Has anybody actually had a big offer for a player?

In season upon season, at different clubs, I'm yet to have a bid for a player that goes above his valuation and I can hardly ever recall having any bids at all, unless I've offered them out myself and I've still never been offered any more than they are worth, no matter who it is. I've never really made a profit on a player over 22-25, unless his base value has gone up. If the AI makes a bid they will offer what he's worth and not a penny more (quite often less), or, if I offer him out it's the same scenario.

Anybody else having this problem?

Never any more than the asking price. I've seen clubs throw ridiculous amount of monies at teams for other players (Hummel worth 4.7m and Man City bid 37.5m)

But it's never happened to me.

Never any more than the asking price. I've seen clubs throw ridiculous amount of monies at teams for other players (Hummel worth 4.7m and Man City bid 37.5m)

But it's never happened to me.

Yep, I see the same thing and it's starting to 'bug' me. Scuse the pun.

i sold Pato for £36m but i did offer him out, he was worth £26m at the time, i also luckily got rid of Robinhio as well for just under £20m a couple of seasons back, again tho that was after offering him out.

I get the "So and so is interested in signing Babacar and he could leave for 36.5m" and it comes up every week in the transfer window, but nobody ever bids.

Zarate wanted to leave for a bigger club. So I offered him out for €30m (valued at 18.5) and I thought that was fair. Nobody offered. I then put it down to €25m and nobody offered. I put it down to 18.5 and I got an offer for 9.5.

I was like "effffffffffff you!!!"

I still have him - he's 30 now and happy as larry.

Set asking prices for your players for a start.

Secondly set them higher than you are willing to accept eg for a player you would let go for £30m set an asking price of £40m-£50m.

Thirdly, negotiate, the first offer will always be lower than your asking price/valuation and you negotiate upwards from there.

EDIT

Just want to add that its not a problem its fairly basic selling/negotiation strategy. When you go to buy a car or house do you offer more than the asking price? Of course not you offer less.

Set asking prices for your players for a start.

Secondly set them higher than you are willing to accept eg for a player you would let go for £30m set an asking price of £40m-£50m.

Thirdly, negotiate, the first offer will always be lower than your asking price/valuation and you negotiate upwards from there.

EDIT

Just want to add that its not a problem its fairly basic selling/negotiation strategy. When you go to buy a car or house do you offer more than the asking price? Of course not you offer less.

It is basic and I would have thought it was obvious for most people to do this. This doesn't change anything, for me at least, the problem still exists that the AI rarely bids for my players or offers more than they are worth.

I can never sign a player for less than their asking price. I always have to offer a heck of a lot more their asking price.

that is if the player is worth 7m they won't even consider, 5, 9, 12, 15, 18 but only around the 22m mark before they accept.

As I say Man City offered over 35m for a 4.5m player. And i've seen others like that too.

But nobody ever bids big for any of my players...ever

It is basic and I would have thought it was obvious for most people to do this. This doesn't change anything, for me at least, the problem still exists that the AI rarely bids for my players or offers more than they are worth.

You say what I posted was obvious and yet you still think its an issue that initial bids are lower than your asking price/valuation?? Your contradicting yourself here.

The amount of bids you receive are a different issue and one I can't comment on as I've only played in the lower leagues where clubs don't have money therefore receiving any sort of bid for your players is rare. If you look at the RL situation at the moment though there aren't a lot of transfers happening, big money ones especially, compared to previous years which is partly due to the economic climate. No doubt SI have adjusted the transfer market to reflect this its just a question of have they gone too far?

Cougar. It's not about how you bid for players.

It's about the AI constantly putting big bids in for players ALL the time. Yet you never get a big bid from a club.

It's not about negotiating tactics in the bidding wars. The AI will offer 45m for an average player worth 10m. And when it comes to bidding for your players they'll offer the asking price. You say "Sorry that's not good enough offer" then they come back again with the EXACT same offer as before. Rinse and Repeat.

Cougar. It's not about how you bid for players.

It's about the AI constantly putting big bids in for players ALL the time. Yet you never get a big bid from a club.

It's not about negotiating tactics in the bidding wars. The AI will offer 45m for an average player worth 10m. And when it comes to bidding for your players they'll offer the asking price. You say "Sorry that's not good enough offer" then they come back again with the EXACT same offer as before. Rinse and Repeat.

Why do you expect them bidding more than your asking price?

When you say the offer isn't good enough do you change your asking price to reflect this?

i think the main problem this year is in previous versions it was far too easy to sell anyone in the game, you could make profits on the worst players because the AI would always bid over the asking price if you asked for it, i used to make at least 8-10 million a season in the SPL selling players which was very unrealistic and made the game very easy, this time around they have adjusted things but people expect the same results, i have found that not accepting the first big offer that comes your way, and actually holding out for a price you feel is better works well in the version. You can sell big players, you just have to do it in the right way.

I think the main point of the discussion is that player valuation isn't being properly reflected both ways, AI vs Human Manager.

Explaining further as to what I think is being discussed.

It is not uncommon to want to put in a bid a player that is valued at say 5 Million, yet to get your bid accepted you need to bid anywhere up to five times the valuation.

Conversely your own player valued at 5 million is only going to get bids at his current valuation and very rarely will bids come in any higher.

I have to say, while I agree with milner on the fact that the game has become more 'realistic' in as much that I am no longer able to sell the crap in my youth team like I used to be able to do, I have never had an offer for a player without offering him out first.

Ive had 2 'interrested' teams - ones where they ask what I want for a player, but never a big offer for any of my players.

I assumed this was because I am the second most successful team in europe and no one wants to leave my club, thus, no one will offer on happy players for which the AI in my position would want 60+ million.

I have however managed to sell some decent, but not good enough players for large amounts (caroll for 8.5, denislon for 13, the arsenal young keeper with the name I cant spell for 7.5, keron gibbs for 6.5), but I had to offer them out first.

i do agree AI teams do not seen as forcoming with bids, but you can still sell them above their asking price if you go about it the right way. I think you are right tho players wont be desperate to leave you if you are a big club. Even offering them out, some will still prefer to stay and AI teams dont really bid for players that wont move to them.

I put it down to the recession. Times are hard you know.

The highest bid I've ever had was £4.4m for Romario. I have had teams interested in my players for about four years (Inter's interest in Badelj started when I signed him and they are still interested now four years later but haven't bid). United and Chelsea have been interested in Rodwell for a good few years as well but no bids.

You say what I posted was obvious and yet you still think its an issue that initial bids are lower than your asking price/valuation?? Your contradicting yourself here.

Nearly all of the time the AI will not bid higher than what the player is worth, and sometimes lower. It doesn't matter if you set asking prices for players, or negotiate in any way, shape, or form, the AI will not offer more than the player is worth. How is that a contradiction?

You also stated you don't really deal with a lot of bids for your players as you don't manage at a high level, so how is it you know so much?

I've managed 40m from Arsenal for an English regen striker, but it was both a 1 off and a shocking UNDER valuation (IMO) for a player valued already at 19m, An AI team would have to pay more Ai to Ai.

Having said that, I've sold quite a few players above their valuation, but just nothing approaching double for the most part.

This is definitely a bug...you can say 'blah blah strategy blah blah' and all that nonsense but here is my two cents on why...

Firstly, how come the AI managed clubs is able to sell the player for 2x,3x and sometimes 4+x their value yet i struggle to get close to it?

Secondly, and in my opinion, the biggest proof that it's a bug...i was around 2021 in my stoke save, i had an amazing Brazilian regen who was the best CB in the world...well, he goes and becomes 'alienated' after believing that there was a lack of dicipline (even though HE was my ONLY player to recieve a red card all season) and therefore becomes UNH and puts in poor performances. I go to sell him in the summer as i've got two really young CBs i believe to be the future and for some reason got into slight financial problems, with his value being around £36m. Can i get anywhere near that valuation? HELL NO. The closest offer i got was around £25m. So i decide to keep him.

However;

I then get offered the England job, and after 11 successful seasons, i had grown tired of stoke and acheived all i could, so i resigned and took the England posistion. After a few months, i go and take a look at what AI manager has destroyed the Stoke dynasty i had built up (this time it was Roman Pavelychenko) and yes they were lanquishing just above relagation. So i take a look at the transfers made...and despite not being able to win a game, he sold my amazing Brazilian regen (the one i mentioned above) for......£89m...EIGHTY NINE MILLION FRIGGIN' ENGLISH POUNDS. Not only this, but he had also sold over half the squad for way above there value, something i struggled to do throughout my 11 years with Stoke. Even an average regen, that had high potential when he was young but never progressed, valued at £3m was sold for £19m. Come on people, that's just not right!

I do love the game though and was over it in about 5 minutes plus it's not really game breaking. I just had to have a little rant

Why do you expect them bidding more than your asking price?

When you say the offer isn't good enough do you change your asking price to reflect this?

Yes I do. As I say I put Zarate price up to 30m got no offers. Lowered to 25m. Got no offers. Lowered to 18m (his real price) no offers (accutally offered 9.5)

Does the AI bid for your players? Do you think Torres is actually valued at £35m that Chelski offered for him? He's more around the 18m mark in my opinion.

The AI is broken when it comes to courting your players.

That said - the ai never bids for my players>>>> ever<<<<< unless i put them up for sale and offer them. Even then they don't offer what i ask for.

The AI never out of the blue comes in with a bid higher than the players value. Yet the ai does bid for other players not playing for my team way above their asking price.

edit*<caps removed in favour of bold instead>

I can't make it any clearer.

Nearly all of the time the AI will not bid higher than what the player is worth, and sometimes lower. It doesn't matter if you set asking prices for players, or negotiate in any way, shape, or form, the AI will not offer more than the player is worth. How is that a contradiction?

You also stated you don't really deal with a lot of bids for your players as you don't manage at a high level, so how is it you know so much?

The issue seems to be your expectations.

As I've stated further up why do you expect the AI bidding more than the value (which is simply a figure based on rep/wages/contract length) or the asking price (a figure set by the manager/user). When does this ever happen in real life?

For instance I want to sell my car and stick an advert in the paper/on the car saying "For Sale - £5000" Would you then come along and say "I've give you 10k for it"?

As for how I know so much about the game well I've played CM/FM for nearly 20yrs and been part of the forums for nearly 10yrs. I take the time to read/take part in a number of threads and try to understand how the game works.

I am obliged pretty much every time to pay 3-4 times the value of a good player when I buy and pretty much every single time I sell a player I am obliged to sell him at 60-70% less than his value price.

This is not strictly related to my tactic I guess

The issue seems to be your expectations.

As I've stated further up why do you expect the AI bidding more than the value (which is simply a figure based on rep/wages/contract length) or the asking price (a figure set by the manager/user). When does this ever happen in real life?

For instance I want to sell my car and stick an advert in the paper/on the car saying "For Sale - £5000" Would you then come along and say "I've give you 10k for it"?

As for how I know so much about the game well I've played CM/FM for nearly 20yrs and been part of the forums for nearly 10yrs. I take the time to read/take part in a number of threads and try to understand how the game works.

I agree with you to some extent...you always try to get the best price availible in any sitution but then this goes to selling as well.

plus, how to you explain what i posted a few posts up, where i can't sell a player for more than his value but as soon as AI manager takes my place he is able to sell half the squad at way above their value?

As I've stated further up why do you expect the AI bidding more than the value

Because for the UMPTEENTH time the AI will bid for other players in the game WAY above their ASKING price. BUT NEVER for your players!!! EVER.

When does this ever happen in real life?

Chelsea offered £35m for Torres just yesterday. Case closed.

For instance I want to sell my car and stick an advert in the paper/on the car saying "For Sale - £5000" Would you then come along and say "I've give you 10k for it"?

Are you racing formula 1? Is your car winning every race? Are you sellling that winning car to a rival? Would you sell your car to a rival racer for less than what you can make by driving it in competitions and collecting the prize money?

WTF kind comparison is that?

As for how I know so much about the game well I've played CM/FM for nearly 20yrs and been part of the forums for nearly 10yrs. I take the time to read/take part in a number of threads and try to understand how the game works.

And you fail to see that the AI will bid 35m for a 4.5m player yet when they bid for your 10m rated player the offer 10m. And you put the asking price up and they are no longer interested. Then they'll go out and buy a player that was 6m for 24m.

That's what's wrong with it. Is that not clear or something?

Every player in AI clubs has a transfer value and an acept value IE the amount that a club will automaticaly accept

However you players do not have this- as the program cant judge what YOU would accept- so you have to manualy put these in place at the beginning of the season and then let their scouts do the work.

By the next transfer window, clubs that are interested would raise their bids to adjust- but will probably be below your estimate- you then have negotiate up.

Because for the UMPTEENTH time the AI will bid for other players in the game WAY above their ASKING price. BUT NEVER for your players!!! EVER.

You don't see all the discussion between AI clubs, you only see the end result.

Chelsea offered £35m for Torres just yesterday. Case closed.

In real life we don't have valuations and Liverpool have never set an asking price for Torres so you have proved nothing.

Are you racing formula 1? Is your car winning every race? Are you sellling that winning car to a rival? Would you sell your car to a rival racer for less than what you can make by driving it in competitions and collecting the prize money?

WTF kind comparison is that?

What sort of comment is this?

I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall, when in your life have you ever paid more than the asking price for any product? give me an example.

And you fail to see that the AI will bid 35m for a 4.5m player yet when they bid for your 10m rated player the offer 10m. And you put the asking price up and they are no longer interested. Then they'll go out and buy a player that was 6m for 24m.

That's what's wrong with it. Is that not clear or something?

So they change their mind about your player and chase another target instead - Where is the problem?

What sort of comment is this?

I feel like I'm banging my head against a wall,

Ditto

when in your life have you ever paid more than the asking price for any product? give me an example.

I don't buy or sell products of this nature. Do you think for one second that a PUB for example would be sold for equal to or lesser than it's actual value.

No it wouldn't. If you wanted to buy a lucrative business from someone, no matter if it's a a pub, a racecourse, a race horse, a race car, a footballer or anything you pay over the odds.

WHY? Because it's a business. It's something the the seller CAN MAKE MONEY ON, and they WOULD NOT SELL for less or the SAME as what they are currently valued at as that COMMODITY/Business/pub/racecourse/race horse/race car/footballer is going to make its new owner plenty of cash.

Nobody in business sells a lucrative business for less or equal to what it's actual value. Ever.

If you bought 1000 stocks of Apple and the stock value increased would you sell your stocks for LESS than you bought them for? Or the same price?

And the same point again.

THE AI the acutal game itself. Will trounce around and buy players from OTHER clubs. But your club will never receive a LARGE offer for a player.

I am constantly bombarded with messages that so and so wants to sign my player. It will cost 30m etc. And nobody makes an offer. EVER.

NONE OF MY BIG PLAYERS ARE EVER EVER EVER BID ON >>>>EVER<<<<

But the AI will bid on OTHER PLAYERS within the game for insane amounts of money.

Again - this is not about how much a player is worth or or how to calculate their sale value.

It's about HOW THE AI BIDS LARGE AMOUNTS FOR PLAYERS FROM OTHER TEAMS, BUT NEVER BIDS FOR YOURS

<caps for emphasis only>

So it's fine then, Cougar. You're basically saying there is no problem with the game. Fair enough, that's your opinion, wrong as it is, you're entitled to it.

If you want to get really pedantic, you pay over the odds EVERY TIME you buy any product, but we aren't talking about products, we are talking about FM and the problems with selling players. For instance, the AI offers 40million for a crap player, they then offer you 5million for a player worth 40million. How is this such a problem for you to get? You're just being pedantic.

The thing is, most people here pretty much agrees that there is a problem and no matter how you dress it up, that problem still stands, so in this thread you're just 'banging your head against a brick wall' and I could say the same about talking to you, so lets leave it at at that as you're just rubbing people up the wrong way.

Cougar is comparing a footballers value to the same value as a second hand car.

When you put a 18 year old out on the pitch and they score a hat trick their value goes up.

When you drive a new car out of a showroom the value goes down.

It's not the same thing at all!

Have to im somewhat in the middle on this, its definitely possible to sell players for above their value, do it a fair amount, but the AI doesnt make offers for your players in anywhere nea the volume it did in FM10, but then teh question is whether it mades offers to frequently in FM10. personally i set asking prices on all my players,and sooner or later a team comes knocking

I agree with you to some extent...you always try to get the best price availible in any sitution but then this goes to selling as well.

plus, how to you explain what i posted a few posts up, where i can't sell a player for more than his value but as soon as AI manager takes my place he is able to sell half the squad at way above their value?

All in all it just proves that the AI negotiates better than you do and makes different decisions.

We have a few issues being discussed here which are linked but not the same and we should look at them separately.

First off - Buying players

The problem some people have here is that they have to bid more than the player's valuation. In truth the valuation means little and is simply a calculated figure based on wages/contract length/rep etc but it does provide us as users a base to work from. If a player is wanted by their club and has lots of time left on his contract you should expect to pay more than their value whereas if their contract is running out, they are in the reserves/transfer listed/unhappy you can expect to pay less than their value.

At this stage you can use your scouts to get a clearer picture with their reports showing if the player is interested and the approx price you'll need to pay. Moving on you can then enquire about the player and the club will respond with a price. If the price they quote is extremely high it just means they don't want to sell the player. This is where I decide if I want to make an offer and how much that offer should be. I don't have any fixed plan I follow but I always start lower than I am prepared to pay as I expect my offer to be negotiated upwards and I only make offers for players I feel are in my price range.

Selling players

So here the issue seems to be that AI clubs never bid more than the valuation/asking price. First off they follow the same plan that I do above, they start low based on what information they have as they expect to be negotiated upwards at which stage they either pay or move on to other targets. With the valuation 99% of the time not matching a user's value of a player you should set an asking price and it should be higher than the value you would accept so that when clubs do make a lower offer its much closer to a value that you would accept.

There is a side issue here that I think effects many users and that is for the most part a user is trying to to sell a player he doesn't want. Just the fact that the user wants to sell the player means the potential final sale value is lower. To get the best prices you need to be selling a player you want to keep and don't feel pressured to sell. For the most part what happens in these cases is that the user rejects the offer and the AI team moves on to other targets.

Just to add that if you increase the asking price for players, AI clubs know the actual value and will not meet the asking price ever.

All in all it just proves that the AI negotiates better than you do and makes different decisions.

We have a few issues being discussed here which are linked but not the same and we should look at them separately.

First off - Buying players

The problem some people have here is that they have to bid more than the player's valuation. In truth the valuation means little and is simply a calculated figure based on wages/contract length/rep etc but it does provide us as users a base to work from. If a player is wanted by their club and has lots of time left on his contract you should expect to pay more than their value whereas if their contract is running out, they are in the reserves/transfer listed/unhappy you can expect to pay less than their value.

At this stage you can use your scouts to get a clearer picture with their reports showing if the player is interested and the approx price you'll need to pay. Moving on you can then enquire about the player and the club will respond with a price. If the price they quote is extremely high it just means they don't want to sell the player. This is where I decide if I want to make an offer and how much that offer should be. I don't have any fixed plan I follow but I always start lower than I am prepared to pay as I expect my offer to be negotiated upwards and I only make offers for players I feel are in my price range.

Selling players

So here the issue seems to be that AI clubs never bid more than the valuation/asking price. First off they follow the same plan that I do above, they start low based on what information they have as they expect to be negotiated upwards at which stage they either pay or move on to other targets. With the valuation 99% of the time not matching a user's value of a player you should set an asking price and it should be higher than the value you would accept so that when clubs do make a lower offer its much closer to a value that you would accept.

There is a side issue here that I think effects many users and that is for the most part a user is trying to to sell a player he doesn't want. Just the fact that the user wants to sell the player means the potential final sale value is lower. To get the best prices you need to be selling a player you want to keep and don't feel pressured to sell. For the most part what happens in these cases is that the user rejects the offer and the AI team moves on to other targets.

Pretty much how I approach the game, both in FM11 and in previouos games (probably why i made a killing in transfer income in fm10, when it was very easy to sell players for inflated prices)

Cougar, I watched the whole discussion, and yes, you've banged your head against the wall before, that's why you are saying the things you're wrote. Is obvious that the game has a problem, you're one of the only one here actually saying there is not a problem. Are you having fun doing that, or you hit your head so bad?

The guys are only saying a fact: the AI is known for buying players way expensive from AI, so that they have an advantage over you. They will rarely bid a lot of money on a player of yours, regardless of how good is him, how long is he tied up to a contract and so on. Yes, you can always come with the clasic "the AI turned around and bought another player", but that's not a fact. That's what you suppose it happened. They AI would ALWAYS prefer to buy a player worth 10M from an AI, then to buy one of yours who's worth 20M. Both of the players would cost, let's say, around 30M. Yes, the AI would actually offer more than 2x for a player of AIs, then 0.5x for a player of yours. Because they would give you an advatange, is simple.

I have a lot of quality regens, some of then worth 4M at 16yo, or so, and I set the asking price to 200M, the maximum. I always hear in the press that the player X is followed by Barcelona, Inter bla-bla, and they should pay around 102M for him. Do you think I ever got a bid?

Yes, I know, now you will come and say that for sure the player is a key player, has a high wage, is happy, is bla-bla. True, he is. But it's also the same case always when you buy a quality player from the Ai, and you have to pay 3x or 4x for his value. Why wouldn't the AI do the same with your players?

And I would like to show you a screenshot of how my team looks. Besides the GK, Junior Moraes and Sergiy Parshivlyuk, all the player are under 26, so have a lot of playing time in their feet. Just tell me how many of them you think will leave, or will even get a bid? If you don't know, or you are starting again with your nonsense, then I can tell you: NONE. There is obviously a bug here, I can't believe there are guys that can't see it.

All in all it just proves that the AI negotiates better than you do and makes different decisions.

That just is not true.

The only time the AI will accept a bid is when the players Asking Price has been set or they are Transfer Listed.

You go to buy a player in the game. Offer for a 12m rated player, offer them 10m, they say no. Offer them 14m. No. Offer them 16m. No.

As an EXPERIMENT (because out of curiosity I did this) - load up FMRTE and look at their SALE VALUE. You will not get that player for €1 less than the SALE VALUE set in the game.

But again THE AI NEVER BIDS FOR MY PLAYERS. I have played over 35 seasons with Football Manager. I've not made a single sale over 30m that I didn't offer out. The AI has NEVER COME TO ME with a LARGE OFFER.

Explain this to me http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/251411-An-excessive-bid

As an EXPERIMENT (because out of curiosity I did this) - load up FMRTE and look at their SALE VALUE. You will not get that player for £1 less than the SALE VALUE set in the game.

The AI isn't human and therefore needs set figures and rules to follow.

The "Sale Value" you see in FMRTE isn't available to the user in FM but its what the AI uses within the transfer market. A player's "Sale Value" changes constantly due to various factors in the game (eg a player having his squad status changed or becoming unhappy). To me this is no different to what we do as humans, when we look at a player we fix a value in our mind that we would sell him for and this values changes over time depending what happens within the game.

When buying players you have to bid above the sale value to have a bid accepted but by following what I listed above you can estimate what that "Sale Value" is and FM even gives you tools with which to try and lower that sale value if you feel its higher than you want to pay.

But again THE AI NEVER BIDS FOR MY PLAYERS. I have played over 35 seasons with Football Manager. I've not made a single sale over 30m that I didn't offer out. The AI has NEVER COME TO ME with a LARGE OFFER.

I want to point out here that I'm not saying the transfer market within FM is perfect, after all valuations/prices etc are a very subjective area, but I do feel its much better than you give it credit for.

I think there are a number of factors that all play a role in what you have experienced, I'm not saying that they are all ok or can't be improved I'm just giving potential reasons why you have experienced what you have.

A) I suspect you play as a high rep club which puts a lot of AI clubs off bidding for your players as they think the players won't join them.

B) You don't set high asking prices.

C) The players you want to sell are not wanted so to speak.

D) AI clubs lack the finance to make large purchases.

E) AI clubs chase other targets that they feel are better value for money.

EDIT

Although I don't have an issue with the actual bidding I do feel that there is a general lack of activity/bids especially for players owned by the user. That said in real life football clubs are experiencing similar with very few money transfers being made compare with previous seasons.

During this transfer window there have only been three transfers greater than £3m while in the whole of last year across the world there were only nineteen transfers over £10m and five of them were by Man City.

None of that is the point though.

The point is the AI will never bid for your players. Again and again I've said to you that the AI will not bid over 30m or even 20m for any of my players. Yet time and time and time again the AI will bid 37m for a 5m rated player and their sale value (according to FMRTE is 11m)

As I proved in my thread that I posted, man city bid 37.5m and I bid 11m.

So the AI is not using the sale value set in the game. It just bid 3.5 times more than necessary. For no reason.

And this happens time and time again.

BUT NEVER FOR MY PLAYERS.

I have to offer players in excess of 20 or 30m and then I get bids.

But the AI will never come in and make a bid of that magnitude for my players.

No matter how I negotiate or set the asking price.

None of that is the point though.

The point is the AI will never bid for your players. Again and again I've said to you that the AI will not bid over 30m or even 20m for any of my players. Yet time and time and time again the AI will bid 37m for a 5m rated player and their sale value (according to FMRTE is 11m)

As I proved in my thread that I posted, man city bid 37.5m and I bid 11m.

So the AI is not using the sale value set in the game. It just bid 3.5 times more than necessary. For no reason.

And this happens time and time again.

BUT NEVER FOR MY PLAYERS.

I have to offer players in excess of 20 or 30m and then I get bids.

But the AI will never come in and make a bid of that magnitude for my players.

No matter how I negotiate or set the asking price.

Man city always make overly large bids for players in FM11, whereas the rest of the market is largely balanced, at least that is how it has transpired in my save

A) I suspect you play as a high rep club which puts a lot of AI clubs off bidding for your players as they think the players won't join them.

B) You don't set high asking prices.

C) The players you want to sell are not wanted so to speak.

D) AI clubs lack the finance to make large purchases.

E) AI clubs chase other targets that they feel are better value for money.

A) I was Lazio and just took over. Zarate wanted to leave for a bigger club. I offered him for 30m, he was worth 18m. His asking price is now 30m. No offers.

I lowered to 18m only to be offered 9.5m.

B) I don't set the asking price at all. Any player over 20m the AI won't bid for. At all. Ever.

C) There is always interest from clubs and News Messages saying "Man Utd" "Arsenal" "Man City" "Barca" and etc. are interested and it will cost 35m etc. I used to **** myself seeing this thinking that Man City will bid 50m and the board will accept.

This is what happens: *Absolutely Nothing* no bids whatsover

D) Man City do not lack the finances. They are signing a 37.5m player that is worth 11m (according to FMRTE and I bid and it was accepted for him)

E)Again I'll use the Hummels transfer in point "D" above as an example.

Man city always make overly large bids for players in FM11, whereas the rest of the market is largely balanced, at least that is how it has transpired in my save

I've used Man City in these examples. But there are other teams doing this too.

I would not be here giving out about it if it was only one team. But the AI will not bid for my players. Ever. Never have. Never will.

That just is not true.

The only time the AI will accept a bid is when the players Asking Price has been set or they are Transfer Listed.

You go to buy a player in the game. Offer for a 12m rated player, offer them 10m, they say no. Offer them 14m. No. Offer them 16m. No.

As an EXPERIMENT (because out of curiosity I did this) - load up FMRTE and look at their SALE VALUE. You will not get that player for €1 less than the SALE VALUE set in the game.

But again THE AI NEVER BIDS FOR MY PLAYERS. I have played over 35 seasons with Football Manager. I've not made a single sale over 30m that I didn't offer out. The AI has NEVER COME TO ME with a LARGE OFFER.

Explain this to me http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/251411-An-excessive-bid

Spot on - if your first bid for an AI player only matches the value of the player (not the amount the scouts think will be necessary) often you end up paying way more for the player than if you bid twice the player's value to begin with.

Now Cougar, negotiation is all well and good to say, but if you reject a bid for a player, the AI never comes back with a bid near the Asking price you have set, if it comes back at all.

If you negotiate the amount that you want, they pull out of negotiations, never to return.

Negotiation only occurs when you're trying to buy AI players, it doesn't happen the other way around. For instance, you bid 40M for Daniele de Rossi, AI comes back wanting 102M, you eventually meet somewhere around 58M.

Conversely, the AI bids 10M for your player that is valued at 9M (is young with 4 yrs left on contract and is happy) and you've set your asking price at 35M, you negotiate the bid asking for 30M, the AI walks away every time.

It's not about always wanting to clear out dead wood, if you're a small team and have brought through a gem, you'd like to sell him for proper money to reinforce the entire team with the proceeds ala Everton and Rooney. (no disrespect intended to the Toffees I hasten to add)

It simply doesn't occur unless you "offer" the player to clubs, which is a joke in my opinion.

I was bombarded in the transfer windows for a player. From about 5 different clubs. The player was valued at 950k

Every transfer window I got 5x teams with news messages "Real Madrid", "Barcelona", "Chelsea", "Man Utd", "Inter", have made a 950k bid for this player.

I had to set it to REJECT ALL. And every week for the 4 weeks in a row I got 5 offers of 950k for this players. Not once did they up their bid.

A) Its not rocket science, Zarate wanted to leave and you offered him out, you then dropped your price by 40% and offered him out again. Thats hardly ideal conditions to be receiving a high offer. I suspect had you negotiated more you would have got around £12m-£15m which in the circumstances seems fine to me.

C) Having the wanted tag against one of your players just means that he is on the opposing managers shortlist while the media messages are just a knockon effect of this. It doesn't mean they will make a bid, hell I have over 2000 players on my shortlist.

I was bombarded in the transfer windows for a player. From about 5 different clubs. The player was valued at 950k

Every transfer window I got 5x teams with news messages "Real Madrid", "Barcelona", "Chelsea", "Man Utd", "Inter", have made a 950k bid for this player.

I had to set it to REJECT ALL. And every week for the 4 weeks in a row I got 5 offers of 950k for this players. Not once did they up their bid.

Thats a problem of your own making.

You didn't up your price, you never set an asking price.

You are basically saying to the AI "The price of this player is £950k" they make an offer of that value and then you reject it. The AI isn't human and doesn't understand that it needs to up its offer. You need to lead it by either negotiating or by setting a higher asking price.

A) Its not rocket science, Zarate wanted to leave and you offered him out, you then dropped your price by 40% and offered him out again. Thats hardly ideal conditions to be receiving a high offer. I suspect had you negotiated more you would have got around £12m-£15m which in the circumstances seems fine to me.

C) Having the wanted tag against one of your players just means that he is on the opposing managers shortlist while the media messages are just a knockon effect of this. It doesn't mean they will make a bid, hell I have over 2000 players on my shortlist.

A) What? He wanted out. I offered for 30m. Teams said no. I offer for 20m. Teams say no but offer 9.5?

How is that my fault? The game DOES NOT CALCULATE price drops and then renders new offers based on this?

Complete bulsh.

edit* C)I know this. That's not my point. My point is the AI in 35 seasons THIRTY FIVE *COUNT THEM* has never offered ANY LARGE OFFER for ANY of my Players EVER.

Jeez is that hard to understand??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Thats a problem of your own making.

You didn't up your price, you never set an asking price.

You are basically saying to the AI "The price of this player is £950k" they make an offer of that value and then you reject it. The AI isn't human and doesn't understand that it needs to up its offer. You need to lead it by either negotiating or by setting a higher asking price.

What?

How?

What?

I didn't want to sell him. If the AI wanted to buy him they should have upped the price. But getting 20 messages per transfer window for the same player for the same price for 5 seasons was pretty annoying.

I had it set to reject all. Yet they kept bidding. I though that behaviour was stopped in FM11?

i'm running a little test right now to see if there's something to this. i created 2 identical players (who are perfect and play in every position) and sent them to two identical clubs (same reputation manager etc). i'm going to run a few games:

1-no manager see if they get sold and how much x2

2-managing team a (team b ai) and see who gets sold and for how much x2

3-managing team a and see who gets sold and for how much but this time add an asking price that's equal to the lowest bid in the previous two saves.

4 and 5-do the same as 2-3 with team b.

i'm running a little test right now to see if there's something to this. i created 2 identical players (who are perfect and play in every position) and sent them to two identical clubs (same reputation manager etc). i'm going to run a few games:

1-no manager see if they get sold and how much x2

2-managing team a (team b ai) and see who gets sold and for how much x2

3-managing team a and see who gets sold and for how much but this time add an asking price that's equal to the lowest bid in the previous two saves.

4 and 5-do the same as 2-3 with team b.

I look forward to your results.

i'm running a little test right now to see if there's something to this. i created 2 identical players (who are perfect and play in every position) and sent them to two identical clubs (same reputation manager etc). i'm going to run a few games:

1-no manager see if they get sold and how much x2

2-managing team a (team b ai) and see who gets sold and for how much x2

3-managing team a and see who gets sold and for how much but this time add an asking price that's equal to the lowest bid in the previous two saves.

4 and 5-do the same as 2-3 with team b.

legend - can't wait for the results

I see the frustration but I also see the value in Cougars point. Many is the time I have had ridiculous amounts bid for my top players out of the blue, like he alluded to, I attribute this to the fact they are important brilliant players whom I never intend to sell, hence the inflated bid. The comparison to whatever medium you wish, cars or whatever, also holds truth wherin you don't want them so why should another team, AI or not, pay over the odds merely based on your valuation.

Both sides hold merit. Eveyone is agreed it is infinitely harder to sell in this version than previously, and unless you like to be bored by lack of challenge when you are rolling in hundreds of millions with an awesome team, I think its better overall.

Another thing being overlooked is yes, there are mental bids for players concerning AI-AI teams, but wouldnt it make sense that being human and paying for the game, maybe the programming is designed to make it harder for you, the human player, to dominate and make ridiculous sums constantly? No conspiracy. No bug, maybe its just geared that way. Seems perfectly logical to me. The AI don't care either way who goes for what price. You do, so the game is tweaked to make it that little bit more difficult for your ultimate enjoyment. You know, after you've done ranting and screaming over the injustice of it all (which I tend to do a lot incidentally)

Just throwing it out there. Feel free to deconstruct my point or spit vitriol accordingly.

So what I've got from this thread so far is that nobody has had a big offer for a player, unless I missed a post, Right?