Do you think the transfer fees and contract demands need toning down?

[scott MUFC]

I found this last night, like to see what the AI teams are looking at, sometimes i can hop in myself.

the second one... says £53m

[Kenco]

and why would you NOT like me

Maybe he read some of your forum posts?

I fail to see how you can get him for £30M which is pennies for him when on my game he was listed for £65M.

I've heard a rumour that every game of FM pans out differently. Who would've thought that?

[scott MUFC]

it does, that is what makes it fun.

[craigoasis]

I would certainly agree that contracts need tining down.

As Barcelona I was looking to sign a young French player, Tim Clerc a regen who is 18 and has played 6 games for Lyons first team. Currently he is earning £60 a week on a Youth contract. He demands £60,000 a week!! Slightly ludicrous.

[Siven]

Contracts need looking at.

End of my 3rd season and ter Stegen is transfer listed, when i got to contract talks he wanted a 40k clean sheet bonus!

[Winto]

My main left back is on £70k a week, his agent hates me and is now demanding £200k a week with £20k appearance fees and a combined £8m in signing on fees.

So that annoyed me to start with, but there just isnt the quality to replace him.

At best I can buy someone nearly as good, for the cost I make from selling my left back, plus putting him on a big wage, which means in the end I make no money and end up with a player on a wage nearly as big. It makes the whole thing pointless.

If there was actually some young talent in my game I wouldnt be as worried. I only have 1 player under 21 in my game with PA of 190 or more.

Either give us plenty of players to replace greedy players with or tone down the wages.

[wolvoboi]

Just had a bid of £51m accepted for a player on £74k a week. Wants £375k a week, plus a £40k appearance fee. On top of that a £13m signing on bonus for the player and £8.5m for the agent.

Transfer fees i can understand if a club doesnt want and doesnt have to sell . . . but contract negotiations are making this game very un-enjoyable.

[scott MUFC]

I think it does, 4 of my players have retired, it is practially impossible to replace these 4 players with around the same quality of player because I would need £200m+

[PoolFan]

I've had way too many instances of 15/16 yr olds who ask for a few thousand per week but then insist no matter what on something silly like 40/50k per week after ten appearances, and there's nothing you can do. Of course you can ignore it and lose the player, but obviously when you check later to see who he signed for and how much you can guarantee he signed for a few hundred per week with no clauses.

[lil ole me]

I saw this wonderkid of a CB with a 4.5 star potential with good stats already for a 20 year old, plus he was a regular at Rennes. He was unhappy as he wanted top play for a bigger club and Rennes put him on the market for 35m.

I thought that was way too high so i just dismissed it.

6 months later i see he is still there and it is december 26th and his contract runs out in 6 months so i could sign him on a free in less than a weeks time but i see a few other sides are interested in him too so i put a bid of 15m in and they refused.....to cut a long story short, 1 week later i agreed to sign him on a free at the end of the season and he`s my first choice CB....stupid or what!

[scott MUFC]

a few of my players have demanded less when they get older, but Ibrahimovic.. 245k/w at 34.. .really now.

even some African newgens want 3k/w to sign for me... their transfer fees are a pittance and have great potential. but it is global. 3k-4k/w

[Winto]

My main left back is on £70k a week, his agent hates me and is now demanding £200k a week with £20k appearance fees and a combined £8m in signing on fees.

So that annoyed me to start with, but there just isnt the quality to replace him.

At best I can buy someone nearly as good, for the cost I make from selling my left back, plus putting him on a big wage, which means in the end I make no money and end up with a player on a wage nearly as big. It makes the whole thing pointless.

If there was actually some young talent in my game I wouldnt be as worried. I only have 1 player under 21 in my game with PA of 190 or more.

Either give us plenty of players to replace greedy players with or tone down the wages.

Just to add a follow up, I ended up selling the player for £45m. Despite being on £70k a week and demanding £200k, at his new club he is now on £85k a week.

What was the point of all that? The agent has just ruined the players chance of a big pay rise. I would have paid him nearly double that, but the agent had no problem giving them tiny wages in comparison.

Its just messed up.

[SweatyBob]

in any case, if this game wants to be as realistic as possible you shouldnt be able to sign underage south american players because you know for a 99% certainty that we will rise to a star player, thats where the issue starts imo

Messi to Barcelona at 11/12 years old??

[SweatyBob]

Is there a percentage system at play?

If you are a top club then the players agent must look at you and think - they can afford £50,000 a week

If you are a division or two down then they look at you and think - they can afford £20,000 a week

The agent then enters talks and maybe his attributes mean he'll settle for 70% of what he perceives you can afford. The top club offers £30k (60% of what the agent perceives they can afford) and the agent refuses the offer because it's below the 70% his attributes demand.

Then the lower club comes in and offers £14k a week and as such hits that 70% mark and it is accepted regardless of the fact the agents just turned down more than that.

[mixmkz]

What's the deal with youths asking for 30k salary after 10 games and refused to budge? How am I going to integrate them into the first team via sub appearances when they still have below par stats but all those tiny bits of experiences bumps their salary to players who can fit into the first team directly?

[johnhughthom]

Just had a bid of £51m accepted for a player on £74k a week. Wants £375k a week, plus a £40k appearance fee. On top of that a £13m signing on bonus for the player and £8.5m for the agent.

Transfer fees i can understand if a club doesnt want and doesnt have to sell . . . but contract negotiations are making this game very un-enjoyable.

Why can it not be the same for the player? He may be happy where he is and needs a huge salary to convince him to move, it isn't that unreasonable in terms of the transfer fee being paid.

[Ben Kenney]

What's the deal with youths asking for 30k salary after 10 games and refused to budge? How am I going to integrate them into the first team via sub appearances when they still have below par stats but all those tiny bits of experiences bumps their salary to players who can fit into the first team directly?

A potential fix for young player asking for excessive wage increases after X amount of league games is currently undergoing testing.

[Ben Kenney]

Guys,

If you are encountering specific contract demands which you think are excessive then upload a save game to our FTP and I will be happy to take a look. We have found some examples internally that are currently under review, but some of the examples mentioned in this thread sound extreme and we would like to take a look in order to iron out any problems for when the next update is released.

FTP Details - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/345403

Cheers,

Ben

[Ben Kenney]

Contracts need looking at.

End of my 3rd season and ter Stegen is transfer listed, when i got to contract talks he wanted a 40k clean sheet bonus!

Do you have a save that shows this issue? Had you locked in any other contract terms?

[eple]

Ben, there is a issue might worth looking at. If you offer a player a minimum fee release clause they will accept very low wages compared to what they initially wants. Ie. I have Xabi Alonso on 94k a week. To renew he wants £110k, £1m fee, 10k pr game. I offer him £77k, 500k, 5k pr game and £20m min release (he is 33 and worth £3.3m so no one will offer that), and he flat out accepts on 1st try.

I've been using this as an exploit to get by with the high demands, as it seems to work for every player.

[Gary_Parker]

Transfer fees are a bit ridiculous too. I've scouted and found a player in FC Porto B worth £170k. He's a regen and by the looks of it a 1st season one too. I put a bid in for £500k, rejected. So I increased to £750k, rejected. £1m, rejected. £1.7m (10 times value), rejected. ETC, ETC....Final offer £5m, rejected. Now, I do not care what side you're at....30 times (roughly) a market value should be considered at the very least. Not even an indication of the teams suggested value or a "Not for sale at any price" comment.

Hilariously, his contract ended at the end of that season so I've picked him up for free.....up yours Porto

[Richard76]

I've had way too many instances of 15/16 yr olds who ask for a few thousand per week but then insist no matter what on something silly like 40/50k per week after ten appearances, and there's nothing you can do. Of course you can ignore it and lose the player, but obviously when you check later to see who he signed for and how much you can guarantee he signed for a few hundred per week with no clauses.

This has just started happening to me. Hadn't seen this much before but tried to sign a couple of players yesterday and they wanted these daft clauses.

It gets to the point you just see the intial demands and click withdraw. Pointless.

[Ben Kenney]

This has just started happening to me. Hadn't seen this much before but tried to sign a couple of players yesterday and they wanted these daft clauses.

It gets to the point you just see the intial demands and click withdraw. Pointless.

As stated a few posts up a fix is being tested for this issue at the moment.

[wolvoboi]

Why can it not be the same for the player? He may be happy where he is and needs a huge salary to convince him to move, it isn't that unreasonable in terms of the transfer fee being paid.

He was transfer listed by request

[willz71172]

kenney will there be a hotfix for this really does kill the game having to offer players 10 or 20 times what they are on.

[Ben Kenney]

kenney will there be a hotfix for this really does kill the game having to offer players 10 or 20 times what they are on.

There is a potenital fix being tested for the issue where a youngster would ask for an excessive wage for making X amount of league appeareances?

Is this the issue you are talking about? Or are you encountering an issue where a player is asking for 10-20 times there current wage? If this is the case then please upload a save game as we would like to check it out.

Details on how to upload to the FTP can be found here - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/345403

Cheers,

Ben

[benjawi.]

Players constantly wanting a new contract is getting rather annoying. I'm finding that giving players 5 year contracts is becoming pretty pointless at the moment, as a year after signing a new contract they're wanting a new one.

[wolvoboi]

There is a potenital fix being tested for the issue where a youngster would ask for an excessive wage for making X amount of league appeareances?

Is this the issue you are talking about? Or are you encountering an issue where a player is asking for 10-20 times there current wage? If this is the case then please upload a save game as we would like to check it out.

Details on how to upload to the FTP can be found here - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/345403

Cheers,

Ben

Its the whole conract negotiation process. Its rediculous.

Player on £74k a week, transfer listed by request. Wants £375k a week, £40k appearance fee, £18.5m signing on fee and £8.5m for agent . . . was a £45m bid.

Im getting players rejecting a move to Man Utd from a team just about avoiding relegation, the are on £40k some of them and they are jejecting £100k-£120k because they want £160k . . . its getting beyond a joke.

I just played my last season with 4 recognised centre midfielders (i play 3 each game)

[wolvoboi]

Another case ...

I wanted a 30 year old Tom Ince as a rotation player for my right wing. He was on £75k but wanted £140k in the contract aswell as a £17.5k appearance fee. I was offering no more than £115k with £15k appearance fee, cant quite remember the agent fees etc but the talks came to nothing.

He has just signed for West Ham for £60k a week with a £6k appearance fee, they are newly promoted and i am Man United, have just finished 2nd, won the Euro Cup and i am one of his favoured personnel after being his manager for 8 seasons before moving last season.

[johnhughthom]

Another case ...

I wanted a 30 year old Tom Ince as a rotation player for my right wing. He was on £75k but wanted £140k in the contract aswell as a £17.5k appearance fee. I was offering no more than £115k with £15k appearance fee, cant quite remember the agent fees etc but the talks came to nothing.

He has just signed for West Ham for £60k a week with a £6k appearance fee, they are newly promoted and i am Man United, have just finished 2nd, won the Euro Cup and i am one of his favoured personnel after being his manager for 8 seasons before moving last season.

More interested in playing than mainly sitting on the bench at his age?

[mixmkz]

More interested in playing than mainly sitting on the bench at his age?

I bet if you offered him first team player he would be asking for 200k a week.

[wolvoboi]

Its the whole conract negotiation process. Its rediculous.

Player on £74k a week, transfer listed by request. Wants £375k a week, £40k appearance fee, £18.5m signing on fee and £8.5m for agent . . . was a £45m bid.

Im getting players rejecting a move to Man Utd from a team just about avoiding relegation, the are on £40k some of them and they are jejecting £100k-£120k because they want £160k . . . its getting beyond a joke.

I just played my last season with 4 recognised centre midfielders (i play 3 each game)

Just gone to Arsenal who finished 8th for £195k a week, £19,750 appearance fee, team of the year bonus £775k, seasonal landmark goal bonus (10 goals) £2m

I offered £300k a week, £20k appearance fee, Team of the year bonus £1.5m and landmark bonus (15 goals) £3m

[johnhughthom]

I bet if you offered him first team player he would be asking for 200k a week.

Easy to make bets that can never be proven.

I agree there is a big issue with contract offers, I simply don't think the examples provided by wolvoboi are necessarily an issue, they can both be reasoned as realistic situations. Of course if it happens consistently, then it is an issue.

[mixmkz]

Easy to make bets that can never be proven.

I agree there is a big issue with contract offers, I simply don't think the examples provided by wolvoboi are necessarily an issue, they can both be reasoned as realistic situations. Of course if it happens consistently, then it is an issue.

I am only saying this because I've have situations where I offer players who were next in line for starting spot but need some more development X amount but their agent comes back with Y amount that is outside of my wage bracket for rotational. I said fine, since you will be a first team-er in a season or two I will give you first team status and behold, the agent said "...here is what my client want to better reflect his team status...." along with an even higher wage.

[wolvoboi]

I am only saying this because I've have situations where I offer players who were next in line for starting spot but need some more development X amount but their agent comes back with Y amount that is outside of my wage bracket for rotational. I said fine, since you will be a first team-er in a season or two I will give you first team status and behold, the agent said "...here is what my client want to better reflect his team status...." along with an even higher wage.

Just had that with a young lad i have been giving a few starts and sub appearances too. Contract is running out, is on £25k a week and wants £45k plus a £30k appearance fee for rotation, i offer £40k and £15k appearance fee . . . rejected. (hot prospect)

I then change the rotation and he wants £84k a week!

[wolvoboi]

Just had that with a young lad i have been giving a few starts and sub appearances too. Contract is running out, is on £25k a week and wants £45k plus a £30k appearance fee for rotation, i offer £40k and £15k appearance fee . . . rejected. (hot prospect)

I then change the rotation and he wants £84k a week!

Who the accepts a contract with Swansea (just relegated) for £20.5k a week with £2.1k appearance fee.

You couldnt make this up.

Needs sorting big time.

[Ben Kenney]

Its the whole conract negotiation process. Its rediculous.

Player on £74k a week, transfer listed by request. Wants £375k a week, £40k appearance fee, £18.5m signing on fee and £8.5m for agent . . . was a £45m bid.

Im getting players rejecting a move to Man Utd from a team just about avoiding relegation, the are on £40k some of them and they are jejecting £100k-£120k because they want £160k . . . its getting beyond a joke.

I just played my last season with 4 recognised centre midfielders (i play 3 each game)

As I have stated in earlier posts made today, we have examples of high contract demands. However the more examples the better when it comes to investigating any potential issues. Your example is one we would be very interested in taking a look. Details on how to upload can be found via the link below.

FTP Details - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/345403

[cowell]

I've had at least 5 newgens ask for stupid amount of wages, the latest being 24,500 then 68,000 after 1 game at the age of 15. That's the worst I've had many asky for 20 30 grand per week. It's weird that they ask for really high wages and refuse to negotiate them down but the signing on fee agent fee and any appearance fee or goal scoring fee is fairly reasonable.

[Byronn]

I've started to notice this more and more often and find myself having to offer minimum release clauses and agent fees to keep my head above water. I can't even suck it up either as I've got a self-imposed wage budget to ensure we make profits. I'll get some examples when home from work.

[Ivo-BG]

Transfer fees are OK, I think. I (playing Real M) have managed to sign a lot of top players for fees around 30-50M euros, which I think is fine. Some examples: Bale - 31.5M, Neymar - 45M, Götze - 40M, Hazard - 55M, Kroos - 35M, all fees in Euros.

However, wage demands are seriously over the top... And not only for young players. In January 2017 I had 31-yo Rooney running out of his Man Utd contract and I tried to sign him for free, just for backup. His demands - 325k p/w. I tried to get him down to 215-220k p/w, which was as much as my 2nd and 3rd best players (Neymar and Hazard, on the top of their games) were getting, but he turned me down, would not negotiate at all. A week later signed for bottom-half-of-the-table Swansee for 99k p/w. I really didn't need him that badly, but still drove me crazy.

[BiggusD]

As I have stated in earlier posts made today, we have examples of high contract demands. However the more examples the better when it comes to investigating any potential issues. Your example is one we would be very interested in taking a look. Details on how to upload can be found via the link below.

FTP Details - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/345403

Specific contract demands isn't the issue here. It is the mechanic behind it all that is messed up! Every 14 days I get new tips from my staff about players who "are likely to want a better contract in the near future", and to balance that you have made it ridiculously easy to say that there will be no contract talks at this time - they always accept that. However, this doesn't make their contract demands stop increasing for every match they play. There seems to be no upper limit to what the players demand, and there is no feedback as to what is the cause of that daily increase.

When I started with Lazio most of the players were valued between 1 and 5 million £. Now everyone is valued from 5-30m, six years later. A player valued that much is considered world-class and wants Messi's wages. However, it isn't that simple in real life. Firstly, my 4+ star players are likely 3-star or less at Manchester City, as I don't have the world's strongest team yet - only the strongest in Italy. When you start the game, world-class players such as Pirlo and De Rossi have above £100kpw in Italy, while squad rotation players at the same club have from 20-50kpw iirc. The fact that my squad rotation players have much higher skill than those guys does not mean that they are entitled to 100kpw and my stars 300kpw. In reality, the market decides what you deserve in wages, so if no-one wants you, you have no bargain power at all. Furthermore, wage demands aren't as relative as they are in this game now; if you feel you deserve 100kpw, you won't accept 30kpw at a smaller club (in other words, no real-life agent would tell his client that he deserves 80kpw + 20ab at his current club and refuse a penny less based on his market value and then the next club he finds for him gives him 40kpw and 10ab; that has never happened and never will). A 100kpw player is a 100kpw player and should be key players at a big national team as well as a global superstar. No 18-year-old who have hardly played competitive football is a 30kpw player in that context, and no kid in his right mind would leave the club that has made his career on a free because he priced himself out.

This has nothing to do with bad code and everything to do with a bad idea.

Edit: I have also noticed that until January-February, the media thinks it is unlikely that this and that player of mine is called up for his national team because of lack of appearances at his club. Apparently they don't take into consideration that not a single player at my club exceeds 30-35 starting appearances in a full season, meaning that 10-15 appearances by December means he is a first-team regular. One of the players this happened to was on a squad rotation status and had played 12 matches from start + some sub appearances by the end of November, but demanded more first-team apperances. This absolute demand of playing this and that many matches per month seems also to affect player development negatively, as well as loaned players - "squad rotation" apparently means one match per month or something, while "first team regular" means maybe two or three. Unless, of course, AI clubs lie.

[roejowland]

Wages definitely need sorting out. It's not necessarily just the over the top demands, it's when it doesn't even make sense that gets annoying. I offered one of my coaches more money for the same length contract he already had yet he refused it. Makes no sense. Same with players asking for more money, then signing somewhere for even less a little bit later.

[tajj 7]

Have to agree with this, particularly the contracts. transfer fees not so much it vaires quite a lot, you can get some players that aren't listed for pretty much their value, other not much more and then some will costs you 3 times their value.

Wages however are over the top, even your own happy players keep asking for wage increases. If you have just signed a 5 year contract, why the hell are you aksing for a new one just a year later. Most of the time as well you get rediculous clauses, like agents fee of £4 or 5 million on player transfer of £10 million, or appearance fee of £35k a game. If you try to negoiate these down the agent never budges.

[Kenco]

Have to agree with this, particularly the contracts. transfer fees not so much it vaires quite a lot, you can get some players that aren't listed for pretty much their value, other not much more and then some will costs you 3 times their value.

Wages however are over the top, even your own happy players keep asking for wage increases. If you have just signed a 5 year contract, why the hell are you aksing for a new one just a year later. Most of the time as well you get rediculous clauses, like agents fee of £4 or 5 million on player transfer of £10 million, or appearance fee of £35k a game. If you try to negoiate these down the agent never budges.

If you have examples you should post them as a bug. Otherwise, there's no need to exaggerate.

[mixmkz]

I think only youth players' wages are a bit out of whack, once they can sign their first 5 year contract it gets a bit easier to manage. I've recently sold a player on my team who was earning 25k a week to West Ham and he is now on 120k a week. He was just a rotational player and even if I renewed his contract he would probably be no higher than 60k a week.

If we can keep youth players earning a respectable real life amount, such as 6k - 8k a week before they hit 21, then it is easier to manage. Of course, if there is sufficient interest in them, they could refuse to extend their 3yr contract and choose to move with higher wages. But they should also factor in first team opportunities and the development help they get.

The big problem I think is that players are too aware of their PA, I used FMRTE to see who in the game has 200 PA, and he was a 17 year old striker at Chelsea, barely good enough to be a backup but he is earning 66k a week, ridiculous.

[Herbert Fandel]

Playing this game for all these months and I still don't see much of a problem with what players ask for.

Their demands fluctuate at different times, and are influenced by factors by how much they want to go to one or another club.

The only problem for me, and it is a huge one, is that they then go on to accept a fraction somewhere else. For me that undermines the whole process, and is leading to everyone's frustration being exacerbated in the other areas.

[Konigsberg]

The only problem for me, and it is a huge one, is that they then go on to accept a fraction somewhere else. For me that undermines the whole process, and is leading to everyone's frustration being exacerbated in the other areas.

QFT.

The salaries I pay my first team players are actually quite realistic. The issue is that they are willing to go for a much lower salary at the AI clubs, which is skewing the competition. And the youngsters demand a very high salary.

[Sir_Liam]

I've not read most of this topic, but I noticed on a previous FM title how a player's wage demands altered every time I altered my wage budget.

If that problem still exists in the game that could be a cause of some problems.

As for wage demands in general, I'm finding contract negotiations pretty frustrating. My team turned semi-pro a couple of years ago, but most of my players are amateur still as I have a wage budget of £1500 a week, and every half decent player demands £250-300 a week. The board limits me to offering £150 a week to an individual player, so I can only have a few players on contracts before I go over. I also have to spend some of the budget paying my youth players who generated after we became semi-pro.

I've seen players turn down a contract at my club to go elsewhere for the same wage, even though my club is local to that player. I've seen players choose to be free agents for years rather than sign for my club. I'm in Liechtenstein and players from Liechtenstein refuse to play for us, even though Vaduz are the only club in the country better than us (and they won't want them!). I offer a player a contract extension and he refuses to no doubt be a permanent free agent.

Reputation is affecting some of that, but some of the demands are ridiculous. The worse being a 17 year old who I had on loan as a back up player. He was released by his club, and I could only sign him once I'd offered the maximum in every other contract area. The club who released him are in a lower division and never played him. He is also from Liechtenstein.

Something, somewhere doesn't seem right even at my lowly level.

[scott MUFC]

£15m on a freshly signed newgen from an italian youth intake.

why?

[achilles-the-victorious]

I don't think people are looking at this right.

Transfer fees in the game for players on longterm contracts are, as mentioned, astronomical. But if you have a first team regular, on a long-term contract, what forces you to accept a bid in the first place? Nothing, is what. If you look at real life, whats the difference between the Moussa Sissoko transfer and the Javi Martinez transfer? Similar players, even similar contracts, I'd wager, but the transfer fees were miles apart. Well, its almost entirely because Moussa's contract expired in June. He could have left for free. Not so for Javi.

So how much would Toulouse wanted for Moussa then, last summer, with 12 months still to go on his contract, knowing they will possibly only get 1.2m in January? They would want as much as they can get, thats how much! They would ask for 15-20m at least, I imagine.

VERY VERY rarely will I scout a player and say, thats it, thats my man, bring him in regardless of the cost. No. Its always a cost/benefit analysis. A great player for 30m and 150k a year, or a good player for 8.5m, and 65k a year?

I try to develop any top class talent that I want on my team. The costs of transferring a world class star in are just too great, if you include the signing bonuses, wage raises, transfer fee, etc.

Yes, you can pay $20m for a 2 star player in FM, the question is, why would you? I remember back in the old FMs I would be fixated with a certain type of player, Pacey, with Flair. And I would find a lad that had excessive pace and flair, and I would bring him in regardless of his overall ability/other attributes. Didn't usually end well.