FM12: The Valencia C.F Thread, AMUNT!!!!!

Valencia are a great club to manage, they have a good starting squad with a lot of potential and youth throughout, but theres not a lot of money to manoeuvre with so you have to manage your resources well and qualify for the Champions league every season or the money will be even scarcer! here is the financial situation at the start of the season:

Theres not much financial benefit from changing expectations from CL qualification tbh and in season 1, the likelihood of mounting a Title Challenge is pretty low, so theres no little point in selecting anything else. The board are unlikely to grant extra funds through the "interact with board" feature either, though they did increase my "% of transfer revenue" to 100%, so what you see is what you get, so without further ado, lets move on to the squad review:

Goalkeepers;

Vicente Guaita is a 24 year old, valencia born keeper who has come through the clubs academy, he emerged last season to claim the no.1 jersey as his own and has rapidly grown into an assured young shot stopper, he has no major deficiencies and could comfortably be your no.1 keeper for a fair while, though its doubtful he will ever be an elite level keeper, he wont let you down

Diego Alves is a recent arrival at Valencia, having arrived from recently relegated Almeria, at 26 he is a little older than Guaita, but both are still pretty young for a keeper, he arrives with a fine reputation and is reputedly one of the finest penalty experts around, in honesty there is little to choose betwen the two players, i choose to play Guiata because he is an academy product, but neither option is wrong to choose and the other makes an amazing 2nd choice

Other than these two, there isnt much depth in quality, but as both keepers are young, theres no rush to look for a successor, you should be fine here for the next 10 years or so!

Full Backs:

Jérémy Mathieu should be your starting Left back, this 27 year old French defender is forging a growing reputation as a marauding attacking threat down Valencias left flank, he has a good cross, is quick and good in the tackle and good in the air as well, he should last you a fair few seasons before he needs replacing

Jordi Alba is 22 and another academy product, he is also able to play at either left back or left wing and this versatility will make him a useful sub, if he progresses well, he could become a starter as well.

Miguel is 31 and looks pretty decent, however, given his age, i would try and ship him out asap, ive been able to sell him for 5 million quid, which essentially doubles my transfer budget, if you choose to keep him, he could be your starter at RB for a season or two, but will need replacing

Antonio Barragan is another recent arrival and is decent backup at right back on low wages, as well as being only 24, but nothing more than backup

Bruno is another squad player, he can play at both right back and left back, so will be usefull to keep him around, but seeing as he is 30, if you get a decent offer, i would move him on too.

Joel is a young player in the Mestalla squad and and is a useful prospect for the future, would benefit from a loan, maybe to your feeder club Alcoyano

Centre Backs:

Adil Rami, this 25 year old french international has the ability and potential to be the rock at the heart of your defence for a good few years, his strength in the air is his main asset, but he is not too shabby on the ground either and he can only get better, should be one of the first names on your teamsheet

Victor Ruiz is the other main centre back at the club, he is only 22 and is a more cultured player than rami, not as bullishly strong, but has the attributes to be a great ball playing centre back, he is also left footed, which is useful.

Ricardo Costa is a solid back up to these two, he is 30, but dont be afraid to use him if you need to give rami or ruiz a rest

Angel Dealbert, hes 28 and on low wages, but he isnt great, hes slow and average in the tackle, hes not an awful 4th choice, but if you have to play him for a significant stretch of time, he could be a cause for concern

Hedwiges Maduro is a versatile player who can also play at DM, if you feel brave, he could be sold for additional transfer fees, at only 26, he could fetch a few quid.

Central Midfielders:

Ever Banega, the creative heartbeat of your side, hes not the best physically, but he has all the attributes to make you tick, the midfield should be built around making this guy your playmaker, at 23, he has the potential to grow as well.

David Albelda, at 33, el Capitan is coming to the end of his illustrious career, still mentally sharp and a superb tackler, he is the only natural leader in the team, so its a hard decision to choose btween him

or Mehmet Topal, who at 25, will be part of your squad for a while, he is more physically able than albelda and can fill in at centre back as well, but i prefer albelda, for the simple reason of his leadership qualities, replacing albelda should probably your transfer priority at the end of season 1 though

Alberto "Tino" Costa is an able performer at either MC or AMC, he is famed for his powerful long shot ability and skill from free kicks and at 26, is a good squad player

Sergio Canales is on loan for 2 seasons from Real Madrid and is a genuine star in the making, having only just turned 20, he has an agreed transfer fee of just 10.25 million quid and you should get him as much game time as possible and get him to love your club, as it will take some persuading to get him to join permanently ( i had an offer accepted in the demo, but he wouldnt even talk to me ), if you choose to play with an AMC, he should be starting for you here

Dani Parejo is another one of Valencias young recruits, at just 22, he has room to improve, but he wont get much game time for you, but try and give him minutes when you can afford to

Wingers:

Pablo Hernandez is a great winger for you, he should be starting at right wing and has plenty of good seasons to give you at 26 years old

Pablo Piatti is the final new acquisition, this nippy ( though imo, not as nippy as he should be ) little argentine is a fine left winger, he can cross, pass, dribble, he should be starting on your left wing, though he can also play on the right

Sofiane Feghouli is a young 21 year old French right winger who can also play in the middle and, at a pinch, on the left, who if you werent light on back up for the wings, would benefit from a loan to get some game time, if you can loan in a couple of wingers, loaning sofiane out would be a solid idea

on the youth side, you have 18 year old left winger Juan Bernat, he could benefit from a loan though, as he doesnt look ready for first team action

Strikers:

Roberto Soldado is your star striker, clinical, great off the ball and quick, he should bag you 20 goals a season no problem and at 26, hasnt hit his prime yet.

Aritz Aduriz is a decent back up, not as clinical, but better as an aerial threat, but at 30, will need replacing sooner rather than later

Jonas is another fine back up striker who can also play at AM and at 27, has a few years left in him, if you play with a lone striker, the 3 options you have here should prove more than good enough

Of course, you also have Paco Alcacer a fine young prospect at only 17 who is already clinical, he does however need game time to grow and could do with a loan to a segunda level side to turn him into the star he should become

there we go, all done

Nice thread

Good luck to anyone playing as Valencia, had a good save with them on FM11, hopefully this thread is active throughout this year! If I didn't hate Liga BBVA I'd love to give them a go again, their squad this year is brilliant.

This year playing with Valencia should be more exciting. You dont have star players like Mata/Villa/Silva, but a lot of young upcoming players (Piatti, Canales, Ruiz, Alba, Alcacer, Feghouli). You also have a lot of players with a lot to prove (Guiaita, Alves, Rami, Soldado, Jonas, Banega). Many of them are on the brink of getting a shot with their NT's, so good performance with Valencia will benefit them.

CMS186 did you manage to sign a RB, if so who and for how much? I presume you will also have to look for a striker and a DM as you will need to replace Aduriz and Albelda eventually. Who are your candidates for those positions.

Any player you can sign on free or loan to strengthen the side?

Good OP. Valencia will once again be my Spanish side this year. Some of the purchases over the summer are exciting and it will be interesting to see how they play.

Great opening post. Love Valencia and will certainly have a save with them at some point in FM12.

Just a note though regarding the stadium. At present, due to the financial instability of the football club, work on the new stadium has stopped. It is sort of half built, but at present there is no date for the construction work to begin again.

Good luck to all who play as Valencia. It will be an interesting save. Real Madrid & Barcelona will be light years ahead for the first season, but it should be an interesting battle for 3rd/4th with Malaga, Villareal & Athletico Madrid.

This year playing with Valencia should be more exciting. You dont have star players like Mata/Villa/Silva, but a lot of young upcoming players (Piatti, Canales, Ruiz, Alba, Alcacer, Feghouli). You also have a lot of players with a lot to prove (Guiaita, Alves, Rami, Soldado, Jonas, Banega). Many of them are on the brink of getting a shot with their NT's, so good performance with Valencia will benefit them.

CMS186 did you manage to sign a RB, if so who and for how much? I presume you will also have to look for a striker and a DM as you will need to replace Aduriz and Albelda eventually. Who are your candidates for those positions.

Any player you can sign on free or loan to strengthen the side?

i signed azpilicueta for 12.5 million, he was the only signing i made and the only sale was miguel, apparantly mamadou diarra is available on a free who could be a decent signing, though i havent looked at his so he might have turned awful

also, another editor change id reccomend is to extend canales loan to 2 years, as he is on a 2 year loan irl but hes only been sent on a 1 year loan in the game for some reason.

Great opening post. Love Valencia and will certainly have a save with them at some point in FM12.

Just a note though regarding the stadium. At present, due to the financial instability of the football club, work on the new stadium has stopped. It is sort of half built, but at present there is no date for the construction work to begin again.

Good luck to all who play as Valencia. It will be an interesting save. Real Madrid & Barcelona will be light years ahead for the first season, but it should be an interesting battle for 3rd/4th with Malaga, Villareal & Athletico Madrid.

this is true, but its certainly more realistic to still have it in the game imo, its a choice i guess, the owners have said it will take 22 months to finish once work has re-started and it has been suggested that if they cant find a buyer for the land the old mestalla is on this season, they will hand the land over to Bancaja ( the bank they owe the grand majority of their debt to ) and in exchange the bank will erase the debt. This would leave the club with very little debt and able to take out a loan to complete the stadium ( which should cost around 126 million euros, though that was an estimate 6 months ago, it has probably increased a little by now ). If that happens, then the details i propose to add to the editor will be largely accurate, of course this could also not happen, but seeing how Valencia are paying 15 million a year just in interest to service the bancaja debt, its probably the best deal for both parties

How have the Valencia players been rated this season? Last season a lot of quality players were not given good PAs. So i ended up making changes to the editor to make my players more realistic. Hows Hugo Mallo? Valencia tried signing him irl.

they seem ok, though piatti and alba are slower than they should be and i think victor ruiz is underated, but he didnt do great last season in italy tbf, obviously cant tell their CAs/PAs atm

Irl Alba is the fastest player in Valencia. And that was before Piatti came here

yh, alba and piatti should both be around 17/18, ive mentioned this in the data issues thread as well as the canales loan and the stadium, but the spanish researcher seems to be ignoring me

Great OP Started my mandatory annual Valencia save.

Playing a 4-2-3-1 with a team as follows:

GK - Alves

RB - Miguel (looking for a suitable signing)

CB - Rami

CB - Ruiz

LB - Maxwell

CM - Albelda

CM - Banega

AMR - Pablo

AMC - Canales

AML - Piatti

ST - Soldado

Still have a fair amount of the transfer window left to buy players, sold Maduro for 2.5m ( ), Aduriz for 4m, and Bruno for 2m which gives me a a healthy amount to buy a RB ... Contemplating getting Mahmadou Diarra on a free and selling Topal

how much did you pay for maxwell? barca offered him to me but id already coughed up my douch for azpilicueta

how much did you pay for maxwell? barca offered him to me but id already coughed up my douch for azpilicueta

£2.5m - it should, hopefully, be a bargain.

Trying to get Mario Fernandes or Uchida at RB, if that fails I might go looking for loan alternatives

You will perhaps need a striker too now that you sold Aduriz. Isnt Topal>Diarra?

Btw how r the wages this time around? Last season there were definite issues with a lot of players having wages a lot higher than what they get irl

You will perhaps need a striker too now that you sold Aduriz. Isnt Topal>Diarra?

awsome thread. Valencia will probably be my starting team this season.

some of the youngsters they have got in look very good going on their performances last season.

for people a bit bored and looking for some more info on their financial situation, stadium and all, this - http://swissramble.blogspot.com/search/label/Spain - is an great article to read over.

I am going to make a save with Valencia to when the new ones comes out and interesting article, in the previous post

yh, its a good read, these two articles: http://www.spanishfootball.info/2011/10/el-presidente-manuel-llorente-the-man-who-saved-valencia-part-i/ http://www.spanishfootball.info/2011/10/el-presidente-manuel-llorente-the-man-who-saved-valencia-part-ii/ are a good read about Valencias president

No Valencia thread would be complete, without seeing a referee slide-tackle Canales

http://elcentrocampista.com/?p=3567

Transfers: -

Ins : Azpilicueta £11m, Maxwell £2.5m

Outs : Aduriz £4m, Maduro £2.5m, Bruno £2m

Valencia 3-0 Racing

Soldado 8'

Albelda 22'

Piatti 81'

Very straightforward opening to the campaign. Good to see Piatti score in his competitive debut too.

Valencia 1-1 Atlético Madrid

Falcao 14'

Soldado 32'

End to end game in which I felt the scoreline reflected the game, despite the post match headline being "Valencia held to a draw", good result against a tough opposition - no complaints.

Kobenhavn 0-3 Valencia (Champions League)

Dealbert 19'

Paco Alcácer 20'

Canales 60'

Routine win with a rotated team, Paco and Canales were stand out performers in this match.

Sporting Gijon 0-3 Valencia

Piatti (p) 22'

Pablo 31'

Jonas 80'

Decided to leave the CL team vs Copenhagen unchanged as the next La Liga game was vs Barca and was midweek, another good performance where the scoreline probable flattered us a tad.

Valencia 1-1 Barcelona

Soldado 8'

Messi 23'

Cracking performance, played a different formation compared to the typical 4-2-3-1 as I played with 1 DM and 2 CMs now and had Alba at AML but set as "defensive winger, support" (just like IRL, playing with basically 2 left backs) and it paid off. 57% possesion and 16(7) shots (on target) compared to Barca's 9(3) so if anything it felt like 2 points dropped as opposed to 1 gained.

Sevilla 1-1 Valencia

Albelda s/o 4'

Alba injured 8'

Soldado 57'

Navarro s/o 67'

Negredo 83'

Good result given the circumstances - having to play with a makeshift back 4, change in formation and 10 for an hour - but ultimately disappointed as Sevilla never threatened until Soldado scored when they started to play some football.

All in all, a good start to the season both domestically and in Europe (in a group with Chelsea, Copenhagen, Dinamo) and hopefully we can pull through the next month given all the injury problems and bans.

How come you didnt sell Miguel.You already have Azpi and Barragan for RB. I see that you also sold Maduro (Who is nothing more than a squad player). But what if Albelda or Topal gets injured.

i would definitely have sold miguel over bruno, bruno is more versatile, a little younger and on less wages, plus you can get more money for miguel. It is a bit risky to sell maduro, but i would just start training one of the centre backs to play at DM ( i think Rami might be able to play there already to some level, not sure about that though )

i would definitely have sold miguel over bruno, bruno is more versatile, a little younger and on less wages, plus you can get more money for miguel. It is a bit risky to sell maduro, but i would just start training one of the centre backs to play at DM ( i think Rami might be able to play there already to some level, not sure about that though )

Though I agree with you on selling Miguel and keep Bruno, in my game Bruno is on 172m €/month and Miguel just 75m €/month, which I consider rather unrealistic, given that IRL Miguel must have way higher contract. This should be sorted out...

How are you finding Soldado? I started as Valencia and the first two league games he scored a hat trick in each the next two games he was blasting the ball wide and over the bar he was totally ineffective.

that sounds pretty true to life tbf, he can be amazing one game and do nothing the next, i havent checked in the editor but id be suprised if he had high consistency

Valencia are a great team to manage and this year they have a really solid squad. I agree that the main priority would be to sign a RB. My formation would be 4-2-3-1

Started with a lone striker in Soldado but due to injuries switched to a 4-4-2 and put Aduriz up front and he has started brilliantly. Currently November 5th, surely they cannot keep up these sort of performances until the end of December can they?

Both these guys are overpaid. I dont think Soldado gets paid more than 45-50K a week irl.

aduriz might be overpaid, but soldados wages sound about right

a quick look at the new game indicates the new stadium is actually in the game, but it appears the move isnt working for some reason, so you dont need to add the stadum, just the move!

Hows the CA and PA of Valencia players?

Shocked to see Paco isnt in the -9 list. Canales 166? Thats a little harsh especially when Ramsey is

and Wilshere is

. If Canales is 166 i shudder to think how Bernat, Piatti, Alba, Rami etc are rated

paco should be -9, i edit him to be so in my game, seeing how Isco is and he did as much as paco did last season. Piatti and Alaba are fina CA/PA wise, though both are a little slow, rami is rated well, bernat is a

i think. 166 isnt too bad for canales tbf, though i have no idea why he has real madrid as a favoured club

ramsey is still that PA because of his injury and because he didnt get much playing time last season to be able to change it

just completed my first season with Los Ches, pretty happy with how it went, finished 3rd and got to the Copa del Rey final, which i unfortunatly lost to Real. during the season i had some weird results, losing to low placed teams and doing well against higher teams, taking 4 points off Real Madrid for example. Transfers were as following:

IN: Yaya Sanogo ( 2.5 mil ), Sime Vrsaljko ( 5 mil ), Mario Santana ( 1.1 mil )

OUT: Aduriz, Miguel, Maduro ( all for 5 mil each )

Santana had been listed by Napoli and he can play on both wings so he was a perfect addition, Vrsaljko had a great season and finished 2nd place in young player of the year, sanogo is more for the future. for the rest of the squad, Soldado had an amazing season, scoring 37 goals, including 29 in the league, breaking valencias top goalscorer records, Jordi Alba broke into Spains national team,making his debut, cracking first season

Not really sure how this happened we had some terrible loses 3-2 away to Real Sociedad, 2-1 away to Getafe, 3-0 away to Athletic and Granada, 2-1 at home to Espanyol and a 1-0 defeat away to Sevilla. However we won away against Barcelona and Real Madrid despite having a lot less possession and hardly any chances.

First season I signed Leandro Damião for £20 million in monthly instalments and Omer Toprak for £8.5 million. I sold Topal for to Sunderland for £2.5 million and Rami got annoyed so I let him got for £6.5 million.

I signed a lot of players on loan people might laugh at Phil Bardsley on loan but he was extremely solid for my Sunderland side. Essien shores up the defensive side of the midfield and Pandev is versatile enough to play in several positions. Banega was terrible for a player of his skill he grabbed only one goal so I let him go. The other loan players I signed are mainly for back up I know not many people would have sold Banega but he did not do anything for me and the offer was the best I could get.

Due to the lack of form the wingers showed towards the end of the season and my doubts that Aduriz could reproduce his awesome form from last season I spent big on Rossi and will train the team so he can play in a formation just behind Soldado and Leandro Damião.

Just starting a game with Valencia. So much of work to do before starting

things are going swimmingly in my second season, defeated both barca and Real, made Canales move permanent and young paco Alcacer has had a run in the first team with 6 starts and two sub appearances where hes scored 6 goals and weighed in with some assists ( these wewre mainly easy games though tbf, including 2 CdR games and 2 very easy CL games )

I sold Ricardo Costa for 6.5 Mill Pounds, Miguel for 5 Mill, Bruno for 1.8 Mill. Bought Azpilicueta for nearly 12 Mill Pounds (4 Mill upfront, the rest spread across 4 years). Also bought Botia for 8 Mill Pounds (2 Mill upfront). Loaned in Giovanni Dos Santos from Tottenham for the season to boost the right flank.

Playing a 4-2-3-1 with the following formation

-----------Guaita/Alves-----------------

Azp----Rami-------Botia/Ruiz----Mathieu

-----------------Albelda----------------

-------Banega--------------------------

Pablo/Gio--------Canales--------Piatti--

---------Soldado----------------------

Side is ok for 3rd place perhaps. Need to boost the team in the following depts

AMR: Shaqiri looks an exciting prospect

AML:Planning to move for Griezmann

LB: Unfortunately not a lot of options available. Any recommendations?

DM:Still havent decided

ST:Still havent decided

Is the stadium bug for every team thats going to have a new stadium? Even Athletic dont have theirs mentioned. Can someone make a stadium fix file to add to the game in the editor data?

I sold Ricardo Costa for 6.5 Mill Pounds, Miguel for 5 Mill, Bruno for 1.8 Mill. Bought Azpilicueta for nearly 12 Mill Pounds (4 Mill upfront, the rest spread across 4 years). Also bought Botia for 8 Mill Pounds (2 Mill upfront). Loaned in Giovanni Dos Santos from Tottenham for the season to boost the right flank.

Playing a 4-2-3-1 with the following formation

-----------Guaita/Alves-----------------

Azp----Rami-------Botia/Ruiz----Mathieu

-----------------Albelda----------------

-------Banega--------------------------

Pablo/Gio--------Canales--------Piatti--

---------Soldado----------------------

Side is ok for 3rd place perhaps. Need to boost the team in the following depts

AMR: Shaqiri looks an exciting prospect

AML:Planning to move for Griezmann

LB: Unfortunately not a lot of options available. Any recommendations?

DM:Still havent decided

ST:Still havent decided

for left back, give alba some playing time there, get him in a full back training schedule, individually train his tackling and get his "dive into tackles" ppm untrained ( otherwise he picks up loads of yellows ) and he will become a great DL, in my save, hes a full spanish international

I am actually looking for a LB. But surprisingly its hard to get good quality LB's in FM 2012. But what you say gives food for thought-training Alba to play as a LB. And perhaps get someone else to play backup to him in future. Mathieu is severely underrated in FM 12

oh and dont forget the best thing about alba becoming great, hes homegrown

FM12 - Spain, The Cotonou Agreement and Spanish Citizenship (Useful For Player Searches)

Handy information for anyone managing a Spanish club. May be useful to include somewhere in your OP.

whilst having a look through my history, i noticed something a bit spooky, those of you that follow valencia like me, might know that last season, ( irl of course ) they finished 3rd with the exact same points, wins, draws and defeats and in the same position as they did in the season before, well look what i did in my first season, at least i improved the GD a fair bit!, this season i already have 24 wins, so its not happening this time round :

Am a fair way through season 3, 2nd in the league, finished top of my CL group ( ahead of Inter ) and have just brought Juan Mata back home, even better, because Chelsea failed to get into europe this season, hes eligible for my CL knockout games