How smart is A.I at transfers?

In 2014, Barcelona just signed 33 year old Vidic from Manchester United for 22million Euro. Wow. Makes me feel the 50 million I paid for Sakho is peanuts.

In Fm2011 I sold a 30 year old for 64 million pounds, I was pretty happy with that (was our record too by far). Most I'd sold someone for before that was 30 million.

Best piece of business I've seen from the AI was after Barcelona lost Messi, they signed Neymar as a replacement, not too shabby

Where did Messi go?

I might of stole him on a free Arsenal

It's surprising that after 3 seasons, Barcelona has not made a single decent signing, along with just about the entire Spanish League and I'm just running away with the title.

Over the few years I have signed, Hazard, Munian, Rooney, Fellaini, Neymar, Ganso, Sakhao, Chiellini and a bunch of youngsters.

But Barcelona has good signing was Tevez, who they got for free on the third season, and a Brazillian striker called Leonardo.

Very poor. The AI is nowhere near aggressive or ambitious enough when it comes to signing players, especially those avaliable for free.

Very poor. The AI is nowhere near aggressive or ambitious enough when it comes to signing players, especially those avaliable for free.

Yeah. The only aggressive ones I have seen are Arsenal and Manchester City. The rest are beyond poor.

I actually saw quite a lot of clubs spending £30m+ almost every year in a holiday save I ran. They should be better in 12 than in 11, but they are still not too good. I think the core of the problem is their inability to get rid of weak players to finance the signing of one or more stronger ones.

They automatically try to sign new contracts with everyone, so those who won't are those who wants to leave. There are too few players doing that, as it is clear that many players are totally happy being the fourth choice in their position at a club indefinitely.

That problem is linked to the way Reputation is implemented as the main balancing engine in the game. In order to make the signing of high-reputation players to low-reputation clubs unlikely, no player will look twice at a move downwards in the hierarchy. Even after years with no first team appearances or as unemployed, some players will simply not accept "moving below their standing", while it is true that most players will lower their demands after a while. I think it is the Loyalty vs Ambition hidden attributes which regulates this, but there is a lack of ability to recognize what is for their own good.

Between those two imbalances, the AI too often fails to strengthen their team or at least maintain status quo, while I still manage to get unlikely players to join my team. For instance I got Fabiano Santacroce to Bradford in Championship season three, on a free transfer. This was in September so he was probably unemployed for a while. However - why didn't any Italian Serie A side want a player who is considered a "Good player for most Serie A sides"? He would strengthen most bottom half teams in that league!

The bottom line is, SI needs to implement other balancing tools than Reputation, as it is clear it is not sophisticated enough.

There is definetly a problem with the transfer AI. There are too much players who are really good and end up unemployment in the beginning of the season. I think the most important thing is, that AI is more aggressive on the free market. Another thing is that the AI should really hunt a player who is too good for a league. If a player plays on a rating better than 7.5 over 10 and more games the AI in leagues above should chase him. In this year it seems that the AI is chasing good player in lower leagues fewer than in older versions. I had more problems to hold good players in previous versions.

I realize that it is difficult to build an AI which is capable of beeing smart on the transfer market. But I would rather like an AI which is a bit too aggressive than one that simply is not challenge me. And the gameratings would be one thing, that definitly should be important for the AI. At least if the players plays in a lower league of the same country.

In my game the AI are very aggressive, especially top 6.

January 2015 and Man United signed Yann M'Vila for 29.5M and Fellaini for 22.5M.

spurs spend 36 million on cavani

i managed to steal bosingwa before chelsea could get a new contract in, thefore getting him for free (i let my backup in that position go on loan for a fee so needed a backup)

FC bayern let me buy olic for 3.6 million as well.

they do not get the hint when a player is not for sale though, chelsea so far have lost bosingwa, anelka (both on frees) and one other boarderline first teamer with no strengthening

blackburn also got gyan O.o

man city are not that agressive, they let adabayor go (who won the golden boot with spurs) and replaced him with arshavin.

i got a championship potential defender playing for stockport county in blue square, and a premiership potential striker as well, banging them in .

so i would say, a mix

fellani went for 22 mill on mine, even though everton said he wasn't for sale.

The bottom line is, SI needs to implement other balancing tools than Reputation, as it is clear it is not sophisticated enough.

They haven't changed this for years, why should they do it now?

Every year we talk about the same things that are so badly designed. Stop buying the game for a year and you will see how fast they try to make things better.

I think on FM09 they were very aggresive, however it went way too far the other way recently and fm12 is just picking it back up. I preferred 09 when they tried to buy more players than now. many people have pointed out rep as a problem and i agree, if you are a bad club and want to get a decent player they normally need to be unemployed for a while. What i dont understand is when you have decent players festering in the reserves, why no lower clubs come in. I managed to get Robben to newcastle in the 3rd season this year as he went on a free and no one wanted him!!!

Man Utd are going for it big time in mine, signing some WC players (2014). Seems everyone has their own experience.

It's surprising that after 3 seasons, Barcelona has not made a single decent signing, along with just about the entire Spanish League and I'm just running away with the title.

Over the few years I have signed, Hazard, Munian, Rooney, Fellaini, Neymar, Ganso, Sakhao, Chiellini and a bunch of youngsters.

But Barcelona has good signing was Tevez, who they got for free on the third season, and a Brazillian striker called Leonardo.

They never signed anyone decent until the 4th season in mine where I sold them Tevez. They also tried to buy Pato from me in the same year but he went to Munich.

There is definetly a problem with the transfer AI. There are too much players who are really good and end up unemployment in the beginning of the season. I think the most important thing is, that AI is more aggressive on the free market. Another thing is that the AI should really hunt a player who is too good for a league. If a player plays on a rating better than 7.5 over 10 and more games the AI in leagues above should chase him. In this year it seems that the AI is chasing good player in lower leagues fewer than in older versions. I had more problems to hold good players in previous versions.

I realize that it is difficult to build an AI which is capable of beeing smart on the transfer market. But I would rather like an AI which is a bit too aggressive than one that simply is not challenge me. And the gameratings would be one thing, that definitly should be important for the AI. At least if the players plays in a lower league of the same country.

if am not wrong good perfomances increase the reputation of a player,the increase in reputation,will cause his value and exposure to increase,causing more insterest.

correct me if im wrong .. but you can change the transfer behaviour in the editor for each manager /team can you not? i might make barce and co a little more aggressive about their signings...

it seems like SI have been going along the lines of barca not being a spending club... which just isnt true anymore tbh

I think with Barca its a case of when the game starts they dont need new players, most of their top players are young and will last more than 3/4 years and the ones that are close have replacements at the club. In my save they didnt buy much for the first 5 or so years, now messi and players like him are getting to the end of their careers they are dropping huge sums on the best players.

Not smart enough imo. It's getting closer each version, but its an area I hope will get much better, much quicker.

Best transfer policy I've ever seen on any FM was FM11 when Mick McCarthy at Man Utd knew what he wanted for fast counter-attacking football and got it. £50m on a pair of fast forwards, £60m for Canales and Pjanic and £25m on a strong regen winger. Only season my Liverpool side dropped the league title in a decade as they scored 107 goals. So that was good transfer policy from McCarthy, plus Hernandez and Rooney being ridiculously good.

However, pretty remarkably weak otherwise and since that season no-one invested well at all, playing FM12 demo Arsenal bought Kwadwo Asamoah as the main move which I thought was shrewd and fairly feasible.

My main gripe with transfer AI is how ridiculously poorly they cope with promotion.

Not smart enough imo. It's getting closer each version, but its an area I hope will get much better, much quicker.

yes its the most important feature for long term saves