Spreading payments over 48 months

Now I am sure this has been bought up before on here, and I know in real life some players are bought over prolonged terms.

But is this really realistic? That almost any player in the game you can buy from any club over 4 years? As most clubs these days are run as businesses, and as any accountants etc... will know cash flow is king at the end of the day. And not many real football clubs could in reality afford to do business this way (Particularly lower league)

And I can't imagine in the ever changing world of football every club out there would be willing to part with star assets, etc.. and accept taking payment over such a vast amount of time.

I could understand if it would only work on some deals, or if you had to pay much more to get the player over a longer deal, but it seems that you can apply it to anyone, and that the overall fee you end up paying is the same. I don't mind being proved wrong on that but have never had to pay significantly more to do a 48 months deal then I have an outright cash purchase.

It just all seems a tad unrealistic to me.

And whilst on the subject no board would really be stupid enough to give you a 50 million quid budget but be duped in to spending 200 million because you have spread the deals over 4 years ;-) Can we sort it out please AI?

It will impact next years budget, and the next years etc etc unless you can make it up with prize money. If you don't then you could get yourself in a hole as monthly, your balance reduces and if you dont make it up then it's just going to keep going down.

AI?

are you working with HAL?

In fact most deals IRL are done in this way, with add-ons for appearances, goals, in'l caps etc. Most clubs simply haven't got 10 million quid floating around that they can give to someone else, so they pay some up front and some over a period of time when certain monies come in (like TV money - pompey?) or other monies. That's why it was brought into FM, to reflect the current realities of the transfer market.

Not sure about the last part though. If you can do that it seems a bit daft. (Although you will go bankrupt...)

Lots of clubs do this, and it backfires unless you perform well! See Hull, Leeds, or Pompey.

I'm pretty sure that spreading the payment out is actually the norm IRL.

Perfectly normal for transfer payments to be spread out over time, often several years. We do sometimes get reports of clubs claiming they are owed payments or payments are late, sometimes FIFA have to get involved.

Of course, if you have a 50 million budget and spend 200 million using this method, then you will most likely have very little to spend over the next 4 years as the clubs finances are affected.

It does eem a bit foolish of the board to allow this however, you'd think they reduce the remainder of your spending power, or even veto certain deals if you went about business this way.

This is the norm and your right finances are affected for the next few seasons

It happens very often. You do have to remember, though, that your financial situation 4 years down the line may be much worse than today and that £500k/month which was a write-off 4 years ago is actually rather painful a league down!

Has anyone had any luck with paying £0 upfront and the whole fee over 48 months?

Or are clubs unlikely to accept the bid unless at least some of the fee is paid upfront?