FM16: Borussia Dortmund - Die Schwarzgelben

Club Overview

Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e.V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund, Dortmund, or BVB, is a German sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. The football team is part of a large membership-based sports club with more than 115,000 members, making BVB the third largest sports club by membership in Germany. Dortmund plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German football league system. Dortmund is one of the most successful clubs in German football history.

Borussia Dortmund was founded in 1909 by seventeen football players from Dortmund. Borussia Dortmund have won eight German championships, three DFB-Pokals, five DFL-Supercups, one UEFA Champions League, one UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, and one Intercontinental Cup. Their Cup Winners' Cup win in 1966 made them the first German club to win a European title.

Borussia Dortmund's colours are black and yellow, giving the club its nickname die Schwarzgelben (The Black and Yellows).

Since 1974, Dortmund have played their home games at Westfalenstadion (officially known as Signal Iduna Park until 2026 due to a sponsorship deal with Signal Iduna, a Dortmund-based Insurance group). The stadium is the largest in Germany and Dortmund has the highest average attendance of any association football club in the world.

Signal Iduna Park boasts and impressive capacity of 81,359 for Domestic Matches, reduced to 65,829 all-seater for Continental and International Matches.

The club boast excellent training facilities and youth academy.

In terms of Deloitte's annual Football Money League, Dortmund is the second biggest sports club in Germany and the eleventh biggest football team in the world.

Dortmund holds a long-standing rivalry with Ruhr neighbours Schalke 04 (Gelsenkirchen on FM16 due to licensing), known as the Revierderby. It is often said winning this match is as good as winning the league, and players on the losing side are often reduced to tears at the final whistle. This is THE must-win game.

Dortmund also has a competitive rivalry with FC Bayern München.

Season expectations

The expectations that the board place upon you at the start are ridiculously easy - you'll finish in the Champions League places without even trying, there are few teams going to stop you reaching the semi final of the German Cup, and reaching the group stage of the Europa League should be a doddle.

The initial transfer and wage budget (p/w) is £10.71m and £1.21m (p/w), which can be moderately increased to what you see in the image. I usually just stick with the initial expectations meaning I'll easily surpass what the board want (and happily earn a new longer-term contract).

Note that Dortmund are mega-rich, and start with a balance of £100,000,000. I've yet to have the board increase the transfer budget at game start (although, in truth, I rarely ask for it so it may be possible). If you stick around though, and achieve the board's expectations, the budgets from season 2 onward regularly exceed £100m.

With the mixture of enormous gate receipts (you will have regular domestic attendances of 80,000+), TV money, and prize money in the Bundesliga, you will soon find yourself able to make a couple of marquee signings each season. £30m to £40m each player will not be beyond the reach of BvB (if indeed that is what you want to do).

Another big plus point is the lack of philosophies the board wish to adhere to. You are free to manage the club however you see fit (at least in the beginning), so there will be none of those annoying and repetitive "Despite the positive, we are disappointed at the number of young signings..." messages from the boardroom.

2015/16 Squad Overview

NOTE - I won't be listing every single player at the club as there's really no need. Just the current first team starters, stars, rotation options, and future prospects.

Goalkeepers

Roman Weidenfeller - 34yrs old - German - Value £425k - Wage £41k p/w

An average GK who was Dortmund's #1 since around 2004, but has been replaced as first choice by Roman Burki. He will still do a solid job when called upon, but is weak in Command of area, throwing and kicking. I would not renew his contract. Will need replaced.

Roman Burki - 24yrs old - Swiss - £8.5m - £34.5k p/w

Although bought to replace Weidenfeller as 1st choice, Burki is an average GK as well (at least in FM, and in my opinion) and a less urgent aim should also be to replace him within a season or two once your budget allows a better purchase. Low concentration, positioning, with merely "decent" GK-specific attributes.

Notable youth prospects:

Dominik Reimann - 18yrs old - German/Polish - £97k - £525 p/w

Coaches say he has the potential to be a quality player. Mental attributes are average to decent across the board. Will need heavily tutored, and effort put into training to achieve his potential. Sadly, Lacks professionalism so might not put in the effort himself. Would tutor with Weidenfeller and then loan out to a club where he'll be a Key Player, this would definitely help.

Central Defenders - an embarrassment of riches

Mats Hummels - 26yrs old - German - £30m - £62k p/w

Club captain. Genuine world class ball-playing central defender coveted by many. Big clubs (Madrid, Barcelona) will make inquiries and even bids but he can be easily kept hold of, and you should absolutely make that your #1 priority - he is irreplaceable.

Mathias Ginter - 21yrs old - German - £14m - £27.5k p/w

Young defender in the mould of Hummels (and certainly his future replacement, if you can keep Madrid at bay). He can also play comfortably in central midfield as a BWM, BBM or DLP. Excellent mental attributes, good technical, and strong. Only weakness; 10 for acceleration. Keep long-term.

Sokratis Papastathopoulos - 27yrs old - Greek - £14.5m - £40.5k p/w

Fairly weak heading ability for a central defender (13), but very fast, strong and brave. Can also mark anyone out of the game and tackling is equally superb. 1st team quality.

Neven Subotic - 26yrs old - Serbian - £10.7m - £27.5k p/w INURED 6-7 weeks at start

Another 1st team quality central defender. Does lack concentration, but otherwise solid physically and technically. Could probably be the first CB sacrificed given his mental attributes are not as strong as his teammates', and he will still fetch a healthy fee (there will be takers).

Notable Youth Prospects:

Patrick Fritsch - 16yrd old - German - Youth contract

Potential to be a quality player. Very raw, very young, will need tutored to within an inch of his life. Bags of potential though, and can be moulded over several seasons.

Tim Sechelmann - 16yrs old - German - Youth contract

Like Fritsch, he is very young and very raw, but is listed as having the potential to be a quality player. Will need a lot of tutoring also, but if the coach reports are to be believed, these two could make up your first choice central defense pairing in 7 or 8 years time. What a story that would be...

Full Backs/Wing Backs

Marcel Schmelzer - 27yrs old - German - £13.25m - £34.5k p/w left back

First choice left back at game start, and highly rated. But despite having good physical and mental attributes for his position, his technical attributes are lacking and I would have no qualms about replacing him. Will sell for good money.

Erik Durm - 23yrs old - German - £11m - £28.5k p/w either side INJURED 5-6 months at start

Just like Schmelzer, good physical and mental attributes for a full back, but technically lacking and another I usually sell. He's injured at the start though.

Park Joo-ho - 28yrs old - South Korean - £8.5m - £41k p/w left back

And again, like the previous two, another solid but ultimately uninspiring full back/wing back who could be replaced for someone more technically gifted. Highly rated and will do a solid job though, especially in the beginning.

Lukasz Piszczek - 30yrds old - Polish, £6.25m - £48k p/w right back

Past his best now but still a solid player for the team. One of the better crossers among the full backs at the club. Low composure and high aggression will lead to lots of cards, so you have been warned. Look to replace.

Notable Youth Prospects:

Pascal Stenzel - 19yrs old - German - £1.4m - £3.2k p/w right back

Physically weak, Mentally strong, technically average. Can be tutored and should be immediately to get the mental attributes up even higher. Train him well and he could be a first team regular for years to come. Can also play in Midfield.

Felix Passlack - 17yrs old - German - £1.1m - £275 p/w right back, right midfielder, right winger

One of the highest rated youths in the squad (4 stars with the 5th black), but composure, concentration and decisions are all horrific (all 7), so will need serious mentoring otherwise a right back with those attributes would cost you games on his own. Train and tutor. If it doesn't work out, sell for big money a few years later. Then target him tactically if you ever play against his team

Niklas Beste - 16yrs old - German - Youth contract, left back

Another highly rate yet very raw full back. Slightly stronger mentally that Passlack, and I've seen him turn out very well. He will need the effort put in, but is more likely to succeed due to stronger all-round mental attributes.

Central Midfielders - Somewhere else definitely not lacking

İlkay Gündoğan - 24yrs old - German - £24m - £89k p/w

Listed as a deep/defensive midfielder first and foremost, İlkay lacks the true bite in the tackle, nor the physical strength and positional sense to really play in that role. He's much more suited to an advanced role where his technical abilities will come to the fore. A first team player with plenty of years left ahead of him.

His wages are high though and will only increase with new contracts. It annoys me even though BvB are rich, but each to his own.

Sven Bender - 26yrs old - German - £11.75m - £40.5k p/w

For some reason Sven is only rated 3 stars by the coaches, which makes no sense whatsoever. He truly is IMMENSE in the game. For a ball winning midfielder, his attributes are near-perfect. His teamwork and work rate are both astounding, as is his stamina, tackling, determination, bravery, anticipation... he does suffer from low composure (10), but beyond that? Couldn't ask for more.

Occasionally I sign Lars from Leverkusen in the second season (he will cost big money), but given they are twins with practically identical attributes (Lars is slightly better, oddly enough), it's really quite the engine room for your midfield.

Nuri Sahin - 26yrs old - Turkish - £14.75m - £41k p/w INJURED 4-6 months at start

I consider Nuri to be a budget Xabi Alonso, and that's not a bad thing at all. He's pretty slow, but has the "dictates tempo" and "likes to switch ball to other flank" PPMs, and he exudes class on the ball. I play him as a deep lying playmaker (like Xabi), and he rarely lets me down. He's a keeper.

Julian Weigl - 19yrs old - German - £13.25m - £6.75k p/w

Julian is very similar to Sahin; DLP, not very fast, but classy on the ball, great passing range, and already dictates tempo, switches to other flank, comes deep. He can be tutored at game start and you should get right on that to get his mental attributes up as high as possible. He will become a superstar DLP worth a fortune. Keep hold of him and nurture him to greatness.

Gonzalo Castro - 28yrs old - German - £11.75m - £48k p/w

A utility player who can play in a number of positions across the middle as well as full back. Average attributes all-round and won't ever make the team sheet ahead of the others, unless you have an injury crisis. Determination is also low (8) and you should look to sell him to make space in the wage budget.

Moritz Leitner - 22yrs old - German - £1.3m - £27k p/w

I'm just adding him as a warning to sell him. Mentally pointless and offers nothing to the team aside from complaints once he realizes you're never going to play him. All the important attributes are horrifically low. Get rid as soon as possible.

Notable youth Prospects

Dzenis Burnic - 17yrs old - German - £275k - £275 p/w

I usually loan Dzenis out for a season or two and have him tutored by one of the Bender twins if I have a choice (given I've bought Lars) somewhere along the line. He starts off pretty solid, and has bags of potential as well as many years to fulfill it. Definitely one to keep and develop; future 1st-team player.

Wingers

Marco Reus - 26yrs old - German - £41m - £135k p/w

Marco is the best player at the club, the team's talisman, most creative player, and a fan favorite. Sadly, he doesn't want to play for Dortmund and will cry and moan about wanting to join Barcelona (but then probably join Madrid because he's stupid).

Seriously though, he has career plans which include moving to Spain, and will make it known to you at some point (and also make it public/complain to teammates). Teams will pay £55m (and more) for him easily, and as much as it hurts you should sell him once he starts casting glances elsewhere. You need players totally committed to BvB...

Henrikh Mkhitaryan - 26yrs old - Armenian - £23m - £55k p/w

His attributes really don't look that good (no technical attributes in the "high" category), but Henrikh always does a great job for me; scores loads of goals and gets countless assists. He absolutely plays best as an Inside Forward - Support, definitely a keeper and worth any contract renewal.

Note - I signed Willian recently from Chelsea on a save, and played him on the opposite wing as a Winger - Attack. These two tore the league apart together and constantly crossed deep for the other to score. If you ever get the chance to sign Willian, DO IT - you won't regret it.

Shinji Kagawa - 26yrs old - Japanese - £22m - £55k p/w

Can play anywhere across the midfield or attack, but I almost always play him as a winger/inside forward and watch him create havoc coming inside and driving to the box/crossing for strikers. Has great attributes all round and is more than a bench warmer.

Note - if he is kept as a bench warmer, he will quickly get annoyed and demand play time or a transfer.

Jakub Blaszczykowski - 29yrs old - Polish - £8.75m - £31.5k p/w Out on season-long loan at start

Another player who looks average but is actually very good any time I've managed him. Great as a right winger - attack, gets lots of assists and chips in with some screamers from wide.

He is a key player with Fiorentina, so will return after a full season of play time all being well, and should slot straight back into the team if he hasn't been replaced.

Jonas Hofmann - 22yrs old - German - £9m - £27k p/w

Young winger with plenty of potential left, who can happily play on either wing and is plenty good enough to take over from any of the usual starters. Can't be tutored so need to rely on experience to increase aptitude (which is already pretty strong to begin with).

Will complain a lot if not played regularly. Probably due to his contract status as "first team player"...

Adnan Januzaj - 20yrs old - Belgian - £10.75m - £60k p/w Loaned from Man United at start

Some good technical attributes for a tricky young winger, but seriously lacking mentally. Low teamwork, determination, decisions, off the ball... not a player I would sign for my team but have to suffer an entire year of paying £60k per week for a player I don't want and won't play.

Notable youth Prospects

Jacob Bruun - 16yrs old - Danish - £Youth Contract

Highly rated young winger who can play on either side. But God-awful mental attributes, it's a wonder he ever makes it to the club for training. Needs some serious tutoring and even then he's almost certainly transfer-list fodder.

Strikers - What strikers?

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang - 26yrs old - Gabonese - £23.5m - £58k p/w

About as fast as a player can possibly get, with great off the ball movement. And... that's about it. He's useless otherwise. He can unsettle defenders with his genuinely frightening pace, but then blast the ball out for a throw-in. Near his own goal. Probably.

Technical attributes are lacking, teamwork isn't great, poor decisions, low determination... ugh. What's the point Pierre? Sell at the first opportunity.

Adrián Ramos - 29yrs old - Colombian - £7.75m - £38.5k p/w INJURED 3-6 weeks at start

Finishing is 10. TEN. Determination is 10. TEN. Physically good and great with the head, but not a striker as I understand the definition. He can head the ball down perfectly for Aubameyang to either run right past, or blast into row Z. What a partnership.

Sell as soon as you can. In my current save, Ramos has now went 28 (TWENTY EIGHT) games without a goal.

Marvin Ducksch - 21yrs old - German - £1.1m - £4.3k p/w INJURED 3-5 months at start

Good finishing and composure, but probably pointless when he won't concentrate (10) long enough to decide (8) to take a shot, which he'll miscue with his awful technique anyway (11). Still young so has room to improve, but we have no time for miracles.

Poor almost all round and should be moved on.

Alen Ozbolt - 19yrs old - Slovenian - £250k - £325 p/w Loaned from Domzale at start

This kid is in the first team for reasons unknown to me. Great determination and flair, but rubbish all-round elsewhere. The hopes of finding a striker worth playing are fading fast here...

Nikos Loannidis - 21yrs old - £51k - £800 p/w Loaned from Olympiakos at start

Was this guy signed as an emergency loan after an injury crisis? He's a 21yr old, worth £51k, playing at Dortmund. What's he gonna do? Fire a hat-trick against Bayern? I can't even find a single good attribute to list ffs.

Notable youth Prospects

Christian Pulisic - 16yrs old - American - £Youth Contract

Starts off with some random attributes. I currently have 19 determination in a test save here, but I've seen different numbers. Either way, he can grow into an immense striker with the right guidance. Starts off fairly basic for a 16yr old but has bags of potential and is better than Loannidis. That's for sure.

Jani serra - 17yrs old - German - £Youth Contract

Another who starts off with some random attributes. I have 5 here for determination but I've seen 20 before. It all depends on luck with those attributes but he has bags of potential and *could* be very good. Can also be easily played as (and retrained naturally) to a Central Defender.

IN CONCLUSION

The squad is pretty strong to begin with (especially through the middle), but your immediate concern is to strengthen up front. You have no genuine cutting edge in your strikers, none of whom have good finishing or composure.

Reus is a guaranteed leaver within 1 season, so you might as well get a buttload of cash for him and spend it on a goalscorer. I recommend keeping him until near the end of season 1 and then signing Luciano Vietto from Atlético for his release clause of £34m (add him to your shortlist and make an offer before he renews his contract with at least a £63m release clause - which will happen towards the end of the first season).

Vietto always works out well with Dortmund and the fans quickly love him (plus worship you for your genius). I really can't recommend him highly enough.

You're probably better off loaning a striker in the first window if possible, or grabbing a cheap/free transfer because your budget is small. Reus will wait a season before genuinely trying to force a move away, and he can play up front if needs be.

Beyond that? A better GK, unless you personally rate Burki (I don't). Recommendation - Asmir Begovic always gets transfer listed towards the end of season 1 for around £6.5m -he speaks German already and is a solid investment.

Keep Ginter, it's imperative. Once Madrid start sniffing; it's new contract time.

Spend the first season scouting for full backs. The current 1st teamers are getting on and/or not quite up to title-winning standard any more. And the youngsters are too raw just yet.

Now to the tactics.

These are basically the 3 formations that your coaches recommend at the beginning. You should almost certainly play a lone striker formation to begin with given the awful quality in the squad at the start.

With the quality you have at your disposal, there's no reason why you can't have a good defensive record. Your central defence should be the envy of the Bundesliga (and further afield).

You have a great selection of very good full backs/wing backs.

There is ample quality in central midfield, and a vast array of wingers and inside forwards to choose from.

I will repeat though that the squad is rubbish up front. Needs immediate attention.

Dortmund are the 2nd best team in Germany. Even though personally I know they are the best, I have to admit that Bayern have a strangle hold on the League.

We are a selling club, and almost always sell our best players once they reach their peak.

Your aim as manager is to topple Bayern. Win the league title and become a true force in Europe. You MUST win your games against Bayern in order to wrestle the league title from their grasp. You need to beat them because nobody else will (they very rarely lose).

I've seen Bayern win quadruples many times in my saves (German title, German Cup, European Cup and Super Cup easily), so their consistency is horrifically good. If you can take 1 title, they often sack their manager - you can use this unrest to exert your dominance on the league further to win more titles.

You need to keep your best players for European competition, develop the club's high potential players into first team regulars, sell off the dead wood, and use the sheer size of Signal Iduna Park as an intimidating venue for any visiting opponent. It must become a fortress. And here is how:

When you are playing at home, no matter who the opponent is, you should always say (aggressively) "I expect a win". Your squad will be full of highly professional players who will not react negatively to this demand at home. Ultra Pros like Hummels and Bender usually "nod in agreement".

You might get the very rare player who "listened nervously", and if this happens tell him assertively you have faith in him which usually results in "looked happy". Once or twice I've had a player go out to the pitch nervous and be playing badly. I have no issue hooking him off early. There are no passengers at home.

Assertively congratulate all wins, and never say "You were unlucky" if they lose or draw, even if you know you actually were unlucky. Losing at Signal Iduna Park is totally unacceptable no matter what. If they lose at home, they weren't good enough and let the fans down. Simple.

Away from home, you can obviously be less demanding.

And remember - never EVER lose to FC Shalke 04 (Gelsenkirchen)

Become a legend.

Echte liebe!

Great start

Great start

Thanks Welshace

I'll finish it off tomorrow. My eyes hurt staring at the screen.

I saw a future screenshot of how Felix Passlack will turn out. I suggest converting him to an inside forward or Raumdeuter asap. He is going to be the 1 of the best in his generation.

Yeah he can play anywhere along the right hand side quite comfortably, but those mental attributes still need a lot of work. He's very young though so there's plenty of time.

Great opening, very fun to read. And even with some helpful ideas which Youngsters I could try to lure to Darmstadt.

As a passionate Freiburg supporter, I must strongly protest against your judgement about Roman Bürki though.

Great start here,

I look forward to follow this thread !

GK - Timo Horn with his very low release clause seems perfect for Dortmund methinks.

And a loan for somebody like Wilson upfront for the first season?

Another cf option could be Lafata (Sparta Prague) who's old but had v good stats in FM15 and I dont think they changed.

Btw whats the starting budget?

MANUMAD -

£10.71m to £12.2m transfer budget.

£1.21m to £1.29m wage budget.

Great opening, very fun to read. And even with some helpful ideas which Youngsters I could try to lure to Darmstadt.

As a passionate Freiburg supporter, I must strongly protest against your judgement about Roman Bürki though.

I like him in real life, he's just not good enough for Dortmund in the game. Not once you make it into the Champions League - you need a genuine quality GK.

Luka Jovic is who I'm looking to develop into "the new Lewandowski".

Milik from Ajax would be a very good choice to lead the line.....the next Lewandowski and also has Bundesliga experience from his time in Leverkusen.

Milik from Ajax would be a very good choice to lead the line.....the next Lewandowski and also has Bundesliga experience from his time in Leverkusen.

What's the status on him at game start? Can he be bought and how much for?

Luka Jovic is who I'm looking to develop into "the new Lewandowski".

Really promising player but he's on the small side to be a true Lewa, no?

There are actually a couple relatively promising young Polish strikers with good overall skills who could be signed, but I don't know how cheaply. Doubt they have the potential of Jovic, and probably won't ever be the equal of Lewandowski but can probably be developed into top class players.

Its too bad that Aubameyang is still limited in the game, given how devastating he's been for Dortmund this year.

Dortmund is awfully tempting. I had a great game with them on FM14, which included winning the Champions League. Probably the best I've done in a long time with my own tactic. The talent level remains impressive. Plenty of promising youth, too. One of the things I was considering was playing a narrow formation, despite knowing how monstrous Reus is off the wing. He has the skills to do well up front, I think, as part of a pairing.

What's the status on him at game start? Can he be bought and how much for?

I believe Ajax signed him permanently over the Summer. Would still be able to purchase I reckon as Ajax are usually a selling club. Not tried to purchase him as yet on the game however so not 100% on this.

Bigpapa42 - regarding Aubameyang, I agree with you. He's much better in real life.

He still does a good job for the team (in FM), gets plenty of goals and so on. But his skill set is limited and it always plays on my mind. As soon as I have a big transfer budget (season 2 onward), his days are numbered.

No point sticking with a limited striker when I can sign top class talent, with great technical ability and high determination. I'll hark back to Vietto again

As for my current game - season 2, played 13 friendlies a couple of days apart to really drill my tactics into the players. Thought things were going well, then lost the first game of the season 1-0 away to Leverkusen

But... next League game was against Bayern at Signal Iduna and we comfortably beat them 2-0. Guardiola was livid

The next league game was also at home, winning 2-1 against BMG. We could've (should've) won more comfortably and I did yell at the players at full time. They were all fired up so I expect better in the next game.

Anyway, transfer activity for season 2:

Formation:

Team instructions:

The free signing of 38yr old veteran Miroslav Klose might seem odd, but his mental attributes are phenomenal (model professional) and I'm using him to tutor young strikers at the club. He also scored loads in pre-season and is also on the score sheet in the league, plus has an assist or two.

I imagine him having the same impact Gary McAllister had when Gerard Houllier signed him for Liverpool, much to everyone's amusement and derision.

I managed them for a season and won the treble (Europa of course). I played Aubaymeng as a Complete Forward midway through the season and he banged them in pretty much every game. Kagawa was my best player though.

Ok, starting a new save. That 4-4-2 was superb through pre-season (up to 80% possession and won games as much as 10-0), but the competitive games started and I think I was found out

Going to play a mixture of a direct 4-2-3-1 DM wide, 4-2-3-1 narrow (both of which served me well in previous saves), and also trying out Mr U Rosler's "DAWNBRINGER" tactic...

And any update on the experiments you had? I started with BVB this season, fantastic pre-season, lower league friendlies and did one with Atletico Madrid, beat them on their homefield 1-3. So i use a wide playstyle 4-1-2-2-1.

Using 2 WB-s,BPD-d,CD-d,BWM-s or d, DLP,BBM or RP, 2xIF, DLF - s

Long time reader of these forums but an occasional poster.

I have friends who are BVB season ticket holders in the yellow wall so watched Dortmund v Mainz in April 2014 and Dortmund v Stuttgart in November this year.

Both times in the yellow wall which was amazing.

I decided to play as BVB in the Football Manager Touch mode as my laptop is not the quickest.

Here you don't have training to deal with, team talks and have very basic staff - assistant manager, head physio, chief scout, head of youth development only.

I set up my expectations at the start of 2015-16 as:

German Cup - reach the semi final

Euro Cup - reach the first knockout round

Bundesliga - qualify for Champions League

My tactics were to use 4-3-3 Burnum which worked well for me. You have inside forwards and the three midfield roles lent themselves to Gundogan, Weigl and Bender.

In the summer transfer window, I terminated Januzaj's loan and got Alen Halilovic on loan from Barca and I signed Andrija Zivkovic for 3.9m.

There were no transfers out.

My standard starting 11 was:

GK: Burki

RWB: Piszczek

LWB: Schmelzer

CD: Hummels

CD: Ginter (rotated with Sokratis and Subotic)

CM: Gundogan

CM: Weigl

CM: Bender

RIF: Reus

LIF: Mkhitaryan

ST: Aubameyang

I started the season well and was soon top of the Bundesliga. I tried to give Durm (once recovered from injury), Sahin (also after injury), Kagawa, Zivkovic and Halilovic game time but it was pretty clear who my best 11 was.

I was top of the Bundesliga at the Winter break (5 points clear of Gladbach, 6 clear of Bayern) but when the transfer window opened I knew I had to strengthen.

I had £6 million left of my initial £10 million budget but the board increased allowed me to change my expectation to win the Bundesliga and I ended up with £66 million to spend.

Jonas Hofmann joined Sevilla for £7.5m whilst Sokratis joined Liverpool for £13m.

I bought Aymeric Laporte for £35.5m (his release clause) and him and Hummels instantly became my DC pairing.

Subotic went to Spurs for £7.25m and Park Joo-Ho (yet to play a game for me) joined Wolfsburg for £3.2m.

I don't like spending money for the sake of it so was quite happy with only Laporte coming in but then disaster struck........ Aubayemang out for 3 months with a broken leg (my only other striker was Ramos).

At the end of January I signed Luciano Vietto for £25m (I think it was his release clause) to fill the void. I also bought in Lucas Leiva on loan from Liverpool to rotate with Bender whose fitness was not the best for some reason.

I kept using the 4-3-3 Burnum tactic but changed the ST role from a deep lying forward to poacher which Vietto was suited for.

I managed an 18 game unbeaten run but did draw a few games 0-0 whilst Vietto did absolutely nothing before he burst into life after a few games.

I ended up completing the double as I won the Euro Cup and Bundesliga.

The Euro Cup saw me with an easy group which I won. It was then an easy first knockout round in over Rubin Kazan (9-3 on agg), 5-3 agg win over Villareal in the second knockout round, and 7-3 agg over Monaco in the quarter final.

It was Galatasary in the semi final and I won the first leg away 2-1 before smashing them 5-2 at Westfallenstadion for a 7-3 agg win.

The final was played in Basel against CSKA Moscow (who beat Spurs in the semi final) and substitute Ginter scored an 88th minute header to secure the trophy with a 1-0 win.

The Bundesliga was easier than expected and I won by 5 points. I finished on 72 points, Wolfsburg had 67, Bayern had 66, Schalke 62 and Gladbach fell away big time from my closest challengers at one point to finish fifth on 56 points.

Player wise, my star performers were:

1) Lukasz Piszczek 44 starts, 1 sub appearance 3 goals 27 assists 16 PotM 8.23 ave rating

2) Marcel Schmelzer 48 starts, 2 sub 2 goals 13 assists 8 PotM 8.01

3) P-E Aubayemang 29 starts, 2 sub 23 goals 7 assists 4 Potm 7.73

4) Marco Reus 51 starts, 2 sub 24 goals 10 assists 6 PotM 7.66

5) Henrikh Mkhitaryan 49 starts, 1 sub 17 goals 13 assists 4 PotM 7.61

Towards the end of the season I got Aubayemang back so I was able to switch between him and Vietto. I tried to rotate every game and bring them on each game and Vietto ended up with 12 goals from 15 starts, 8 as sub and a 7.20 rating.

I am now in May 2016 and the board have given me £66m to spend as well as a wage budget of £1.9m (currently spending £1.3m) so plenty of wriggle room.

I have Geronimo Rulli coming in for free but Burki has done well for me so torn between who will be my number 1.

Transfer wise, I am looking at a top quality MC, maybe someone like Pogba if I can get him.

Hope you enjoyed reading, I'll post an update in due course.

Duds

Great thread, and I think I'm going to enjoy this save, second time managing in the Bundesliga, first time was with FCK. I've started watching the Bundesliga IRL, so this is becoming a bit of a treat for me.

My starting 11:

GK: Burki

RB: Piszczek

LB: Schmelzer

CD: Hummels

CD: Sokratis

CM: Gundogan

CM: Kagawa

DM: Bender

LIF: Reus

RW: Mkhitaryan

ST: Aubameyang

Preseason has been a bit of a shambles so far. I've got the boys working on fitness and three different tactics, they're slowly starting to grasp what I'm looking for. At times we've looked great, other times just dross.

I've instructed my Director of Football to look into signing Zivkovic and Lincoln, he's been able to negotiate deals for both. I've tried to go with a Continental style of management (or what I perceive as a Continental style), I really only handle the first team. DOF is handling most back room duties, my second team and youth team are being handled separately, but using my tactics.

I've got some low expectations for myself this year, a Champions League place, a decent run in the German Cup and at least a semi final in the Europa.

Next year I'll try to shake things up, top of my list being a new Ass Man, someone who'll stick with me through the whole save, I'll try to change tactics to a faster, more counter attacking style of play from our possession based play, and change out some personnel. A new GK, two new FBs (although I'm training Ginter to be a RB), and a backup to Aubameyang. I'm gonna try and turn him into a decent player, more like his real life self. I know I'll need to replace Reus and Kagawa, they're already talking of leaving and we haven't even started the season proper.

Thanks for the thread, hopefully we'll see more on here.

Zivkovic gets the hump at not playing so you'll need to use him in German cup, games against lesser teams etc. He won't displace either Reus or Mkhitaryan though.

Bring him on as sub if you can.

I would consider playing Mkhitaryan Inside Forward on the left and Reus Inside Forward on the right, both can cut inside with the opposite stronger foot then.

Reus is right-footed.

I've been using Reus on the left and Mkhitaryan on the right. They've been okay, I really think it's the unfamiliarity with my tactics. My coaches are still complaining about tactics.

I brought Zivkovic on in the first two Euro matches. Nothing spectacular, but serviceable. He'll learn, I've got big hopes, but Passlack looks promising too.

Last night, while everyone else was celebrating NYE, I dealt Leitner out for £1M, Kagawa for £25M w/clauses and Subotic for £15M. I brought in Zivkovic, Lucas Romero and Fabio Daprela for £11M total during the first transfer window.

How many saves are you playing Hoarau? You are incredible!

I loved your Leeds updates, so looking forward to reading from you here.

How many saves are you playing Hoarau? You are incredible!

I loved your Leeds updates, so looking forward to reading from you here.

Honestly, I have 5 saves currently going that I'm loving plus I have a list the length of a piece of string with clubs i'd like to try! Its a good problem to have, the 5 I have going just now are all fun saves so i'm sticking with them. I haven't finished with Leeds yet...

But i'm now trying to bring back the days of 1997 and give the Yellow Wall summit to cheer about! Cheers man

I finished my first season in the Bundesliga with a bang! We had a fairly sound preseason and brought in Andrija Zivkovic, Fabio Daprela in the summer, Luciano Vetto and Lucas Romero came in the January transfer window. Shinji Kagawa left for Juventus, Neven Subotic left for Bayern and Park JooHo left for AC Milan.

We went out early in the DFB Pokal and in the EURO Cup we lost in the first knockout round to Tottenham. We stayed steady in the league though. Suffered a defeat to Schalke away during the darkest period of the season, at one point going winless in five games. We redeemed ourselves with a 5-0 win over Schalke at home and took the Bundesliga in the last game with a win, 4-0 over Hannover at home, Mkhitaryan scoring a hat trick.

The off season saw BIG changes. Niko Kovac left to take over Hoffenheim, he still hasn't been replaced. Frank Arneson came in as Director of Training and I promoted Frankie Bruun to Ass Man. On the transfer front, there was a huge shakeup in the squad as even though we qualified for the Champions League very important and influential players wanted to leave.

Transfers out:

Christoph Zimmerman

Cairo Immobile

Ilkay Gundogan

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Gonzalo Castro

Nuri Sahin

Transfers In:

Geronimo Rulli

Youri Tielmans

Marcelo Meli

Christoph Kramer

Jonathon Tah

Sokratis wants to leave, we've accepted an offer from Man City, Erik Durm is pushing for an out and I'll have to list Roman Burki now that I've signed Rulli on a free. Jakub Blaszykowski turned down a move to Fiorentina that I was happy to see, and I've got Nicklas "The Lord" Bendtner in on a two week trial. Huge upheaval of my squad and we've really got to concentrate on team cohesion in the preseason.

Goals for this season: a better showing in the DFB Pokal using my younger players, getting out of the group stages of the Champions League and at least second place in the Bundesliga. With a heavy preseason schedule to help me cull the squad size and get us ready for the season, I'm hoping we can achieve or exceed our goals.

i usually start games with no manager, and only create a manager once one of my favourite teams lose their manager. in this case, i joined dortmund after tuchel moved on to manage germany after the 2016 world cup. i like to keep a large german core, and that requires a lot of money given how expensive the best german talent is.

my notes on the playing staff:

overall

- the best players are reus and hummels. keep if at all possible unless you get a giant bid like more than 50-60m pounds.

- passlack is your future star. keep!

- gundogan is a great central midfielder if you can keep him.

- ginter is a useful centerback.

- there are a lot of players who are good but not great - at least not to the point where they make it easy to challenge bayern consistently. as such, except for the positions that the four players mentioned above play plus maybe ginter's position, i usually replace everyone else in the starting lineup with other players that i bring in.

- that said, with good tactics and management, challenging bayern with the starting squad is do-able - only problem is that everything has to fall into place...

goalkeepers

- agreed on the goalkeepers. burki is merely decent at most in the game, but still usable for a couple of seasons.

- weidenfeller retires after the first season.

- bonmann is not worth the time - backup at most.

- reimann won't offer you much more than what burki does, and as such is just a backup for me.

- there are several young promising foreign goalkeepers that you can look at: dragowski, maisonnial, meret, scuffet, donnarumma. usually either meret or scuffet will try to move (since they are both at the same club), but dragowski and maisonnial are more likely to move early. if you want a german goalkeeper, horn is a decent choice. however, if you have money and some success, the best young german keeper, ter stegen, will be happy to move from barcelona for a fee of about 20m pounds after a season or two. otherwise, leno usually becomes unsettled at leverkusen once leverkusen end up selling someone else like calhanoglu - try to get him then, but he usually will cost a large amount that makes it more worthwhile to go after ter stegen.

centerbacks

- centerbacks wise... you should not need to buy a starting centerback for a while if ginter works out, unless hummels decides to move or if you get the opportunity to get someone like tah or mammana. if you want german, given that boateng is rarely willing to move, tah is the best choice, followed by sule, mustafi, and rudiger. try to get tah before he renews his contract after the second season with leverkusen, otherwise the cost just becomes crazy. rudiger seems to have team conflicts somewhat regularly given how stuttgart usually struggle, so he might be available cheap. mustafi is expensive. sule seems to be available cheap for about 10-15m pounds once his contract winds down.

- ginter will usually not want to leave unless bayern comes in for him.

- subotic is slow, and you need some speed to cover for hummels. however, subotic doesn't like being on the bench very much, and will usually force a move.

- sokratis is one dimensional, but is a defensive specialist if you prefer to have an defensive type of defender next to a more ball playing type like hummels or ginter. he will also ask for a move if he doesn't get playing time.

- stankovic usually becomes a good squad player, but not a starter.

- you also have the option to buy back gunter from galatasaray. if he turns out well, he would be worth buying as a squad player, though if you can find a better option for 5m pounds, don't bother.

- if you are lucky el-bouzzati and sarr might be decent backups depending on how the game generates them.

- serra can also be a good backup. it helps that he can cover the striker position as well.

- i am surprised that you have sechelmann as a potential squad player - he has not worked out for me, but fritsche and schwermann can be pretty good backups. perhaps you mixed up sechelmann and schwermann?

fullbacks

- good fullbacks are generally hard to come by in this version of fm. jorge from flemish / flamengo is a great choice to buy for the left back position. no other really good options there if you want a german, in my opinion. for rightback, you have passlack, so you do not need to worry about that position!

- schmelzer is a decent full back (as is park joo-ho) and playing durm on the left reduces his effectiveness somewhat, so you will want to upgrade your leftback position quickly. it is probably the weakest position on the team.

- durm is the best of the lot until passlack matures, but passlack can be lacking defensively.

- keep passlack. he should be a star, and will ask for an improved contract relatively early given that he is on peanuts at the beginning.

- piszczek will be good for the first two seasons at most until old age sets in... he will also push for a move if he does not get playing time.

- schmelzer and piszczek have contracts that end relatively early. i do not recommend renewing given the high cost for a renewal for them given their ability.

- stenzel is actually better as a fullback than as a midfielder in my opinion, but he should be a pretty good squad player.

- beste becomes a squad player for me as well.

- schumacher can be a decent backup, but no more.

- you have the option to buy back dudziak for about 725k pounds - if he is generated well he will be a good squad player at a low cost in a position with very little competition for the german national team, though it is more likely that he accepts a call up from ghana first.

- another german option for rightback is oztunali, once you train up his rightback position from accomplished.

central midfield

- for central midfield, i like to have a bwm and a dlp at the start until i get better players. however, for dortmund, there are too many dlps and not many ball winners.

- bender is a great ball winner to pair with a dlp like gundogan. that said, once the team starts getting better he becomes a situational player at most.

- try to resolve gundogan's contract asap where possible since it ends relatively early. it also does not help that he agitates for a move abroad early.

- i find sahin to be too slow for my liking and will let him go if there is a good bid. sahin might complain about playing time but usually backs down the first time if you tell him you will be happy to sell him outright. if he complains again he will accept moving on.

- in my opinion castro is the weakest of the dlps available in the first team at the beginning, so i try to sell as soon as possible.

- weigl is a good squad player, but you might need to be patient at the beginning. if you get a good sized bid for weigl, i recommend selling.

- don't bother with leitner - sell.

- burnic can turn out to be more than a squad player, so give him a chance.

- stenzel can also be a good squad player in this position.

- sauerland might also be a good backup depending on the generator.

- purchases wise, many good german options. dahoud is a good choice but will usually be expensive (30m pounds). if you are lucky, emre can might be relegated to the bench by liverpool and can be had for about 10m pounds then. same with kimmich and oztunali at bayern and leverkusen respectively. if goretzka does not establish himself at gelsenkirchen, try to get him, but be aware that he is injury prone. khedira is tempting and becomes available for cheap after a season or two, but he is old and does not last. foreigners wise, tieleman seems to go for 15-20m pounds after a season or two, which is a bargain.

wingers

- reus is great, if you can get him to stay.

- mkhitaryan is good as an inside forward as well, depending on your formation.

- hofmann is a squad player for me - if he plays well he can attract a good sized bid, sell if you can.

- blaszczykowski usually rejects fiorentina and will be useful for a season or two at most after he returns - too old after that. just like for piszczek.

- bruun and aydogan can turn out to be good squad players.

- passlack, if preferred here, should be a star - however good wingers are easier to find than good fullbacks, so...

- winger choices... germans: i like brandt, but he usually costs a great deal (40-50m). again, if leverkusen sell off one of their stars or if brandt complains about his contract, try to unsettle him. draxler hates dortmund so he might never agree a move. meyer plays for gelsenkirchen, so a move will be expensive unless he moves elsewhere and then returns. schurrle is expensive, and for the price he usually commands, i would rather buy someone else. volland is also expensive. otherwise, non-germans... zivkovic from partizan is a good choice - if you buy him early he can be quite cheap.

attacking midfield

- kagawa and mkhitaryan. pretty good at the start. problem is fitting them both into the team at the same time. however, in my opinion they are still a level lower than what you need to challenge bayern consistently, so upgrades are necessary here too.

- no real backups available here at the beginning, so you if you play a formation with this position you will want to get someone else in.

- pulisic, however, should turn out to be something worthwhile.

- odegaard has a minimum release fee clause of about 12+m pounds, if i remember correctly. if you are patient he will be more than worth it. germans wise, ferati is a great choice. gotze might become available after three seasons or more when he becomes tired of simply being a backup at bayern, but the price tag may still be pretty high - bayern asked me for 35m even though he only played a total of about 10 times for bayern in the preceding season.

strikers

- sadly aubameyang is rated pretty lowly. he will be alright for the first couple of seasons but you will want to replace him (at least until the data updates give him an upgrade, which i think is certain given his form in real life this year!).

- there aren't many others who can play this position naturally, so you will want to bring in someone early.

- serra is a backup at most, but he is a great targetman.

- ducksch is also a backup at most, and seems to have a bad personality. if you get a good sized bid, sell.

- pulisic can play here but he is more of an attacking midfielder, so don't count on him for this position.

- purchases... if you are looking for a german, johannes eggestein from werder is the best young option. mario gomez is usually also available on a bosman after a couple of years, and will be an overqualified backup despite his age. volland can be had, but at a high cost (35m pounds) that might not be worthwhile given that there are many other options at that price. foreigners: martial seems to be a backup at united after a season or two and could be had for about 30-35m pounds if you have the money.

other young germans worth checking

- goalkeepers: frommann, konigsmann.

- fullbacks: robin tim becker - best retrained to right back.

- centerbacks: kehrer, gimber.

- central midfielders: gaudino, henrichs, gül, kehrer.

- wingers: ochs, kurt, sane.

- attacking midfielders: amiri, gaudino, henrichs, kurt.

- strikers: probst, dadachov, ochs.

Finished my first season, won the Bundesliga which was a pleasant surprise. I'll do a decent update over the weekend but have to say preseason has went mental..

To start with Reus asked to STAY since no one would match my £95m asking fee, as I mentioned in a previous post my goal in this save was to challenge Bayern and bring home Gotze & Lewa, well after a double(crazy) bids from PSG for both Abumayang & Mkhitaryan, which combined to nearly £123m in total I managed to bring home one of my boys....

It was costly though, £105m... Lewandowski will lead the line in the forthcoming season!!

I mentioned in a previous post my goal in this save was to challenge Bayern and bring home Gotze & Lewa!

Trust me,no supporter wants to see götze back in dortmund.He was getting the biggest shitstorm ever in the bundesliga.False promises,a transfer over night,after saying he wants to stay whole life.

If u wants to bring back some lost sons,lewandowski,kuba or großkreutz are options for you.

I played Aubaymeng as a Complete Forward midway through the season and he banged them in pretty much every game.

PEA scored 38 goals for me in all competitions, just unstoppable, missed quite a few too. Reus( 25 ass), Piszchek and Schmelzer were the assist kings

PEA needs to be a lone striker with wingers and fullbacks feeding him. I've tried 4-2-4, 442, 4-3-1-2 and other 2 striker formations but he just doesnt play well like that- if the other forward is a great team player and good in passing ( Dybala!!) it sometimes works well though.

I mostly played 4-2-3-1 with Kagawa as amc attack, Reus as inside forward attack on the right with Mhkitariyan in similar role on the left, mentality is control or standard at start, i often switch to attacking later-i am humiliating visitors at Westfalenstadion like it should be!

Away games against Leverkusen/ other tough opposition and especially Bayern i start with defensive or counter- swapping to contain or attacking depending on the result. Bayern is really hard to beat away, even drawing is kinda hard! first season i won at home, drew away and beat them soundly in the DFB Pokal ( 4-1 ) at home. This caused Pep Guardiola to be sacked and Diego Simeone is now at Bayern

In my opinion the best lone striker to play with Reus and Mhkitariyan is a complete forward- i used a major sum to bring in Paolo Dybala and he has worked wonders for the 2nd season, i also brought in Gabigol, who eveyone should buy of course. Timo Horn with 6,5m clause is a must buy too, and a decent cheap backup is south korean keeper Kim Seung-Gyu from Ulsan ( less than 1M). Kim and either Weidenfeller/Bürki are enough to back up Timo.

Lucas Moura was transfer listed by PSG late autum so i was able to bring him in for 17,5M- the fans already love him and he is versatile enough to play in all 4 forward positions! Did i say the fans think i am a genius now because i signed him?

Another very good xfer for me was Aymeric Laporte for his 35.5M release clause! I had to sell Ginter in the January window because Real Madrid came asking and he wanted to leave... Reus; Hummels and Kagawa also were on the go but i asked them what they needed to stay and all 3 said they would stay if i could guarantee Champions league football for the next season which i did and they stayed happily. I just like Hummels way too much to ever even consider selling the guy

If you dont want your best players to leave you must get rid of the release clauses- just negotiate their new contracts until they are content with the salary and bonuses and allow to remove the release clause- i usually prefer performance bonuses to salary but it pays to negotiate. I managed to get rid of all release clauses except Mhkitariyan's ( now 112M ). Barca will come for Gündogan ( summer 2016) and he will want to join them and puff he's in Barcelona before you close your eyes unless you get rid of the release clause! For me he was a 4,5 star player at that stage so that was a no brainer to give him a new contract!

Im currently in nov 2016 and the board just asked if i would like some more transfer money! I said yes so another 50M was given

A good successor for Schmelzer is Jorge, a brazilian fullback from Flemish, scouts rated him 4 yellow/1 black stars so i brought him in for 11,25M and addons. He has played now 5 games, 2 POM, 2 goals and 7.78 avg rating. Park Joo-Hoo came complaining about playing time, so i quickly got rid of him- Schmelzer and Jorge are much better options. Eventually its going to be Jorge though

At start der BVB IMO has pretty good coaching staff but there definitely is much to get better too- the fitness and goalkeeping coaches, and also physios are not worthy of working for a top club like BVB, look to upgrade these positions early and fill the coaching staff with great coaches. Once its full the board almost every time allows to increase the amount of coaches if you do a board request- we are now best in the Bundesliga in all categories like it should be

i usually play Liverpool and Atletico saves but i think ill play lots more with BVB now

Have you tried playing Felix Passlack as a right winger, support? He's my back up for Reus, and he has been incredible for me in the first year of my save. Right now in mid Janrurary he has 18 assists, 9 goals, and 3 POM awards. Such a surprise talent this early on into his career.

"I would consider playing Mkhitaryan Inside Forward on the left and Reus Inside Forward on the right. "

This is what I've been doing and it works great! To my surprise in my first year playing as Dortmund, Reus won player of the year (not the Ballon d'OR).

Just joined the BVB revolution....only notable things so far as currently in pre season are the signings of Janauz (£25m permanent) & Widmer. Departures include Sokratis, Leitner & Ramos.

Very solid backroom staff at BVB so only a few departures are needed and recruitments brought in. Great finances also.

Just finished the first season at BVB. What a thrill ride!

I thought I was Jurgen Klopp 2014/15 reincarnated sometimes because the season started horribly. Half my squad was injured, nothing worked, we didn't score for 6 games in a row, key players requested a transfer because we didn't have Champions League and a complete squad overhaul in the middle of October.

Let's start at the beginning though.

Transfers IN for a total of £16.87M

Reece Oxford, Alessandro Bastoni, Assane Diousse, Manuel Nicoletti, Andrija Zivkovic, Kristoffer Ajer, Johannes Eggestein, Rafik Zekhnini, Lucas Romero, Borja San Emeterio, Divock Origi (loan), Luka Jovic, Dragowski (january), Julian Brandt (loan, january).

Transfers OUT for a total of £7.5M

Adrian Ramos. Sent Zekhnini, Ajer, Jovic and Emeterio on loan for experience.

We began with barely scraping through Lokomotiva and Charleroi in the Europa League qualifiers, then lost 8 of the next 11 games in the league. It was a matter of when I was getting the sack. My players just didn't care. Then I had a meltdown and benched the whole team for my home game against Frankfurt in a last-ditch effort. I played the kids and boy did that pay off. 5-2 was the score and the team built on that towards the winter break. We picked up 5 wins in the next 8 games and drew 3 in a row before the holidays. I reviewed the half-season and decided it was time for a change in tactics. I immediately threw together some magic and put it on the training schedule for maximum training.

Suddenly, we were playing like a team that could actually win something. We picked up 10 wins in the remaining 17 fixtures, only losing 3 and finished in 2nd place, three points ahead of Stuttgart and we were really happy. Then we looked up in the table and saw FC Bayern with a 21 point lead, having won the league in march. It will be a major struggle to dominate this league. We went out early in the DFB-Pokal but we were a major success in the Europa League, winning it against our major rivals, Schalke in the final with an easy 4-0. We were lucky with draws IMO as we faced AZ, Sporting CP, Vit. Guimaraes and Dnipro on the way to the final.

Aubameyang scored 39 goals, Reus broke his leg and missed most of the season, Mkhitaryan was my main man behind PEA with 11 goals and 8 assists.

Reus was dead-set on going to Real Madrid all season long and his morale was abysmal throughout the season. I just stood firm because he was going to be a major part of my plans and I knew that he would come around if we made CL, which we did and he is now happy to stay.

Now for the second season.

Transfers in:

Rulli FREE

Ljajic FREE

Carrillo FREE

Lincoln £1.6M

Ricardo Rodriguez £33M

Gabriel Barbosa £22M

Emre Can £26M

Aymeric Laporte £35.5M

Transfers out:

Immobile £7.5M

Subotic £9M

Bender £6.25M

Leitner £1.6M

Burki £5.75M

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang £68M (reluctant but that was too much money to say no to)

Kagawa £17M

Blaszcykowski £4.8M

Castro £13M

Park Joo-Ho £9M

Nuri Sahin £17.25M

As you can see, I made a lot of money through selling players. I didn't necessarily want to sell them, but after having looked at the market, I saw I had options available that were too good to refuse. All the players I brought in are big upgrades on what I had before (except maybe Barbosa for PEA, it remains to be seen).

Ljajic and Carrillo were also just brought in to sell either in January or next summer for a major profit. It's a guaranteed £50 million.

i'm not playing Felix Passlack as a winger, as said above theres plenty of great wingers but far less great fullbacks so i usually train Passlack to be an attacking fullback. He's usually a 4,5 star full back around 4th season

Just started my save with Dortmund on the 16.3 patch.

Going well so far, with nothing but victories in pre-season. Only one signing made Thus far, that being Timo Horn for £6,5 million, as I really don't rate either Burki or Weidenfeller in game. Been drawn against Randers FC from my native Denmark in the 3rd Euro League Qualifying round. Should be an easy task.

So I'm in October of first season. Currently lying in top spot after 5 games, with Ingolstadt and Augsburg taking 2nd and 3rd respectively. Got drawn in Europa League Group F alongside Dnipro, Bordeaux and FC Sion. I've gotten off to a good start with wins over Sion (5-0) and Dnipro (2-0). All in all it's looking good... Although I do need a player or two in the january window, as I feel the squad is too thin.

Btw: Aubameyang is a beast!

Felix Passlack is a God for me as a complete wing back. He's captain and Mr. Consistent.

Last few seasons he's jumped above an average rating of 8, this season he's 10 games in on av. rating of 8.46.

I've been at Dortmund since 2018/19 and I'm in the 2022/23 season, pushing for that elusive Champions League title!

Another one on my save that was at Dortmund in 15/16 was Sven Bader who's now my Advanced Playmaker and integral to the team. But he's not mentioned here at all so I'm guessing I got lucky with a super-regen right at the start?

Quick EDIT: CR7 left RM for PSG for 2 seasons and is now managing Hamburg on my game?!

There's a Sven Bender at the Club... Not sure if it's him you mean, 'cause I've never heard of Sven Bader. Could be a regen though.

Just curious how much do Dortmund start on the update, also how much money can be made by selling deadwood, thinking of starting a Dortmund save and buying young German based players that someone mentioned in the FC Koln thread.

Dortmund start off with around £14 million for transfers.

In January of the first season, I received an extra £46 million because of improvements in finances.

Cool sounds good then.

So the opening post states:

"Note that Dortmund are mega-rich, and start with a balance of £100,000,000. I've yet to have the board increase the transfer budget at game start (although, in truth, I rarely ask for it so it may be possible). If you stick around though, and achieve the board's expectations, the budgets from season 2 onward regularly exceed £100m."

I won the Bundesliga and the Europa League, and the bank balance at the start of season two was £163 million.

I received £19 million for transfers. That really destroyed any plans I had of bringing in good players.