Worst piece of Business

As I've seen a thread about people doing great bits of business, I thought I'd see if anyone has any tales of massive financial woe to amuse us all. Or just cases where you realise you've missed a trick and let go the future world player of the world for a pittance.

A few I can think of. When I was Liverpool Boss in the mid 2020's. I let a young regen striker, called Dale Forde go for 250k. No biggy I thought, and to be fair, I already had world class strikers in my club so he wasn't getting a look in. 6 years later he got sold by Blackburn for 19 million. 3 seasons later I signed him for my Spurs team for 35 million. Even though I was at a different club, I can't help but think that I was an idiot for letting him go as a youth, as he developed into probably the best striker in the game(and there are a few strong contenders there!), and is currently my England captain and main striker at age 30. His last 4 seasons he's had at Spurs, he's averaged over an 8 rating each time, has scored 27 goals in each of the last 3 seasons, and is currently on 19 from 17 this season.

Looking at my history, I've done it a lot. Sold a talented LB/LWB/LM called Darren Grimes to Real madrid, in his teens for 9.5 mill. While that's not to be sniffed at, he soon became the best left winger in the world, and has averaged over 8 in the ratings in his 12 years at the club so far.

I let a CB go for 4 million called Neal Simpson to Aston Villa, who would later move to Fiorentina for 20.5 mil, and then AC Milan for 26. Absolutely amazing CB, missed the chance to get him in my England team(he was english) as well, as he took Italian citizenship and has over 30 caps for them now.

There's other occasions I've done it, but can't be bothered to go into them. What about you lot?

I never regret any of my transfer dealings...... Make a decision and commit to it is my policy

Selling Robert Lewandowski in my current Forest save in the effort to make an all-English team. Replaced him with Defoe and it just doesn't work as well. Made about 10m out of it (Got 16.5 for RL, He'd been scoring 30 a season for 5 years) but I still regret it. And they won't sell him back to me

I bought José Paolo Guerrero from Athletico Madrid for £11mil with Norwich in a previous version of the game (FM09 I think). He had moved to AM after consistently scoring 25 goals a season in every season. I thought I was picking up a bargain. That feeling was cemented after he scored two on his debut. He then failed to score for 9 games despite several glorious chances and got dropped. He eventually claimed homesickness, went off on leave and returned to hand in a transfer notice after someone declared an interest in him. He eventually moved on for £8mil where he scored consistently again.

Bah.

I bought some Turkish guy in 2021 for £40m to play up front, he played 33 times and scored just 4 crappy goals. I was so angry that I had a fit of pique and offered him out for £1m to get rid. IRL i think I'd have been carted off to the funny farm for that piece of business.

on fm08 i was manchester united and in the summer Real offered £45mil upfront for Tevez, Of course i rejected this then come January i get message saying real have offered contract to tevez, I poo my pants and offer what i could he refused and signed for Real for free, I was tamping that i didnt even renew his contract and he was gone in a flash. £45million to manchester united is a lot of money these days. Suprised i didnt get sacked for being a noob

on fm08 i was manchester united and in the summer Real offered £45mil upfront for Tevez, Of course i rejected this then come January i get message saying real have offered contract to tevez, I poo my pants and offer what i could he refused and signed for Real for free, I was tamping that i didnt even renew his contract and he was gone in a flash. £45million to manchester united is a lot of money these days. Suprised i didnt get sacked for being a noob

Ouch, heartbreaking!!

Looks like the United heirarchy might be faced with a similarish dilemma over the next few months if the papers are correct.

Yaya Sanogo bought for £5m and sold by the chairman for £1.5m to leeds 6 moths later.

I've wasted a bit of money here and there but nothing I would say as awful. However, as this thread is worst piece of business I will put that blame squarely on the shoulders of my current Stockport chairman.

I started as Stockport manager in League 1. No money etc, the same old story. My scout was a waste of time so I sacked him at the start of my 2nd season and decided to do it on my own. I set the search filter to look for unemployed players with a min speed of 15. I then changed the filter specific for position. I managed to find a striker with finishing of 15 and speed of 15. I didn't care about any other stats so I signed him on a 3 year deal for nothing. I think his wages were £150 per week. He was a regen called Alvarho.

Anyway he was amazing for me and helped turn my season around. A few games before we got promoted I offered him a huge (for stockport) £1000 per week (made him top earner) which he accepted. I was delighted to have him for a further 3 years; or so I thought. Half way through the first season in the Championship he is the top scorer and all is going well. That is until Villa make a £2m bid and the Chairman accepts on my behalf as 'The offer was too good to refuse'.

2 season later, Barcelona sign him for £30m and we don't even get a cut.

first game on fm10, started as chelsea signed dzeko for 35 million, two years later he had only scored 7 goals in all competitions.

3 words........sell-on clause!!! lol. good story!!!

Luis Alberto Llandin (I think). Signed him from America (Mex) for my Boca Juniors team in maybe 08 or 09, for something ridiculous like £15m. A season later, with naff all goals, a damaged cruciate ligament, and generally poor performances I was livid. Can't recall what happened in the end...

In the year 2070 I bought a player for €150m

He wasn't that good. Average ratings. Didn't do much. Sold him for €20m about 3 seasons later.

Chalky, don't you check the potential rating before selling? If you do, then why do you sell those guys?

I FM10 I was Liverpool around 2018 and signed Balotelli, who was a fire thrower for Inter. However, after spending 60M for him, he didn't helped me at all, became home and I sent him to the second team to play there until an offer came from Genoa. I sold him for around 20M.

Last year i was playing as Merthyr in the prem.

I had the chance to buy a 5 star 19 yo striker for £5 million but passed it up as too expensive, 5 years later i bought him for £35 million.

A few years after that he became injured for 7 months in nov so i bought the best striker in the game in Jan to replace him. Cost me £100 million for a 30yo

he went on to score just 4 goals in 22 apps averaging 6.46, my youth players could have done better

I have Gorucuff a Kroos fighting for my Liverpool team season 3 with Stevie G playing mostly CM but could fill in, I then signed a 29 soonly turning 30 Wesley Sneijder. I also first seaon signed like a 28 year old Demichelis for 36m

Meh, I don't regret it, it made my team look good.

Chalky, don't you check the potential rating before selling? If you do, then why do you sell those guys?

I do, but clearly my scouts and coachs aren't good enough. I made plenty of brilliant deals too, but these are the ones that slipped through the cracks.

well not me fully, signed Ashley Young for 30m, left the club two years later, he was in his prime at 28 and they sold him for 9m!!!

I was in desperate need of a right back, so I went out and bought Kyle Walker for 20mil when he was valued at around 6 or 7. I was so disappointed in myself that I didn't hold a press conference for him. Turned out to be a decent buy though, he was as solid as they come in the few years I had him.

Also, in the same save I spent 25mil on a 31-year old Ashley Young. I needed a dynamic sub who could play along the frontline. Because of injuries Young started for me for a while and did decently well, but he only because he was scoring easy goals, wasn't creating anything. I see a few days after I bought him Man City bought Balotelli (save was started before he went there irl) for 13mil and he turned out to be one of the best players in the league.

I'm sure there are a countless amount of young players I have let go too.

Mahamadou Diarra, Mahamadou Diarra and Mahamadou Diarra. Always plays *****, yet I buy him time and time again.

I do, but clearly my scouts and coachs aren't good enough. I made plenty of brilliant deals too, but these are the ones that slipped through the cracks.

Fair enough then. I just sold a 3 star potential (which means leading EPL player at my club) DC aged 17 to Arsenal for 1.4m. May regret that one day as well.

I FM10 I was Liverpool around 2018 and signed Balotelli, who was a fire thrower for Inter. However, after spending 60M for him, he didn't helped me at all, became home and I sent him to the second team to play there until an offer came from Genoa. I sold him for around 20M.

Signed Balotelli for my awesome Notts County side that couldn't stop winning the Champ League and won the Prem 6 years in a row - and he was incredible, scoring goals for fun, and then asking for a transfer cause he was basically bored - needed a new challenge! When he retired a few years later I hired him as a scout