Selling top players at what age?

Does anyone have any specific things they do in relation to selling top players at a certain age?

I only really play with top division clubs so I have the luxury of having a fair few quid to throw around and I know thats not always possible in LLM but do people have a certain age they sell their top players in FM2011?

I always like to have a young squad but keep hold of my star players who have helped me over the years and are club legends etc. However I just finished my fourth season and won a double of a European cup and the league but felt it was time for a change as my front line was literally overflowing with talent when Bojan came in on a free (which was a bit unrealistic).

I sold Torres at 30 for £28.5m and Dzeko at 28 for £37m to Barca and Inter respectively. I like to try and keep squad under 30 for value reasons. I was worried but the 4 strikers I have now are doing just fine. Do you sell top players at certain age to maximise transfer value or do you value the contribution to the team for a few more years and then they are practically worthless and leave on frees etc.

The only player I left was Carragher who is 36 now and crap but on 75k a week still. Will never do that again with another player.

I sell them between 29 and 30.

Or, as a rule of thumb, as soon as they have the first drop in physical attributes, so that might vary from player to player, but once they start to lose pace/stamina it's time to sell pronto, as long the market value is near the top and AI managers are too dumb to realize the player is on his way down.

If I wait too long I can end up with a nosediving 32yo with an obscenely high wage no other club would offer him...

In some rare cases, mostly when it's a club legend or a faithful team player (and the transfer value isn't relevant to my budget...), I can keep some players around til they retire or til they get totally useless... So instead of cashing in on them I just allow them to go out with dignity either in my reserve team or at a lower level to enjoy a final stint of semi-relevance.

Still, with expensive and valuable players I'm ruthless...

im at the cross roads with Dzeko, he is 29 away to turn 30 and on a 3 year deal worth £120k a week, should i sell or keep him till he is too old to play at this level and let him go on a free? All my other strikers are under 22 so he is the only real experience upfront.

i usually sell players before 30 so i can get the most money out of them. exceptions are made for exceptional players

I do it on a deal by deal basis. I had Gallas untlil he was 35 and he was brilliant. I've got no problem with older players and i honestly think that selling Dzeko when he is 29 is a waste. That is a strikers prime, and not too old to play upfront. Drogba anyone? Since when is 29 old anyway?

It's good to have a few players over 30 who can offer experience and still have great mental stats. But if i have two strikers for one position-a 22 yr old and a 29yr old, i will send the 29yr old on his way so that i get the best years out of the younger one, providing he can do the same job.

I do it on a deal by deal basis. I had Gallas untlil he was 35 and he was brilliant. I've got no problem with older players and i honestly think that selling Dzeko when he is 29 is a waste. That is a strikers prime, and not too old to play upfront. Drogba anyone? Since when is 29 old anyway?

It's good to have a few players over 30 who can offer experience and still have great mental stats. But if i have two strikers for one position-a 22 yr old and a 29yr old, i will send the 29yr old on his way so that i get the best years out of the younger one, providing he can do the same job.

i think your right to be honest, im going to keep him and keep playing him, he still scores bucket loads i just saw it as the last chace to get any real money back for him, ive already let ibra get to 34 still on £185k a but now only worth £1m, no one will ever sign him so i either give him another huge contract or let him leave, but your right Dzeko has a few years left in him yet, it just seems in FM after 30/31 players tend to drop quite quickly.

I try to have all players on contracts that will take them to 32. That way at 29/30 I can assess them and move them on if I dont think they will be an asset at their expensive wages. The only 2 player I have kept past 30 are Frey (goalkeeper) and van Persie. Obviously goal keepers can keep going much longer and Frey has been extraordinary since he turned 30. Van Persie is now 30 and getting better each season, I cant justify selling him when I cant replace him yet. (I have great hopes for my 19 year old danish regen who looks like he will be just perfect in a year or so).

Arshavin, rosiski both went at 30, but arsenal have a young squad to start with so I havent had to be too harsh yet.

i think your right to be honest, im going to keep him and keep playing him, he still scores bucket loads i just saw it as the last chace to get any real money back for him, ive already let ibra get to 34 still on £185k a but now only worth £1m, no one will ever sign him so i either give him another huge contract or let him leave, but your right Dzeko has a few years left in him yet, it just seems in FM after 30/31 players tend to drop quite quickly.

Dzeko would be an excellent poacher in his later years though, but as for ibra, yeah, those are obscene wages for someone that age.

I've noticed that at AI clubs the older players contracts decrease as they age. giggs' went down to 20k etc

Dzeko would be an excellent poacher in his later years though, but as for ibra, yeah, those are obscene wages for someone that age.

I've noticed that at AI clubs the older players contracts decrease as they age. giggs' went down to 20k etc

he is on that wage no matter what, he gets a huge contact when he signs from Barca at the end of the first season and its a 5 year deal!! ive tried to get it down but he still wants £100k to resign which is a bit rubbish, he has scored 123 goals in 174 games overall.

Ive had Dzeko playing as a poacher since the start, he plays inbetween an advanced forward and a trequista in a 3 man attack, its glorious when it works!!

Unlike in FM10 players' abitlity tend to decrease pretty much as soon as they turn 30. In FM10 we had examples of players playing exceptionally good even if they are 35, 36, 37 and especially at international level.

I don't have a particular age to sell. It always depends on the availability of a replacement and the wage. When I signed Dzeko for free, I sell Berbatov immediately because he's already 31 in the last year of his $400k/month contract. If I don't have Dzeko, I would have renewed his contract. Currently I don't have an adequate replacement for my keeper Sebastien Frey, so I'll be keeping him until his retirement at 40.

I think selling before 30 is a waste. I always have 2 players for 1 position: a backup young player under 21 and a first-team player over 28 who tutors him. I never sell unless I'm really short on money or the player is surplus.

you do miss out on a few good years when selling before 30, but after 30 the players value drops. obviously if your 30 year old striker is miles ahead of anyone else you have then it may be worth holding on, but if they can be replaced then i tend to go for the money

I let Eto'o go at 33 because he was on 280k a week and wouldn't take a wage drop to back up player. He was still a 15 goal a season striker but not at that wage.

I generally keep players getting older. I like older heads around young legs to carry the balance.

Lúcio was a rock for me at the end of the season though his legs had gone completely. He wanted to see out his contract with a final season at the club and has been absolutely awful whenever he's been called upon. Still, he's on 75k a week and I don't mind because he's a legend.

I do it on a deal by deal basis. I had Gallas untlil he was 35 and he was brilliant. I've got no problem with older players and i honestly think that selling Dzeko when he is 29 is a waste. That is a strikers prime, and not too old to play upfront. Drogba anyone? Since when is 29 old anyway?

It's good to have a few players over 30 who can offer experience and still have great mental stats. But if i have two strikers for one position-a 22 yr old and a 29yr old, i will send the 29yr old on his way so that i get the best years out of the younger one, providing he can do the same job.

Throughly agree. There's nothing better then recruiting someone who's slogged his ass off in the Blue Square, earning Favoured status, becoming a member of staff. Get them tutoring your talent and you have a wonderful thing happening.

Unlike in FM10 players' abitlity tend to decrease pretty much as soon as they turn 30. In FM10 we had examples of players playing exceptionally good even if they are 35, 36, 37 and especially at international level.

I disagree. I've had this on my current FM11 save. At aged 38 Mario Jardel helped is get promoted to League Two and win the FA Trophy with 14 important goals in 23 games. His goals always seemed to come when the team needed them and his stats have only began to decline now were near the end of our first season in League Two. Alright, it's not the Premier League but it's still the same thing.

I move them on as soon as I have a player ready to fill his place with enough back up to cover. Age means little to me.

I usually sell players before they reach 30 unless I know they are going to stay with the club until retirement.

I prefer to keep legends at the club. The wages don't bother me, I also encourage them to get staff attributes and if they are decent they'll get a player/coach contract. Currently got a 33 year old regen striker who's close to 400 league goals for me. His physical attributes have dropped quite a bit but they're still decent (pace 14 for example) and he only has natural fitness 11. I'll keep the guy at the club till he retires and becomes staff or (he wants to become a manager) he gets a managerial job somewhere.

28-30 for any position.

I then bring in players aged 16-24.

I find you have to do this if you aim to be at a club 5-10 years.

I adopted a 32 and out rule like 2 or 3 seasons back in my Ajax save. That way I've used their best years and get some money back which I don't really need anyway even if they started to decline a bit. Also means younger players get into team a season or two quicker because I find my 32 year olds I sell off would still be one of the better players in squad.

I only sell players when they fail to perform to an acceptable level. If this means someone stays at the club until they're 33, so be it. This is my policy once I'm in the top flight and have a big budget though, so I suppose my methods would change if I were looking to create maximum value.

A lot of people are far too concerned with age. I see an awful lot of people with first choice teams that are all teens to early twenties. Obviously it is better to sign players of that age as they will have longer left in their career, but once signed I pay not attention to age at all. I have just renewed Silvain Distin's contract at 36 because he's still as solid as a rock.

With goalkeepers I wouldn't think twice about playing a player when he was 40, centre backs are fine as well. I've even got Tim Cahill up front at 34 and he'll be getting a new deal as he's still playing superbly. I'm even thinking of giving Phil Neville a deal at 37ish when he leaves Barnsley at the end of the season.

Age is no object on FM. Sure some players' performances drop, in which case play them less. But automatically selling a player just because he's reached a certain age is pretty self defeating. That 17 year old you put in his place will only cry about playing twice in a week get injured and go crying to his agent when you drop him anyway.

28-30 for any position.

I then bring in players aged 16-24.

I find you have to do this if you aim to be at a club 5-10 years.

28-30 is way too young. Goalkeepers haven't even peaked then, centre backs won't have their best mental stats by then either and midfielders and strikers will be in their prime at that age. Selling them for young players with much lower CAs is pretty silly. You should just plan for retirement. So if you have a 37 year old goalkeeper then make sure your backup is ready to step up (i.e 25 and up). If you've got two 35 year old centre backs, have your backups older than you would normally so they are ready to step in. If your strikers are 25 and 27, you can afford to have young backups.

28-30 is way too young. Goalkeepers haven't even peaked then, centre backs won't have their best mental stats by then either and midfielders and strikers will be in their prime at that age. Selling them for young players with much lower CAs is pretty silly. You should just plan for retirement. So if you have a 37 year old goalkeeper then make sure your backup is ready to step up (i.e 25 and up). If you've got two 35 year old centre backs, have your backups older than you would normally so they are ready to step in. If your strikers are 25 and 27, you can afford to have young backups.

Playing with 35 year old centre backs *shudders*

They'd be way too slow for the way I play. I like my defenders to have lots of pace.

I'm glad Milan did not think that way with Maldini and Costacurta Mr T!

I dont think ive ever seen a top class 40 year old in the game though, I think if certain data criteria were met it should really be made possible, perhaps very high Natural fitness, stamina, determination, ambition, professionalism etc.

Well my best centre back is currently 30. Natural fitness and pace both 16. I'm sure he'll lastfor a while, maybe even 35, but I play with a high defensive line. I need my defenders to be fast.

Realistically its only possible to play at that age if you play in a slower league. For years italy was very slow, but it appears to be speeding up a bit - just look at the all conquering milan team - all 30+ and it fell appart.

i cut my losses with Thiago Silva at 31 when his pace started to drop, plus man city were happy to give me £18m for him

To be honest I'd probably sell my guy too if he wasn't a club legend. He's still worth 22 mil and I've got younger guys banging on the door to play. Of course I don't mind loaning them out for a few mil each season

I was quite happy selling, although Torres at barca and Dzeko at inter are averaging 7.5+ ratings.

Lukaku has banged in 14 goals in 8 games!

I usually sell when they are between 29-30 years old.Like some people have said, exceptions are made for exceptional players.i have Xabi Alonso at 31 years old still playing first team football at my club.

If I have a replacement who is good enough already at the club, I sell at 30ish, because I can't afford to hold onto them due to the size of my stadium. If necessary, I then sign a 16-18 year old player to provide further back up.

I'll always be bringing young players through, so when a player is about 30, if I've got a young player I think is able to replace him, I'll sell the old player for a high value. Did it with my Liverpool team, selling off Agger, Dzeko, Torres, C.Ronaldo(transfer glitch), Robben, and trusting to my young players. Which 4-5 years later, while I'm not at the club, has seen Liverpool win every season still since then.

I do it deal by deal, but I wouldn't sell a 30 year old if he could still get in my team. As I sign players when they are young and still cheapish, who will, over their career, have (with any luck) won me trophies, so even if they end up retiring I'll still make money.

I also bring on my 3 proteges for 3 older players if I'm winning, so they all get plenty of game-time.

wow, shocked at the aegism here! I had three wonderful years out of Gallas, untill he retired at 35, and will have no problem playing Dawson untill that age providing he keeps his consistency. Yes they are slow, but set em deep and it's ok.

Selling Goalkeepers before 30 is absurd. They don't become great untill they hit 30! Strikers are abit different however, and i would hesitate to keep playing a forward untill his mid-30's for sure. Can't think of anything worse than a team of early 20 players. yuk.

I sell a player when he starts going downhill, not when he hits the big 30. This is where Wenger fails big time. He sells experience just because they have no resale value, wtf? That said, i have no need for an extra 2-3mill, so i can understand if a club needs it.

i tend to have an established first team and younger backups, i dont ditch players because they've hit 30!