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

[fmFutbolManager]

Don't make it too easy to get good young players on really cheap wages!

Getting the players is one thing. But wage demands must be realistic.

[Herbert Fandel]

Getting the players is one thing. But wage demands must be realistic.

I 100% agree that they should be realistic, which isn't necessarily presicely where they are now. What I think hursty2 may have meant, and indeed I share similar sentiments, was a request for SI to do exactly that, to make them realistic, rather than to pander to the demands of some of the posters in here who seem to want any player they want to be basically free.

[sirgiorgio]

His agent trying to get business is very different from his club transfer listing him.

The player has the last word, nowadays. If Hamsik's agent offers his players to Real Madrid, it means (it should mean) that the player wants to move to a bigger club (or just wants a better contract). Napoli chairman/manager must persuade him to stay. It they can't, they have the right to ask for a fair price. But if the price is too high, Hamsik has the right to be angry and might feel he is forced to stay.

I don't see this dynamics (anymore) in the game. For instance, a club makes an offer for my player, I refuse and his agent asks for a better contract. I refuse, and the player is unsettled and wants to speak with me. I tell him he won't get another contract and he apologies and that's it.

[NotMyCat]

As I've said earlier, I'm not seeing the problems others seem to be having with transfer fees. Not sure if it's because I've not had a serious career at a higher level than the Championship or because I'm usually averse to spending money at all, so almost all fees seem high to me anyway

Wages are a BIG issue for me however, and it's meant I've put FM on hiatus until the March update (not a cheap dig at SI by the way) so I really hope this is addressed fully in the next update. The best example I found was a player who was 21, loved the club, was a sporadic first team player with the potential to be, at best, a Championship first teamer and seemingly happy. At the end of season one he demanded a raise from 950 a week to 7,000 a week and wouldn't drop any lower than 5,750 with a load of expensive extras, eventually leaving to join a club with a lesser rep for less money. Infuriating to say the least.

[fmFutbolManager]

I 100% agree that they should be realistic, which isn't necessarily presicely where they are now. What I think hursty2 may have meant, and indeed I share similar sentiments, was a request for SI to do exactly that, to make them realistic, rather than to pander to the demands of some of the posters in here who seem to want any player they want to be basically free.

I didn't read it like that. I took hursty2's concerns to be that it might become too easy to hoard excellent young prospects (as with previous versions). And this isn't down to transfer fees or wage demands -- this is more to do with how easy scouting is at the moment.

You can look at each team in each division around the world and ask for a team report and have that within a day. A star rating on EVERY player from the senior team down into the youth teams. It's far too easy. Firstly, my scout from Germany shouldn't be able to do this in a day. It should take a couple of days to fly to Brasil, a few weeks to scout the team and produce the report. If I'm looking at a specific player it should be quicker, but the fact I can scout an entire youth team on newgen date and snap up all the 4+ star players for £200k a piece before they've signed a contract makes the game unrealistic.

Fees and contracts don't have a lot to do with it when dealing with 14-16 year old players. The Da Silva twins were signed for a combined £4m or something like that. This should be realistic. Finding them in the first place should be the hard part.

[Herbert Fandel]

Fees and contracts don't have a lot to do with it when dealing with 14-16 year old players. This should be realistic. Finding them in the first place should be the hard part.

Well hursty did say "excellent youngsters on really cheap wages" so I think he was focusing on that, true as everything else you've said may be, but I'll cease trying to speak for him. I agree fully with you about scouting, but this is the transfer/contract demands thread.

[hursty2]

Yeah, it is too easy to find good players but players can just hoard them as it is now.

[Sikker]

Maybe fees and contract demands seem too high. But it's not really that difficult to get good players for little money - you just have to be patient and not just focusing on that one player...

In my current game managing Juventus I've got Juan Mata on a free and 90k a week (could have got several other star players for their value if I wasn't beaten by other clubs), several 5 star talents for either free or 1-2M and wages from as low as 500 to 5k/week. For reference I'm not using any 3rd party tools or the dodgy scouting where you sort all young players by value and then scout them. Either my scouts (managed by my chief scout) find the players or I'm offered the players by their agents.

Yes, I've seen the 16-17 year old players that are demanding 40-50k a week and clubs that demand 10M. I admit that's really annoying when you can't get that player you know will fit your team perfectly and you've set your eyes blindly on him. But isn't that a part of being a manager? And also it makes the joy even better if you suddenly stump upon another player for cheap that fits the bill just/nearly as well!

[Emmeth]

The issue where they want a big wage increase after x amount of games has been logged and a fix is currently being tested.

Ben

It sounds really good.

Cause I am soon to renew few key contracts and I do not want to cheat, is there perhaps any rough idea of when possibly this specific patch could be released ? I have no hurry but soon I'll be forced to stop playing because of these contracts, or I sell them ( I would really like to avoid that ) or I sell them anyway because I can't afford such wage demands, considering all the research and money invested it would be quite a drama to lose my 2-3 key players

[CSF90]

Wages are definitely an issue.

One of my star players (but probably about 5th best in squad) is currently nearing the end of his £135k p/w contract, which in itself puts him at about the 5th highest earner (fair, given his ability), but he's now demanding £275k p/w - which would put him as my highest earner by £40k p/w. It's February so it ends in less than 4 months and his demands have gone down - in the summer he was wanting £320k p/w, which I couldn't even offer if I tried (and I'm the biggest club in the world, and one of the richest).

I could give him the £275k p/w, but I'm not happy about it and don't think he deserves to have his pay doubled!

Half of my squad are on £90k p/w+ - ones that are on less are those that I signed when they were younger and therefore demanded less. I make sure I get them on the longest contracts possible at this point to keep their wages at a reasonable level. My Ass. Man is always reporting that these guys will ask about a pay rise which I just ignore - when they do I tell them they have time remaining and they're happy.

[Ben Kenney]

Wages are definitely an issue.

One of my star players (but probably about 5th best in squad) is currently nearing the end of his £135k p/w contract, which in itself puts him at about the 5th highest earner (fair, given his ability), but he's now demanding £275k p/w - which would put him as my highest earner by £40k p/w. It's February so it ends in less than 4 months and his demands have gone down - in the summer he was wanting £320k p/w, which I couldn't even offer if I tried (and I'm the biggest club in the world, and one of the richest).

I could give him the £275k p/w, but I'm not happy about it and don't think he deserves to have his pay doubled!

Half of my squad are on £90k p/w+ - ones that are on less are those that I signed when they were younger and therefore demanded less. I make sure I get them on the longest contracts possible at this point to keep their wages at a reasonable level. My Ass. Man is always reporting that these guys will ask about a pay rise which I just ignore - when they do I tell them they have time remaining and they're happy.

Upload your save game and I will take a look for you.

Details on how to upload can be found here - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/313173

Cheers,

Ben

[auberius]

In a related vein, I'm finding the wage levels asked for renewals in the lower leagues pretty impossible to deal with; in the BSN with a wage budget of £2.4k a week, even my backup players are looking for £275 a week, generally negotiable to £230 or so. Considering that to even have a 20-man squad (smaller than I'd like but probably more realistic for that level) I'd have to pay them an average of £120 a week, that's fairly unsustainable (particularly as I can only seem to get away with non-contract terms rarely and for substantially higher appearance fees...) Just me?

[ewok01]

Yes, the huge contract demands and wages expected as well as moral problems (IMHO) have made this game no fun at all.

Just two questions, I'm Arsenal and in season 3.

The contracts every standard of player wants are totally over the top. Avg players want 100K plus 20K apperance fees etc with agents wanting silly money. I know in real life the wages are stupid but the games seems to be the same and double.....??

Example 2 is Will Hughes from Derby (fair enough hes a rising star) but does he really expect 90K plus 20K apperance, 7 mill loyalty bonus and agent wants 4Mill? (This from his 7K derby contract)

I think it just needs adjusting/toning down slightly (esp for the AVG player

Also, the ammount of money the clubs want to negociate for their players also I think needs looking at, I'm being quoted 100 Million for nearly every player (Alba, Hamsik, Witsel) and 50 mill for the likes of Varane from Real.

I know the argument that clubs do not want to lose their players but these figures are stupid money.

[Ivo-BG]

Earlier in this thread I said that transfer fees are okay... Well, I stand corrected:

I understand that this is a player of high potential, but still... being asked for 60 (sixty) times his value? And this is not an isolated case, I'm getting asked for ridiculous amounts of money for young players with good potential all the time. I'm regulartly forced to pay 10-15-20M for 16-18yo players, who are actually valued ~1-2M or less.

Generally, for me negotiating top player signings is a lot easier than signing youngsters (for reasonable amounts of money, of course).

[Pafeu]

This price means 'not for sale'. Because no one is that dumb to pay over 30 M for a teenager.

Transfer fees are well balanced but sometimes AI teams buy player for big price and few weeks later he ends up in reserves and on transfer list. But main concern are contract demands, especially some highly rated youngsters and players over 30 who left previous club on free. Muniain in my save is 31 and was just released by Man City. I'm playing Gladbach, in the last two years we were German Champions so I guess footballer over 30 would want to play (not sit on the bench) for such a club. But his demands are ridiculous, 160k per week, 40k (!) appearance fee and nearly 9 M in signing fees for him and agent. I don't pay that much of money, unless guy is a world beater in his prime so I walk away. And guess what? He signs for Espanyol, 56k per week, 5,5k appearance fee, 2,8 goal bonus. It's so messed up, isn't it?

And signing fees for established players need toning down too. I have to pay 30 M for a player and additionally 10 M for him and his agent, what the f...?

[BiggusD]

This price means 'not for sale'. Because no one is that dumb to pay over 30 M for a teenager.

Except nowhere does it say that it is a "not for sale" price, and nowhere does it say that a youngster you try to sign will only move to your club if he becomes a first team regular straight away. Yet, that's what we can read between the lines when quoted £30m for a 16-year-old nobody and said teenager won't discuss anything but Squad Rotation status and higher wages than the team captain (or soon to be...).

This is poor communication from SI, and the prime reason behind this 200-post thread and several others. The choice between "would listen to any offer", "would only discuss a good offer" and "not for sale" are all salesman arguments and indicative of a willingness to sell, just at different prices. The wordings are also very very short and does not communicate well the intentions of any party. A lot of work is needed here in the future, because these are not bugs (perhaps with the exception of the unreasonable wage increases after x apperances for club or country).

The underlying club size/club economy code is also lacking in sophistication. £2m is a fantastic offer for any player in Norway, including teenagers with high potential. No club here can afford saying no to that - no discussion! The same goes for all other nations with similar quality/rep leagues. A Mexican club worth £2m refusing an offer of £2m for one of their priced youngsters? Not likely! What should happen is that in such a case that small club would agree with a reasonable offer like that since it would make them comparatively rich in their nation, but an absolute demand is a high sell-on percentage. Like 30-50%. You shouldn't be able to remove that clause at all, so that increasing the offer to £4m wouldn't let you remove it. And you should be told ALL of this not between the lines but with an actual conversation with the agent and board present.

[johnhughthom]

You are Real Madrid, a player rated at 4 1/2 stars potential certainly has the potential to be worth over 30 million Euros. I see no problem with that. Chances are you could negotiate it down a bit anyway.

[CSF90]

Upload your save game and I will take a look for you.

Details on how to upload can be found here - http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/313173

Cheers,

Ben

Hi Ben

Uploading now - named "Contract Demands - Rudman (darkest.hour2004)". Player is Diego Rudman.

I gave in to his demands and gave him a new 1 year deal (it's all he would accept) on £275,000 per week. Here's the thing - for his next renewal he has started out at £525,000 per week during negotiations with a £9m loyalty bonus! Now that I really can't afford! Negotiations didn't go well so he's refusing to enter discussions with me again at the moment. Looks like I'll sell him in January rather then let him go on a free.

Thanks.

[cowell]

Since the patch the transfer fees are a bit ridiculous I've just had a £48m bid for baines rejected and £52m rejected for de Rossi, but I then bought bale for £27m.

[Emmeth]

At the moment SI is taking care about the issue, good news indeed.

I am anyway stuck at playing waiting for the patch because I definitely can't afford to triple the salary of my 2-3 key players.

Hope a fix will be released soon.

[ticcque]

I love the high transfer fee for youngster..it make hard for us human to exploit the market.But yeahh..the wage demand need to tone down.Except for city of course

[Kraftwerk]

Like I've said before, I don't like the transfer system at all.

I have a player (Matmour) valued at 2M. This is first season. I offered him to clubs for that. No takers. 1.5, no takers. 1M... no takers. So I offer him out in frustration for 1k. 1 thousand pounds. The only offer I get is a loan deal from Energie Cottbus. Absolute joke. He's a decent player and nobody's interested for him at 1k? The teams who said 1.5/1M wasn't viable suddenly aren't interested any more. Guarantee if I start up a new game and try and buy him Frankfurt would want about 3 to 5 times what he's actually valued at.

So frustrating. I'll offer him out for a pound next. If someone thinks he's worth that maybe I'll buy a creme egg and a can of pepsi max with the funds.

[johnhughthom]

Teams might not think he's worth the wages he's likely to demand.

[jmount78]

New to soccerr but found this odd. I make a successful offer to Chelsea for Teves. Teves' agent was demanding $333,000 a week for salary. My board wouldn't let me spend over $160,000 so no deal.

[CSF90]

Hi Ben

Uploading now - named "Contract Demands - Rudman (darkest.hour2004)". Player is Diego Rudman.

I gave in to his demands and gave him a new 1 year deal (it's all he would accept) on £275,000 per week. Here's the thing - for his next renewal he has started out at £525,000 per week during negotiations with a £9m loyalty bonus! Now that I really can't afford! Negotiations didn't go well so he's refusing to enter discussions with me again at the moment. Looks like I'll sell him in January rather then let him go on a free.

Thanks.

To update - didn't try and sell him in January as felt offering him to clubs would just encourage foreign clubs to enter Bosman agreement.

In the end, he's just signed for Man Utd. Couldn't get him to accept £375,000 per week (the max I could offer - still ridiculous)... so he signed for Man Utd on £165,000 per week - which is £110,000 per week LESS than the contract he was on with me!

[arsenalthebest]

Just had a 17 Y/O demand almost 60x his current wage(I'm buying him) 60k up from 1.2k!!!!!:eek:

[Kraftwerk]

Teams might not think he's worth the wages he's likely to demand.

He was only on like 10k iirc. Even if that's deemed too much for some teams it's offset by the fact that they're virtually getting him for free.

I agree with the majority of people that wages need toned down but it's really important that transfer fee's are dealt with too, imo.

First season. Come on, man!

[Herbert Fandel]

I have yet to see anyone show something that convinces me about transfer fees being in a wrong in a manner which can't be arguably justified.

[CSF90]

I have yet to see anyone show something that convinces me about transfer fees being in a wrong in a manner which can't be arguably justified.

Yep, I think transfer fees are actually pretty good. If a team doesn't want to sell, they ask for a lot - simple. Try endorsing the player in public, declaring interest etc. to try and force them to want a move.

You can pick up bargains if you sign them at a young age. I've just spent all summer trying to replace the player who left for Man Utd - I've tried signing arguably the best DM/CM in the game from Roma who wanted £80m - unfortunately I could only muster a measly £65m so couldn't get him. On the other hand, there's another good DM/CM who is transfer listed by request at his value of £23.5m - he's 3.5 stars for my team (who are probably the best in the world) and so would be a good buy.

However... he's on a £55k p/w contract at the moment - he wanted £180k p/w from me with a rise to £220k p/w after his first cap for Argentina (which will be imminent)! I could pay those wages no problem (I've got £2m budget spare), but I don't want to. It's a massive bug and really needs fixing. Impossible to keep a proper wage structure when players want their wage doubled or quadrupled whenever they renew or sign a contract.

[Kraftwerk]

I have yet to see anyone show something that convinces me about transfer fees being in a wrong in a manner which can't be arguably justified.

32 million for Emenike is justifiable?

[Herbert Fandel]

However... he's on a £55k p/w contract at the moment - he wanted £180k p/w from me with a rise to £220k p/w after his first cap for Argentina (which will be imminent)! I could pay those wages no problem (I've got £2m budget spare), but I don't want to. It's a massive bug and really needs fixing. Impossible to keep a proper wage structure when players want their wage doubled or quadrupled whenever they renew or sign a contract.

Indeed, I deliberately restricted my statement to transfer fees. Wages mostly seem to be off in the sense of players accepting less at other teams, but is the odd nonsense demand in there too. SI have been accepting examples so will hopefully fix it. I just wish people would stop posting transfer demands of teams who have no intention of selling and calling that part of the game broken.

32 million for Emenike is justifiable?

Them demanding it is, you paying it wouldn't be. It is that simple

edit- In fact, some of the instances of tiny little clubs demanding more than their entire worth are a bit silly, but for established teams and players people need to get over it.

[johnhughthom]

He was only on like 10k iirc. Even if that's deemed too much for some teams it's offset by the fact that they're virtually getting him for free.

No it isn't. If you think a player is crap, any outlay on him is too much.

[Kraftwerk]

Yep, I think transfer fees are actually pretty good. If a team doesn't want to sell, they ask for a lot - simple. Try endorsing the player in public, declaring interest etc. to try and force them to want a move.

I already made public comments about him and he wants to join me. Unfortunately, him wanting out doesn't have an impact on the transfer fee when he's still got 4 years left on his contract. I'm not too sure if contract length effects transfer fee in FM anyway (see RVP to Man U IRL).

It isn't a case of them not wanting to sell either. That isn't the issue. If they didn't want to sell they'd issue a hands off warning and tell me he's not for sale. They didn't do that. They made it clear how much they'll accept for him and it's blatantly obvious that the amount they want is just far too high. Nobody IRL or in this game is going to pay 32 million for Emmanuel Emenike.

[Kraftwerk]

No it isn't. If you think a player is crap, any outlay on him is too much.

That's fair enough but then why show an interest, tell me that it isn't viable with the current asking price (1M) and then when the asking price comes down to 1K the clubs previously interested a day ago suddenly aren't and I only get a loan offer from a no mark club. I just can't understand why nobody would pay 1 thousand pounds for a player who is initially valued at 2 million pounds at the start of the game. Your point stands up if absolutely nobody is interested in him but it was never the case.

[lonestar190]

I just wish people would stop posting transfer demands of teams who have no intention of selling and calling that part of the game broken.

Them demanding it is, you paying it wouldn't be. It is that simple

edit- In fact, some of the instances of tiny little clubs demanding more than their entire worth are a bit silly, but for established teams and players people need to get over it.

Actually it is broken as it isn't realistic. It's a quick fix to cover the larger problem of scouting being absurdly simple/broken and having the ability to predict the future.

For me at least that is the bigger frustration.

[Kraftwerk]

I have yet to see anyone show something that convinces me about transfer fees being in a wrong in a manner which can't be arguably justified.

I've took quite a few screenshots of some transfers I feel are unjustifiable. Full album here: http://imgur.com/a/whWc4cl

Apologies firstly if this is deemed as spamming due to the number of pictures. Not my intention, just trying to back up my own claims that transfer fee's could do with some work.

Fernando from Gremio.

Glen Johnson

Hector Moreno.

He's a decent centre back but he's 30 years old. I don't think it's justifiable to be talking about fee's this size in this instance.

Nigel De Jong...

Alexis Sanchez this is.

About 5-8 years ago maybe!

[Pafeu]

Some players' prices are reasonable but those not established or ageing like Naldo should be available for lower fees.

Is there any info if wages are being fixed in the new patch? Cause I have some players to extend their contracts but they're asking a lot of money and I don't want to ruin my wage cap but also I don't want to rebuild team, again...

[Herbert Fandel]

Hmmmm, interesting. I will concede that perhaps 2 of them do go beyond what would be deemed realistic, but again, if teams don't want to sell....

What team are you, and do you have billions behind you?

edit - Oops I see you are Arsenal. I have no problem with any of the ones from English clubs, they don't want to sell to a rival. Same with the ones from Barca or Real, they don't need the money and don't want to sell. Naldo and VDV are the only ones I can concede can't really be easily justified.

[Richard76]

I've took quite a few screenshots of some transfers I feel are unjustifiable. Full album here: http://imgur.com/a/whWc4cl

Apologies firstly if this is deemed as spamming due to the number of pictures. Not my intention, just trying to back up my own claims that transfer fee's could do with some work.

Fernando from Gremio.

Glen Johnson

Hector Moreno.

He's a decent centre back but he's 30 years old. I don't think it's justifiable to be talking about fee's this size in this instance.

Nigel De Jong...

Alexis Sanchez this is.

About 5-8 years ago maybe!

I thought Pat Rice had retired?

[Emmeth]

Considering that many players are stuck because they can't afford to cope with insane salary demands when renewing contracts, I would highlight this bug as the most important and urgent one.

It would be, IMO, really nice to have a small ad hoc quick patch instead of waiting for the next one around middle March.

[Kenco]

I've took quite a few screenshots of some transfers I feel are unjustifiable. Full album here: http://imgur.com/a/whWc4cl

Apologies firstly if this is deemed as spamming due to the number of pictures. Not my intention, just trying to back up my own claims that transfer fee's could do with some work.

Fernando from Gremio.

Glen Johnson

Hector Moreno.

He's a decent centre back but he's 30 years old. I don't think it's justifiable to be talking about fee's this size in this instance.

Nigel De Jong...

Alexis Sanchez this is.

About 5-8 years ago maybe!

None of these are actually transfers, they are just scouts opinions so they don't prove anything. Basically your scouts are saying it will cost a lot of money to buy any of them as they are valuable to their clubs and clubs probably don't need to sell.

You can still get them cheaper if you are able to play the market. And I've managed to sell Lucas before for £40m, so his valuation looks about right.

[fmFutbolManager]

Kraftwerk you'd be better off getting screenshots of the actual demands for the players, rather than a report from your scout with a value.

In my opinion the scouts value in his report is no more useful than the value on the player overview screen. Because more often than not you don't pay this. If you pay too much, you're doing it wrong.

[fuhrerul]

actually clubs would be willing to sell those players because if they weren't then the scout report would say it and it wouldn't have a price range.

[Herbert Fandel]

actually clubs would be willing to sell those players because if they weren't then the scout report would say it and it wouldn't have a price range.

That is when they absolutely aren't willing to sell. These prices indicate that they aren't willing to sell, except for those crazy prices. actually

[Chris Waddle]

I have to agree and say that the wage demands are a bit mad at times. I have lost several players because I cannot afford to pay them what they demand.

As for transfer fee's, on the whole I would say they are ok. I did have an issue though a while back. I was trying to sign Thomas Ince from Blackpool. He was valued at around £1.3m in the game. I tried a £3mil bid and was turned down, so as I had some cash, I bid £5mil and they negotiated for £20m. Oh well I thought, they just don't want to sell him and walked away. As the season went on I tried a few more bids and each time they asked for £20mil.

Towards the end of the season I made a bid of £10m as his value had risen to £2.5m. They turned it down and asked for £25mil. I walked away. The next day or so, he's transfer listed for £3.5mil and I finally get my signing.

[TioPatinhax]

I believe salary demands are a bit too high, but the transfer fees (and its system) does not look incorrect, it´s fairly accurate.

[fuhrerul]

That is when they absolutely aren't willing to sell. These prices indicate that they aren't willing to sell, except for those crazy prices. actually

when the scout report says the club isn't willing to sell then the price should be inflated. and if ajax, espanyol or villareal aren't willing to sell then it's a problem. for example rossi went to fiorentina for around 12.5 million euros

[johnhughthom]

when the scout report says the club isn't willing to sell then the price should be inflated. and if ajax, espanyol or villareal aren't willing to sell then it's a problem. for example rossi went to fiorentina for around 12.5 million euros

The moment you press continue the first time in a new game, you are in a completely different world. Just because something happens in real life does not mean it should be comparable with your current save.

[fuhrerul]

The moment you press continue the first time in a new game, you are in a completely different world. Just because something happens in real life does not mean it should be comparable with your current save.

yes but the game is based on real life and at least at the start of the game and in the first year there should not be a very big difference

[CSF90]

The moment you press continue the first time in a new game, you are in a completely different world. Just because something happens in real life does not mean it should be comparable with your current save.

I would argue that and say that FM aims to be a realistic simulation of the football world, and so drawing on experiences that happen in real life is completely justifiable. Of course, things aren't going to replicate themselves entirely in FM.