My game has steered towards unrealistic pricing

I'm currently Spurs in the 3rd season and the pricing of players has turned into a joke, as well as my ability at the club to sign a number of players. I joined a month ago and the amount of teams that won't sell me their players whatsoever(examples below) and the maximum value of players is 5m even though I have 20m to spend.

I've tried (eventhough unrelastic): Name - Value - Asking price after my original offer

Christian Benitez - £5m - £20m

Jordan Ayew - £6m - £22m

Robert Soldado - £6m - £31m

Pappis Cisse - £6m - £20m

Abel Hernandez - £7m - £17m

Robert Lewandowski - £6m - £17m

It seems I can't sign anyone, either for value or their desire to join. My team has Rondon, Bocchetti, Bolatti, Jagielka as well as Bale, Defoe, Dawson and I've just signed Eriksen, Alderweid, A.Young, Valencia so its hardly like we've not got the side to attract. And were in Europe.

Anyone else suffered this?

Ever considered that the clubs these players play for just don't want to sell, hence ask for over the top prices?

Whats the value of Bale?

Would you sell him for that amount?

You can't expect other teams to sell their first team players for their value either. You want players who are important to their club and under contract you need to pay a premium to get them.

Just a polite way of saying "you want him?, you pay this extortionate amount or get f*****"

No I understand that they do not want to sell, but those players I have given examples for aren't even half of the ones I've put in offers for. Every player has their price, especially when teams are struggling. The Christian Benitez one is more surprising because he's in L'pool reserves and they have another 4 strikers, but he's not transfer listed.

Also, its not as if I've offered peanuts, I've offered generally double players amounts up to about the 10m mark where I offer just under double their value. Surely there should be offers accepted somewhere down the line. I'm not moaning as if I'm a beginner to the game; I've played FM for years and have had many games on FM12 where I've reached the 2015 year mark. I've just never witnessed a game with so little players available to buy before.

As for a question on my top striker (not Bale, as some of the players I have bid for are not key players), if someone offered double or an amount nearly that I would snap their hands off. It never happens to me, only if someone is playing out of their skin.

Here's the problem: AI clubs can't replace the players they have. AI don't develop youth newgen players, so they stick with the current players as long as they can. Because these players are irreplaceable, their asking value skyrocket despite their average abilities. The unrealistic pricing you see is just another symptom of the current poor AI team building.

I think it's reflective of current real life - there isn't a lot of value on the market. I'm in the 2018/2019 summer transfer window and managed to flog four players and one on a free, but strengthening is proving difficult. I've just paid £25m for an excellent Russian striker who was valued at £4m, but I've had to pay over the odds as:

a) Russian clubs, and especially Zenit, seem to be notoriously difficult negotiators

b) There is literally nobody else on the market for a cheaper or similar price who provides as much value (taking into account current ability and sell-on value)

c) I desperately needed some firepower up front

The other player was a young dynamic Brazilian AMC who I got for £9.75m, and he was my THIRD choice after the Turkish lad I had monitored for 3 years snubbed my offer for Galatasaray's £77k p/w contract and the Hungarian second-choice was valued at over £25m by Cardiff, despite his real value being about £4m. Clubs just don't want to sell their star players on FM12, and although it is bloody frustrating it means you have to be a little more tactical in the market. And then when you do find a bargain it feels amazing (I'm still in disbelief at the £300k I paid for my sensational RB). There are areas I need to improve for sure - namely full-back and CM - but there is no market for these players and I'm not willing to pay over the odds for average or even good players.

It's a sign of the times (though I agree your Benitez example is a little strange).

Had to bump this because I think it seems to get worse the more seasons you do. I have a regen James Dickens who was in my team at 16 so 7 seasons in as I am now he is an England International. Man Utd offered me £20 million up front so I had no choice really and sold him. Can I get another good left back now at a decent price? No chance. Every left back with an ability of good and above commands at least 9 million. Even Leighton Baines at 33, Spurs want 8 million for him. It really is difficult unless you have a massive amount of money to squad build. Even if you get a transfer budget of £40 million you will be lucky to get four players for that. It seems to get worse as time goes on.

Youth Development is the way. Have none of these problems

I found that many AI clubs hoard money, not using them to buy players. Thus, since they are full of money they don't need to sell and this is reflected in the asking prices of their players. When this happens all over the field, signing players from any top club becomes very expensive but you don't have to worry because eventually the quality of the AI squads become poorer the longer you play precisely because of this, since they are programmed to not pay silly money for players.

Do you scout players first? That will give you an indication of how much you're going to need to pay, so you wont be so shocked when they aren't tempted by your offers.

There will be a number of factors that will be considered when the AI set its price. How recently did they sign the player? How long do they have left on their contract? How important is the player to the team? What is their opinion of you, or your club? etc...

If you're looking for a top level striker, then £20m doesn't seem particularly unrealistic. Add to that they other players you've been able to sign, then it doesn't appear that there are too many issues beyond you being unhappy that you can't have it all your own way.

Do you scout players first? That will give you an indication of how much you're going to need to pay, so you wont be so shocked when they aren't tempted by your offers.

There will be a number of factors that will be considered when the AI set its price. How recently did they sign the player? How long do they have left on their contract? How important is the player to the team? What is their opinion of you, or your club? etc...

If you're looking for a top level striker, then £20m doesn't seem particularly unrealistic. Add to that they other players you've been able to sign, then it doesn't appear that there are too many issues beyond you being unhappy that you can't have it all your own way.

One thing that does annoy me particularly is that players with not long left on their contract are also at times very difficult to get hold of. You scout who is on a free in a year and Clubs still insist on massive money for them.

One thing that does annoy me particularly is that players with not long left on their contract are also at times very difficult to get hold of. You scout who is on a free in a year and Clubs still insist on massive money for them.

I'm surprised to hear that, as in my experience I've picked up a few bargains from players who are entering their final year, not signing a new contract, but not transfer listed (in my current save: Nainggolan for £4m and Cissokho for £5.5m)

Real life example;

Liverpool come along for Andy Carroll, and bid £8m. Newcastle reject, and say he's not for sale. Liverpool claim that 'everything is for sale, everything has a price!', so Newcastle ask £35million for him. Liverpool in that instance were foolish enough to pay that price, a price that clearly isn't representative too any value what so ever.

All those deals you highlighted in the opening post aren't representative too any value by your own immersion, otherwise why create this thread - yet if you were to pay said amount that the selling club price on that player, you must be perceived to be foolish; or just accept the fact that this is the case and move on.

To resolve this problem, look for these players when they are nearing the end of their contracts, when they are discontented, when they are not playing - thier value then will be much lower than what it would normaly be. Example being, Robin Van Persie of Arsenal currently - his contract has less than 18months on it, and you are hearing of speculation that the likes of Barca, Real Madrid and City are trailing him - probably because they know they are going to get a better deal! Jeeeez.

Real life example;

Liverpool come along for Andy Carroll, and bid £8m. Newcastle reject, and say he's not for sale. Liverpool claim that 'everything is for sale, everything has a price!', so Newcastle ask £35million for him. Liverpool in that instance were foolish enough to pay that price, a price that clearly isn't representative too any value what so ever.

Andy Carroll's deal isn't a good example though, because Newcastle and Liverpool play in the same league and compete against each other, plus English players' value is inflated within the English league.

It's unrealistic that Papiss Cisse, who played for a mid-table club in Germany and recently transferred to Newcastle in England for only 10 mil, is valued at 20 mil in the game even though Freiburg needs money and does not compete against English clubs.

Andy Carroll's deal isn't a good example though, because Newcastle and Liverpool play in the same league and compete against each other, plus English players' value is inflated within the English league.

It's unrealistic that Papiss Cisse, who played for a mid-table club in Germany and recently transferred to Newcastle in England for only 10 mil, is valued at 20 mil in the game even though Freiburg needs money and does not compete against English clubs.

The Papiss Cisse deal has been on the cards for pretty much the last year before he was signed, but wasn't signed as Freiburg's valuation of the player didn't meet Newcastle's, so they didn't pay that until later down the line it did.

Instead of just expecting to pick off clubs star men for chicken feed, why don't you just accept the fact that you may not be able to sign them until certain situations dictate otherwise, or just stop moaning and pay the fee that the clubs want. £31m for Roberto Soldado would be a fair valuation on his current stock if Chelsea or any other big European club wanted to buy him from Valencia. I don't see what you and so many other people are so caught up on, it's been explained so many times before on these forums. Fm is reflecting the real life state of football, unless you are Man City and Chelsea of six years ago you aren't going to be able to just buy players for what you want to pay.

Currently I'm reading that Athletic Madrid are pricing Falcao at £50m, and Porto around £80m on Hulk.. FM reflects these situations. That's why Arsenal are never going to pay the asking prices for Eden Hazard and Mario Gotze, simply because the two parties can't meet a mutual agreement on these players values. These clubs like Lille and Dortmund are pricing these huge valuations on there star men because they know that somebody will pay it, namely a Man City, Real Madrid etc. These types of clubs that can pay huge money on transfers have inflated the market value of players all across the world, that is no more evident in England and the premium that is placed on young English players. Do you really think the likes of Jordan Henderson, Connor Wickham, Andy Carroll were worth the transfer fees that were paid for them, I don't; and I think these fees would have been a lot smaller on equivlant players 10 years ago, before the likes of Chelsea and Man City came along with their abilities to blow clubs out of the water. That is why Fifa are introducing Financial Fair Play Rules. Would help if some people had a grasp on broader football affairs before endless threads were made about how much Dortmund are wanting for Mario Gotze, and other nonsense.