Transfer Policy??

Just wondering how people go about signing players?

Do you all look for young players and bring them through or do you splash big money on more established players.

Me personally i look to improve the coaches and staff with the money that i get for my first transfer budget and pick up free transfers that will get me through the first couple of seasons saving up for when i start my assault on the world youth teams.

I send as many scouts out as i can to find youngsters normally aged no more than 17 that i can bring in for small amounts and get them ready for the first team.

looking for profits in the long run rather than hoarding the best players in the world. I find this works surprisingly well and allows me to be successful as well as very profitable.

First thing I tend to do is sell the majority of my reserve team and any young players that aren't good enough for me, else I'll terminate their contracts.

I will then scout the globe for youngers with high potential - 95% of the time I buy younger players and get 5+ years out of them. I will then improve my coaching staff, and with any budget remaining I will look at first-team players (if required). It's always in that order no matter who I play against. I always get the 'you can't win anything with kids' attitude from AI managers, so I guess I like the challenge and seeing players improve.

I find if you have a squad of players all 23 and under, you struggle to win things, so I mix and match,

I tend to go the other way - I'll only buy players that are ready for the first team, generally established in the league and better than what i have. This is obviously expensive and not good for long term, but on my current save i'm going on a world tour so I only ever spend 2-3 years with a club. Yes i'll leave them bankrupt with a squad of aging pros, no youth system and sky high salaries BUT they'll have one hell of a ride for a couple of years.

signed:

Brian Robson, David O'Leary, anyone associated with Bradford or Real Madrid

Depends what club I'm at.

At Liverpool my policy is buy young. Only time I sign anyone over 18 is when they're out of contract.

At Tranmere my policy is buy old. Usually buy (actually it's sign because everyone tends to be a freebie) every time I gain promotion. I only kept 3 players of the 23 man squad that got promoted. Only reason they're still around is because I want to improve them then sell them off.

my transfer policies adapts through out the game as i usually start as a small club. i start buying experienced frees as i cant afford much else, but i eventually build up to buying only the best young players in the game.

I buy good youths every start of the season. Try to see if they would develop well or flop. If there's some potential, I'll eventually loan them; if there's none, i'll sell. The only position I'm willing to pay for costly is GK though I did buy Ochoa for just 3M. Haha. I always try to maintain a positive finances. Playing Southampthon.

When I'm a big club (Real Madrid, Man Unt type team) I'll always look to bring in established stars and teenagers. In my Real save (I'm only in December 2010) I've signed David Silva and Chielini as my "stars" and a bunch of 16/17 year olds, mostly Spaniards. I'll probably only bring in 1 1st team player in the summer and spend anything I may have left on more youth players.

When I'm a club the next level down (I'm a Rangers fan, so let use them as the example) I tend to sway toward bargains/free transfers to see my through a couple of seasons whilst I wait for the youth players I've brought in to develope. I don't like spending much money with these teams unless I can get my hands on a player I'd consider a coup. It's just frustarting to know you've blown your chance of a top star because you've spent your budget on 3 okay 27 year olds.

Small clubs with next to no budget? Always free transfers and loans. If I can sell a player, I will, they tend to be easy to replace at this kind of level.

If I am managing a mega-money club, I try to bring in every fans ideals. I fill the squad with the best talent of the respective country (ie, when I managed Man City, I did my level best to only bring in quality English players), and try to teach them total football.

However, for everyone else, I follow the "Middlesbrough route". I fill the team with kids and youngsters with potential, and then wonder why they crumble under pressure... I will occasionally bring in an old hand just to add some stability, but the intention is for them to only play when we're struggling.

Invest in youth if I can find good youngsters that haven't been snatched up. Then pre contract agreements in January to bolster my team for next season. I constantly monitor the transfer list for bargains and normally have at least 3 players on loan. This is mainly cause I can't afford to splash the cash quite yet.

It depends on situation of club, squad-wise and of course financial-wise.

In general however, I usually send one scout to look for players under 21 years of age, and the other scout to look for players 21+. If I need an immediate addition, replacement or improvement, I always go for seasoned and experienced players, trying to spend as few as possible. Along with that, I try to bring in youths that are showing signs of potential.

That said, my usual summer transfer window consists of 0 - 2 senior players in and 2 - 5 kids, during winter, I enter the market only if needed (avoid relegation / fight for promotion), otherwise it's only between nothing and a pair of talented kids.

will only sign someone over 27 if they are world class, although i would still sign them up to 32/33.

i buy young, loan out for 1-10 seasons, then cash in or promote to first team.

get a lot of cash from the loans too

I do a bit of both, investing in young players for the future and then spending (within my means) on big names to improve the squead now (hopefully they'll go on to tutor my youngsters.

I try to sign big name players and scout for the best regens for the future

Here is what I do:

1. I sign young players for the future

2. I sign free transfer players (I sign them in the remaining 6 months of their contract)

3. I Sell unwanted, unskilled, over 30 or expensive players.

4. Improve staff as much as possible

5. Improve facilities

Actually, I rarely spend any of my transfer budget on first team players, as the AI is bad to renew their players contracts.

In my Brøndby save, I have loads of money, the best talents and I'm the best team in the league.

I'm having to adopt a different approach since youngsters (15/16) are demanding such high wages when I try to bring them to the club and if they represent value long term since I'll be paying them £30k+ a week for four years before they even get a sniff of first team action. Try looking for players in the 18 - 21 bracket. They'll want pretty much the same wages and they'll be more developed. close to or ready for first team action.

If there's an area that's really poor, in comparison to my league and aspirations, I'll go all out to improve that. Next I'll go for players that can create good squad depth. If I've got all that and money left over, I'll go for the young stars.

I do a mixture of both, i sign cheap youngsters for the future and bring them through the ranks.

I also splash the cash on more established players every now and again too.

I buy millions of youngsters and the occasional cheap old player, I plan to sell some of these youngsters later on to bolster my budget

Stars and bargains. I usually sign 1-2 big name players (£10-40M) and then find older stars either on loan, free transfers or under £2M. In the past I rarely brought in loaned players (usually stick to top leagues), but I'm finding it quite useful, especially for back-ups. I add young players, but usually only if my scouts say they can be leading stars and avoid signing them for more than £10M and that is in the extreme. Bench players and role players come through my academy only as I don't like wasting time on a youth that at best translates into "ok." I also try to get these star youths into as many first team matches as I can afford -- either Cup matches, meaningless ties in Europe -- after qualification is assured, or meaningless games at the end of the season regardless of their age.

I've just started up a game a Hibs in the SPL. Never been in Scotland before so I'm interested in seeing how it goes. I started with £130k to spend so got in a top coach and scout, then sold one of my better players after getting an offer I thought was over the odds. With that money I nicked a couple of youngsters from Rangers youth system, they'll go out on loan for a season or two and they'll be easily good enough for my first team. I got in an Arsenal youth player to replace the one I lost. I also got in a couple of experienced free transfers Christian Vieri being the main coup.

At the start I buy established players, I'll only buy ones i can get 5 or more years out of but I'm not afraid to mix a few of the youths in. In the 5 years that I have them established players I bolster the youth, improve the coaches and try to improve the facilities. By the time them initial 5 years is over, the youth I invested in at the start is ready to make the step up full-time.

I make all sorts of plans and budgets then ignore them and go mad. I generally panic buy towards the end of the window when I realise I'm sort in certain positions then realise I've just bought a load of crap for stupid money.

I look for the youngsters. If I have a youngster who can play in a "problem" position then I'd rather use them and develop them into better players but if I don't have a good enough young 'un I'll go out and get the best option I can find. It's really a jigsaw puzzle for me, depending on situations and style.

Bestie.