Do you buy players for investment?

Do you buy players fully knowing that they're never going to make your first team but that you'll be able to turn a profit on them? E.g. young high-rep player on free transfer, loan him out for a year and then sell, pocketing a lot of £££?

On the one hand it might not be ethical towards a young player who might have their hopes up. On the other hand it's kind of a reward for good scouting in a situation where your starting 11 is already full of superstars.

No. I buy players that will either make it into my team in a few years, or will fit straight in. If they fail, I try and flog them off for a profit/break even, but I never intentionally buy players just to make a profit.

I quite often sign players on a free, like the bosman player then loan them out and sell them at the end of the season for a cheeky profit.

No. I buy players that will either make it into my team in a few years, or will fit straight in. If they fail, I try and flog them off for a profit/break even, but I never intentionally buy players just to make a profit.

yeah same as this guy. i do somtimes know its a bit of a risk because he may need to improve a bit in an area. but no never buy to sell with no intention of playing

I sometimes buy players knowing that one day I may cash in on them but it is always with the intention of buying them to improve my team. I never buy players who I don't think I will play.

No. I buy players that will either make it into my team in a few years, or will fit straight in. If they fail, I try and flog them off for a profit/break even, but I never intentionally buy players just to make a profit.

Same here. I never do it for investments sake.

If when managing Liverpool i see some players available on a free who won't cut it in the first team i sign them up. They occassionally can be a good back up but mostly I just buy to get a profit in the next transfer window, helps with the transfer budget (Y)

I used to but AI never bids very high for players in this edition... so its pointless.

I sign players knowing fully that they might not sign a second contract with me. But I would never sign someone for a year just to make a profit the next. I only sign players that I will play right away or play for my club a few years from now.

I signed a couple of Danish youngsters, for 200k and 240k respectively. They've both done well and developed a little, but although they've been really good in League Two, there was never any realistic hope they'd be more than squad players in League One, having gained promotion.

Both were large fees for my AFC Telford side, but I signed them fairly confident that I would at worst get my money back. As it is, they've attracted a lot of interest and I'll have no difficulty running a profit on them both. No problems for me selling them, as I believe that after only a season, they're not going to develop much further, plus I'll be trying to recruit better players in League One anyway.

In previous version I often gathered up any good looking 19-23 year old free players with the intention of either developing them and getting lucky that they would turn out to be better than expected, or more likely, keep them for a year out on loan and then sell them on for a nice profit (especially if the loaning club paid their wages!)

However in this version its way to risky because ive got a reserve team full of half decent young players who no other club will even take on a free!

usually buy young players 20 and below, stick them in the reserves and or U18's for a few seasons if they dont cut it I usually sell to make a profit obviously

It seems a bit iffy to buy players for selling without actually playing them. I'd much rather buy young talent, utilise them, then punt for profit. It's really the only way to stay afloat at lower levels unless you get some luck in the cups.

I would'nt say that i set out to do that, but when the chance came up to sign a hot prospect turkish youngster for 900k who is relatively well known and young enough to improve i snapped at it. he didnt break into my first team consistantly so i sold him for 1.3m the next season not a massive profit, and after wages i probably broke even, its cheeky but i do sometimes think of buying bosman and then moving them on for money but ethics and all that :-)

In the last version I always bought about 5-10 'good' prospects each year. Generally cost me about £20million. Within 4-5 years often 1 player each year would step up to the first team, but the rest wouldnt cut it. I would have had them loaned out since they were 17, almost always for teams paying their wages, so appart from the summer months they didnt cost me anything other than their transfer fee When I sold them I would regularly make £40-50 million each transfer window (they would average about £2-3 million for each purchase and about £3-8 million for each sale.)

However this simply is not happening in this version of the game. I cant sell the average players even for free and the really good players barely make back what I bought them for. On top of this I cant simply loan them out every year because I need them to get the 'homegrown at club' tag on the off chance that they do make it into the first team.

I sometimes buy players knowing that one day I may cash in on them but it is always with the intention of buying them to improve my team. I never buy players who I don't think I will play.

This.

Though I do tend to go on shopping spree's in view of having at least 1 player develop into a starter and the rest get shipped out overseas for a profit. I also cannot refuse a bargin buy, doesn't matter if I know he has no future at the club

For some odd reason, Fletcher wasn't signing onto a contract at Manchester Utd, being Chelsea and it being the January Transfer Window, I lowballed Man Utd for 2.4 million and they had no choice but to accept. I've played him as a rotation player (I don't really like fletcher) and retrained him as a DMC as cover. His current value is already 9 million and I except to sell him. He's had a good amount of performances so I expect offers.

I tend to sign players who I don't think will become regulars and will then attempt to sell them for a profit and keep rotating the backup players every season. It's bascially how I make profit. I ended up signing Ben Arfa on bosman for a backup right winger and he's been outstanding. I also signed Villalva and Lucas from Sao Paolo and I never expect them to be regulars at my club but I ship them overseas. (In January, Bayern offered me 2.4 million initial fee with no future fee to loan Lucas until the end of the season, 50% of the fee I payed for him to come to Chelsea!)

Not really...

Mostly because I haven't managed a rich-ish club in a Top League in years, so I can't really afford the luxury of "wasting" a fair chunk of my wage budget on players I'll sell for 500k-1M (tops...).

Sometimes I'll bring in a bunch of Free Agents rated 2 or 2.5*, so they could turn out to be competent backups; backups who are indeed going to get sold as soon as I can get a decent offer for them, but the basic idea isn't "oh, that guy is my 10th MC but I can sure get 250k for him next summer", just "he's free, he's decent and he'll probably accept a reasonable wage, let's see how he turns out".

Then again, in the past I've been guilty of "poaching" the Free Agents list, to the point of almost having two totally different lineups, one for the Champions League and one for the domestic league. Needlessly to say, even the domestic Starting XI was more than enough to win the league by a landslide.

Even the reserve team could have been able to get a safe mid-table position...

So I just force myself not to sign every half-decent player I stumble upon, be it for speculation or for sheer hoarding

But I'm sure I'll reconsider this decision, should I find myself at a club where said speculations can bring in millions instead of a few hundred-thousands...

I don't sign players for profit. When I sign youngsters I usually hope that they will develop into good first team players.

Sometimes though I do takes risks with certain players if they are available for very cheap...

For instance, I got jadson for free and sold him for 17.5 mil. I signed a russian newgen for 5k and sold him for 5 mil after I realised he was not going to cut it.

At the same time, I don't release youngsters because I would rather make some money, no matter how small, than get nothing for them.

At the same time, I don't release youngsters because I would rather make some money, no matter how small, than get nothing for them.

I am the opposite of this. Players that have come through my academy and are not worth keeping, are released when their youth contracts expire. Though if I buy a youth player in, and he doesn’t cut it, I obviously look to recoup some, or all my money spent.

But I'm sure I'll reconsider this decision, should I find myself at a club where said speculations can bring in millions instead of a few hundred-thousands...

It's not that easy even on top level to make money. Usually nobody wants to loan even the best young prospects from the human team, so they're stuck in reserves with their value dropping until you find a buyer. And you can't expect to receive more than their value.

It's not that easy even on top level to make money. Usually nobody wants to loan even the best young prospects from the human team, so they're stuck in reserves with their value dropping until you find a buyer. And you can't expect to receive more than their value.

Ive managed to loan out my entire reserve team. I only stopped doing this when I discovered that the rules had changed and all my reserve players were no longer able to achieve 'home grown at club'.

I can loan them, but I cant even give them away.

That's weird. I'm yet to receive a single response to my loan offers. Not even for some of the best U19 and U21 internationals.

You can't even sell them for £0? Do they have decent potential? I can usually find a taker for £0 + 50% of future sale.

That's weird. I'm yet to receive a single response to my loan offers. Not even for some of the best U19 and U21 internationals.

You can't even sell them for £0? Do they have decent potential? I can usually find a taker for £0 + 50% of future sale.

Odd - when i offer my players out for sale I tend to get a load of loan offers, just the same as when I offer them out for loan.

To give you and idea in 4 seasons ive managed to sell 29 youth players and 8 of them were on 'free +50%'. I currently have 21 transfer listed youth players, most of whom have been listed for 2+ years. Quite a few of them have had offers, but turn them down because the wages are unacceptable. After 2 years of being told they arent wanted you might have thought they would want to secure their futures...

And for comparason, ive managed to agree 88 loan deals, but obviously some of those are the same players being loaned out for a couple of years, maybe about 50 different players.

Oh yeah, I've once received loan+fee offers when I've wanted to sell a mid-20s backup keeper. Quite a weird feature of the game actually. It was early June, selling my backup keeper and some of these offers were 3 month loan + around half of his value up front, no future fee (some also had a future fee). But imagine loaning a player for the summer holiday, paying 100% of his wages, a £500k fee and returning him by the time the season begins. I'd quite happily lend them my whole squad like this!

I'd quite happily lend them my whole squad like this!

Weird - every loan ive had with a fee attached was non-negotiable for the entire season.

Maybe they had a quailifying cup game in the summer or something?

It's possible but 4 teams had similar offers, not sure if they all did. Anyhow the player ruined the deal by refusing to go.

It's possible but 4 teams had similar offers, not sure if they all did. Anyhow the player ruined the deal by refusing to go.

I HATE that when it happens, seriously, there should be an option to TELL him to go. Sure he could still refuse, but its crazy to refuse to go on loan, especially when very young (sub 20) and havent made any first team appearances yet.

Yes, I do.

Though earning money is only a side-effect; the real objective is to funnel good players into the crappy Norwegian League, thus hoping that in the future, I will be able to up the star ratings of the Norwegian league, thus leading my own side to even greater glory!

To explain further: I buy quite a few young foreigners, more than I know will ever see first team action. A couple will make it, and I sell of those who turn 20-ish still a long way from my first team, as they will by then usually be good enough to improve some other team in the league, thus making the league better.

I used to but AI never bids very high for players in this edition... so its pointless.

But still. I usually (depending on the finances) sign quite a few young players, most of them will end being sold, most of the times, they will have their value doubled or tripled while their on my team. Oh, and I always sell the players for their value + 50% next transfer.

It depends on my team. My current game, I am a former Serie D team with a small stadium (just spent 2.5m upgrading from 2500 to 4000... and during reconstruction, played out of my 13k back up stadium.. sigh ). I have absolutely no chance of ever going to the top of Serie A and being a long term successful club so I am absolutely 100% about signing players on the cheap, using them (if they are viable to be used at that time), developing them and selling for a profit. I am the absolute definition of a selling club - any player I get that becomes good will go, whether he is good enough for my first team or not.

If I am playing as a team that has development and other income opportunities (population base, big stadium etc) and I get to the top - my recruitment is stars to slot straight in or youth that my scouts suggest will be stars in the future.

A LOT. Simply because I'm buying a lot of youngsters I end up having 3-4 players with almost same ability and age for each position, so I have to sell extra players.

And sometimes I sign already established players on a free to sell them a year later.

I buy a rake of players.

At 21 if they're not getting their game I sell them off. I always inlcude the 50% of next transfer.

Sometimes later on in their career they're sold for insane monies. Like €37m or something. And I get halvos.

I HATE that when it happens, seriously, there should be an option to TELL him to go. Sure he could still refuse, but its crazy to refuse to go on loan, especially when very young (sub 20) and havent made any first team appearances yet.

not really, sometimes going and playing lower league football for a struggling team will hinder your growth as a player rather than staying with your current club who likely have better coaches and facilities.

A LOT. Simply because I'm buying a lot of youngsters I end up having 3-4 players with almost same ability and age for each position, so I have to sell extra players.

And sometimes I sign already established players on a free to sell them a year later.

Any tips on what has worked well and what hasn't?

Any tips on what has worked well and what hasn't?

What exactly would you like to know?

No, at least not exactly like you said. There have been plenty of young talents I have bought with the hope of seeing them in the starting 11 within a season or two, but with such talents I've always tried my hardest to get long-term deals. If they haven't developed as I would've liked then I've sold them of course, but that was never the motivation for getting them in the first place.

I'm currently managing a club in Austria's Erste Liga (second tier) which has some strict rules regarding player selection: at least 3 players younger than 21 must be registered and I'm only allowed 3 foreign players over 21 in my matchday squad. While that allows me to use an unlimited number of young foreign players, they won't be at the club for long. My solution to this is buying the best foreign talents age 17 to 20 that are capable of playing in the first team or can at least fill a decent backup/rotation spot. Once they're too old and start to count towards my foreign players contingent I put them on the transfer list and offer them out. That behavior nets the club about 500k € per season and helps me out a lot, because the youth recruitment is not up to the task.

So you see that I certainly see the benefit of signing talents as free transfers and selling them later on, but they all spend at least one season in my first team sqad and get to play some games. I'm cutting it close with my squad harmony as it is already, so I wouldn't feel comfortable expanding my talent signings.

I'll bring in a lot of young players, to ensure that I get a good amount of players that actually make it. So lots of 16-17 year olds who have supposedly high potential will find themselves at my club, and by age 21, about 1/2-1/3 of them will be of the required quality. I'll then sell the rest for at least what I paid for them, if not more, but with a 50% of next sale clause, which I don't budge on. The fee sometimes, the clause never. Has paid massive dividends in the past. I remember on FM10 letting a player leave for 250k as that was all he was worth(This was in 2021), and 5 years later he moved for about 17 million to another club. Well worth the delayed return on investment.

I tend to only sign young players after the first 2-3 seasons at a club anyway. By then I've signed the players I wanted to sign to fill my first team, and am looking at the young long term replacements.

i always aim to sign good teenagers every season. currently my reserves are quite small but give it a year or 2 and it will be a lot larger. although the players i sign all have the potential to play for my first team in the future some will progress better than others. i always look to get a profit out of the ones who don't make it by loaning them out or selling them. i need to get the money to increase my stadium somehow

I never do this. I buy player for first team, or young talent for first team in the future. I give a chance to player to play, minimum two season and if he dos not play well i sold him and buy another player on that position. But i never buy a player with order to sold him later.

What exactly would you like to know?

Well, there's a lot

After you've bought them, do you try to loan them out some place where they'd make first team and if there are no takers, add them to your U19 squad?

How do you achieve the best sale prices? Do you wait for offers to come in (probably usually at value), then negotiate up and add 50% of next sale or do you offer them to clubs once their value has gone up? Or do you prefer loan deals with a future fee?

Are there any personalities you avoid? e.g. ambitious might not want to leave to a lower level club, loyal might want to stay.

How much profit do you make in an average season on purely those investment players?

How do you achieve the best sale prices? Do you wait for offers to come in (probably usually at value), then negotiate up and add 50% of next sale or do you offer them to clubs once their value has gone up? Or do you prefer loan deals with a future fee?

offers will occasionally come in, but there is never a guarantee.

when offering players out always add a sell on clause to the offer. clubs regularly offer below your asking price (if you set it higher than the players value) but rarely negotiate the clause.

Well, there's a lot

After you've bought them, do you try to loan them out some place where they'd make first team and if there are no takers, add them to your U19 squad?

How do you achieve the best sale prices? Do you wait for offers to come in (probably usually at value), then negotiate up and add 50% of next sale or do you offer them to clubs once their value has gone up? Or do you prefer loan deals with a future fee?

Are there any personalities you avoid? e.g. ambitious might not want to leave to a lower level club, loyal might want to stay.

How much profit do you make in an average season on purely those investment players?

There seems to be a change in home grown rule, so I have to be careful with loanings this year because I've got some youngsters who are not home grown after too many loans. Once I see a player wouldn't suit my team then I start loaning him out every year. At some point no one would want him on loan and that's when I sell usually. I just offer him at 150% price + 50% of next sale and get a bunch of much worse offers (equal to his price, not 150%), I renegotiate them back to 150% + 50%. Some clubs withdraw offers and some agree to my terms so done deal.

So far I couldn't sell only one player and he left me on a free.