Still far too hard to sell players

Even when offering my players around at ridiculously low prices there's no takers for them. It's absolutely ridiculous how hard it is to sell players and raise funds on this game!!

Even when offering my players around at ridiculously low prices there's no takers for them. It's absolutely ridiculous how hard it is to sell players and raise funds on this game!!

I tend to find it much harder to sell or buy at decent prices during the first window. From January 2008 onwards I think its much easier as more teams tend to have higher budgets and the AI managers are more on the lookout to sell and buy.

The first summer(2007) window doesn't give a true reflection of the transfer system in the game imo.

I agrre it is quite hard but there are ways to sell players once you get used to the system. Try lowering their squad status to not needed or backup, that will get more lower rep clubs interested. You could also try offering whatever you want over 24 months.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">I tend to find it much harder to sell or buy at decent prices during the first window. From January 2008 onwards I think its much easier as more teams tend to have higher budgets and the AI managers are more on the lookout to sell and buy.

The first summer(2007) window doesn't give a true reflection of the transfer system in the game imo. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've noticed this as well. First season Milan enquired into Robinho. I said somewhere around 50M in bits. They say no, but then return two seasons later making a 70M bid.

Originally posted by DiscoStu94:

I agrre it is quite hard but there are ways to sell players once you get used to the system. Try lowering their squad status to not needed or backup, that will get more lower rep clubs interested.QUOTE]

This is stupid; you should not have to do this to sell players. Sometimes I like to offer a first team player to clubs just to see if someone makes a big bid which will be better for my team than actually keeping the player.

I agree it is still far too hard, as a manager you should be getting bids for for all your players very regularly, especially when playing at the top level. Example, Wes Brown at Man Utd, although not (normally) a first team player, if offered to clubs, I am sure many clubs outside the top four (and possibly even abroad) would be making bids. In FM08 this is not the case.

It's easy to attract bidders but the players just don't want to go - even if they are transfer listed and set as not needed

I agree that it's hard to sell your reserve players. You offer your reserve players for great deals, but the AI enquires about your first team players.

The best strategy is not to sign players to long-term contracts. Only if you are 99% sure a player will improve should you sign him long-term.

I think that SI needs to make each player more "self-conscious" so that a player can see they are not wanted and that they don't make the grade. This way the player himself will accept lower wages and thus would be able to go to worse clubs, rather than rotting away in the reserves and complaining every now and then because of "lack of first team football."

If you can't get an offer of even zero, or if a player won't go to the club bidding, I find loaning them out is a good altrnative.

You can't always get the interested parties to take over 100% of the wages, but it does save your club some money and puts the player in the shop window as they are playing more often.

Selling over 24 months is another good way,but only,of course, if there are any interested clubs

I agree, it is too hard to sell players.

In real life, loads of players get sold quickly, but in FM it can almost be impossible, I have played for many years with many different teams and more often than not, you end up having to wait until a players contract runs out, rather than sell him, even on the cheap!

Yep. In agreement as well.

It's only really possible to get rid of players if they're wanted by another club.

If they have the WTD icon next to 'em, select 'offer to clubs' and offer slightly less than what they're worth. That usually does the trick.

But in terms of selling players who aren't wanted, I find it's very difficult to do...

I disagree...

Have managed to sell the whole of my original Hyde United squad in a matter of 7 days

All were sold for a minimum of 80% of their asking price as an average and gave me a whopping 120k in the bank... don't laugh... 120k is megabucks for a Blue Square North team!!

Bear in mind though when your setting up a new game & it's loading, what do you see that takes the longest time to load??? "Setting Up Manager Shortlists".

The AI managers have already been searching for their players while you've been off having a cuppa and waiting for the game to load. Play the game a little while and you should get bids for those unwanted players.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by heathxxx:

I disagree...

Have managed to sell the whole of my original Hyde United squad in a matter of 7 days

All were sold for a minimum of 80% of their asking price as an average and gave me a whopping 120k in the bank... don't laugh... 120k is megabucks for a Blue Square North team!!

Bear in mind though when your setting up a new game & it's loading, what do you see that takes the longest time to load??? "Setting Up Manager Shortlists".

The AI managers have already been searching for their players while you've been off having a cuppa and waiting for the game to load. Play the game a little while and you should get bids for those unwanted players. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Did you sell them all in the very first transfer window?!

Yes I did - within the very first week of July 2007, the start date of my game.

Transfer listed the lot, and told them "no longer needed". Slapped them all in the reserves and clicked continue.

Following day I had players "wanted" already. So I "offered" them to the interested clubs, bids came in, bids were accepted and away they went

I'll add too, that was a squad of 25 players. I have'nt released or transferred any youth players. At this level in the game, it does'nt matter if they are crap as 10 quid a week each does'nt hurt the transfer and wage budget, so I leave them be.

I'll add too, that was a squad of 25 players. I have'nt released or transferred any youth players. At this level in the game, it does'nt matter if they are crap as 10 quid a week each does'nt hurt the transfer and wage budget, so I leave them be.

Why should you have to put not needed??

I have 3 star players rotting in my reserves available for zilch.

The thing that annoys me is that you always get how much do you want for a certain player, they never put in a bid after you reply with an average price.

I have never had a stupid bid for a player that i couldnt refuse.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by heathxxx:

Yes I did - within the very first week of July 2007, the start date of my game.

Transfer listed the lot, and told them "no longer needed". Slapped them all in the reserves and clicked continue.

Following day I had players "wanted" already. So I "offered" them to the interested clubs, bids came in, bids were accepted and away they went </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Lucky chap - it just doesn't work for me, I do everything but eat their families (banish to the reserves, set to 'not needed', set sale value to £0) and still they refuse to leave.

What teams are you managing?

I know it's sometimes harder to ship high value players off quickly in the "top" leagues, so you have to be very patient, or loan players out to attract attention. After all, the guy is'nt going to shine much in front of the scouts playing for the reserves is he?

Fulham, Preston and Reggina are the clubs Ive tried to ship out players and failed with all but a few.

Oh - and Cambridge City.

Luckily there is fmm so you at least can cut their contracts.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by cr4z3d:

I agree that it's hard to sell your reserve players. You offer your reserve players for great deals, but the AI enquires about your first team players.

The best strategy is not to sign players to long-term contracts. Only if you are 99% sure a player will improve should you sign him long-term.

I think that SI needs to make each player more "self-conscious" so that a player can see they are not wanted and that they don't make the grade. This way the player himself will accept lower wages and thus would be able to go to worse clubs, rather than rotting away in the reserves and complaining every now and then because of "lack of first team football." </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Basically we need agents represented in the game.

Agitating for moves or just being told to find their client another club ASAP.

in the past i've tried offering wanted players to clubs, only for them to turn around and say the "wages are too high" or more often "not looking to strengthen that area of the team". but i have'nt had chance to use the new patch yet so hopefully this is fixed.

Nope, I've had that several times today. Sorry.

Also getting ****ed off with the 'X club offers you X player on a free transfer' then there's no button to accept. Instead you have to make a new offer, which they refuse.

Players aren't even on my shortlist either and usually all come from the same random country. Like Spain!?

If you are looking to sell someone, just transfer list that punk first. When the "wnt" sign comes out on the right of his name, offer him right away. At least that always work for me. But when I really can't sell him, I plainly do the mutual termination option.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by CookieColeman:

Even when offering my players around at ridiculously low prices there's no takers for them. It's absolutely ridiculous how hard it is to sell players and raise funds on this game!! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'm pretty sure you'll find that SI will tune down the reputations of players a little in the next version as a way of making them more easily sellable. I'll explain this in a moment, but firstly, there are some teams where the reputation of the player accurately reflects the league and team he plays for. Others however seem to be a bit too high and this causes the problem. The main areas you'll find this is in older players where there reputations mean that they are unsellable (without drastic reductions in asking price).

You can try this for yourself to show that it is just a small problem with the reputations.

If you use FMM or something similar to alter the reputations down by 500-600 points, you'll find that you can sell them as you would expect to be able to.

Everyone is entitled to play the game they want to to make it enjoyable and realistic. When I play, I regularly use the FMM tool to lower the reputations of my older players to make selling easier.

This is just another example within the game where a major problem seems to exist (for some players) but can be fixed by a simple tweak to the system. Perhaps SI have a good reason for not tweaking it themselves, but this is what I do - with a clear conscience since I'm not artificially inflating anything - just deflating the reputation to a level that I think is more accurate.

You'll find that in some teams (after you've played a few seasons) it is almost impossible to sell one of the older players without reducing it by 800-1000 reputation points. Equally, there are other teams you can play as and never experience this problem. SI just need to find the balance in the way reputation works to allow this to be more realistic across the whole spectrum of teams and their reputations.

I've genuinely never ever had this probablem. Perhaps I've never had any players with either a high enough value/ability or a too low value/ability.

This is what I do:

(1) Set the players' transfer status to "listed".

(2) Press continue and wait one day.

(3) Check to see if anyone's interest in the player. If they are, depending on what I want from them I either offer them to clubs at just under their current value but with the amount over 12 months or offer about 1/2 to 2/3 their current value plus 40% sell on clause (if they're a youngster), again over 12 months.

(4) If no clubs are interested, do (3) but over 24 months.

(5)If clubs still aren't interested set their squad status to not-needed.

(6) Press continue and wait one day

(7) Check on the player to see if anyone's interested.

(8) If they are, do (3)and then ((4) if needs be).

(9) If no clubs are interested, set the player's value to £0.

(10) Press continue and wait one day.

(11) Check to see if clubs are interested in the player.

(12) If clubs interested, do (3) (and then (4) if needs be).

(13) If clubs aren't interested, offer the player to clubs for a value over 12 months that is significantly lower than their current value/ £0 with 50% sell on.

(14) If clubs still not interested, set the players value back to £0, and press continue and wait one day.

(15) Do (13) but over 24 months.

(16) If clubs still not interested offer the player for £0 over 24 months and get rid of the awkward sod.

(17) If clubs still aren't interested in him, set his loan status to available for loan and repeat steps (1)-(16).

(18) If you still can't sell him then play him or have him tutor other players.

oh tits, that was meant to be a "new thread"....

Can a mod deleted that last post of mine please? (i.e. post of 19 Feb 2008 at 21:04) Cheers

I seem to have the same problem as everyone else. I tried to sell Benayoun, Kuyt, Crouch, Pennant, and Voronin. First, I set them to listed and offered to clubs for 1-3m below their value. then I offered them for zero. Then I set them to 'not needed' and tried again. Nothing. Mutual Termination. Players don't want to leave club. Contract Termination. Board thinks players are too important to the club (Even after bringing in adequate replacements for them (Fernandez, Villa, Silva, Owen etc.)

In the end I had to use FMM to set their contracts so they were expired.

We all try and do all those steps. Even silly ones like putting him on a transfer list (as if selling the player isnt a good enough indicator to the clubs that he is on sale).

The fact is that the transfer system just doesnt work. A decent premier league player would be snapped instantly in the real world if he was free. In FM no one is interested. Its the same problem with loans.

Im very disappointed that SI has been ignoring this issue for half a decade now.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Posted 19 February 2008 21:18 I seem to have the same problem as everyone else. I tried to sell Benayoun, Kuyt, Crouch, Pennant, and Voronin. First, I set them to listed and offered to clubs for 1-3m below their value. then I offered them for zero. Then I set them to 'not needed' and tried again. Nothing. Mutual Termination. Players don't want to leave club. Contract Termination. Board thinks players are too important to the club (Even after bringing in adequate replacements for them (Fernandez, Villa, Silva, Owen etc.)

In the end I had to use FMM to set their contracts so they were expired. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

First season as Liverpool I have managed to sell pennant (although have to pay part of his wages), kuyt and leto but no one wants kewell or voronin. In an era where there is lots of money in the game, I cant imagine all teams turning down the prospect of Kewell and voronin for free.

But how the hell did you manage to get villa, silva and fernandez?

I had no problem selling players at Morton in FM07 - I had a problem keeping hold of them! Thanks to teh board interfering and a barrage of enquiries from EPL clubs for half my squad we acquired a £50 million bank balance out of next to nothing in just a couple of weeks due to player sales.

It goes without saying that players who aren't all that good won't attract offers. If you don't want the player then chances are no-one else is that keen either!

How many leagues are you running? With few leagues, there are less potential interested teams. try to run lots of leagues.

I run quite a few leagues so that shouldnt be a problem. Also most of the clubs in the world are not as good as mine so the players that i dont need would be first team players for them. For a price of exactly 0 pounds they lots of clubs should be interested.

Depends how much you are paying them. If they are on £90k p/w smaller clubs aren't going to sign them even for free.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by glamdring:

Depends how much you are paying them. If they are on £90k p/w smaller clubs aren't going to sign them even for free. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was just gonna say the same thing. Took my several years to offload Rob Earnshaw and Kenny Miller for Derby, in the end I just played them.

I think the aim of the game is to some times just make use of the squad you have, and to not stick them on long term contracts.

Overall I've not had too much trouble selling players I wanted to get rid of, just all depends on what their salary expectations are, these might be too high for their current status, yet can only attract the interest of lower league clubs who can't afford the signing on fee / salary.

It is definitely the negotiations that need improving. Team A will enquire about one of my players, I'll suggest a fee, Team A will then cancel the negotiations and then make a 2nd enquiry the following week...just doesn't make sense half the time.

Agreed, expecially players not good enough to be in your team, but benefited from your reputation and thus have hefty price tags can be incredibly hard to sell.

In leauges that have a crippling foreign player cap (like Spain, Turkey, Italy) this becomes much more of an issue; and if you have a chairman that rejects letting them go, it is nothing short of frustrating..

I'm playing Arsenal and it's harder to keep players than sell them! Even my stars and captain want to leave. And selling fringe players has been easy, every time.

Hooray!