Too easy to keep players

I find it's way to easy to keep your players to the point of being unrealistic and ruining the feel/challenge of the game. In my current save I managed a lower league Irish team to the premier division with out having being forced to sell one star player in 8 seasons. Just thought id bring this up in general chat to see what others believe, there is a thread in the bugs section that i am aware of and have posted in but since general chat seem more populated i thought I'd leave it here to get the general opinion.

Link to other thread. http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/296975-Transfer-Test-Is-it-too-easy-to-keep-your-best-players

I'm fighting to keep my players in my Iceland save. Bids come in thick and fast during the traditional European transfer windows though only a handful of players have become upset at not being allowed to talk to other clubs. I have had five or so players in the last two seasons want to move to bigger clubs but telling them to wait a year and see where we are then usually placates them for a while.

As Jolanthrustel said, this doesn't seem to be a problem in tiny leagues. It is a problem in the big leagues, though. Taking Bradford to the top of Premier League, I never once received a bid for any of my players that I couldn't just refuse. One of the players that would be an obvious transfer target while I was still not a top club was a 16-year old Polish winger who I signed for a few hundred thousand pounds who could become a continental/world star. No-one was interested as he at the age of 22/23 won the Ball d'or, not before that and not after. Of course, I set the asking price to a realistic level (from 10 to now £100m) because I would honestly not let him walk for anything less than that. When he was one of PL's best players at the age of 19 and I still hadn't won the league and the club was still tipped mid-table, why didn't the big clubs try to sign him for 20-30m? I wouldn't be able to refuse such bids, but the AI aren't interested in strengthening their teams (in the sense that they won't be interested in players with low reputations regardless of skill).

Again, Reputation should just be taken out of the game and replaced with a more sophisticated system.

Agree BiggusD and Jolanthrustel, I have to make sure to set my tranfer status asking price, or my most valued players get approached for pittence. I guess it depends more on the reputation rather than skill, as BiggusD alluded to.

The problem is the setting of asking price imo. For some reason setting this high pretty much guarentees no offers. Clubs should be testing your chairmans resolve regardless and unsettling players through the media so they try to force transfers for lower prices than the asking price.

The problem is the setting of asking price imo. For some reason setting this high pretty much guarentees no offers. Clubs should be testing your chairmans resolve regardless and unsettling players through the media so they try to force transfers for lower prices than the asking price.

Agree with this, the AI should bid anyway even if the asking price is too high at least to try to unsettle the player.

I just post about this in another thread

I think AI teams prefer to buy from others AI teams. Many times, after you leave a club, you'll see lots of players beeing sell by offers that you never received when you were in charge.

Yeah I agree with this. I've taken Walsall from League 1 to the Prem in 7 seasons. Along the way a handful of quality players have come through the academy and gone on to become invaluable members of the squad at the ages of 19/20, as well as plucking 16/17 year olds from the Irish leagues who have gone on to do the same. Other clubs are constantly showing 'major interest' in these players yet bids are hardly ever forthcoming. I do not set asking prices so they can bid whatever they like. I've only sold one player, a midfielder I took from Bohemians in Ireland for £110k and sold for £3.5m. Other than this, all my other players still remain with no bids having been received. It does make it much easier to build a team that can rise through the leagues.

I absolutely agree with this. When I have young players tearing up the second or third tier, clubs from higher tiers, or even richer clubs in the same league, should be trying to poach them.

I understand that losing key players could be very frustrating to us managers, but trying to keep them would add an extra- and very realistic- element to the game.

Not sure whether its just since the patch but, in my current save whenever a player is concerned (new contract, new challenge etc) they always back down when I say they are being unprofessional, I've not had a single transfer request.

As someone pointed out in another thread players should try and force their way out more, I remember seeing the "i want to move to a bigger club" used to terrify me, if it came on one of my star youngsters although i do like that you can try and convince the player other wise, i just don't see this enough any more or if it does happen it is too easy to get rid of.

I think players should should (if unhappy and wanting to move) start on a sequence of demonstrations to try and get to a move and if you cant pacify them at a certain stage it gets worse and worse.

For example say starting with a private conversation stating they feel the can make it at a bigger level and would appreciate a move if possible, then moving on to different stages of going public with their intentions at which point fans should have a input, if the said player is a favourite personal of the club or maybe a homegrown player the fans might back the player and give him there blessing to move on or urge him to stay and the board will be on the side of keeping him, or if maybe its a disruptive player then the fans will turn on him and want him out, boo him during match's etc, and which point the broad will start putting pressure on you to sell him, maybe even the final stage could be refusing to play/train taking unallocated time off etc so you have no choice to sell him even for a cut price. So if this was a case if you know a player is going to be the second type and be quite disruptive you might try and sell him before they start going public

You are lucky, I took AFC Wimbledon from League 2 to the EPL and lost quite a few players to bigger/richer clubs. Now, only one bid was approved by the board so I had no say in it, but the rest were too tempting to refuse, specially given the tiny stadium that the Dons have. However, I can also see the point where some players do not attract any bids from other clubs, not because they're not wanted or would be too expensive, but because they are Paul Scholes type of players who would never leave the club they love in any case: I'm not sure this is well represented in the game.

As someone pointed out in another thread players should try and force their way out more, I remember seeing the "i want to move to a bigger club" used to terrify me, if it came on one of my star youngsters although i do like that you can try and convince the player other wise, i just don't see this enough any more or if it does happen it is too easy to get rid of.

I think players should should (if unhappy and wanting to move) start on a sequence of demonstrations to try and get to a move and if you cant pacify them at a certain stage it gets worse and worse.

For example say starting with a private conversation stating they feel the can make it at a bigger level and would appreciate a move if possible, then moving on to different stages of going public with their intentions at which point fans should have a input, if the said player is a favourite personal of the club or maybe a homegrown player the fans might back the player and give him there blessing to move on or urge him to stay and the board will be on the side of keeping him, or if maybe its a disruptive player then the fans will turn on him and want him out, boo him during match's etc, and which point the broad will start putting pressure on you to sell him, maybe even the final stage could be refusing to play/train taking unallocated time off etc so you have no choice to sell him even for a cut price. So if this was a case if you know a player is going to be the second type and be quite disruptive you might try and sell him before they start going public

Yes this would be good, but the current interaction with players wanting more first team football etc is really bugged, so there is a lot of work on the AI that is necessary before anything like this can be implemented in the game.

On a scale from 1 to 10 how angry do you think people would become if they managed Newcastle and promised an ambitious player more success (taking the club forward etc) which he accepts, then you go on to win the Euro Cup and qualify for CL but still got promise reminders? I doubt 11 would quite cut it...

For one, the demands/requests and the promises must be much more specific if this is to work. The move to a bigger club demand can't be about you finding a club for him - if he wants to leave he bloody well has to find that club himself, but sadly interest from other clubs is not something we control. So when he demands to move the club wanting him should be ready to sign him and fax me the bid once I accept his demand (or not). Also, that bid shouldn't be an insult, so it should really appeal to the chairman... The promises I can make must be very specific and involve a set timeline, for instance:

"I want to play at a higher stage and don't think I can reach my goals here"

A. We will reach a safe, mid-table position in the Premier League already this season

B. We will be a top-half club by the end of next season

C. We will fight for qualification for Europe by the end of next season

D. We will challenge for the title in only three years

E. We will win the Premier League within five seasons

F. We will be the biggest club in the nation within five seasons

"C"

" I cannot wait that long. I will instruct my agent to look for a suitable club and report back to you shortly"

A month later

"My agent informs me that clubs like Arsenal, Dortmund and Roma are all interested in securing my services. I hope you could come to an agreement with one of them"

Arsenal bids 3x value, Dortmund and Roma 2x the next day.

You reject Arsenal with the reason "don't want to sell to a club in the same league", accept the two others.

"Both my agent and I are very pleased that you came to an agreement with Dortmund and Roma, but are disappointed that you rejected Arsenal, although we understand that you didn't want to sell to a club in the same league."

My first game was with Cork City and I was unable to renew ANY contract, I mean, they wouldn´t even sit to talk with me. So for my experience, in minor leagues is imposible to keep players.

Maybe there should be some sort of value guide in the game, like if a player is wanted you can ask your assistant and he will give you a rough approximation of their value and their maximum, minimum and expected bid to be accepted. For example you have a 18yr old regen who is rated highly, starting to get games and is playing well, but is only worth £3mil, you ask your ass man and they give a report like a couch report which gives a summery of their abilities and value, say

"player X" is only a young player and looks to have a bright future in the game and has the potential to be a key player, currently I wouldn't accept a bid lower than £7.5mil and I believe that possibly you could get a maximum of £20mil although id expect a selling point to be around £11mil. You must consider that this is based on his current ability/value and if he progress to his potential it could be much higher.

This report could also change then depending on your financial and current leauge standing(think team rock bottom at christmas looking like your going down) as well as the players happyness and current contract. And maybe your "asking price" couldnt go higher than your Ass Mans max value rateing,

What about regens or players you signed in after your first season, think i remember some one said the first season keeping certin players cna be really tough but after that it tends to get too easy.

What about regens or players you signed in after your first season, think i remember some one said the first season keeping certin players cna be really tough but after that it tends to get too easy.

Yes in 2021 there are still AI teams with hardly any regens. I got rid of my last real player in 2016 or something...

The rate at which the AI replaces its team is simply too slow. SI should look at real-life statistics of the average turnover of players and try to replicate that. I refuse to believe that Arsenal would have over half their team in the 30s in 7-8 years.

Not only that but i think there should be more interest in "wonderkids" as in FM the term basically is applied to guaranteed star of the future so as soon youth players get labelled with this sort of tag should be sort after by the very best clubs until one of them gets the player (unless said player is already at a top team)

Also I think if you bring a less known player into a big league say as a mid/bottom table team and he end's up being amazing the top teams should show more interest in aforementioned player even after 6 months to a year. For example in one of my saves i started with friends we holidayed until 2023 then added ourselves in I took over Real Betis who where expected to narrowly avoid regulation and come in around 16th place, with not much to spend i managed to get rid of some players and scraped together the funds to get in a top SC a 21yr old Egyptian who had one season in Holland where he didn't to that great but his stats looked good and from the lack of good established players interested in a regulation candidate i decided to risk the 12.5mil it cost me to get him in. fast forward to just after winter and this guy cant stop scoring and although my GD isn't great he is nearly single handily keeping my team going and propelled me into 4th position, my season starts to break down a bit and i end up coming 8th and this SC ends up winning the top goalscorer award and gets 28 goals in his debut season but yet there is no interest in him from bigger clubs. IRL I definitely believe in this sort of situation that bigger teams would be falling all over this player not saying the team would end up losing him but they would definitely tested

I have a chinese striker who has been banging them in for Southend from League 1 to the EPL. Not once has anyone bid for him.... I'm almost disappointed for him. There's a part of me that'd like to see him banging them in for a top team... but it ain't gonna happen

Every summer teams come in for my youngsters. They don't bother trying to buy my 1st team players. Am I complaining? Of course not, if the players were available they would be transfer listed, or contract running out! Since my club is the top club in Europe I think it makes sense. But the clubs coming in for my youngsters, I don't think they understand that just increases my resolve to keep a hold of the player, and develop him

In my experience with FM 2012 playing in the english lower leagues, it's way too easy to keep your best players. You can have a young star striker lead the league in goals and have no interest received from larger clubs, which is not realistic. I swear in previous versions of the game it was far more difficult to keep your young talent and larger clubs would try and poach your best players more regularly and more effectively.

My first game was with Cork City and I was unable to renew ANY contract, I mean, they wouldn´t even sit to talk with me. So for my experience, in minor leagues is imposible to keep players.

This was a bug with one of the previous patches. I think it got fixed.

Totally agree with ths thread, nowhere near enough transfer interest in younger player / in form players, especially from lower teams. I can understand not many firmed up bids for barcalona, madrid, man utd, man city players etc, but a high rep player who hasnt played many games and is in the reserves of a leading european club should be attracting interest.

Players having 1 good season may not have high rep or high potential, but almost always are linked with larger clubs. case in point, people like oxlade chaimberlain, bale, walcott when they were younger, and latterly, bale now at spurs.

Thinking about it even the larger world stars should be seeing mroe, especially around the election times in spain when barca / real get linked with everybody under the sun whos ever scored a goal.

I totally agree too.

Look in real life, at players like Jordan Rhodes. Interest flew into him because of an exceptional half season and bids flew in in the january window. This MUST be replicated in the next version. It should be really difficult to keep players, and players that want to leave simply shouldn't sign a new contract and try and force a move. The board should get involved a lot more too with these decisions.

AI transfer decisions should NOT be based solely on reputation. Yes, some should, but if an average player is performing very well, either that should cause their reputation to rise (thus increasing interest), or reputation shouldn't be used independently, and it should be a combination of form AND reputation.

Also teams should look at their inefficiencies more. For example Scholes retiring from man utd last year for a bit. All of a sudden man utd are linked with (rightly or wrongly) every established attacking playmaker, and upcoming playmaker in the world (Modric, Lucas, Schweinsteiger, erikson, gotze, etc).

Same goes for when Keane retired, man utd went ins earch of a new CM destroyer, bought people like Djemba Djemba, Kleberson, based on decent runs of form but being unproven with low rep. A team lodging a bid for a player should also attract a few more bids, for example when man utd bought ronaldo, they only did at that time ebcause arsenal had made a bid? or when a few teams were sniffing around bebe (for some reason) so interest in him grew despite low reputation.

I've just had Spurs pull out of a transfer deal after I had the temerity to negotiate the offer, the came in with a bid of £1.5m +25% profit for a youngster with some potential, I was happy with the fee but wanted 25% of any future profit which as it turns out was too much for Spurs.

On the one hand we have this thread. On the other hand someone is complaining about rubbish AI transfers...

On the one hand we have this thread. On the other hand someone is complaining about rubbish AI transfers...

That's two sides of the same coin, yes.

On the one hand we have this thread. On the other hand someone is complaining about rubbish AI transfers...

Its the same thing. If teams were interested in star or in form players that they actually need to fill a position or to change their formation, or promising youth players, rather than just high reputation players then the transfer system would be alot more realistic.

I agree with a lot that's been said here. I've been playing as Celtic and snapped up some high potential players for my team, that far surpass the ability of the SPL. Yet noone cares. I have had a regen now for about 4 years since he was 17. I had a check with FM Genie, what was happening I found the best AI players were falling just below the 150 CA threshold while I had a left back at 172 CA and 183 PA. Surely there should be much more interest to take him into a much more competitive league?

I'm just hoping this gets fixed for next years edition In my current save I am managing in Ireland with a team that has 2500 reputation yet i have a player who is 20 and has 120CA/175PA. Now I only had him 2 seasons but surely at the very least the larger Irish clubs would clubs would be trying to snap him up. For me this ruins the immersion of the game . I think FMRTE has some sort of ability rating for players in the game that looks past CA/PA surely SI are capable of coming out with something smilier and having the AI look beyond reputation and CA

Are you guys setting a high asking price ? Because if that´s indeed the main problem (and i think it is) then you can easily fix it yourself. No one is forcing you to use the exploit that is available to you. If you don´t set an asking price than the player will get offers.

It's not because of high asking prices. There is little interest in decently performing players from the AI, period. It doesn't matter what you ask for them, because the AI will rarely bid for your players.

I really think this is some kind of a glitch in the game, because when I look at small and medium AI clubs in my save, they're selling players left, right and centre for huge sums, and no one cares about players on my team, even if their contract is expiring and they could be signed for free.

Are you guys setting a high asking price ? Because if that´s indeed the main problem (and i think it is) then you can easily fix it yourself. No one is forcing you to use the exploit that is available to you. If you don´t set an asking price than the player will get offers.

As soon as I heard about the high asking price exploit I stopped setting high ones, now if i do have one i have it set to a respectable level like my players minimum fee which is usualy lower than what I would like but in most cases players wouldnt agree terms with out it but still no teams come in for my players, sure at times there is a lot of intrest but no bids come in.

My GK says he needs a challenge every month or so but I always manage to talk him out of it. I almost wish talking him out of it didn't work, it's a real pain and although he has been an awesome keeper (usually wins all GK awards) for us I think maybe getting someone who is actually loyal and who loves the club (he's been with us for over 8 years and still doesn't have us as one of his favourite clubs.