FM16: Athletic Bilbao - No puede comprar un trofeo

TEAM REPORT

GOALKEEPERS

Gorka Iraizoz Profile

At the age of 34 Gorka is nearing the end of his career at top level. Still a good player for any La Liga team. Aerially strong and decent all rounded keeper. Won't let you down.

Iago Herrerin Profile

Iago Herrerin is closing to his best years as a keeper. Might even be better than Gorka and you certainly can rotate between two of them. Can be sold in a decent price if you want to do that.

Kepa Arrizabalaga Profile

The 20-year-old is on loan at Real Valladolid for the first season. Really promising keeper.

ADVICE

In the first season you have two good and experienced keepers available for your first team squad. After the first season I would throw Arrizabalaga to the deep end, keep Gorka Iraizoz as his mentor and simply let Herrerin go. At Bilbao you also have Álex Remiro, a 20-year-old and quite promising keeper who could work as Kepa's back up after Gorka has retired. So, try to get both Remiro and Arrizabalaga tutored by Gorka and then it's time to say goodbye.

DEFENDERS

Eneko Boveda Profile

Decent full back who can play on either side. Not starting material though.

Jonás Ramalho Profile

Can play naturally as both centre back and right full back. Good all round player with some potential left to use. It's your decision whether you want to use in the first season or not.

Jon Aurtenetxe Profile

Basically the same description to Ramalho although Jon plays as left back or centre back. He is also on loan at Tenerife for the first season. Good player.

Xabi Etxeita Profile

Big centre back at his prime. Got call-up for the national team IRL but won't do it for you on FM. Solid all-round defender with a bit slow pair of legs. Good La Liga player.

Aymeric Laporte Profile

Well here is the crown jewel for sure. You really must keep hold of Laporte. Excellent in possession and really solid without it. Potential to be a world class player.

Carlos Gurpegi Profile

Carlos is past his peak at the age of 34. If you can keep him happy as a back up, do it. If not, it might be time to let him go have some first team action for the last time. Needless to say that this man is a club legend.

Gorka Elustondo Profile

28-year-old rotation option to both defense and defensive midfield. Don't rate him too highly I'm afraid.

Mikel Sán Jose Profile

Has taken his home in the Athletic midfield IRL and you might want to play him as an anchor occasionally. I have always rated Mikel as a centre back and also do it here. Excellent partner for Laporte with precise passing and good aerial ability. Your penalty taker number one.

Oscar De Marcos Profile

Spanish version of the Swiss pocket flint. After Iraola left to MLS De Marcos will be taking his place as a starting right back. Good at getting forward, quite poor at defending, will cover that with his passion for the Athletic shirt.

Mikel Balenziaga Profile

Balenziaga has quickly established his place as a starting left full back in Athletic. Solid defender with a desire to go forward. Good player again.

ADVICE

From left to right: Balenziaga - Laporte - Sán Jose - De Marcos. Keep an eye for Ramalho and Aurtenetxe as they will do as a good rotation player. Good seasons for Balenziaga and De Marcos means that there are teams coming after them and they are willing to move. Sign a long contract with high release clause for Laporte as big teams will be after him sooner than later. In Bilbao and Baskonia you have some great prospects Xiker, Iñiko Lekue, Unai Núñez, Unai Bilbao and Yeray can all make it to the La Liga level. I reckon this is a solid backline for years to come.

MIDFIELDERS

Ander Iturraspe Profile

The 26-year-old will be your starting defensive midfielder if you prefer to use that kind of formation. Stronger defensively than in offence but is well rounded player and can also cover as a box to box midfielder if needed. One of the key players.

Javier Eraso Profile

25-year-old cover to the midfield. Defensive minded midfielder with decent passing abilities and physique but that's about it. Can work as a backup in both defensive midfielder and centre midfield position. Not highly rated player.

Mikel Rico Profile

Mikel Rico is at top of his level at the moment. Rico is excellent defensive minded midfielder but also has enough quality to play as a box to box midfielder. Excellent mental attributes and really good tutor.

Raul Gárcia Profile

10 million pound signing from Atlético Madrid where Raul found himself as one of the bunch really. In Athletic Raul is considered as a star individual. Again excellent mental attributes which make him an important player in many other ways. Has a goal scoring ability in him and can play quite well everywhere in the midfield.

Iñaki Williams Profile

Iñaki Williams is a player that is currently making his break through in real life and will do it for you also if get things right with him. Iñaki is a bit of trouble maker I guess but when treated right, this boy will shine. Basque version of Theo Walcott is about to set Bilbao on fire.

Iker Muniain Profile

The golden boy of Bilbao hasn't quite made it in real life but at the age of 22 you still have lots of time to dig the best out of him. A little bit Messi-like right footed player with lots of trickery in the bag. Currently suffering from the first serious injury of his career that will keep him off the pitch until early November.

Markel Susaeta Profile

Markel Susaeta is a well rounded winger with good work rate and decent defending skills. Will be your starting player at the right hand side where he can provide, score and also help defensively weak De Marcos in the defense. Key player.

Ibai Gómez Profile

Ibai Gómez is an excellent rotation option for you to both flanks. Has really good right foot and is a threat from set pieces. Professional personality.

Beñat Profile

Beñat will act as the creative force in your midfield. A player that in real life seems to be getting almost everywhere on the pitch. Really intelligent player with a mean right foot strike. Spirited personality

ADVICE

Midfield again is quality for you. You have right mix of creativity, work rate and mean tacklers. I would recommend you to promote Unai López to the first team from Bilbao because he is really up to it from the beginning and can cover Beñat really well. Get this youngster tutored and enjoy the success. Another one to consider promoted is Aker Aketxe. Jurgi Oteo and Iñigo Ruiz de Galarreta can also make it to the La Liga level.

STRIKERS

Aritz Aduriz Profile

Aritz Aduriz is a player that I would describe as a master of timing. At 34 years of age Aduriz has found top of his game and is actually underrated in the game if you ask me. Aduriz isn't the fastest there is but he can still score with his head and also with his feet. Timing makes him also a through ball threat. Make the others feed him and he will score. Your main man.

Kike Sola Profile

28-year-old Sola isn't rated by the team in the beginning and I don't rate him either. Decent La Liga striker that you can sell quite easily.

Borja Viguera Profile

Borja really doesn't have anything special to offer. Decent finisher but not anything else. Can also be sold with ease.

ADVICE

Aduriz has year or two in him as your main striker that will be scoring about 20 goals per season in the league. The key point is to keep him fit and avoid injuries. I would make a change in this area: get rid of Sola and Viguera, keep Williams as your second choice and promote Asier Villalibre from Bilbao Athletic to both learn from the olders and get some game time. Gorka Santamaria and Guillermo also possess good amount of potential and can play in this level.

TACTICAL SUGGESTIONS AND TRANSFER TARGETS

TACTICAL SUGGESTIONS

Those are the three formations I would use if I had to pick up three in the beginning. I always look keeping tight at the back and that is why I always employ a defensive midfielder. Ander Iturraspe is a great holding midfielder to be used protecting your back four. Employ him to a defensive midfielder (D) role and make him close down less so that he won't get drifted away from his position. He has the PPM to short simple passing which is highly useful as you want him to play it simple and retain possession.

Lets jump to the defense. Both of your starting full backs are ones that like to get forward. I find De Marcos a bit more adventurous as he used to play as an attacking midfielder in past years. Employ him in a wing back role and use Balenziaga as a full back. San José likes to play it simple so a centre back role is good for him, if you like the stopper-cover combination: San José is your stopper and Laporte is your cover. Laporte is a ball playing defender all the way.

In midfield I would employ Beñat in one of the playmaker roles if you prefer using a playmaker. Any of them will suit you just fine as the player is well rounded footballer. Raúl Garcia and Mikel Rico both enjoy attacking so employ one of them in box to box midfielder or central midfielder (A) role and give them the freedom to get forward. If you rather use Garcia as an AM where he is better: give him the Shadow Striker role as he is equally good at creating chances for Aduriz and scoring himself.

In wide areas you have traditional winger in form of Susaeta and an inside forward in Muniain and his cover Ibai Goméz. I find Iker more of a building player than a finisher so he is on support and Susaeta also which allows De Marcos to make overlapping runs. Ibai on the other hand is a finisher.

In attack Aduriz is a finisher all the way. Use him as an Advanced forward and enjoy the spoils. No point using him as a build up player as he hasn't got the skills to do that and also that might limit in his goal tally. Iñaki Williams offers you different type of advanced forward option with stunning pace.

TRANSFER TARGETS

Reserved 3

And any mods appearing: feel free to ad FM16 to the topic's name.

SEASON 1

TEAM CHANGES

Nothing massive done here as expected. Loaned out couple of players more in form of Enric Saborit, Sabin,Kike Sola and Iñigo Lekue. Sold Carlos Gurpegi to Swansea in January for £475k.

I decided to promote Asier Villalibre and Unai López to the team. Did some mentoring job with the youngsters: Iñaki Williams got tutored by Aritz Aduriz, Unai López by Beñat and Villalibre by Raul Gárcia.

SUPERCUP

LA LIGA

COPA DEL REY

EUROPA LEAGUE

Really good first season generally saw us taking the third place in La Liga along with the first trophy in years as we conquered the Spanish Super Cup where our 2-0 home victory was enough to secure the title at Camp Nou.

UEFA Europa league saw us lining in the same group along with Besiktas, Panathinaikos and Vitesse. We won our three first games but the second half saw us losing our grip a bit with two draws and a defeat. With those results we secured first place in the group.

First knock out round lined us up against Marseille. 2-2 away draw was enough to see us through as we didn't see any goals at San Mames. Second knock out round was against Lyon 1-1 away draw was again enough as we beat the French team 2-1 at home with goals from Laporte and Muniain.

After that it was two English sides we managed to beat. This whole work was undone in the final against PSV where we dominated. Andres Guardado gave PSV the lead from a spot kick in 55th minute and Unai López equalized in the 85th. The match went to penalties where the goalkeepers had to decide the match eventually: Zoet scored and Iraizoz missed.

Copa del Rey was a pay back from Barcelona. Only on away goals though.

Player of the season award went for Aymeric Laporte and Iñaki Williams was our best goalscorer with 19 goals in all competitions. Aritz Aduriz was unlucky this season only managing to play 24 games in whole season and scoring 8 goals. Ander Iturraspe featured the most along with Markel Susaeta, Laporte and Mikel Sán Jose. Oscar De Marcos was targeted by Barcelona and Mikel Balenziaga by Sporting Lisbon. Laporte decided to stay and signed a long contract with £59M release clause.

Nice Thread.

Can you post your tactics and transfers for the first season?

Thanks

Nice Thread.

Can you post your tactics and transfers for the first season?

Thanks

Tactical guide added.

What about roles and instructions of each tactic? Thanks

What about roles and instructions of each tactic? Thanks

here is the right place for the fans of Athletic can interact with each other

SEASON 2

TRANSFERS

I was a bit ashamed of myself here. As our first youth intake was absolutely useless, I decided to first time ever sign some youngsters from elsewhere. Along with that I bought Nacho Monreal from Arsenal as it was almost agreed that Mikel Balenziaga would make a move to Sporting Lisbon in the summer but that transfer never went through. Jon Gaztañaga came in as a backup after released by Sociedad. He made only 6 appearances in the La Liga.

Out went the players moaning for game time and the ones I found useless. Óscar De Marcos' brilliant season was awarded by Barcelona who signed the versatile player for £20M.

LA LIGA

It was clear that we had to do a better job in turning those tight one goal games to victories, last season we only lost three times but drew in 14 games. We had to be more effective this time around. The season saw us scoring 17 more than last season and conceding the same 24 goals which was again excellent. Markel Susaeta really jumped in levels as the winger scored 13 goals and assisted 19 goals during the league season. He was just behind Cristiano Ronaldo in awards ceremony when they picked up the player of the season.

Real Madrid continued their winning ways while Barcelona declined. Athletic managed to squeeze between the two giants this time. Luis Enrique exited at the end of the season. Messi only scored 10 goals in La Liga for second time on a row.

COPA DEL REY

A disappointment for sure. Both us and Barcelona exited in fifth round.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Tough group draw lined us together with two giants Bayern Munchen and Manchester City. Eventually it was though Athletic that conquered the group. Only two goals conceded in six games and keeping Bayern zeroed in both encounters was brilliant piece of work.

Standard were the third team and they lost every single game.

First knock out round we beat Chelsea. After losing 1-2 at Stamford Bridge we bounced back with a lucky 4-0 win.

And the rest was history:

We knocked three British teams on our way to the final where we conquered with Boateng's own goal in the ninth minute. 270 minutes of keeping Bayern in zero and winning the Champions league were really things to remembered.

This career has been more successful that I would have imagined.

SEASON 2

TRANSFERS

LA LIGA

It was clear that we had to do a better job in turning those tight one goal games to victories, last season we only lost three times but drew in 14 games. We had to be more effective this time around. The season saw us scoring 17 more than last season and conceding the same 24 goals which was again excellent. Markel Susaeta really jumped in levels as the winger scored 13 goals and assisted 19 goals during the league season. He was just behind Cristiano Ronaldo in awards ceremony when they picked up the player of the season.

Real Madrid continued their winning ways while Barcelona declined. Athletic managed to squeeze between the two giants this time. Luis Enrique exited at the end of the season. Messi only scored 10 goals in La Liga for second time on a row.

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COPA DEL REY

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A disappointment for sure. Both us and Barcelona exited in fifth round.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Tough group draw lined us together with two giants Bayern Munchen and Manchester City. Eventually it was though Athletic that conquered the group. Only two goals conceded in six games and keeping Bayern zeroed in both encounters was brilliant piece of work.

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Standard were the third team and they lost every single game.

First knock out round we beat Chelsea. After losing 1-2 at Stamford Bridge we bounced back with a lucky 4-0 win.

And the rest was history:

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We knocked three British teams on our way to the final where we conquered with Boateng's own goal in the ninth minute. 270 minutes of keeping Bayern in zero and winning the Champions league were really things to remembered.

This career has been more successful that I would have imagined.

Out of interest, since doing so well after 2 seasons, did you get any good offers from other clubs?

Out of interest, since doing so well after 2 seasons, did you get any good offers from other clubs?

From Barcelona and Manchester United and also being declared as the one to replace Wenger at Arsenal when he retires. I'm not looking to move though as I like it in Athletic and haven't won everything or developed enough talents.

Cool, thanks for that, was only wondering as I do have some interest in starting with Bilbao as I really like their first team squad, and seems they have some great youth prospects, but I'm not really big on regens etc. within the game, so would have just liked to use the team as a kind of stepping stone to another interesting team.

Out of interest, what did you start as coaching and qualification wise? Must have been pretty high?

Out of interest, what did you start as coaching and qualification wise? Must have been pretty high?

José Angel - the new Aritz Aduriz? Only bravery and heading are lacking.

SEASON 3 (WINTER UPDATE)

TRANSFERS

Finally something major really happened as we landed Óscar De Marcos back from Barcelona. 18 La Liga games with 4 goals and 2 assists were enough for Óscar to make him ready to come back home. Huge profit for us this saga. Antoine Griezmann though was the real big name signing. After chasing Fernando Llorente for two years, I decided to finally splash the cash on the talented Frenchman.

Out went the second best performer of last season as Jonás Ramalho was captured by Man City.

LA LIGA

The season began of course with the European Super Cup where we faced Manchester City and won 2-1 with brace from Susaeta.

In La Liga our results have been impressive:

Playing without striker has really paid off and the new signings Griezmann and De Marcos have been top notch performers. We are still missing the player to lead our line and score 30-40 goals per season but that might never happen with my philosophy.

The main thing is that we sit top of the table, unbeaten:

COPA DEL REY

Still in. The fantastic thing is that we won't be facing any of the giants before the final if we can reach it.

EUROPE

The Champions league has again been a tight affair. We won the group and Dynamo were second. Really tough bunch of matches where we conceded three penalties in the first two games. Talk about bad refereeing.

And of course we are the world champions.

PLAYERS

Nice thread & nice part of the world

Well done El Payaso, it has inspired me for my next save after my current game (Wolfsburg)

Nice thread mate. I do a Bilbao save every year and find it has great appeal long-term when you have to target Spanish youth. Give Xiker, Unai Lopez and Villalibre game time... And Arrizabalaga when he comes back from his loan. They have been excellent for me when given chances.

Rodolfo Borrell is available as a Head of Youth Development and I strongly recommend tying him down as early as possible.

Jaap Stam (5* Defence coach) is also interested in joining which is fantastic.

Some of the top Basque players to target over the save...

GK - Ruffier

DEF - Inigo Martinez, Zaldua, Azpilicueta, Monreal

MID - Xabi Alonso, Arteta, Ander Herrera, Xabi Prieto, Pardo, Javi Martinez, Illarramendi

ATT - Agirretxe, Llorente, Griezmann

Pepelu from Levante - 16 year old midfielder has great potential as well.

Strongly recommend a Bilbao save to anyone who has interest in a long-term save/youth development/unique challenge.

Athletic Bilbao are always a team I like to have a go with on FM (had a great save with them on FM 14), To be honest my Villarreal save has gone stale, so I might give Bilbao a crack.

Nice to see some other people here also. I will update the transfer targets and team information next week.

Great thread. Never been Bilbao before but this thread has inspired me to do so!

Almost to January season 1. I will post highlights shortly.

Almost to January season 1. I will post highlights shortly.

So how has it been?

I will write my season 3 report during the weekend.

SEASON 3

LA LIGA

As we remember we were sitting in the first place after 16 rounds in La Liga in the previous update. The rest of the season made no big difference. In January there were no changes to the team even though Aymeric Laporte, Mikel San José and Xabi Etxeita were all ready to move on. San José and Laporte to "a bigger club" and Etxeita being frustrated for being number three. I tried to sell San José and Etxeita but no-one really wanted to pay enough but the boys appreciated the effort. Laporte has been quite calm.

Our La Liga campaign in 2018 started with a hammering home at Villarreal whom we beat 5-0. This set a pace for the rest of the season and practically we had a chance to secure the title already at the end of January away to Real Madrid. 0-1 victory was an excellent result and Mikel San José was our hero there.

10.2 was the end for us in terms of unbeaten run that was about 40 games long in all competitions. Barcelona beat us at Camp Nou 2-1 with a 90+2 corner goal from Cristian Tello. Lionel Messi scored the first goal and Iñaki Williams, our best goalscorer, equalized.

The next defeat came in the beginning of April where we were showing some lapse of form: Benfica had just days before knocked us out of the Champions league in first knock-out round and now Sevilla were better 3-1 with two goals from set plays. This was the highest amount of goals we had conceded in the league for a long time. Rest of the season though was solid with 7 victories and 1 draw from the remaining games.

So we were the champions of Spain. This though was more down to the decline of Barca and Real. So we might not keep this crown too long... Barca made a good end of season run and I expect them and Messi to be back next season as Leo managed encouraging 19 goals in this season with most of them scored in the second half of the season.

Again the season was mostly down on our excellent defense. Like I mentioned before: we played without a striker through most of the season and this made it even more solid as we didn't sign any defensive players. Along with those awards Williams was the best Spanish goalscorer with 21 league goals.

COPA DEL REY

This time we made it all the way to the final to win Barcelona. Iturraspe, Griezmann and San José from a penalty scored the goals for us. Neymar equalized it in the second half for Barca.

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

Knocked out in first knock out round like told earlier. Basically had both games in control but lost 4-3 on aggregate. Sometimes you are unlucky and punished with cheap goals. The Champions league final was a nice tight contest between two good teams. Went to see it just for the sake of it. We've already won this once so I don't rate it as high as La Liga title as after all it's much down to luck how you do.

Those are the main stats for this season.

TIME OF CHANGES?

Season four will be interesting in many ways I think.

I was really surprised with these budgets as we are not doing too well financially. On the other hand I see no use for the money as we don't need anyone to be signed.

Óscar De Marcos, our player of the season, will make his second transfer away to PSG I think and Etxeita is also going. Iker Muniain and Griezmann were both impressive down the flanks last season so it is time for Susaeta to move... as he will be converted as our new right back next season. From Bilbao Athletic there will be promotions for Jurgi Oteo (right winger) and Xiker (CB) to fill these spaces. We could do with a great box to box midfielder but there really isn't anyone available. Azpiliqueta, Herrera and Javi Martinez would all like to join us now but we don't need them and they are too expensive for us to just come as first team/rotation options. The only likely signing is Iago Herrerin that will fill the place as our backup keeper as Gorka Iraizoz did retire at the end of the season and continues as a U-19 goalkeeping coach.

Next season might be a hard one and we will only be aiming to reach top 4.

Great thread, inspired me to give Athletic a go. I've never been Athletic before and my question is how do you go about scouting? Any advice on scouting would be gladly accepted.

Cheers. It's quiet in here as expected. I think that the Premier league teams have more fans and not everyone enjoys teams where you cannot buy trophies.

The scouting thing is a bit hard as in the beginning you have really limited scouting range available as well as transfer targets (you're only able to sign Basque players which are rare outside Spain). I think I got wider areas available in season two but still cannot scout America at all. The transfer targets were quite well listed by annan17 few posts above.

The pre-season for season four has been interesting as we face some already familiar faces...

Unai López really has become the thing I wanted him to be: the new Iniesta. Took over as Spain manager during the summer so the Athletic boys will feature now regularly as deserved.

Guess who's back, back again... What a comeback.

Great job with your save.

I'm an avid Athletic Club player in FM and have been for a long time so always enjoy reading someone else's thoughts. I also assign a personal rule of only signing 16 year olds who already have Basque nationality as I feel this better reflects the real life policy and it adds a further challenge in squad building!

I'm in my 3rd season after 4th and 3rd place finishes in my first two years, look likely to get a similar finish this year.

I always find Ibai Gomez is a monster goalscorer in my set up, but I really struggled to get much from Aduriz or Raul Garcia. Does anyone have any methods for getting the best out of Garcia in a 4-2-3-1? I play him as an AM (A) behind a lone striker but he doesn't get great ratings to be honest.

My biggest surprise this year was Viguera - I've always cast him aside in previous saves, but this year he was immense for me first season. Aduriz got injured and Viguera came in up front, and Aduriz never got back in the side. Viguera finished with nearly a 1:1 goal to game ratio!

Unai Lopez is still developing nicely on my save, as is Xiker and Villalibre - the latter being our top scorer. Arrizabalaga is a solid number one too.

I've managed to sign a few good Basque players too, I've picked up Ruffier, Monreal for fairly low fees, and then two others. I managed to get Inigo Martinez for 20mil (GBP), which is a fair chunk but I lost San Jose to Monaco for 30mil(!!!!) - great fee but I hate losing players on a Bilbao save. I also picked up Javi Martinez for the first time ever in a save which was a coup. Again he cost a fair chunk but money isn't really a problem with this team if you get into the UCL the first few seasons. I also have Xabi Alonso this year and he's still great although his speed/acceleration are pretty shocking. He's a good pro to have for one season of tutoring though!

Aupa Athletic!

Nice to see your contribution here. I haven't got anything out if Raul Garcia either and I have just rotated him in as a box to box with Mikel Rico who has been good for three seasons. Iturraspe is brilliant in the DM spot. Aduriz was really bad for me also but now Llorente has been superb in season four.

Griezmann has been the only big signing. With that 70 million I could have brought in Herrera and Martinez but didn't really need either of them. Inigo Martinez could fit in but San José and Laporte have been untouchable for me. Xiker is now number three for me. Unai Bilbao also seems to develope well, though he is slow and I haven't tutored him so the determination is only 5.

Villalibre was sent out on loan this season. He would be ready to lead the line but I want to see what and for how long can Llorente do for me. Ibai hasn't impressed me but is still there as a rotation option. Oteo is now being introduced as Susaeta has moved to full back position.

I am now also Spain manager and Kepa, Balenciaga, San José, Iturraspe, Muniain, Susaeta, Williams and Llorente are all in the team.

El Payaso, your results are very good! Almost bordering on discouraging Very good first season, and then winning the CL in the 2nd season!

I just got started on my yearly Athletic Bilbao save. Having some issues with the quality of the players, but for the future I can see potential if I can sing the likes of Azpilicueta, Griezmann and Martinez, so a good 1st season and some CL money should be enough to get the ball rolling before the newgens start to make their way into the first team.

Had a bit of a rocky start with Iago Herrin and Javier Erasco picking up long term injuries (6 & 4 months respectively) followed by Aduritz demanding a new contract due to a rejected transfer offer. I ended up having to sell him. Not ideal since the 1st thing I did was to sell Sola and Viguera.

Maybe a good tip for other people trying out Athletic is to immediately trigger the option of extending Aduritz' contract. Because I didn't do it there were no viable interaction-options, besides agreeing to offer him a new deal or selling him. If I had triggered the extensions I could have used the standard "You have plenty of time left..."

My only transfers were a return to Ahtletic for Mikel Arruabarrena (£140k release clause) to replace Aduritz and I managed to secure Pepelu on loan with a £2m future fee option (he had no interest in singing permanently but I'm hoping that'll change).

So far I'm 6th in the league with a record of 5-1-3, and got an easy Europa League group that should be no problem to qualify from.

I've promoted Arellano, Unai Lopez, Villalibre and Remiro(due to injuries) to the 1st team, but desperately lacking quality upfront, especially when I'm playing the better sides. Have switched between Raul Garcia and Arruabarrena as the lone striker, but although they have been decent my main goal threats so far has been Ibai Gomez and Unai Lopez. I get stuck against the big teams though. Muniain is about to be fit now, so I'm hoping that will help. Willams has been good on the wing, but haven't got much out of him upfront. The style of play I've chosen doesn't really suit a speedy striker though.

So far I've played Barca (x3), Real M & Valencia and only managed to pick up a point against the latter. I did manage to beat Real Sociedad away though, so things are looking better then expected I guess, considering many of the difficult games are out of the way.

Well the season four hasn't been good if it gives you any relief. I have just been messing around with tactics instead of using the old ones and started to notice that there are really few players actually performing. This messing around is likely to cost us the Champions league as from 4 games we have 4 draws. Should have won all of them according to the stats but we have been 'unlucky'.

Sadly I am losing my motivation on this as the AI teams have changed so much and it is hard for me to find style of play that I would be happy to settle.

In La Liga we are still fighting for the top spots.

Maybe I just download the editor and move some players back to the original teams to make it more enjoyable.

Yeah, that's a problem I'm familiar with. The interest with a save dies down when I get a side that's a bit too good. Not much to do when it get's like that. Maybe set yourself some limitations to make it more challenging, like only relying on youths from the academy.

In January now. Sitting 5th in the league and still in the cups. RM and Barca are long gone, and there's 5 teams competing for the 3rd place. I'm drawing lot's of games due to lack of goals, but the defence is solid. Got a bad injury to Balenziaga so I had to get Monreal in.

Best players so far has been De Marcos, Ibai, Rico and Unai Lopez. Iker Muniain has been a massive disappointment with just 1 assist in 11(8) games and no goals. I think I need to have him unlearn his PPMs or something. He has no impact on games whatsoever. Played him as a WMA, IF, AP-A and Treq. AVR of just 6.68. It's probably made worse due to the bad quality strikers though. Arruabarrena managed 9 goals in 11(10) games, not bad for a cheap such a cheap player. He got a bad injury though, and because of his age he's probably gonna decline a lot and I don't think there's any point in renewing his contract. Hopefully I can sign Greizmann or Llorente in the summer.

Yep Muniain and Raul Garcia are the two giving me grey hairs also. Iker scored 8 in La Liga in first season but after that he has been quiet. He is mainly providing assists. Now not even them. I am in a bit strange situation now as I have to play unhappy Aketxe, Raul Garcia and Ibai. Aketxe and Ibai are surprisingly good when I give them game time.

Monreal for me is declining now and giving some horror performances down the flank. I just don't believe anyone wants to buy him. I could probably get rid of Muniain for good money but don't really want to.

Just got the first good performance of the season as we beat Celta 3-0 away. Next up is Emirates though and we need something out of it.

What role do you play inaki Williams in the attacking mid postion mate ?

Had similar dissapointment with Muniain. Never really been able to impose himself on games and I regularly play Ibai as he's been a great performer for me.

I'm into season 4 now, I've gotten off to a good start this season following a poor pre season and a tactical re think. Last season was average as I got knocked out of the Champions League group stages and finished a solid 3rd in the league.

I have some excellent youth academy prospects coming through though. I think under 18 I have around 10 3 gold star (4 black star) players coming through so looking very solid for the future. That's having not signed any Spanish 16 year olds too...just my own academy players, some of other local clubs and the odd one who popped up at Wolfsburg.

I still feel a long way from winning the league though, the performances aren't consistent enough.

My first choice XI is Arrizabalaga, Monreal, Inigo Martinez, Laporte, Ramalho, Javi Martinez, Iturraspe, Lopez, Williams, Muniain/Ibai, Villalibre

What role do you play inaki Williams in the attacking mid postion mate ?

Shadow striker. Now I am playing 4-1-4-1 though as I prefer Llorente as a striker and Williams on right midfield. Tried also playing him behind Llorente but no success.

We lost 3-0 at Emirates but still the one goal in Germany against Leverkusen saw us through: Arsenal top of the table, we second and Leverkusen third. If I remember right it was 1-4-1 for every team. Next up is Juventus.

17 rounds in La Liga and top of the table.

1st season done. Finished 3rd in the league and got knocked out of Europa League and Copa del rey in the semis to Spurs and Valencia. Atletico were bottom half long into the season but shot up the league when they got a new manager. I'm expecting them to offer more of a fight this season.

Muniain improved for me and finished with 10 goals. I had to change tactics a bit and use Williams/Villalibre as the lone striker. Played more direct and on the counter in the latter half of the season. Maybe that's what made Muniain perform? Williams finished the season as top scorer for the club with 16 goals in all competitions. He hasn't improved much on his attributes though.. a bit unlucky with the potential roll perhaps. Unai Lopez had the highest AVR with 7.51 and top player for assists. De Marcos, Rico, Laporte, Iturraspe and Susaeta were pretty solid all season. Iraizoz got a bad injury and his attributes plummeted.

For the 2nd season I've signed Ruffier and 12 newgens. I've let Herrerin, Iraizoz, Gurpegi, Arruabarrena, Galarreta, Aurtenetxe and Balenziaga go

So my team is as follows

GK: Ruffier/Kepa

RB: De Marcos/Boveda

LB: Monreal/Arellano

CBr: San Jose/Etexia

Cbl: Laporte/Ramalho

MCr: Rico/Garcia

Mcl: Iturraspe/Benat

Mr: Susaeta/Unai Lopez

Ml: Muniain/Ibai

Am: Unai Lopez/Garcia

Sc: Williams/Villalibre/Guillermo

Not a very strong side, but solid at least on the defensive side. I was hoping to make a big signing, but I don't have have the money or the budget to support the wages. Herrara and Greizmann would be keen on moves but they would both cost £30m + and over £100k pr week. Also, a lot of players generated interest from big clubs (damn you PSG!) so I had to renew contracts and give some of them silly money to stay. I even had to promise Laporte that we would make it to the latter stages of the CL. Fingers crossed I can keep him.

Bilbao finished top 10 in the 2nd tier but none of the players in the squad has improved, which has always been the case in FM There's no real players that stand out there that seems good enough though for anything above a backup role. Xiker might have the potential but for me he has some pretty big weaknesses.

Nice update eple. I will update more on my season four probably tomorrow. Finally starting to find some form in February.

I have found Bilbao a decent place for players. Now I tend to promote some of the young ones to get them tutored and make them available for Bilbao games to keep them match fit.

How have Unai and Villalibre developed for you? Is there possibility to get some screenshots from your save game?

Xiker is doing quite well for me and so is Unai Bilbao. Probably will make San José my holding midfielder for next season, promote Iturraspe a step higher and will use Laporte, Xiker and Bilbao as centre backs and also give more game time to Aurtenetxe by getting rid of Monreal.

In the summer Raul Garcia and Monreal will likely face the exit. More game time for Oteo in midfield.

GK: Kepa / Herrerin

DL: Balenziaga

DR: Susaeta

DC: Laporte / Bilbao

DC: Xiker

DM: San José

MC: Iturraspe / Rico

MC: Unai Lopez / Benat / Aketxe

ML: Griezmann / Ibai

MR: Williams / Muniain / Oteo

ST: Llorente / Villalibre

I have found Bilbao a decent place for players. Now I tend to promote some of the young ones to get them tutored and make them available for Bilbao games to keep them match fit.

I will try that with a few selected players. Even making them available for u-19 matches seems a better option then to have them permanently in the Bilbao-squad. I've always used the B-squad as a place to stick the ones that will never make it, but useful to keep around, and not anywhere to develop promising talents.

Unai Lopez

Asier Villalibre

Inaki Williams

Julen Arellano

Xiker

Jurgi Oteo

They all still need tutoring. Only had limited success with that so far. Xiker and Oteo don't really look that useful though, but I'm gonna keep them in the 1st team and see what happens.

Seems they have a bit random stats as my Oteo, Xiker and Arellano differ a bit from them. Arellano was basically noticed only in this season by me and now I am looking to make the new Balenziaga out of him. Oteo will be the new Susaeta and Xiker the new San José. Also posted a screenie of José Angel that is becoming the new Aduriz. He is in Bilbao rapidly developing.

Nice update, El Payaso. Maybe I should do some more thorough ones when I'm further in.. it's interesting to read about other people's paths.

I got a £16.5m bid for De Marcos from Juventus, all upfront. A bit of a gamble maybe but I decided to sell him and rely on Boveda and Ramalho as right backs. I was hoping to use the money to add a bit of quality upfront, but unfortunately it just wasn't to be. Llorente was not interested, and though Griezmann was available for around £35m earlier in the summer and keen on the move, Atletico had no interest in selling him at that point and would not accept anything less than his release clause.

So now I've got money burning a big hole in my pocket until January. The board agreed to release even more towards the budget so I've got around £30m to spend.

Nice updates guys.

Eple I would stick with Xiker and Oteo, they can both be really useful players. Oteo has a lovely attribute spread for a winger and he will keep improving with a mix of B team and the occasional first team games. Xiker definitely has a few weaknesses but he's turning into a decent CB for me.

Arellano sadly, I don't think I was very lucky with him

Eple I would stick with Xiker and Oteo, they can both be really useful players. Oteo has a lovely attribute spread for a winger and he will keep improving with a mix of B team and the occasional first team games. Xiker definitely has a few weaknesses but he's turning into a decent CB for me.

Arellano sadly, I don't think I was very lucky with him

Thanks! I would have probably never used them if not for the recommendations on here. I've kept them in the 1st team squad along with Yeray and Undabarrena, and the level of improvement is much higher now. I'm probably gonna do that to a few more players as well, but only a few at a time. I don't want to flood the 1st team with players and cause a self inflicted riot!

I'm having a season almost too good to be true. I don't really understand it. The players are highly motivated and rarely complacent or nervous. I made some small changes to my tactic, changing two roles and simply un-ticking 'work ball into box', and now my team is dominating almost every game and converting lots of chances.

Season 2 - January

La Liga

Those two losses were truly horrific and should have been bigger. It doesn't seem to matter whether I play defensive or more adventurous, quick or slow. Just not good enough to beat Barca or Real Madrid... yet.





Champions League

A very tough group, I thought, but it turned out alright. Unfortunately I fielded a bit too much of weak side in the last game and we lost out on the seeding in the 1st knockout stages. Arsenal is a team I often struggled with when playing in England.





Copa del rey

Unlucky with the draw. I will probably play mostly youngsters in those games.



Squad stats in January

Garcia had a fantastic start, then broke his leg. And as for Ibai he has either been injured or unfit all season.

Lopez, Susaeta and Rico have been the shining lights, but I was also pleasantly surprised by Guillermo, although he is either hot or cold and never inbetween for some reason.



Below is two of the most promising new gens signed in the summer. Both 4(5) stars.

Raul Nunez - £2.5m from R. Sociedad



Ivan Olivares - £1.9m from R. Valladolid



Last but not least: Our new striker, signing in January!



With the transfer window approaching though, I'm worried this will be the time when some big club finally matches Laporte's release clause. He has no interest in signing a new contract as of now, but he might be come spring... it's aweful to say, but a torn hamstring might be very well received at this point. Just a two month injury, nothing big... please

Whoa Guillermo as a starting striker. Is he any good? Mikel Rico has been my favorite player in this save. Though he is declining now. Gave Raul García a new contract and sealed an excellent deal for next season as I found a player to replace aging Rico, García and Benat as a starter. This 23-year-old will arrive from Liverpool next summer. They at one point asked for 81 millions for him but now took 12,75 with no resistance.

Whoa Guillermo as a starting striker. Is he any good?

Nah, not really He doesn't really have any strengths, but no weaknesses either. He kinda suits my preferred system though (complete forward on support). With Williams upfront I felt I had to use an AF-A and that meant i had to change things around. There was a pattern emerging though where Guillermo played well for a game or two, followed by being poor for around 5 games. But overall my team was better with him in it then with Williams upfront, I think.