FM15: AFC Ajax - Unfinished Business

[karax268]

Nice start Wendsill.

I haven't got Odegaard on my game. I wonder how he'll turn out.

I was part of the Ajax thread last year and tonight I start my FM15 journey with them. A lot of good updates In here this year, karax your doing very well with sales, that was my greatest success last year. It's also very similar to how Ajax have operated in real life the last couple of decades and how I plan to operate.

Promote.. Develop.. Sell.

Thanks. It's my prefered way of playing the game no matter what team I end up playing as. It can be frustrating at times though.

[SohailKonk]

2015/16 Mid-Season Update

Eredivisie

Another update, I'll try not to ramble as much as my previous ones so here goes. 19 league games before the turn of the year and I'm undefeated. As said previously, I would change things up once I got the players I wanted etc. From the start of September I changed formation and started using a 3331 formation. It's really awesome in controlling the game and possession of the ball. I initially thought that playing 3 at the back would make us vulnerable to counter attacks but the midfielders help out with their defensive duties and we've only conceded five goals. My three best players so far have been Richairo Zivkovic, Gaston Gil Romero and Roberto Pereyra. I was surprised at how easily and quickly my two new signings settled in and as for Zivkovic, he can't stop scoring.

Champions League

With the group I was put in, I would have been content with a third place finish and another Europa League run but my team were brilliant and we actually ended up finishing top of our group. In the CL, I stuck with my 433 formation from last season as I didn't want to take any risks. In the next round, we have Celtic. I couldn't have wished for a better draw.

Dutch Cup

Another relatively easy run in so far in the Dutch Cup. The matches so far have been filled with the younger players waiting for their chance. They've been brilliant as usual in quality 6-0, 4-0 and 4-1 wins.

[lewis999]

Impressive results in the CL, would be interested to have a look at the 433.

[SohailKonk]

Impressive results in the CL, would be interested to have a look at the 433.

Here you go, player roles usually do change depending on opposition etc. ST and AMR/AML definitely vary lot depending on who I select to play there.

Player Roles

Team Instructions

[lewis999]

Here you go, player roles usually do change depending on opposition etc. ST and AMR/AML definitely vary lot depending on who I select to play there.

Player Roles

Team Instructions

Interesting that your wingers on support aren't isolated from your ST on attack. Your defence column is brilliant though. How's Zivkovic coming along?

[SohailKonk]

They usually change, sometimes on attack and sometimes IF's on attack. All depends on the opposition to be honest. Those SS were just the 'basic formation/instructions' if you want to call it that.

He's coming along really well, he started the season as the starting ST and has delivered. Started 17 league games and has 11 goals. Sometimes I rotate him Kolbeinn Sigþórsson to keep him happy as well, he's really good too when he plays. I tend to put my faith in Zivkovic though due to wanting to develop him.

[SohailKonk]

My left back wanted out after Arsenal and Real Madrid came sniffing so Nicolai Boilesen left the club for £12M and in came Nicola Murru from Cagliari for £5M. Excited to see how he does, as he was fantastic for me on FM14.

[karax268]

wow impressive results, especially in the CL. Can't help to feel sorry for city though, going out with 10 points.

[Hoarau]

I'm having what I can only describe as the most "soap operaish" pre season ever, I'm gonna do a proper update once I'm into the season abit but I'll describe my situation..

After selling Van Der Hoorn for £2m I've somehow managed to unleash squad Armageddon with fall outs leading to sales of Sigthorsson, Lasse Schone and Jesper Cilissen... I've made major investment as you'll eventually see but this isn't quite what I had planned... It is though making this a very interesting save..

[Wendsill]

I'm having what I can only describe as the most "soap operaish" pre season ever, I'm gonna do a proper update once I'm into the season abit but I'll describe my situation..

After selling Van Der Hoorn for £2m I've somehow managed to unleash squad Armageddon with fall outs leading to sales of Sigthorsson, Lasse Schone and Jesper Cilissen... I've made major investment as you'll eventually see but this isn't quite what I had planned... It is though making this a very interesting save..

Ouch, sounds painfull. Looking forward to read your update.

[karax268]

2015/2016 mid season update

League table

CL table

All fixtures

We turned our small deficit into a small lead in the league. I´m not sitting comfortably, though. Allmost all points we lost were against other title candidates. Hopefully we can step up in the remainder of the competition.

The champions league was relatively easy as expected. We qualified easy. It´s just a shame we didn´t manage to get the top spot. Valencia beat us to it. Just

In the next round we face Juventus. I hope we can replicate our results against them of last season.

The Dutch cup is going well so far with the toughest opposition so far jupiler league side NEC. In the Semi-final we meet Zwolle.

Transfers

Just the one. Moisander leaves the club for nearly 4m to Everton.

Though I'm sure we'll miss our captain in the remainder of the season, I couldn't pass on a chance to cash in on an aging player.

As replacement I promoted Nick van Dijk from the U-19's to the first team.

He came through the ranks last season and has allready made his debut in he cup when we played Groningen reserves. I have high hopes for the lad.

[SohailKonk]

2015/16 End of Season Update

Eredivisie

Coming into the new year, we were top, undefeated and had only conceded 5 goals with a new formation. We started the new year with an awesome attacking display with a 7-2 win and conceded two sloppy late goals. It was okay, I didn't make much of it. A week later against Heerenveen, we lost our first game of the season. We played really well and have something like 25 shots, they go up the other end and score in the last minute. It was bad luck, I guess. After our first defeat, our heads went a tiny bit and defensively we weren't the same. Despite losing 4 games in the 15 league games, we still managed to keep a comfortable lead at the top and won it by 20 points. 1 point more than the previous season.

Champions League

WE WON IT!!!

I'm not sure if it was my variation of tactics, players performing out their skin or just pure luck but somehow we won the Champions League. I should start off at Celtic, it could have been a different story if in the first half of the first leg they didn't hit the bar twice. We were all our the place and really didn't deserve to win the first leg. After coming through with a 3-0 win, the second leg was more filled with younger players as I knew they'd pull through.

Next up was Real Madrid. First half they were all over us and we couldn't even get out of our half. Not sure what happened to the team, they conceded 3 and should have been more. To put show how bad we were, we only had 19% possession. Somehow Zivkovic managed to score us a vital away goal in the second half and it gave me us a lifeline. Going into the second leg, we needed to score 2 goals to go through. It was at home and I was somewhat confident after our second half performance in the first leg. I changed things up to a more direct and attacking approach with a high tempo. What happened to us in the first leg, happened to them in the second. Within the first 15 minutes we had scored twice. It was level and we were going through but of course it was going to be a long 75 minutes. We held on and by half time they didn't even manage an attempt on goal. I kept the same approach as it was working and they couldn't even attack us and changed to a defensive striker and put on Kolbeinn Sigþórsson, he's not the perfect DF but it works at times. He made it 3-0 within minutes and by the time they put on more attackers, it was too late as we killed the game by retaining possession and putting on more defensive minded players.

Surely our luck would run out against Bayern Munich?

Not quite, luckily the first game was away and I enjoyed that as I thought we could snatch an away goal and build on that in the return leg. Both teams attacked and we both settled for a 2-2 draw. In the return leg, I used a 4141 formation with defensive wingers and just tried to keep the ball and have control of it. It seemed to have worked because they couldn't manage a shot on target all game. I was delighted and wasn't sure how they played so poorly.

The final was against Dortmund and I was determined to erase the European heartbreak of last season. We wouldn't get a better chance to win the trophy for ages if we don't win it this time. Dortmund were in awful form and had just finished their season in 8th place. I really wasn't sure how to approach the game, they still have Marco Reus and more pace in their forwards, usually I play with a high line but I dropped it a tad. Also kept one of my wingers as a DW to man mark Reus and to try and keep him as quite as possible. We took the lead in the 35th minute with a goal from loanee Deulofue. The immediately hit back with a goal from Kagawa 5 minutes later, going into half time 1-1 with both teams taking part in an intense tactically battle waiting on someone to make a mistake. It stayed like this right throughout the second half until the 87th minute when someone got past my CB Eder Alvarez Balanta and he tackled the forward from behind and got his second yellow. It went into extra time and my only thought was to keep it as a draw and try our luck in a penalty shootout. I took off one of my wingers and added another CB and also put on Sigþórsson (as a defensive forward again), in the 95th minute Deulofue ran through their midfield and pulled it to the side of my striker and heroically he finished it off. I was speechless, I did all i could to keep the lead but again, it didn't last long as Kagawa scored a header!! You could say they deserved to win as they did have 20 shots on goal compared to my 8. Oh it went onto penalties. Weirdly, I was confident in my players for some reason. They always seem to win penalty shootouts whenever they've had one. We took first and scored, they also scored theirs. In fact, both teams scored their first 3 penalties until the fourth. We scored our fourth and it was Mkhitaryan who missed his, all we had to do was score our fifth penalty and we were champions of Europe. Up stepped vice-captain Ricardo van Rhijn, calmly slotted it home and we did it. Taking it one game at a time, we managed to reach the final and won with 10 men. To do this so early on in my Ajax career is an awesome feeling.

Dutch Cup

Retained the domestic cup! Not much to say apart from we made hard work of FC Eindhoven and had to go onto penalties to reach the next stage. We took apart PSV with ease and were up against Zwolle in the final. All in all, I was delighted to have completed the season,winning all 4 competitions I was in.

Player Development

I won't go into huge detail this time round with the actual games and how they played for the season but will do in my next 'End of Season' update. I'll just post SS of how they are at the end of my second season. You can compare them to previous SS if you like and see if they have improved or not.

Anwar Al Ghazi

Ricardo Kishna

Richairo Zivkovic

Kristoffer Ajer

Bilal Ould-Chikh

Next Season

Basic aims are to try and retain the league and cup as usual. Another Champions League run would be quality but I know that we won't have much luck on our sides next season, as we have done this time round. I'm just going to enjoy the success for this year and do my best again. As always, thanks for reading.

[karax268]

Wow that's awesome. Great work on winning the Champions League

[Hoarau]

Not as impressive as winning the Champions League but definitely a highlight..

A proper update is coming.

[Wendsill]

Nice updates! I'll update when I've finished the season, which I think is tomorrow.

[Koki]

Wow, great introduction to the club! I just started an Ajax savegame after I watched the match in the stadium yesterday (a friend of mine and me travelled 3 hours to see it). Impressive stadium! Can you shed some light on the affiliate clubs and how they work? Especially the amateur sides confuse me in FM.

[masci0]

Wanted to update you guys on how Cerny can look after a few seasons!

[lewis999]

Did you get him in the first season? Were you playing him in the first 11 straight away?

[masci0]

Unfortunately not, my scouts picked up on him.. but he had no interest in joining me when he was at Ajax but after his debut season at Granada he would. Insigne tutored him whilst I played him intermediately in his first season. He's had 2 full first team AI seasons as you can see below. He's my highest recommendation on FM15 so far going off the way he has developed.

[karax268]

End season update 2015/2016

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we retained the title! And we even improved on last year, getting 3 points more. Even so it took untill the last matchday to make the title officialy ours after we bottled it against our direct opponents Feyenoord the matchday before that. They beat us soundly, 2-0. we'd get our revenge soon after though.

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We also retained the cup! All things went smoothly untill the semi-final where, just like last year we needed extra time to finish the job. In the final waited Feyenoord. The match was just a week after our 2-0 loss and we got our revenge. We played much better but needed penalties in the end to decide the winner.

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After qualifying easily for the 1st knockout round we had to go to Juventus. Last year we proved we could beat them. This year not so much.

No shame in losing to them but I was little disapointed nonetheless. We clearly lost alot of quality during the summer transfer window.

So. after a (mini)treble year, now a double. next year just the league?

As an aside I don't think my playing style could be better described than by this years young player of the year award

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All mine and all deserved it. though Nouri the most in my opinion. This was his first year at the top level while the others were far more experienced. In the end the award went to fischer though.

If anyone wants more detailed info about players or matches I'll be happy to oblige

[Emersonlfc]

Really tempted to start a save with Ajax.

Might give myself some restrictions to make it interesting. Try to limit foreign signings and when I do attempt to sign foreign they must be from the same league. Will tinker with a few ideas.

[Hoarau]

Having a great start to may first season, just wanted to mention these two particular stand out performers..

- I wanted to bring in the 'Romanian Trio' but only managed to grab Gabriel, he hasn't disappointed, hes settled in very quickly while im dealing with a number of injuries.

- Really been impressed with this boy, brought in from Ludogorets for £3m. Looks really dangerous cutting in from the left and has a mean freekick.

[karax268]

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absolutely great player!

This is the first time one of my players wins this, I'm so proud . Kishna won it last season but that was after he'd gone to PSG.

This also means for three years running a dutchie has won it. Depay won it in the first season.

[Hoarau]

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absolutely great player!

This is the first time one of my players wins this, I'm so proud . Kishna won it last season but that was after he'd gone to PSG.

This also means for three years running a dutchie has won it. Depay won it in the first season.

That's great karax, well done. What season are you in now?

How are you playing Nouri? I'm still in the first season but not entirely sure how to use him. Any chance of a screenie to see how he's developed?

I might try and get a mid season updated done today/tomorrow as it's going better than I could have hoped.

[karax268]

I'm halfway through season 3. Havent had much playing time as I wanted I'm afraid.

Looking froward to your update Hoarau.

Nouri

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I play him from CM in either a CM Attack role or as Roaming playmaker. In last season I used a Playmaker attack instead of a CM Attack. Nouri was brilliant there too.

[Frank Button]

From the start of September I changed formation and started using a 3331 formation. It's really awesome in controlling the game and possession of the ball.

Would you mind showing me the player roles/insturctions and the teaminstructions? I'm realy interested in playing a 3 at the back tactic and your results look awsome

[SohailKonk]

Sorry guys for the lack of updates recently, I've been too caught up with uni and I have a few assignments to do during the Christmas holidays. I have little time to update or even play at the moment.

[Hoarau]

Ajax Season 1 - Aug - Jan.(Part 1)

This has easily been the most eventful half-season I've ever had on any FM/CM, all my preplanning went out the window within the first week or so after a mini player revolt occurred after one conversation. The fall out from that really changed the club, myself and Ajax's future. Before I get into that I must say this is the most fun I've had with a save for a long time and I feel I'm getting deeply involved with the club, I've accumulated a squad all the way down to the under 19's that really feels my own. I've done a lot more business than I intended but that was due to circumstances more than frivolous spending, I think overall I've spent less than the starting budget when you compare Spent Vs Sold. I've tried to keep it semi realistic, young player from countries that Ajax have ventured into before and that adds more fun due to realism.

One or two signings were made for financial reasons and I'll explain that in due course, originally I wanted to stay away from the Balanta's and Romero's.. So I could focus on other players I've had my eye on but not had the chance to use in other saves.. That worked and will work sans one the omission, who was purely a financial acquisition. I guess there's no where better to start that my pre season business then..

Transfers :

I'll start with the transfers out as this is where the story is, it all started with Wolfsburg enquiry for Sigporsson, i had no intention of letting him go but when they came in with a solid bid of which i rejected due to me not considering it good enough, Sigporsson went mental.. along with a few senior members of the squad as you'll see. I probably should have handled the situation better in how i spoke with them but it got really out of control and i had to do damage control with the squad to save the season and face before our campaign had even began. This led to a number of unfortunate departures, the resulting sales did allow me to drastically reshape the club and i thought in light of the "Revolt" we had I'd take the chance to bring in a new wave of young players. I'm aware how overcrowded it makes the squad seem and yes it's slightly bigger than I would have liked but I'm actually managing it quite well, really utilizing squad rotation and the amounts of games at times means I can give several players games in each position. There's interest in a number of people so I imagine the squad will be streamlined in some form during next summer.

OUT'S -

Kolbeinn Sigporsson - Wolfsburg - £8.5m

Lasse Schone - Napoli - £11.5m

Mike van der Hoorn - Genk - £2m

Jesper Cilissen - Stoke - £5.5m

TOTAL - £27.5m

IN'S -

First Team

Paul Onuachu - FC Midtjylland - £1.2m

The big man was someone i eyed during the beta and he looks really imposing, he started preseason and the first few games very well and i had high hopes, a injury has put him out for a couple of months but he's young enough that i don't think it'll affect him much. Good option to rotate with the likes of Zivkovic as he's not your typical "Ajax Type" front man but he's a beast of a lad and that's something I like to have, presence up top at times. I'm a big fan of Paul, he brings a different style of play and has really settled into the Eredivise. A snip at £1.2m, his value has already double and if he keeps playing like he is I'm sure it will only continue to rise.

Pione SIsto - FC Midtjylland - £2.5m

Love this guy, my favourite player of FM15, with a release clause of £2.5m he's an absolute bargain. Great on either wing and I've had great success with him as a rudemtuer. An injury has stifled his settling in but he's a live wire when ever he plays, he'll be a star im sure.

Patrick Banggaard - FC Midtjylland - £1.4m

Ajax are fond of thier Scandinavian defenders and this lad is another, a real promising classy central defender. Sent back on loan for the season to make sure he gets first team football this year.

Lucas Romero - Velez - £8m

This was the one omission i was talking about above, brought in just as much for financial reasons as footballing. I wont bore you as your all familiar with him its his worth from next year on that could really benefit the squad, saying that he's been a huge part of our surprising success this season, not expecting him to be here next year, but I'll make the most of having a player of his quality while I can.

Jakob Johansson - IFK Goteborg - £88k

After i cancelled Zimling's loan i agreed the deal for Johansson, a small fee for a really solid midfielder who's still young enough to grow. Low fee and low wages form a real bargain in my eyes.

Gonzalo Martinez - Huracan - £475k

Another "bargain" in my opinion, a compete luxury player, has that South American flair which always comes in handy when breaking down stubborn Eredivise defences. He's had a great start of the season playing AML so much so that in January he's already attracting interest from the like of Sporting Lisbon & Benfica.

Gabriel Iancu - Steaua - £4m

Was determined to get him, ideally i'd have brought in his compatriots Rotariu & Stanciu but i couldn't agree fees with their respective clubs. Not disappointed as Gabriel has been a revelation, really happy with how he started, still not entirely concrete on his position and role but he's performed wherever I've played him. Great wee player. He's a bag full of tricks, low centre or gravity means right control and quick feet. I'm retraining this young man to a CM, hoping to develop him I'm to my own little Georghie Hagi.

Ibrahim Moro - AIK - £1.1m

Last year is was Daniel Amartey this year my new rock of the future is Mr.Moro, very young so has time to grow and develop to how i need him, excited to see how he gets on once he's back from his loan at AIK.

Pavel Savitskiy - Neman Grodno - £86k

Bargain. I really could leave that there but I'll just say for what you pay this lad is fantastic, plays AML for me mainly sometimes switching to the right no matter he still causes defences a nightmare and he's got an eye for goal.

Sondre Rossbach - Rosenborg - £725k

Scout recommended him and with Cilissen leaving i thought it'd be good to have a promising young back up.

Papa Alioune Ndiaye - Bodo/Glimt - £950k

Last year it was Daniel Amartey, this year it's big Papa. I was so happy with his signing I cancelled Zimlings loan to save the wages. A good age at 23 he maybe has slight improvement stat wise but he already has enough about him to hold his own until Bozaer is ready to step up. I'm hoping he will help my other young recruiting in this position as well, Moro, with tutoring etc.

Virgil Misidjan - Ludogorets - £3.5m

Revelation of the season, found him in another save and kept him in mind due to him being Dutch and still young. Has been really surprising, played the AMR spot and has score so many goals so far, a high number being free kicks which is great to have in the locker. Highly recommended.

Plamen Galabov - Litex - £3.5m

This was a scout recommendation, 4* potential was something i couldn't pass up what with his age and ability to play a couple of positions. Another promising player i look forward to try an develop.

Gaston Pereiro - Nacional - £2.5m

A really creative AMC, wont feature too much first season but has the potential to be a real star at Ajax.

Filip Helander - Malmo - £1.3m

Has played a lot more than i imagined he would and has been another stand out, i really think he can become a great here. For one so young he seems to have a commanding presence, future captain the way he's going.

Fredrik Oldrup Jensen - Odd - £575k

A young creative midfielder from Scandinavia, a real engine of a player who offers quality cover.

Marius Lundemo - Lillestrom - £1.1m

The same as Jensen above, young talented cover who offers endless running. The two will become valuable squad members over the next few seasons.

Itumeleng Khune -Kaizer Chiefs - £1.6m

Spent a long time scouring the world for a new first team goalkeeper and it was just by chance i went into feeder club Ajax Cape Town to see if there was a wee cheeky unknown keeper laying around... after checking the league i stumbled into the Kaizer Chief's squad and low and behold still there was Khune, a real pleasant surprise and a really fantastic deal. He's been great, so assuring between the sticks.

Youth Team

Hakon Lorentzen - Brann - £19.25k

Kristoffer Ajer - Start - £975.

Linus Wahlqvist - Norrkoping - £750k

John Hou Saeter - Rosenborg - £11.5k

Eredivisie :

As you can see we've really started this campaign off strongly, it's been a really assured start with a couple of tanking's handed out. As good as we have been going forward we've been immense at the back. nearly 20 games and only conceded 8 goals, a couple of those in fact were penalties so its deceiving reading. Beating Feyenoord 4-1 and Zwolle 6-1 are probably my two highlights id say.

The usual bunch have caused me trouble, draws against PSV, FC Twente & Utrecht are where slight performance concerns has arisen. The team is still gelling which is quite freighting thinking what they've been like and what they'll be like once they gel and get older...

UEFA Champions League :

Now, nothing short of outrageous is the best description for this seasons run out in Europe. I was not expecting to do much, probably Europa League finish if i was being optimistic. Once the group was drawn that hope was really thin but we went into the games with a sense of "its a good experience for the young lads" kind of thing. First game against Arsenal set the tone for the rest of the group. Winning every game sans the away trip to the Emirates is a huge overachievement for me first season. The two games Vs PSG while not convincing really were a joy to watch as the team was never truly pegged back into any desperate defending, the two goals first game from El Ghazi were stunners!

The draw for the first knockout round wasn't as bad as it could have been and given our performances against Arsenal & PSG i wont being going into the games against Bayer Leverkusen in fear, although im cautious about being overly confident. Its an exciting run which im just going to use to gain experience and exposure.

Top Performers :

Richairo Zivkovic

- What a player! didn't think i'd get the kind of season i am getting from him so early, he's scored a lot of goals and a lot of quality finishes in amongst them. He does miss some simple one on ones but that could be age so im not too harsh on him. He's clearly gonna be a star and i hope this is just the start, if i can hang on to him then he could become Ajax's all time leading goal scorer..and that's my plan

Gabriel Iancu

- I mentioned how well he's performed and here he is so far. Really happy as i had set out with his signing in mind and hoped he'd adapt in time but he's shone very early. A lot of time let for him to get even better. He's really shined in the league with a number of important goals.

Virgil Misidjan

- Taken a back by the start Virgil has had to his Ajax career, he's shown a really lethal touch and hi free kicks despite being only 14 are deadly as the majority of his goals are from set peices. Love this wee fella.

Davy Klaassen

- After my disappointment of Ajax selling my captain from last years Siem de Jong i needed a new hero and up steps Davy. He's the heartbeat of my Ajax team, he links that resolute back line with my expansive forwards, his passing is a joy as is his work rate. Infact he performed so well that he received this honour...

Heading into January I'm hoping to continue the fine form and hopefully develop the players a bit further. What I haven't mentioned is the players already at Ajax, I'm very much a advocate of promoting youth and every cup game ive had this season the full first 11 has been from the B team and under 18's, its seen them reach the semi finals where i'll continue to bleed them, a lot of them are coming along nicely which ill go into more detail about at the end of the season.

You probably cant believe this but I have some signings agreed for both January and the end of the season, all players under 21 and some who I'm really excited about.. again ill share all once the season is over. If anyone wants any more info or screenshots just ask.

[Hoarau]

Gutted..

That first leg drubbing of 4-0 really cost us.. Chelsea are lethal.

[karax268]

That's really an eventfull first season. To bad about losing to Chelsea but getting there in the first season is a wonderfull achievement.

It seems to me that that player revolt worked out in your favour in the end

[karax268]

2016 - 2017 season review

It's been awhile since I posted an update. I've been very busy and haven't had as much time for FM as I wanted.

First off, Transfers

I had a though transfer window. All my first team regulars were transfer targets by big clubs. Somehow I kept most of them. I've had some luck, for example Liverpool's last bid on denswill was just 500K below his release clause. Later on in the season Denswill signed a new contract without the release clause. I rejected ridiculous amounts of money for Klaasen (30M and more) as well for Nouri (20M)

In the end the only player I dindn't want to go that did leave was Zivkovic. Man United matched his release clause fee and off he went.

ligeon i sold because van Rhijn shows no sign of leaving and Tete was becomming inpatient with the role he has in the squad. 5.5M is a very nice amount for him.

I allowed Boilessen to go to make room for youth. Escobasso is more than good enough for a first team place now.

For the same reason I allowed Serero to go. With Nouri claiming a first team slot i just don't have the room for him. Also van de Beek was good enough for the main squad.

Getting 20M for two players I didn't really need is quite satisfying.

In the january window Milik got approached by Porto. The amount was a bit low but i accepted it anyway. For most of thee season Milik had been out with injury. Youth players Cerny and Wallian performed as well as Milik would have. So off he went.

I decided against signing players for the first time this save, feeling the youth team has enough quality to fill the gaps.

There are three singings there, they are all youth players poached from other clubs after the intake. Our own had been a disapointment.

The less said about the supercup the better. We were awefull

The league

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The league went well. we were ahead for most of it, eventually sealing the deal with four games to go

Stagnation in the CL. We became second in our group. Beating the 3th and 4th team twice, only to be beaten twice ourselves by the number one Chelsea.

In the 1st knockout round we met City. they gave us hope but eventualy beat us comfortable. in the 1st leg we went ahead twice and by halftime we were 2-1 up. in the second half they shifted up a gear and ran away to a 2-4 lead. in the last moments of te game we scored our third. this meant we had to win with a difference of three in the return leg. unlikely but we gave it a shot. after 20 minutes we were 2-0 up and I started to believe but just before half time they scored. after the break they kept on comming, we held on to our lead but were never close again to their goal.

another win, our third in a row. We had our thoughest fixtures in the quarter and semi final. were we beat PSV and Feyenoord, in the Final we easily dispatched Heracles.

Another season finsished. I hope for next season we can finally push on in europe

[DreamsDefined]

Some really great saves here! Great to see people enjoying Ajax.

How have people found the typical Ajax 'losing talent' situation? I'm finding that even young players are getting unsettled after a decent season... Kishna, Andersen, Veltman.

Any tips to keep those players for a few seasons longer?

[karax268]

Most of the times when a player wants to join a bigger club I tell them we have good youngsters and will be at their level with time. That usually gives me a season extra with those players.

If a player is unsettled because I rejected an offer, I first tell them the offer isn't good enough. Sometimes the player understands and lets the matter rest. If he doesn't, I tell him I'll let him go if a sufficient bid comes in. I'll still reject most. The player may be unhappy for a while but i find that usually doesn't last long.

My biggest problem comes during contract negotians. If the agent insists on a minimum release clause, I have no choice but to accept (or let the player leave on a free) I'm at a point where a player only goes against my will if he has a release clause.

The biggest factor in this is that I'm financially sufficient without transfers. I don't need to sell at all so I can say no. I'm not even signing much players so the money doesn't go there either (I think I have a transfer budget of 150M)

[DreamsDefined]

Good tips there, thanks karax. I'll have to try rejecting a few for the "offer isn't good enough" reason and see how it goes.

Also finding the min release clause issue with contract negotiations. Although giving them a few extra thousand usually allows me to have a sizeable min release... figure it's the best I can do!

[Sunstrikuuu]

If anyone is interested, I have a save in 2015 with an English club in which Ajax has, I believe, two regens with PA over 180 (maybe both over 190). It's by far the best single youth intake I have ever seen. I think the majority of the 2014 squad is still intact as well.

[fatlad86]

just started my 1st ever ajax save, and really looking forward to it. 1st of all i couldn't believe how much young talent they have, but i absolutely hate having huge squads so i will be trimming it down quite a lot.

anyway here's my 1st signings in

now to get trimming lol

[fatlad86]

thulani serero is quality

[fatlad86]

oops. replied instead of edit

[easternhawk2]

Has anyone got any tips on keeping the stronger players in the squad at the club?

I'm just about to finish the first season (playing Champions League Semis 2nd leg as I speak) and have won the League and Super Cup (Lost Dutch Cup on penalties in final) with a squad that is a lot stronger than anyone else in the league.

Like many, I went to South America for a lot of my players, 3 key men being Alvarez Balanta, Lucas Romero and Lucas Silva, amongst others found scattered around Europe.

Anyway, EAB is complaining about wanting to leave, I tried to convince him to stay but he had none of so I am looking likely to have to sell him, most offers being negotiated to at least £25m with add-ons. Unfortunately, I don't think he'll be the last to complain about wanting to move on and numerous players could be candidates.

[fatlad86]

Im only halfway through my 1st season, so im sure im gonna get the same problem. i think if it does happen and they are unhappy then i will just sell. Everyone can be replaced. Even balanta lol ( who i havent actually got for once ) Lol. i have romero tho so he will prob wanna go. Might try and replace him with the other romero if he hasnt already joined a big club.

[craigd84]

Just started my save, is it worth selling sigthorsson?

[egernunge]

Is no one else still playing as Ajax?

I just finished my first season with them.

Transfers:

Not much to write about here. Sold Moisander and Tete during pre-season and Sigthorsson and Klaassen in January. The only incoming transfers were making Milik and Zimling permanent in January and a couple of young players bought by Wim Jonk.

Dutch Super Cup:

Won this after a thrilling match. We went into the break 1-3 down, but then scored two in the second half to take it to extra time where we scored a further three goals to land at the final result 6-3!

Dutch Cup:

After both PSV and Feyenoord were knocked out early there was little standing in our way. The final wasn't exactly a classic, but we managed to scrape a 2-1 win against Utrecht to lift our second domestic trophy.

Eredivisie:

Won the league by a point. There was then an 18 point gap to Twente in 3rd, so runners-up PSV were the only real threat. We should have won it by a bigger margain, but our form fizzled out a bit towards the end of the season.

Champions League:

We were drawn in a tough group alongside Manchester City, Atletico Madrid and Monaco. We won both matches against Monaco and drew both ties against Atleti, but we couldn't do anything to Man City and in the end we had to settle for third place in the group.

Europa League:

We comfortably beat CSKA Moscow in the 1st knockout round and edged past Wolfsburg in the 2nd. In the quarter finals we faced Bayern (!). We won 2-1 at home, but lost 0-2 away so our European campaign ended there.

Overall a very pleasing season. The only disappointment was the youth intake where not a single one looks like a future first team player. The biggest task now is to hang on to most of the squad. Several of the players have said they'd like to leave if a bid is made for them. Hopefully I won't lose more than two or three of them

[vasilli07]

Has anyone played 2-3 seasons? Do you get good prospects coming through the academy?

[Poddy]

Yes . most years you'll get decent prospects

[phlux]

I'm playing my 3rd Season at the moment, just finished my second season.. You get a good flow of prospects that are decent..

But my god, the amount of players that want to leave wanting to win the UEFA Champions League is too damn high, I can't help it if i get pummeled by Real Madrid

[matty2323]

4 seasons in and really enjoying my Ajax save:

First season we managed to win the League and Cup double. Second season we secured the League, Cup & Europa League Treble. Third Season was League and Cup double, with a SF appearance in the champions League.

Major Ins & Outs:

IN:

Gaston Gil Romero - £6.5m (season 1)

Tonny Trindade de Vilhena - £5m (season 1)

Eder Balanta - £6.5m (season 2)

Matias Kranevitter - £4m (season 2)

Lucas Romero - £7.5m (season 2)

Winston Reid - FREE (season 2)

Eugene Konoplyanka - FREE (season 2)

Jetro Willems - £5.5m (season 3)

Paul Nardi - £2.5m (season 3)

Georginio Wijnaldum - £5.75m (season 3)

Joshua Kimmich - £2m (season 4)

Kyriakos Papadopoulos - £3.5m (season 4)

OUT:

Thulani Serero - £4m (season 1)

Davy Klaassen - £5m (season 1)

Niklas Moisander - £1.7m (season 1)

Nicolai Boilesen - £7.5m (season 2)

Jairo Riedewald - £14.5m (season 3)

Nick Viergever - £6.5m (season 3)

Winston Reid - £5.75m (season 3)

Riechedly Bazoer - £3.5m (season 3)

Eugene Konoplyanka - £35m (season 4)

Stand out Performers:

Played 182 games now and won 144, so as you can imagine, most players have played extremely well for me. Most players are averaging 7.5+ over the course of the season so im able to make healthy profits off all players.

Individually, Richairo Zivkovic has been immense. Scored in excess of a goal a game over the 4 seasons ive had him. Lucas Anderson, Daley Sinkgraven, Anwar El Ghazi & Richardo Kishna have all progressed and developed extremely well. I managed to pick up a lad by the name of Eugene Knoplyanka on a free. Best buy ive ever had. 2 seasons at 8.4 and 8.7. Won World Player of the Year in the second season. Unfortunately had £35m buyout in his contract and Roma dropped the cash.

As people have stated, very hard to keep the players happy. Most want to leave. But i've found that although unhappy, ive put 40m price tags on their head and been pretty strict. Made a few empty promises too. Keep them, and once they're happy, i bump up their contracts to continually keep increasing their value with their performances. Zivkovic is a whinge machine but ive put 60m on his head. RM got close with 55m but i still turned that down!

Season 4 Squad:

GK - Jasper Cillessen & Paul Nardi

RB - Ricardo van Rhijn & Dave Hoyt (regen)

CB - Kyriakos Papadopoulos, Eder Balanta & Joel Veltman

LB - Jetro Willems

CM - Gaston Gil Romero, Matias Kranevitter, Lucas Romero & Joshua Kimmich

AMR - Lucas Andersen & Georginio Wijnaldum

AMC - Tonny Trindade de Vilhena & Anwar El Ghazi

ML - Ricardo Kishna & Daley Sinkgraven

ST - Richairo Zivkovic & Guido Vadala (regen)

Abdelhak Nouri (Loan).

Only had 2 decent youth prospects, one of which PSG purchased for 500k + 50% future. Got 12 scouts set up so ive hit the regen dates pretty hard. Managed to bring around 10-12 regens into the club around 15-18 that will be developed by the club.

[rastaman219]

Just finished my first season.

Won the league, knocked out the semis of the dutch cup to NEC and out the semis of Europe to Real Madrid (somehow beat Althetico and Dortmund on the way mind!).

Schone as a right IF has been AWESOME! 34 goals in 35!

Zivkovic got 29 in 36 games. Those two were my main players.

Transfer wise I signed Marquinhos (4mill), Gaya on loan, De Zeeuw on a free and then Ola John (425k) and Bruno Martins Indi (2.5 mil) in Jan. Am playing the update prior to the Jan transfer one, hence Marquinhos being so cheap!

Sold Viergever for 4.4 mil and Sigporsson for 4.2.

My 'standard' starting side was -

Cillessen

Van Rhijn (WB-S)

Maquinhos (CB-D)

Veltman (CB-D)

Boilesen (WB-S)

Zimling or Bazoer (BWM-D)

Serero (DLP-S)

Schone (IF-A)

Klaasseen(AP-S)

Kishna(IF-A)

Zivkovic(AF)

Been rotating Fischer, Andersen, Bazoer, Tete, Denswil all in quite regularly, and looking to get Riedewald, Cerny, Muric and Nouri involved next season.

That said, Veltman, Marquinhos and Schone all want to go to bigger sides, annoyingly.

Like most, i'm working to develop a Dutch, home grown team. With the quality of home grown talent around the side I think a new Champions League winning Ajax golden generation is not too far off!

[Ö-zil to the Arsenal!]

Who are people using in defence and goals?

I am in my second season now. My midfield and attack are outstanding. All wonder kids aside from Ekdal but I have a really exciting regen coming through there.

I have Jonathan Tah on the way. He has 2 star current / 5 star potential. I am sniffing around Passlack but Dortmund won't have it. Also Cech is still at Chelsea, not playing but frustratingly not asking to leave. Maybe #100k per week has something to do with it!

Going into the 3rd season and I have a decent budget / rep after winning the EURO Cup. Time to push on the Champions League..

[evertonmarc]

Planning on a Dutch network game with a friend in FM16.......

Does anyone know who are Ajax's "Rivals".....?

[Tha Real behanger]

Feyenoord!!