Is this a bug or just FM being annoying?

Ok so I have a great Russian midfielder, hes my main playmaker. I bought 2 seasons ago and plucked him from the obscurity of the Russian league. Since then he has become a Key player for my team (he was previously being used as backup)

We have won the Champions League (with him scoring the winning goal in the final and finishing runner up for player of the tournament), next year we lost on penalties in the CL final. He has twice made a point of saying how his now successful international career is down to me, he is regularly one of the best players in the whole Dutch league, he lists me as favoured personel along with several first teamers and my club. Im playing Ajax and we are now ranked as the 4th or 5th biggest club in Europe (and 4th richest) only being beaten by Barca, Manure, R Madrid and Bayern.

So imagine my surprise when AC Milan who are ranked a lowly 20 odd put in an offer for him and I turn it down, only to have him complain about 'not being allowed to move to a bigger club' ?? WTF AC Milan werent even in last years CL last 16, they crashed out of the group stage, this year they are in the Europa League. I could maybe understand it if he had a low loyalty stat (he doesnt) or if it were Barca or Manure bidding for him, but this seems non sensical. They are a team in decline who havent done anything of note for 4 years, where as my team is young, ranked in the top 5 in the world, has won trebles and quads for the past 3 seasons... I appreciate they have more history, but honestly this seems bloody stupid to me.

Serie A active?

who are you? These decisions are more often than not based on club rep. You obviously have an in game editor so whats your rep compared to thiers?

Milan will still be seen as a bigger club despite your success, its something i think SI need to work on, more dynamic club reputation.

I have a similar problem in my current save. I'm in year 2020, playing with benfica. So far i won 6 Champions league (and many other titles), boosting my Benfica team to the top of european ranking.

Benfica despite being the best team in the world, the Portuguese league is still not the best in the world, which makes some of my players continue to prefer going out for minor teams from italy, Spain and England.

The combi club reputation/league reputation is the key point. Dispite my club reputation is very high, the league reputation is lower, putting my "overall" reputation below some teams.

I just checked my club reputation with FMRTE:

1. Benfica 9704

2. Barcelona 9605

3. Real Madrid 9362

4. Man City 9129

5. At. Madrid 9018

6. Man Utd 8806

7. Chelsea 8798

Im playing Ajax and we are now ranked as the 4th or 5th biggest club in Europe (and 4th richest) only being beaten by Barca, Manure, R Madrid and Bayern.

Its man united, no need to be a douche

I have a similar problem in my current save. I'm in year 2020, playing with benfica. So far i won 6 Champions league (and many other titles), boosting my Benfica team to the top of european ranking.

Benfica despite being the best team in the world, the Portuguese league is still not the best in the world, which makes some of my players continue to prefer going out for minor teams from italy, Spain and England.

The combi club reputation/league reputation is the key point. Dispite my club reputation is very high, the league reputation is lower, putting my "overall" reputation below some teams.

I just checked my club reputation with FMRTE:

1. Benfica 9704

2. Barcelona 9605

3. Real Madrid 9362

4. Man City 9129

5. At. Madrid 9018

6. Man Utd 8806

7. Chelsea 8798

How have Porto, Braga and the other Portuguese teams done in Europe? This is also a factor in the League's reputation.

Also, remember how good Celtic were in the early 2000's? Henrik Larsson was on fire and Celtic were doing well in Europe and the league and people STILL derided the Scottish leagues.

I know waht you mean Deisler. In fact Porto, Braga and Sporting have not had good perfomances in european competitions. The portuguese league starts FM2011 with a 3.5 stars reputation, and after 10 years, it keeps the same rating. This points out the fact that one team sucess its not enough for a real boost in the league reputation.

But in truth i find that logical.

My post ideia was to prove to the OP that it's not a bug or FM being annoying!

its just how it is . .i think si should work on it...my brother downloaded the malta leagues...he is now a regular in the CL group stage with valletta...but players still prefer the serie B than Valletta city . .

As it's working exactly as designed it's not a bug. It is however poor design, and has been happening for a while. It really needs to take into account current events.

I understand that,

but, for example, in my save players like Pjanic or Pastore (both at Real Madrid), Fabregas (still in Arsenal), Aguero and De Gea (both at At. Madrid) would like to move for my team.

In fact, i realize now that my players would have no problem in going to top teams in Spain, Italy and England... but also top players from those leagues want to come to Benfica.

The problem... i can afford paying those kind of wages (1M per month or more).

But again, i find this very real. IRL even if Benfica would won 5 or 6 champions league in a row... would find very difficult to atract top players, for 2 reason:

a) can afford the wages

b) low reputation league

Exactly what is happening in my game!

Just to pick up a few points. The league rep was something I considered, but its like Keyzer says, when I check who would join my team, I can pretty much pick anyone. The only ones who wouldnt join are the top men at clubs like Barca. But for instance, when I started this save Barcas youth players had 'no interest' in joining my club. Now 4 years later I can take my pick of them, so if that has dynamically changed (players IN) why has the players out system not changed in a similar way.

I appreciate that the Dutch league is still pretty unappealing to a top player. But as an example I had a player who kept requesting a transfer, when he eventually got his 'dream move' to a low ranked Serie A side (forget the name) he was taken on as a rotation player. He went from being a Key player in a CL final team to being a rotation player who barely featured in the 1st team and has no hope of playing in Europe. Thats out of whack, I understand that Im never going to make the Dutch league bigger than the big 4 but most sensible loyal players would recognise their careers are better served being a key player in Holland with pretty much guaranteed CL games each season than a bit part player for some terrible relegation battler in another country.

In short I understand the mechanic at play, its just seems the calculations are way out of kilter. It should be much less severe. Currently pretty much all players base their preference purely on league reputation which is just as unrealistic as the Dutch league attracting world stars.

Maybe it's the classic bug of Football Manager. I don't know if the problem was solved in FM 2011 and if this is the exact subject but i know a same huge bug existed in all FM versions since FM 2006 (!) : if you active the reserve teams in a league, FM calculates the club reputation from the results of the first team AND the reserve team. If you desactive reserve teams, FM calculates normally reputation of your club. Before discovering this bug, my Lyon club had never a worldwide reputation even if i win the champions league and all my players want leave my club each year, terribly frustrating, that was a really ****ing bug during five years !