Do you sell or keep him?

This has always troubled me even in regards to clubs in real life. Lets say your club in FM is in a secure financial situation. You don't need cash... All of a sudden you get a bid worth 20 million for a left back of yours. Ok, that is tempting so you accept. Now you are sitting on 20 million but with a gaping hole in your left back position. So what do you do? End up spending 70% or more of that 20 million to replace your left back! What was the point?

I have always had trouble letting players go in FM because I can never justify getting an influx of money vs losing a top player. The only exception being if I have a really good player to repalce him. How do you strike that balance...when do you decide who to sell and who to keep?

Is extra money worth losing a key player?

extra money can be worth losing a key player if you have other positions that need strengthening. That one transfer can ensure 2-3 quality signings for different positions. I usually decide who to

sell based on performance and the players attitude but I prefer keeping my best and finding future replacements while I still have a strong squad.

End up spending 70% or more of that 20 million to replace your left back!

Because you still have 30% of that 20 million left over, also the replacement could have lower wages

Depends on you back-up, like with Villa the have only really got Warnock has a natural DL so if a £20M offer came in for him I would have to decline because my back up is crap but if I had a decent back-up with good Yth coming through then he'd be out of the door

I rarely sell players, I get so attached that I keep hold of them until their contracts expire, retirement, or turn them into a coach. I did have one player who was continually unhappy, and reluctantly cashed in on him. Signed him at 16 for £2m, sold him aged 28 for £40m. It was tough, but I had other players as good as him so didn't even need a replacement.

Depends a lot on the player, how he has performed, his attitude and happiness. I also like to look around and see if there are anything good to buy to replace him with that I can get for the money I recieve. Usually when playing with a big club with good finances after a couple of season I have a hard time motivating a sell aswell as it is usually difficult to find a good enough replacement without throwing in every penny you got, the office coffeemaker and the kitchen sink to buy a decent first team player. If I got decent youth or I'm happy to buy a prospect with decent current ability I might actually sell, but in my last long term game I found it very hard to find anything good that would be considered an improvement if I wasn't looking for a striker, the game left a lot to wish for when it came to newgens in other positions, the few there were was extremly expensive to buy if you could even get them to sell them in the first place.

Every situation is different, the way you describe it £20M is child's play for your club and most players would be around this value and you expect to get this sort of cash to spend every year. In which case the money doesn't matter so its based on who will play there instead, can I upgrade for this money or someone already on the team can get playing time.

Most clubs I play getting £20M would be many times the value of any player I have, it would let me increase wages to keep key players, buy in the best player in the world that would join my club to replace and buy new training facilities and secure the finances for several years to come.

If you have a fine player and don't need the money, and can't get a player as good as him for less money then don't sell. New players always take some time to adapt.

Depends, I had got Bendtner on a free, but he was on 5-6 times the wages of my second highest paid player and completely outclassed the rest of my team. 4 year contract I knew I would only be able to keep him for 3 (if I was lucky) before having to sell him (no chance he'd renew his contract).

Best striker I'd ever had, broke all my records and won every competition in my save (Royal League, Super Cup, Danish Cup, Danish League) except European competitions, for 2 years in a row. My players start wanting better wages because of my clubs reputation and the gap between wages with Bendtner. Juventus offered 11.5mil (club had 30mil) and thought it would be better to sell him 2 years in to his contract, rather than in his 3rd year where I'd have to accept his normal market value and risk a drop in form (valued at 3.8mil at the time).

10mil richer (after 10% profit clause) and without a world class striker, I brought in some class Brazilian regen wasting away in Ukraine for 6.5mil on a lot cheaper wages and still in his youth. In 4 games hes scored 2 hat-tricks and already a favoured personnel. Hes no Bendtner, but I made a profit, got my wages down and pretty well set for the future. Though I admit I was lucky to get the replacement I did, as most of players in his ability level would have cost me around the same I sold Bendtner for.

Overall I didn't need to sell Bendtner for the money. But I got him completely free and had already achieved a lot at the club. Perfect opportunity to cash in on the success and rebuild. If I failed to win the league and get Champions League football, I'd lose out on about 12mil on revenue, which I pretty much got from selling Bendtner anyway. So I think it was a valid risk.

I get offers for my players so rarely that I don't really have to worry about your kind of problem :-)

The 20 million for my left back example I took from my current Roma save. However, when playing with lower reputation clubs I still find it difficult to justify the sell of a top player.

In the lower leagues the dilemma I run into is the following: Do I hang on to my key player thereby increasing my club's chances of promotions... Or do I sell him for millions and just sit on that money.. Because with lower teams you are unable to attract high caliber players ready to make an instant impact no matter how much money your club has.

If by chance you have a Ronaldinho caliber player on your squad in the lower leagues, good luck replacing him. For that reason I very rarely sell good players.

Sell a player for 2.5 times his value or more

buy a young player with potential to play in that position for the half the original value

profit

This is where having a Squad rather than a First XI is of the highest priority. Even playing as Manchester United, I look to make sure my backup is someone I am okay with playing with for half a season/a season if my first choice gets a massive long term injury. If the player that's being bid for has a backup who you would have been comfortable playing in an injury situation, then selling him on for a large profit/amount of money isn't a bad thing. Even if you bring in someone who costs 1/2-3/4s of what you've brought it, the wages should be less which means you're got yourself a profit. Playing your backup for half a season as first choice and rotating in your new guy allows him to get adapted to the club, country and tactics without disrupting your team's form.

I usually look at the players I have and between 26-29 is the window I am willing to sell them on. This age bracket gives me their highest potential transfer fee and it usually is when I am looking at bringing through a youngster as their cover anyway. If they're a vital part of my team and someone I just don't want to sell then I don't, if no one comes in with a big enough offer then I don't, but I won't hold on to someone for no reason. Even without debt and constantly winning the biggest prizes, I don't look to let free money fly away if I can help it.

depends on the age of my players really, im Ac.Milan and after the first season, arsenal have offered £20m for shawcross who is rather young, and lets face it, i can keep him for a few years to come. however if i have a player who is say 27+ and a offer for £20m i will accept and find someone young.......... but if im a smaller club and i get a tastey bid, even for a key player, i always accept, because i can then go buy free players who are sometimes better

I'm playing barca, and if i get an offer which i deem to be good enough i sell them if they are not a barca jnr or basically a guy i raised and is my fave personnel

For me, it largely depends on the other options I have available for that position should I not be able to sign a replacement, and secondly the number of potential replacements there are that would improve on what I had before. Put simply, if a change of player does not improve my squad, I do not sell. I always have two players for every position and potentially good youth backup (usually it takes years to establish quality backup, mind you) so it tends to not become an issue, however in the early seasons it's usually a case of buy before sell, not the other way around.

I have never gotten an offer I can't refuse in FM11. So I refuse all offers for players that I have not planned to sell. Your reasoning is correct: unless the offer is so high that you could sign a better player (left back) and still profit, then there is no point in selling.

When that is said, I have usually planned to sell players aged 27+ at one undisclosed future point in time. If a bid comes in on such an old player without me having transfer listed or offered him, I am usually happy to sell. That is, unless the player cannot be replaced (i.e he is the best player in the world in his position, or he is a club legend).

I've also not received an offer I can't refuse. I negotiated a bid for my left back from £12m to £16m and only sold him because I knew my back-up left back was ok (he eventually left for £4m to Stoke and recently moved for £9.25m to Arsenal), and that there was better potential in left-backs that I could get for a pittance.

I'm also in the Wenger school of "sell him before he hits 30". I tend to sign a lot of teenage players, cash in on half of them and the other half break into the team when I have a cull every few years. Phil Jones is one of many who have been culled over the years, he went with Jonjo Shelvey and Davide Petrucci. Two of my centre-backs, who are no longer first choices but still play regularly (I rotate a lot) are about to hit 29 and I'm a bit gutted knowing that I'll have to think about moving them on: they're both newgens that I took from being back-up players to being England squad members with a dozen caps or so each. If I don't though, then the 'next Michael Dawson' and the 'next Ledley King' won't reach their potential in my squad. It may sound sad, but I feel bad if I waste someone's potential by not giving them their chance to shine.

only time i can think of this happening to me was when i bought a 22 year old pjanic for 12.5m at ajax. 6 years later, arsenal put in a bid of around 35m so i took it. knew i wouldnt get that sort of offer for him again and i had 4 other centre mids who were very good as well. bought a really good 18 year old for 3m to nurture and cut my wage bill by a good ammount. i was a winner in everyway really.

Scout like hell for a few weeks, find a young 17-22 year old left back with good Potential and decent CA. Lower wages, negotiate the lowest fee and walaaa your onto a winner.

i got a striker called ruben (regen) who signed for 160k and i sold him for 55m, as i wanted to reduce wages and 55m is excessive i then bought in the striker i turned down 5 years when he was youth for 2m (because i thought it was too much) for 30m oppps.....

If you can get a younger replacement for a similar price sell if not keep.

get someone in