The next generation of players...

How do you build your team for the future? Do you buy players already at the top of their game, good young players or what.

Depends on the stature of the club you're managing and the personality of your chairman. If you're at a very successful club you'll probably be allowed to buy great players, especially if you have a sugar daddy. If you're playing in lower leagues then you might want to develop talent and invest in youth facilities.

Personally at any level I hardly ever buy anyone over 30 (they're welcome on a free), since their attributes drop sharply. I invest in youth and nurture them. My big money usually goes on a few 23-27 year olds who have enough experience yet can be sold on at a profit if needs be.

Again, for me it really depends on the club and situation.

Generally when I get to a point where I have a settled and good squad, I tend to sign youth players that the scouts find, and when necessary players between the ages of 21 - 27. Rarely sign players north of 30, but have been known to when necessary.

I buy good young players who have been getting plenty of games, rather than underdeveloped good young players. I do this because I try to play at least one youth player every match so they have to be of good quality or they will do nothing.

I generally try and buy at least one or two great players between the ages of 24-27 to keep the squad strong as well as buying 2-5 15-19 year olds (as cheap as possible, my record is however *cough* £4 million now) in order to develope some great players of my own (who can be counted as Home Grown!). The great thing about this is I can buy a ton of these players and then, even if only one becomes good enough for the first team, I still make a profit on buying a player like them straight out of pocket. Then there's the cheap 20-22 year olds from far and wide, I have a couple of them breaking through into the first team now. Then I'll buy anyone worthy of even looking at my first team on a free... and then ruin their career!

Out of curiousity, how much do most top clubs get in this game to spend each season. Because I have been given about £40-50 million to fiddle with for the past decade, but I normally can only spend £30 without bankrupting the club...

Originally posted by Some guy....:

The great thing about this is I can buy a ton of these players and then, even if only one becomes good enough for the first team, I still make a profit on buying a player like them straight out of pocket.

When I first started my save back at Christmas time I signed a load of good youngsters for next to nothing and have made a fortune out of it all.

Russian AMC bought for £750k and sold for £10m

Belarussian CB bought for £100k and sold for £10m

Romanian ST bought for £250k and sold for £7m

The Romanian didn't even make an appearance in my first team The reason I got so much is because my feeder team Alaves got promoted into La Liga and I sent him on loan there where he scored 21 goals.

Originally posted by Some guy....:

Out of curiousity, how much do most top clubs get in this game to spend each season. Because I have been given about £40-50 million to fiddle with for the past decade, but I normally can only spend £30 without bankrupting the club...

Mine went up gradually and by the end of my wheeling and dealing at FC Bayern I had a balance of £180m and a transfer budget of £100m. I managed to get it that high by signing youngsters and frees only and then selling any player no matter how influential they were, if I got offered 2 1/2 times their value. My best to date is Ben Arfaon a free and sold to Barcelona fter one season for £20m.

Originally posted by Nomis07:

Russian AMC bought for £750k and sold for £10m

Belarussian CB bought for £100k and sold for £10m

Romanian ST bought for £250k and sold for £7m

I think i can guess two out of three names. i made massive profit on them too. Such a satisfying result to sell on after their peak!

I do think though that this sort of question can't really be answered, it depends on how you play the game. Where you like to play it...etc etc. I think everyone though, will at some stage try and develop youth, either from the academy or the foreign markets, this is standard IRL.

I only use players that my scouts find for me, as I feel (after learning of LLM) the most realistic in game method, and i employ it at eveyr level that i may manage at.

I'm playing as Notts County so I have to buy cheap and sell players on for a profit.

Even though I'm now doing well in the Premiership, I can't afford to have players on the books with silly wages. Once they start asking for big money, they get sold on.

i scout every single u16 player, and all 17-19 players with a minor attribute filter (pace, acc, and first touch 8). I sign every player who has 3 or more stars in their scout report.

this means that nearly all the future stars of the game pass through the west ham 'academy'. Once they are in their early twenties, if i cant see an opening in my side I will sell them with a buy back clause to allow them to develop further elsewhere.

I've never been in a position in any of my saves, where I can afford the liberty of spending more than £10,000,000 on a player.

Personally, I'll sign young players and develop them, but like to have a balance of 3-5 30+ players, just for the "mental stability" within the game.

I never buy to sell either. I get too attatched to players I take on from a young age, so don't sell them, (more often than not, keep loaning them out to feeder teams) - and the older players have poor market value, so I never really sell them either. I'd say 85% of the time players who are sold are sold under my nose from the board - and the other 15% are offers too good to turn down. (Player wont renew contract, only 12 months remaining, bid of Player Value x 150%) (thats my forumla for it anyhow )

For some reason in my Celtic save, I loaded up the Brazilian league. I send my scouts there constantly and buy up their regens. I can get them for anywhere between $0+sell on clause to $500K usually. I have more than enough money, so I always bid high so I can get them without sell on clauses. They are always granted work permits! When they turn 18 they become my property. I quickly sign them to professional contracts for incredibly cheap. Develop them for a couple of years and see what happens. I keep a few that I need and sell the rest for ridiculous profit always including huge sell on clauses. Off the top of my head, the best I've done is to sell a 21 year old AML I purcashed for $50K and no sell on clause to Liverpool for $16.48million and a 40% sell on clause.

I sign far too many youngsters and don't sell them. I keep thinking to myself that they'll come good eventually.