Unsettling: why is it a one-way street?

Before I get into my 'rant', I'll provide an insight into my current FM game. I'm in August 2022, and have played the entire time as Aston Villa. Took me a while to really get the team to where I wanted to (and that is partly due to what this post is about), only breaking into the top four in 2012/13. Since then we've not finished any lower than 4th, and have been a top three side for the last six seasons, capturing the Premiership the last three years (and four of the last five). In those six years, there has also been four Champions League finals, winning it the year before last and losing 1-0 to Chelsea the other three times, including last season. Also been to two successive FA Cup Finals and had other success (World Club Cup, European Super Cup, Charity Shields and League Cups). Stadium has grown to 55,000, which seems to be as large as it can be expanded, the club's reputation is now 'Worldwide' and we're #2 on both the coefficient and richest club lists.

Now, I accepted that when I was still building Villa up, the 'big' teams would come in for my better players and I'd face tough decisions about how I dealt with those offers. Accept them and lose a player whose quality might be difficult to replicate, or reject them and risk upsetting ambitious players who feel I'm hindering their careers. While it was frustrating to have it happen transfer window after transfer window, I appreciated that it was a realistic replication of what happens in real life. I also consoled myself with the knowledge that, if I succeeded in making Villa huge, it would no longer be an issue.

How wrong was I? In spite of the club's success and standing in the World, my players still seem to become unsettled at the drop of a hat. This Summer alone I've had to sell four players who, after hearing of interest from other teams, suddenly decided they wanted to leave. There's a bunch of other players I've clung onto because they've long-term deals, and I'm hoping that over those years, they might change their mind. One I had to sell was understandable, as it was Real Madrid who came after him. But I've also had a young CB, with four years left on his contract, upset because I rejected an offer from Tottenham, who finished 7th last year! My younger players in particular seem to be particularly fragile, and had I chosen to keep a list of them over this transfer window (and those prior) I'm sure it would've gone on and on. What is particularly annoying is that the very day I named one of my star strikers as the new captain (Hugo Lloris was the previous incumbent, and I let his contract expire when he wanted 125k a week for two years as a 35 year old!), he then decides he "wants a new challenge". This is on the 4th August, three days before the season really begins. His morale, of course, is now through the floor.

All this would not be quite so frustrating if it worked both ways. If clubs with lesser reputations can unsettle my players, simply by declaring an interest or making an offer at their estimated value, surely I should be able to unsettle players at smaller clubs just as easily, right? Of course not. If I declare my interest in a player, it seems to do nothing besides inspire their next performance. If I make an offer for a player, it gets rejected and that is that. While I have to put up with a thousand and one (quite frankly) ridiculous offers for my players from the moment I get anywhere near a transfer window, too many of which have an adverse affect on the player in question, I can offer twice the estimated value of a player at a lesser club, without them so much as caring!

Of course, all of this won't prevent me from carrying on with my game. It has happened on a yearly basis and I've kept going, so it isn't about to change that now. It's just the aspect of the game I find the most frustrating and illogical, and if nothing else, it'd be nice to know I'm not alone in having to put up with it. Are others suffering silly amounts of bids/declarations of interest on their players (often , subsequently unsettling them, or am I just being really unfortunate with the level in which I'm receiving?

There are a couple of ways around the 'problem'. First one is to make sure that your players are tied up on long-term contracts. This reduces the likelihood that AI managers will see them as transfer targets. Also, the more managers you are friends with in game, the fewer managers there are left to tap up your players. I had an issue with Pep Guardiola constantly trying to unsettle one of my players so I spent a couple of months praising Pep and it stopped once we became buddies (aww).

Timescale is an issue here too. In order to get a player unsettled takes a good few months of declaring interest/admiring. I find that admiring the player until you appear on his favourite personnel and then declaring your interest works best. But again this takes a good few months in game.

I'll agree with you that players' heads being turned by lower reputation teams is very annoying but I've found the suggestions above are the only way around the problem. Not a solution sadly but a workaround nonetheless.

I find it more annoying when they get upset after you change the value of a transfer to a reasonable amount and apparently you've "rejected" the bid.

I'll think you'll find that actually, I have not. I just don't want to sell me top young players for no money at all.

1. Are you setting asking prices for your players? Set them high and people won't be throwing in bids willy-nilly.

2. Are you responding to transfer speculation? Don't. Don't issue hands-off warnings ever - it only stokes transfer rumours and squad unrest. Just ignore it when they sniff around your players, and throw a few mill on the asking price everytime they come out with a spontaneous declaration of love for your young prospects.

3. Tapping up is not too hard. You praise the player a couple of times, to see whether he's interested. If he says he's honoured to receive praise from you, you know you're doing well. If you do it right, you make it onto his favoured personnel list (Quique Flores at Atletico has tapped up my winger for a year now, and is on his list).

Then, you declare an interest in them - they should reply with something positive - and then you bid for them (and maybe praise them again for good measure).

The bid gets rejected; the player complains; you leave him to fight with his club; you get offered him at bargain basement price.

It's not foolproof: I tapped up Gourcuff, made him unhappy, only to watch him reject my contract and move for 3.4million to bayern.

Other than that, I can only enquire as to your squad's personality? If they are professional, they shouldn't be whining so much: you really want to shape your squad's personality to avoid such issues.

Ambitious young players are hard to please: you may be a more successful club than Tottenham, but how much are you paying them, and how often are they playing?

Darren Fletcher almost left man utd because he'd rather have been a first-teamer at Everton than a squad player at Utd. Are you one of those people who assembles a massive squad of budding regens, and then can't give them all playing time?