overpaid, other teams wont be able to afford their wages"

"If a team can afford an overpaid players wages, chances are they already have better players for those positions"

*not exact quotes*

I read your post again, and the points I made were in direct reply to what you said. I stand by those points.

Read my post again.

Specificaly the bits that say

"less active teams to buy players"

"if your players are being overpaid, other teams wont be able to afford their wages"

"If a team can afford an overpaid players wages, chances are they already have better players for those positions"

*not exact quotes*

The reason I came onto the forums today was for exactly this problem. I'm at Newcastle, and I can't shift anyone - Jonas, Coloccini, Enrique etc. etc. Just to prove the point, I tried offering them out for loan and for transfer at £0, but no takers. Seems a bit odd. Even if it does mimic real life to a degree, given that Toon did actually fail to offload any of those players in the transfer window, it doesn't make FM2010 enjoyable as a GAME because without anyone taking some players off your hands, there's no transfer element to the game - at least not at Toon where you start with a transfer budget of £0!

The reason why Newcastle didn't sell them in real-life though, was because they sold or released so many other players in the transfer window, they simply couldn't afford to let any others go. If Chris Hughton offered Jonas, Colo and Enrique out to clubs in the Premiership and Europe today, he'd have a whole host of managers lining up to pay at least a few million for those three, and if he said here, take them for £0, his phone wouldn't stop ringing!

So the list of players who can't be sold for £0 in FM2010 now stands at:

Bent

Jones

Ferdinand

Campbell

Healy

Fulop

Murphy

Jonas

Colocinni

Enrique

Clearly there's something very wrong here.

The reason I came onto the forums today was for exactly this problem. I'm at Newcastle, and I can't shift anyone - Jonas, Coloccini, Enrique etc. etc. Just to prove the point, I tried offering them out for loan and for transfer at £0, but no takers. Seems a bit odd. Even if it does mimic real life to a degree, given that Toon did actually fail to offload any of those players in the transfer window, it doesn't make FM2010 enjoyable as a GAME because without anyone taking some players off your hands, there's no transfer element to the game - at least not at Toon where you start with a transfer budget of £0!

As Sunderland, I offered Kenwyne Jones to clubs for £2million, and his actual value was £4.6million. I got no offers. I tried £1million and even £0...still no offers. Yes, I transfer listed and set to not needed first. I ended up having to pay him £3.6million on a mutual termination to get him off the books! In real-life Sunderland have been rumoured to have turned down big-money bids for him from Tottenham etc, yet I can't even give him away, let alone get £2million for him (less than half his in game value). It's not just him either; here's some more examples:

Richardson- value £3.9m...offered for £3m, then £2m, best bid received £2m

Malbranque- value £3.5m...offered for £3m, then £2m, then £1m, best bid £1m

Ferdinand- value £3.4m...offered for £2m, then £1m, then free, best bid loan!

Nosworthy- value £2.2m...offered for £1m, then £500k, best bid £500k

Fulop- value £2.6m...offered for £1m, then £500k, then free, best bit loan!

Murphy- value £2.4m...offered for £1m, then £500k, then free, no bids, forced to mutually terminate

Healy- value £3.4m...offered for £1m, then £500k, then free, no bids, forced to mutually terminate

Then in Janurary (listed them on the 1st, so you can get bids for those who joined in the summer at this point, proved by me listing and receiving a £2million bid for Paula Da Silva)

Bent- value £10m...offered for £5m, best bid received loan!

Campbell- value £3.6m...offered for £2m, then £1m, no bids received!

Now is it it just me, or are these bids a lot lower than in FM09? I mean, I'm always transfer listing players for less than their value, but finding it amazingly difficult to receive any bids.

Thoughts please

I little tip for you... if you cant sell a player even for £0, rather than pay him compo by terminating his contract, look on the transfer list for any players listed below 100k that will only want basic wages, offer £0 with an exchange for your player & the club will always accept the bid. Just bare in mind that the player ur buying needs top be from a decent club as well otherwise "Jones" for example want go to a cr@p club. I find it much more cost affective to have a player in my squad on £100 p/w than thousands, you cud always terminate the new guys contract if u like, want cost as much in compo.

i thought not. in my man u save i managed to get rid of park, tosic, gibson, wellbeck, and nani at value price. shame that i cant get rid of valencia and obertan since they only just signed :|

I little tip for you... if you cant sell a player even for £0, rather than pay him compo by terminating his contract, look on the transfer list for any players listed below 100k that will only want basic wages, offer £0 with an exchange for your player & the club will always accept the bid. Just bare in mind that the player ur buying needs top be from a decent club as well otherwise "Jones" for example want go to a cr@p club. I find it much more cost affective to have a player in my squad on £100 p/w than thousands, you cud always terminate the new guys contract if u like, want cost as much in compo.

Very interesting and creative workaround

Yet, it's necessity is sad

That's a really useful cheat actually, cheers dude. I tried it out and offered Man City £0 for James Wood plus Kenwyne Jones and Anton Ferdinand, and they accepted and the deal went through. Wood only wanted about £800 a week lol.

Still though, it's a shame I have to resort to doing that, I should really be able to sell players of this calibre for cash!

I little tip for you... if you cant sell a player even for £0, rather than pay him compo by terminating his contract, look on the transfer list for any players listed below 100k that will only want basic wages, offer £0 with an exchange for your player & the club will always accept the bid. Just bare in mind that the player ur buying needs top be from a decent club as well otherwise "Jones" for example want go to a cr@p club. I find it much more cost affective to have a player in my squad on £100 p/w than thousands, you cud always terminate the new guys contract if u like, want cost as much in compo.

Very interesting and creative workaround

Yet, it's necessity is sad

I little tip for you... if you cant sell a player even for £0, rather than pay him compo by terminating his contract, look on the transfer list for any players listed below 100k that will only want basic wages, offer £0 with an exchange for your player & the club will always accept the bid. Just bare in mind that the player ur buying needs top be from a decent club as well otherwise "Jones" for example want go to a cr@p club. I find it much more cost affective to have a player in my squad on £100 p/w than thousands, you cud always terminate the new guys contract if u like, want cost as much in compo.

This is an interesting idea and may very well work but I do not want to play my game by applying these kind of tricks. It should NOT be neccessary.

For the OP; even if there is only two teams in the game world database; you give away good players for free the other should make an offer, this is so simple to me because that is how it will work in real life.

I think overall selling players on Fm09 (both selling good ones for money and dumping bad ones for whatever) was much better than previous versions. It was not maybe yet optimal but it was good; if the FM10 demo is a step back regarding this then I'm really disappointed, because selling players is one of the main parts of football management especially if you are going for a long career with a small team.

Hopefully like SI guy said; they are aware of it and it will be improved sooner than later ( I mean soon like release day or latest first patch), if they cant get it better by fixing then just going back to 930 patch version regarding player sales would be better than what the OP was saying.

how can a team not afford wages even if they are being offered out for nothing? they can change their transfer budget and wage budget to accomodate it so....

but the idea about having a small selection of teams in the demo would answer it in my opinion, maybe

It's realistic.

Fixed in the patch?

how can a team not afford wages even if they are being offered out for nothing? they can change their transfer budget and wage budget to accomodate it so....

Even if a team makes the choice to increase their wage budget it rarely allows you to offer a player a higher wage. The only time it does allow a massive increase in the wage you can offer an individual is if you are very close to, or over, your overall wage budget.

Basically you are never going to be able to shift a lot of the players that are rubbish but on very high wages. No one is going to buy a League One or Two ability player who wants £5k+ p/w (or a Championship ability player on £20k+ p/w) even if you are setting their sale price at £0.