Too rich to buy?

My club has a little over 20 million in the bank, and I... can't find anyone to buy. My squad is good, but it's not that good that it can't be improved by, say, a quality striker or defender. I tried to buy Lewandowski (sp?) and after bidding persistently was quoted a price of 72 million by PSG. Eek! Even a very ordinary (by standard of my current team) striker is being quoted at nearly 20 million (by comparison, none of my current players values are in double figures).

Would I have been better bidding first and then selling my peripheral players, or what? Any advice on what to do now?

(fm13, should it be at all relevant)

Given the level of strikers you are targeting I would say £20m isn't a lot to have in the bank so I would be saving the money.

If you have already sold players and need a striker then you need to be looking for unhappy ones, ones in lower rep leagues or clubs and those with about a year left on their contracts.

I don't know about that. The values of my own players are nowhere near the prices I'm being quoted, that's the weird thing. I know clubs can ask what they like, and people can buy or not, but...

I actually have enough players for the season, I think, thanks to a strong youth & reserve setup (basically, young players with high potential have been the only ones I've been able to afford over the last few seasons!), it's just kind of frustrating. I'm never going to have the same kind of money that a Liverpool, Man U, or Chelsea have to spend, so don't see a way of getting hold of the better players other than one by one, season by season, because the club chairman always takes back all the unused transfer money at the end of the season. I'm not complaining, as such - it's very realistic! - but I was wondering if there was a way out of it.

the club chairman always takes back all the unused transfer money at the end of the season.

Club chairmen don't "take back" unused transfer money because there is nothing to take back.

You have one source of money - Your bank account, everything you get goes into it and everything you spend comes out of it.

Your transfer budget is simply that, a budget. Its an amount of money that your board will allow you to spend, when you do the money comes out of your bank account.

The budget is reviewed at least once a season and is based primarily on how much money is in the bank. The more money you have in the bank the more the board will allow you to spend. You never lose anything.

The budget is reviewed at least once a season and is based primarily on how much money is in the bank. The more money you have in the bank the more the board will allow you to spend. You never lose anything.

Hmm, interesting, thank you.

In the first season I had 5 million budget remaining at the end of the season, and the next season it was announced I would have 6 million the following season, and then last season I had 12 million remaining and it was announced I would have 12 million budget this season. Is that what you'd expect?

Depending on how much money you are making.

If you just broke even last season then you have the same amount of money in the bank so should expect the budget to be much the same.

If you want a bigger budget you need to make more money.

Buying players from top leagues ain't the way to go unless you're looking at transfer listed players, I'd recommend taking a look at South America and Eastern Europe and completely avoiding Spain, France, England, Germany, Netherlands as 99% of the time they will rip you off specially clubs with good academies.

Here is what i always do sign 3-4 scouts that have good knowledge of Brazil, Argentine, Czech, Croatia, Poland and send them on assignments to get 3 star+ players and keep that assignment going forever and for the past 2 seasons for example i have signed 3 Brazilians from Sparta Prague and 2 of them are already Ballon D'or finalists one of them i paid 7m for and the other had a 3.9m release clause although it's worth mentioning that i am in 2027 so there are a lot of developed regens already.

When I don't know which positions I want to buy players for I just batch scout anyone with a value over let's say 1M for a big club and under the age of 28(maybe 30).Then just shortlist the good ones and sort them by how much your scout thinks their club wants for them.

Buying players from top leagues ain't the way to go unless you're looking at transfer listed players, I'd recommend taking a look at South America and Eastern Europe and completely avoiding Spain, France, England, Germany, Netherlands as 99% of the time they will rip you off specially clubs with good academies.

Thanks. I've had a lot of success with scouting Brazil and other S. American countries (I even mentioned in another post that I would soon have to learn to speak Portuguese ), so what you're saying makes a lot of sense, to me.

I've had less success in Eastern Europe, so maybe I should concentrate more on there, for a while.

When I don't know which positions I want to buy players for I just batch scout anyone with a value over let's say 1M for a big club and under the age of 28(maybe 30).

It's not that I don't know which positions need strengthening (a striker, and a left back, and possibly a right back), it's that the clubs who own the players I want, won't sell them to me (at anything less than silly prices).

It's not that I don't know which positions need strengthening (a striker, and a left back, and possibly a right back), it's that the clubs who own the players I want, won't sell them to me (at anything less than silly prices).

Scout player from that position and then see if there are any bargains.Don't just try to sign a few targets you have.

It's not that I don't know which positions need strengthening (a striker, and a left back, and possibly a right back), it's that the clubs who own the players I want, won't sell them to me (at anything less than silly prices).

Why should they?

If you want the player then its fair to say that their current club want him to stay.

This is where it pays off to have a backup target.

Why should they?

If you want the player then its fair to say that their current club want him to stay.

:confused: I didn't say they should.

What I started doing today: pull up each league/country loaded and access a league team's senior roster page> contracts. Add in a column for "minimum release clause" and scout all players with a release clause you're willing to pay. Using the down-tick next to the team name, scroll through all the teams in the league, scouting each team's minimum release players. Move on to next league.

I've started using it for affordable release fee players (mostly younger/back up players) to build up my reserves/youth teams, to develop/send out on loan, and it they don't reach Premier potential, sell them on for more than what I paid for them.

I noticed today that 8 years into the save, Messi at Barcelona had a minimum release of $350 million (which is rather high, considering two of my players at Man Utd finished 1st and 3rd in the European player of the year.)

Wow thanks for the really good tip, i am also finding it a problem to sign quality players from the top European nations because of the overpriced nature, even transfer listed players are a rip off. Tried to sign some regen (2025 i am in) he was transfer listed for 17.75million and the club wanted 25 million. The only problem is managing in england players from Brazil and South America are going to need work permits and thats not always possible

What I started doing today: pull up each league/country loaded and access a league team's senior roster page> contracts. Add in a column for "minimum release clause" and scout all players with a release clause you're willing to pay. Using the down-tick next to the team name, scroll through all the teams in the league, scouting each team's minimum release players. Move on to next league.

I've started using it for affordable release fee players (mostly younger/back up players) to build up my reserves/youth teams, to develop/send out on loan, and it they don't reach Premier potential, sell them on for more than what I paid for them.

I noticed today that 8 years into the save, Messi at Barcelona had a minimum release of $350 million (which is rather high, considering two of my players at Man Utd finished 1st and 3rd in the European player of the year.)

What I started doing today: pull up each league/country loaded and access a league team's senior roster page> contracts. Add in a column for "minimum release clause" and scout all players with a release clause you're willing to pay. Using the down-tick next to the team name, scroll through all the teams in the league, scouting each team's minimum release players. Move on to next league.

Yes, that's what I did for most of the young players I bought, and is why I have ended up with a very South American looking West Brom team.

"It's just like watching Brazil", chant the fans. Yeah, that's because most of them come from there...

This will only work for players based in Spain & Brazil, release clauses for players based in other nations are hidden until sufficient scouting knowledge of that player is attained.

Good advice, thanks.