Co-ownerships in Italy

I understand the general concept but in the game I don't really 'get' them. I have never really understood the point of them. I mean if you want a player, why not just buy or loan him?

Is the general purpose to save on a larger transfer fee later on down the line?

Does anyone make use of them with any great frequency? Any advice on what types of players they should be used for (eg. younger than 21; 3 star rating; etc)? Or anything else in general? Many thanks.

i completely ignore them when i manage in Italy, i guess if your from there you would understand and appreciate the concept a bit more, to me it seems completely pointless, in an FM sense anyway.

When managing smaller teams i find that i can make quite some money out of this, the AI will often try to co-own some players but when later the decision day comes they won't make a bid on the player meaning it is yours anyway and you still cashed some money.

As a bigger club i don't really use the co-ownership i guess that you can look at it as a sort of loan where the player stays on the other club for a season or two to develop.

In my Italy save I have big problems getting Italian youth players to my club. They don't even want to negotiate a contract. So I was wondering if it was easier to buy 50% of a youth player than all 100%. I haven't tried it yet, but maybe someone has any experience in this?

It's less risky than a transfer but more risky than a loan, essentially. If you own a player, his value could go up or down. If it goes up, you benefit - if it goes down, you lose. If a player outperforms his transfer fee, brilliant - if he flops, then ouch.

Owning 50% of a player has similar risks and returns but you roughly get half of it. If a player does well, you only benefit a little - if he flops, then you don't lose as much as a transfer.

It means that larger teams can speculate with co-ownership whilst smaller teams with less money can benefit from lower fees to obtain a player as well as recoup future benefits whilst having smaller losses should bad things happen. At lower-league sides, players rarely stay longer than two or three seasons anyway, so co-ownership essentially spreads the risk and reduces transfer fees.

For example, a large club might spot a promising youngster at a lower league but he might just be a flash in the pan. They can buy 50% of the player and keep him at that club to watch him. If he continues to develop, they buy him outright but since they already own 50% of him at a lower fee, the overall cost might be lower (in practice, it's usually not true since 50% + 50% has higher fixed costs). Holding that 50%, however, means that other clubs need to negotiate with you should they want to buy him - so having a stake in a player can make it harder for rivals to get him.

By contrast, buy-and-loan-back has the risk that he might flop and you end up selling him for peanuts. At least with co-ownership, the loss is theoretically halved.

For smaller clubs, they are happy with accepting co-ownerships since promising players are unlikely to stay long-term anyway, and they can use the money up front. They'd prefer buy-and-loan-back but then again, they are in no position to bargain against a richer side when it comes to this.

Smaller clubs get to speculate a little more, too. If a small club co-owns a player from another small club, and that player develops well, then a large club could swoop in and net a profit for that small club. However, if they were forced to buy the player, then it's increased costs for them for a player that might not end up staying long-term anyway.

Probably the biggest danger is the blind lottery at the end of the co-ownership period which can easily erase any accounting profits you have made. I usually try and seal the deal before this happens, because you can really get caught with your pants down in a blind auction.

Probably the biggest danger is the blind lottery at the end of the co-ownership period which can easily erase any accounting profits you have made. I usually try and seal the deal before this happens, because you can really get caught with your pants down in a blind auction.

I made a right balls of this earlier. I took over Milan in season 3 and had like 8 Blind Auctions. Only 1 guy looked any good so I bid well for him. But the other 7 looked rubbish, so I just done low-ball offers thinking the computer would be stupid and buy them. Only to find out that the computer outsmarted me by bidding £0 on those guys and now I'm stuck with rubbish AND have my transfer fees depleted.