11.3 Transfer flaws example - Real Madrid and Barcelona

I thought I'd start this thread just to highlight what imo is a serious issue within FM. I started a new game with 11.3 just to see if this wasn't a one off. Active leagues include La Liga, English Premiership, Serie A, Bundesliga, etc etc (most of Europe, a bunch of American/SA ones and a league or two from all the remaining continents - large DB).

I finish the first season as an English Premiership team (Newcastle, finished 4th), then get to the end of the transfer window for the second season. I then added new managers at Real Madrid and Barcelona to compare the budget I was given for both sides to what they've spent (and who they've spent it on) for the 2011 summer transfer window that has just gone by. Here is what I have:

So. Barca had at least £130m to spend, but only spent £8m. Madrid similarly had £150m to spend, and only spent £6m. Both have about £300k per week space in their budget to accomodate 2-3 big signings, but they've gone for very mediocre players. I also used FM scout before adding a manager to make sure these weren't budgets allocated to a new manager only.

IMO there is something very wrong with the AI here. In my previous 11.3 save I holidayed till 2025 and found only one AI transfer over £30m (and only a handful more within the £20-30m bracket), therefore I think this is the norm with the AI, i.e. the top AI clubs having the resources to spend big, but not doing it. Yes, sometimes the AI does spend big in one off moments, but most of the time it seems content in buying mediocre youngsters or average developed players for moderate prices, instead of aggressively going after the top talent at mid table or lower clubs (or even rival clubs).

I personally find this to be gamebreaking because as a high end mid table club, I can't really sell my star players for a reasonable price because I get no bids for them due to this type of AI. My only option to move the likes of Neymar, Ganso, etc etc, on is to transfer list them and get bids in of 1 to 1.5 times their value. To replace them I'd then have to pay 2-4 times the value of the AI's player that I want. Fail. On top of this the lack of aggressive squad building in the game has the knock-on effect wherein the game becomes too easy because you can build a quality side, keep it without anyone really forcing your star players away, then watch the other top sides waste away slowly.

well im my save about 12 years in man u just spent £185m in the summer on new players so they do spend if they feel the need too. Also in the SPL (league i am playing) Rangers just spent £11m, Celtic £23m and Hearts spend £8m, those are my biggest rivals, and they have spent well to be honest, beaten to two players by the old firm, however your right the squad building could definitely be improved on.

Nether Barca or Real have squads that require a huge overhall in the first few seasons, when their big players start to get older they will be replaced with big name signings.

This hasnt happened to me at all. Real just bough Ganso from me for 58mil, Barca were sniffing around him too. I rejected a 65mil offer for Hamsik from Barca and Man City and I have been fending Man City off if Pato and Sissoko all year. Yes, I agree that in the long run team building is a little off, however, you have to remember that SI said in the first couple of seasons the AI wont do much buying because it was designed that way to mirror the real world financial problems. The offers I have had for these players came in my 3rd and 4th seasons.

In my game there is a £30m+ transfer on average just under once every season.

Not happening with me.

Chelsea bought Ganso at the start of the game and at the end of that season Madrid bought him for £48.5m

Barcelona have also been spending big, as have Inter, Man Utd etc.

Did you start your game with 11.3?

wanted to add that as Aberdeen since the patch i spend a lot of time, rejecting bids from teams, never really happened before 11.3 but since then every transfer window i am rejecting bids for players who i would realistically sell, the BIG players on big contracts dont really get offers, but then they have the club as fav, are club legends and i have set asking prices of £60m each. Its not perfect but its improved from 11.2, although i preferred 11.2 as i dont like selling unless i have no choice, in terms of realism tho 11.3 is better.

well im my save about 12 years in man u just spent £185m in the summer on new players so they do spend if they feel the need too. Also in the SPL (league i am playing) Rangers just spent £11m, Celtic £23m and Hearts spend £8m, those are my biggest rivals, and they have spent well to be honest, beaten to two players by the old firm, however your right the squad building could definitely be improved on.

Nether Barca or Real have squads that require a huge overhall in the first few seasons, when their big players start to get older they will be replaced with big name signings.

Well that might be a complete one off. £185m sounds like alot...

Not a good example overall really. Two teams that are top in their league, great diverse squads and challenging for honours constantly, course after one season they don't need to spend big. In my network game in italy in the 4th season,barca real arsenal and a host of other top clubs are constantly every transfer window throwing mind boggling sums at players. Friend is at napoli and every transfer windows bids of 40 million are coming in from arsenal and real for hamsik, 30 for cavani and 20 for coentrao. I personally sold gilardino for nearly 20 million second season.

Not any different from a human manager really. You get far enough through you can have hundreds of millions available to spend- doesnt mean you want to have to or need to, and you probably only go for a few fringe players or youth mainly. Not that different from the AI really eh.

Yes, 11.3. And as stated I've holidayed till 2025 and found the same thing.

It's always Hamsik or Ganso who get purchased for big prices in my games, never anyone else.

And you just totally negated and validity to your opening post by having a go at a guy who offered his opinion, because it differed from your own. Tis a forum mon amis, what a dull place it would be if everything you ever posted was instantly agreed with by every person who read it.

If carlsberg made forums eh....

Holidated till 2025 eh. It must be one of those selective situation things that arise. Where some users get one thing happen and noone else ever knows about it till they read about it. Does it happen everytime? Is there a spreadsheet of data available where you holidayed till 2025 100 times and then checked the results of transfers and behaviour each time?

I only ask because one freak occurence seems to be enough to condemn the game, but a hundred results to the contrary (or even more reported by countless users) isn't enough to disprove it...

Well that might be a complete one off. £185m sounds like alot...

Yeah obviously £185m in one season is not normal for them, but it shows the AI will spend if it feels the need. That season they let Rooney, Vidic, Fletcher, and Carrick go on free transfers so they had to re-build the squad a lot.

I have seen several transfers every year for over £25m, and again in the SPL the teams are spending much more than i thought possible, but for the first few seasons in game teams dont tend to spend so much.

Again Real and Barca do not require heaps of signings in the first few seasons, they have two of the worlds best squads.

Read post #7

On my game, at the start of the 2nd season, Barca splashed out 36 million to sign Wesley Sneijder, Real however didn't spend as much as Barca did.

And you just totally negated and validity to your opening post by having a go at a guy who offered his opinion, because it differed from your own. Tis a forum mon amis, what a dull place it would be if everything you ever posted was instantly agreed with by every person who read it.

If carlsberg made forums eh....

No need to be a smartarse, especially if you don't know the reasoning behind a response. If I see the same poster in EVERY SINGLE thread of this type always holding the default view that "nothing at all is wrong with the game" no matter what the issue is, then I think I have every right to be suspicious of him. And it certainly doesn't "negated and validity" my original post. The point still stands irrespective of what my later responses are, though I will go back and update it by continuing this game based on the responses so far. As stated, my save till 2025 had no real big transfers in it, so I'm going by the bad experience I've had - maybe that was a one off and what you guys are experiencing is the norm, but we'll see.

Holidated till 2025 eh. It must be one of those selective situation things that arise. Where some users get one thing happen and noone else ever knows about it till they read about it. Does it happen everytime? Is there a spreadsheet of data available where you holidayed till 2025 100 times and then checked the results of transfers and behaviour each time?

I only ask because one freak occurence seems to be enough to condemn the game, but a hundred results to the contrary (or even more reported by countless users) isn't enough to disprove it...

Who said that's the only time I've tried this? I've played plenty of times with 11.3 to different seasons, and it's an issue that I keep on seeing, hence why I've raised it. If you want to jump to conclusions though...

I agree with the Topic. Annoys me too.

It's all but impossible to buy top players now for a reasonable price. But the AI never buys them either. So all the top players are pretty much stuck at their existing club until they are too old to be useful. Only younger players not at top clubs can move.

I agree with the Topic. Annoys me too.

It's all but impossible to buy top players now for a reasonable price. But the AI never buys them either. So all the top players are pretty much stuck at their existing club until they are too old to be useful. Only younger players not at top clubs can move.

Thats really not the case, in my example man u made 4 signings over £30m in one season, neither was below 24 years old.

On mine, when I holidayed(later took over Barca in 2020), they spent 17 million first season, then 3, 9.5, 68, 19, 6, 55, 79, 54, 405k. So they're not afraid to splash out when they have to. But with a team like Barcelona, they won't often need to.

Whereas Real have spent 7, 48.5, 17.5, 6, 25.5, 76, 13.25, 23, 68, 17, 41. So they're not afraid to spend either.

In FM 11.2 I had to go into clubs like Milan and Manchester United to get rid of deadwood and sign some good players because they were struggling in the bottom half, and I got tired of them signing 35-year-olds on free transfer rather than trying to build a team. Manchester United, Real and Barca are clubs that would and should fire any manager not bringing home gold in two attempts. Let alone bringing them to mid-table mediocrity!

Sometimes clubs spend a chunk, but often its on useless players. This just does not happen IRL. Here is Real Madrid this season

OK, a lot of those are young, but even still, that doesn't happen IRL. They tend to wait until the player looks very good (Robinho, Higuain) etc and then buy them then. They don't spend £30m snapping up loads of probably tubbish players.

Inter Milan spent £73m this year too. The highest individual was £13.75m. All the rest is just on assorted wastes of space.

Putting the budget aside, what were both Clubs balance like?

Sometimes clubs spend a chunk, but often its on useless players. This just does not happen IRL. Here is Real Madrid this season

OK, a lot of those are young, but even still, that doesn't happen IRL. They tend to wait until the player looks very good (Robinho, Higuain) etc and then buy them then. They don't spend £30m snapping up loads of probably tubbish players.

Inter Milan spent £73m this year too. The highest individual was £13.75m. All the rest is just on assorted wastes of space.

Yup, this happens in all of my saves too. A whole bunch of transfers for very average/cheap players who never amount to much.

I really don't know what to think about this issue, I keep seeing people on these forums say "in my game club X made £XXm signing" yet it happens so rarely in my game, and even if it does the thing is these mega signings should be happening fairly often. There's big money for CL clubs, at least 3-4 of them spend a massive amount every single summer IRL, yet it only seems to be Man City in FM 11 who aggressively go after good players with only a handful of large transfers happening over a 10 year period.

This week I'm going to start a fresh save with the default 11.3 database (and no changes), holiday 10 years into the game and see what happens. I will post the results then.

would be interested in them results. possibly the amount of money that chalky said was being spent by barca and real in his game is similar to these dead weight youngster situation and not big impact signings

Putting the budget aside, what were both Clubs balance like?

Barcelona have £216m and Madrid have £174m in the bank.

I agree with the Topic. Annoys me too.

It's all but impossible to buy top players now for a reasonable price. But the AI never buys them either. So all the top players are pretty much stuck at their existing club until they are too old to be useful. Only younger players not at top clubs can move.

Andy Carroll 35 million.

Fernando Torres 50 million.

It's realistic. Takes big big money to prize players from a club in todays market.

The thing is people expect to sell a player for well over their value when they're putting them up for sale whereas when you go after a player they may not be up for sale so you have to bid more.

The only issue imo is that big clubs don't make enough 'good' offers for players who are performing well.

This week I'm going to start a fresh save with the default 11.3 database (and no changes), holiday 10 years into the game and see what happens. I will post the results then.

yup good idea, I'm sure one save is a large enough sample size to account for all the variance in a database with tens of thousands of players, thousands of clubs comprising an infinite number of combinations (remember, the database slightly randomizes each player for each save) to come up with a reliable conclusion.

yup good idea, I'm sure one save is a large enough sample size to account for all the variance in a database with tens of thousands of players, thousands of clubs comprising an infinite number of combinations (remember, the database slightly randomizes each player for each save) to come up with a reliable conclusion.

but a sample size of one is the basis of so many threads in GD these days.