Very low transfer bids on my players

[Maccabist]

Hello

I always receive very low bids on my players. 

For example, i put a 21 years old striker with very high attributes and goals he scored. His value was 32 mil but i only got on him 20 mil max. This happens on every player that i put for sale. 

Plz help, how do i get the real value to be bid from other clubs?

[FrazT]

If you put a player on the transfer list, you are telling other clubs that you dont want him.  There is therefore little or no chance that you will get a bid close to his in-game value under these circumstances.  

[Maccabist]

5 minutes ago, FrazT said:

If you put a player on the transfer list, you are telling other clubs that you dont want him.  There is therefore little or no chance that you will get a bid close to his in-game value under these circumstances.  

So what do you suggest?

[FrazT]

Be prepared to negotiate low bids that come in and you may be able to get closer to the in-game value.  If you lower your expectations, then the transfer market for transfer listed players can be used reasonably well.  Conversely, if you dont want to sell a player and they are on a long contract, then you can reasonably expect to negotiate well over the in-game value if the bidding team really wants the player

[Maccabist]

But i almost never get any bids for my players, even if they are world class players. 

[FrazT]

Lower your expectations and as long as the AI teams need a player in that position, you will get some bids.  The problem with world-class players is that the pool of clubs that can afford both the transfer fee and the player's wages is very small and often, they do not need any more players in that area as they already have a pool of world-class players.

[Boomer Ang]

Am I the only one who experience exchance player being ignored ?

I mean, AI wants f.i. 50M for player, I insert in the negotiation a player quoted around 50M and the AI keep on asking 50M ignoring the exchange player option.

so far I tried it a dozen of times with different players, same result.

you can replicate the “ issue “ yourselves whatever negotiation 

thx

[Anthony Kenna]

I had a similar issue, but in the National League South.

I was in December 2018 with Hemel Hempstead and my left winger was my best player (can't remember his name), and although we were crap, his average rating was very good. He was valued at £12.5k and was a high earner.

He was unhappy because he wanted to move to a bigger club, so I said that it was pointless discussing because they were no interested parties. He subsequently seen his backside and put in a transfer request.

Now that he is transfer listed, the biggest offer I received was £3.5k. I managed to get £6k in January from Boston but he was still valued at £12.5k, and went up to £20k after he'd moved!!

Granted, £6k was more than my starting budget, but I was hoping to get about £15k at the least.

[Bigmonkey79]

Ive found it easier this version but more often in the 3~10 million range. Low bids have come in but by use of lower initial fees and scheduled payments im normally able to achieve circa 10%above players value

[mack4ever]

10 hours ago, Boomer Ang said:

Am I the only one who experience exchance player being ignored ?

I mean, AI wants f.i. 50M for player, I insert in the negotiation a player quoted around 50M and the AI keep on asking 50M ignoring the exchange player option.

so far I tried it a dozen of times with different players, same result.

you can replicate the “ issue “ yourselves whatever negotiation 

thx

It can be done but you need to actually be offering the AI a player that they want. It's no good you turning around and saying "you know what, instead of £50m why don't I give you £30m and a reasonably good centre back who would be completely surplus to requirements in your team", what incentive is there for them to accept?

I've used it plenty of times though when a team has come in to try and buy one of my players. That way I know they want this guy, so if I'm happy to get rid of him I'll see if they have anybody I want to buy and more often than not I can use the player that they want to take a significant chunk of cash off their asking price.

[FrazT]

An exchange will only work if the deal is going to be of benefit to both parties.  If you are offering a player, that the buying/selling  club has neither interest in or need for, then an exchange deal will have no interest to the other club.

[Jedi5diah]

play your players and if they perform whole world will bid high for him and if itz deem surplus by you i guess many other teams will agree with you that its not worth much...

[RocheBag]

19 hours ago, Maccabist said:

So what do you suggest?

The big fees you see in world football are for players the selling team wants to keep, not the ones they're trying to get rid of.

If you're actively trying to get rid of a player it wouldn't make sense for a club to pay over the odds for him.

[WorcesterLegend]

hace 13 horas, Anthony Kenna dijo:

I had a similar issue, but in the National League South.

I was in December 2018 with Hemel Hempstead and my left winger was my best player (can't remember his name), and although we were crap, his average rating was very good. He was valued at £12.5k and was a high earner.

He was unhappy because he wanted to move to a bigger club, so I said that it was pointless discussing because they were no interested parties. He subsequently seen his backside and put in a transfer request.

Now that he is transfer listed, the biggest offer I received was £3.5k. I managed to get £6k in January from Boston but he was still valued at £12.5k, and went up to £20k after he'd moved!!

Granted, £6k was more than my starting budget, but I was hoping to get about £15k at the least.

thats an indirect upseting, you know a team offering say 1M for a player valued at 10M in a low reputation team.

the player wanted to leave and since its a problem in your squad to keep an unhappy player they will offer less, as you said the player IS transfer listed by request so he is transfer listed in the eyes of the other teams, so your asking price has to drop to get rid of the problem he is at present to your team

[Anthony Kenna]

2 hours ago, WorcesterLegend said:

thats an indirect upseting, you know a team offering say 1M for a player valued at 10M in a low reputation team.

the player wanted to leave and since its a problem in your squad to keep an unhappy player they will offer less, as you said the player IS transfer listed by request so he is transfer listed in the eyes of the other teams, so your asking price has to drop to get rid of the problem he is at present to your team

Yeah, it is just so frustrating. I wanted to try and get a good fee for him in either Jan or Summer transfer window from a league club, but then he goes and pulls the rug from underneath me.

Even if I had got his value (£12.5k), that would have sorted my budget out for the next couple of seasons.

Anyway, it is all water under the bridge because I resigned (got sacked) in Feb anyway :-/

[Baodan]

On ‎04‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 08:19, FrazT said:

If you put a player on the transfer list, you are telling other clubs that you dont want him.  There is therefore little or no chance that you will get a bid close to his in-game value under these circumstances.  

The AI does not play by this rule. They are perfectly capable of transfer listing a player for more than the players estimated worth and refuse to negotiate much.

[sporadicsmiles]

8 minutes ago, Baodan said:

The AI does not play by this rule. They are perfectly capable of transfer listing a player for more than the players estimated worth and refuse to negotiate much.

It entirely depends on the quality of the player, and how many teams are interested. I have found that when many teams are interested, it is possible to drive the price up even for a transfer listed player. You can negotiate and there is a higher chance one team wants the player enough to try to trump the others with a larger bid.

Players listed by request work slightly differently, and I think the value you can demand (or see demanded) will depend entirely on how long is left on their contract. An unhappy player with 4 more years left on his contract can have a much higher demanded fee than a player with 18 months left, for instance. In the former case, you can just keep the player for 4 more years, so anyone wanting this player while he is unhappy has to pay over their value to get them (or risk the player settling back down). Conversely, a player on a short contract may refuse to sign a contract and could end up being available for free. So the selling team, if they want to get some money for him, has to offer at a reduced price or risk getting nothing. This is something the AI definitely adheres to, and the player should too. It also depends if you think you can get the player happy before his contract (and refusal to sign a new one) becomes an issue.

I suspect this may explain Anthony Kenna's issue with his unhappy player. In the lower leagues, you tend to only have players on short contracts, and so their value when unhappy is lower than you would like. It is a good motivation to keep players as happy as possible. However, sometimes, you just have to accept the loss of a player and move on.

As a general note for transfers, you cannot expect to recover the entire value of a player who is listed. As noted by others, listing a player indicates you do not want him, which encourages bids lower than value. This is something the AI also does, and you expect to pick up players who are listed for less than their value, in general (although not always, see above). The ease with which you can move a player depends on his quality relative to the clubs who realistically will want him, and if they can afford the fee+wages+sign on bonuses. This is why it can be a pain to move on players who are not good enough for your top quality side. They are usually on high wages, but with attributes that does not attract clubs who can match those wages. The best way around this is to make sure that rotation and backup players are not on long contracts. That way, if they decline, or you find better alternatives, and you struggle to sell the player, the option of them leaving on a free is never that far in the future. This does limit somewhat the price you can ask for a player, but it can help a lot in moving players on. Typically, you are not really going to produce significant transfer income from backup players anyway, just something supplementary that may give the small boost in budget you need to complete an expensive deal.

In terms of quality players who are not listed, there will always be less offers for them. Again, as pointed out, there needs to be a team who can afford the fee, the wages, and with a need for a player in that position. Equally, there has to be no cheaper options available. In my last save, I had a squad with a lot of excellent young talent (Leverkusen). There was often interest in players, and teams trying to unsettle players, but little in the way of proper bids (more often bids to unsettle a player and hope they ask to move on). I only sold two first team players so far in that save. The right back (whose name I forgot) to Barcelona for close to 30 million, and Leon Bailey to Madrid for 80 million (which was a release clause in his contract). Both these offers were in excess of the transfer value. I have no bids so far for other stars in the side, who could easily step up to one of the big clubs (Havertz, for instance). High profile moves for star players are relatively rare, which is why we remember them.

[Baodan]

37 minutes ago, sporadicsmiles said:

It entirely depends on the quality of the player, and how many teams are interested. I have found that when many teams are interested, it is possible to drive the price up even for a transfer listed player. You can negotiate and there is a higher chance one team wants the player enough to try to trump the others with a larger bid.

Usually the AI clubs all have the same idea regarding the price of a transfer listed player, like some kind of transfer cartel. I will grant you that it is sometimes possible to negotiate a better deal with more interested parties involved.

In regards to the rest of the obscene amount of text you wrote, I have no comment but will reiterate that I stand by my statement regarding AI transfers.

I'd like to add that I also find it odd that player performance has very little influence on pricing/interest from other clubs.

[Maccabist]

If i set an asking price (without transfer listed the player), will it attract clubs to offer bids?

[FrazT]

1 hour ago, Maccabist said:

If i set an asking price (without transfer listed the player), will it attract clubs to offer bids?

It may do if you set it below the in-game value.  Setting it above the in-game value will have little effect on getting bids.

[Maccabist]

10 minutes ago, FrazT said:

It may do if you set it below the in-game value.  Setting it above the in-game value will have little effect on getting bids.

Thank you. I'll try that.

[tajj7]

Yeh noticing the same, played a Real Madrid game and Arsenal kept bidding around £30 million for Isco, who wasn't listed. Did manage to get £67 million offered for Isco from Man Utd but it was his exact value, seen very few offers for players I am not trying to sell that exceed the player's value. 

Like in real life I'd expect someone like Varane to go for £70-80 million, but I had bids for him at like £40 million and they won't negotiate. Same in my Southampton save, I have De Ligt nearing the end of the 2nd season and the AI are bidding like £30 million for him with some add ons, which is less than I paid for him and about £15 million below his value. He has a 4 year contract and is one of the best young centre backs in the league, performing very well, if they want him then they should be offering upwards of £70-80 million IMO. 

Meanwhile, go for an AI transfer listed player and they won't budge at all on their asking price. Was looking for a back up DM in January, saw this half decent one from Bayern that they had listed and wasn't playing, they want £15 million, I offer £10, nope, they want £15, and any bid I made they negotiated to £15 million. 

[bennytee]

Does database size still effect transfer market activity?

[Baodan]

2 minutes ago, bennytee said:

Does database size still effect transfer market activity?

I would be very surprised if it didn't.

[bennytee]

1 minute ago, Baodan said:

I would be very surprised if it didn't.

Is it a case of supply and demand?  large database - bigger player pool - prices driven down?

Or am I thinking of it too simplistically?

[Xeewaj Q.]

It's hard to sell anything for a good price, not only in football. The only way is to give that player enough play time, and if he performs well, he may attract better offers. If he's always in reserves/on loan, chance to get a high bid is low. In that case getting money close to market value is really not bad (and may require A LOT of clicking in negotiation dialog).

Though, there is a dirty trick. You sell this player to an average club where he'll most likely be a first team player. Remove any future fees for appearances etc 'cause you'll never get them. Demand 50% from next sell profits. If the player is good, he'll transfer to a top team eventually and you'll get significantly more transfer money.

 

[Anthony Kenna]

The only time I have ever received a "world realistic" transfer offer (realistic = extortionate) is for regens with 5* potential.

I tend to play in the lower leagues so I am not talking multi-millions, but I once got £1m for a 17 y/o winger when I was in Vanarama National with Boston. He was 2* CA but I played him every other week. He was a full 5* PA (for me) and his value was £100k but a few premier league clubs started bidding and I eventually sold for a million to Burnley. Needless to say, the million I received was the catalyst for a couple of straight promotions up to league 1 so it was huge for me.

I would accept bids until a higher bid comes in, then reject the lower ones until there was only one team left.

[danmcconnell1]

I have experienced a similar issue on a player who wasn't even transfer listed but was a rotation option at left back. I was managing Birmingham and in Jan '19 signed Morgan Fox from Sheff Wed for approx £350k as a backup option.

1 year later in the January of 2020, he's now valued at approx. £180k due to not much game time as Pedersen has been brilliant for me, with 18 months left on his contract. I'm receiving measly offer of £80k max from other Championship clubs to take him off my hands. As I say, he's not transfer listed but I would consider selling him, but I have made no indication to the AI that I'm willing to sell.

Is this an issue or how the game is programmed?

[the_gaffa]

In FM19, I find that the AI tends to try it's luck a bit too often with transfer offers (rather than offering a realistic amount for your player).  They'll also often repeatedly come back with the same (or at least a very similar) bid to the one you've just rejected. 

It can be pretty frustrating when said player becomes upset because you rejected a derisory bid that was way lower then their actual in-game value and it needs tweaking in my opinion.

[Baodan]

2 hours ago, bennytee said:

Is it a case of supply and demand?  large database - bigger player pool - prices driven down?

Or am I thinking of it too simplistically?

From my understanding I'd say that you are spot on with this statement.

[bennytee]

It would be interesting to know how many leagues/database size people experiencing problems are using

It's been touched on before albeit on FM14

https://community.sigames.com/topic/313840-choosing-correct-db-size/

[tajj7]

Just further on this, I am into my 3rd season with Southampton and Pavon is one of my key players.

I have set an asking price of £80 million because I don't want to sell him, he is worth £41.5 million. I have basically had about 5 AI clubs offer the same bid over and over and over, all pretty much his value but the deal in instalments, and Inter have done this three times now I think and inbetween that  they have made loan bids. 

You can see it here -

And there are more bids going back before that, plus pretty every bid is the same value, basically an instalments deal equalling about his value. 

He is a key player that I don't want to sell and has 4 years left on his contract and I have rejected multiple bids, but they keep making the same offer like I am suddenly going to change my mind. 

 

[RocheBag]

On 05/11/2018 at 06:08, Baodan said:

The AI does not play by this rule. They are perfectly capable of transfer listing a player for more than the players estimated worth and refuse to negotiate much.

You can do that too. No one is forcing you to accept their offers.

[RocheBag]

On 07/11/2018 at 06:55, tajj7 said:

Yeh noticing the same, played a Real Madrid game and Arsenal kept bidding around £30 million for Isco, who wasn't listed. Did manage to get £67 million offered for Isco from Man Utd but it was his exact value, seen very few offers for players I am not trying to sell that exceed the player's value. 

Like in real life I'd expect someone like Varane to go for £70-80 million, but I had bids for him at like £40 million and they won't negotiate. Same in my Southampton save, I have De Ligt nearing the end of the 2nd season and the AI are bidding like £30 million for him with some add ons, which is less than I paid for him and about £15 million below his value. He has a 4 year contract and is one of the best young centre backs in the league, performing very well, if they want him then they should be offering upwards of £70-80 million IMO. 

Meanwhile, go for an AI transfer listed player and they won't budge at all on their asking price. Was looking for a back up DM in January, saw this half decent one from Bayern that they had listed and wasn't playing, they want £15 million, I offer £10, nope, they want £15, and any bid I made they negotiated to £15 million. 

Yes they have a price they need just like you do. You think you're player is worth 60 so you aren't selling him for 30. They think their player is worth 15 so why would they sell him for 10?

[Baodan]

3 minutes ago, RocheBag said:

On ‎05‎/‎11‎/‎2018 at 10:38, Baodan said:

The AI does not play by this rule. They are perfectly capable of transfer listing a player for more than the players estimated worth and refuse to negotiate much.

You can do that too. No one is forcing you to accept their offers.

Odd... I don't recall saying I couldn't. I did however contradict a statement made earlier saying that in FM you have to accept going below player value when trying to sell a player. Did that confuse you somehow?

[tajj7]

7 minutes ago, RocheBag said:

Yes they have a price they need just like you do. You think you're player is worth 60 so you aren't selling him for 30. They think their player is worth 15 so why would they sell him for 10?

I am not saying they should sell him for £10 million, I am saying they should be open to some negotiation for a player they don't want or need, not arbitrarily demanding £15 million every time. 

[RocheBag]

9 minutes ago, tajj7 said:

I am not saying they should sell him for £10 million, I am saying they should be open to some negotiation for a player they don't want or need, not arbitrarily demanding £15 million every time. 

They've decided if they don't get 15 million they would rather keep the player. They aren't going to sell him for less than they're willing to.

Just like every player you try to sell has a price that's worth it and anything less isn't.

There has to be a minimum they will take or else you could just whittle them down to nothing.

[RocheBag]

14 minutes ago, Baodan said:

Odd... I don't recall saying I couldn't. I did however contradict a statement made earlier saying that in FM you have to accept going below player value when trying to sell a player. Did that confuse you somehow?

I see you're not interested in a conversation. Carry on making snide remarks instead.

[tajj7]

1 minute ago, RocheBag said:

They've decided if they don't get 15 million they would rather keep the player. They aren't going to sell him for less than they're willing to.

Just like every player you try to sell has a price that's worth it and anything less isn't.

There has to be a minimum they will take or else you could just whittle them down to nothing.

No that is just silly and unrealistic.  Every fee is negotiable and no club of that sort of level would be that stubborn over a few million for a player they want to get rid of that they wouldn't even negotiate a few million. There is zero logic in that, especially as about a month later the guys asking price had dropped to £12.5 million.

[RocheBag]

Just now, tajj7 said:

No that is just silly and unrealistic.  Every fee is negotiable and no club of that sort of level would be that stubborn over a few million for a player they want to get rid of that they wouldn't even negotiate a few million. There is zero logic in that, especially as about a month later the guys asking price had dropped to £12.5 million.

There has to be a cut off though. It's easy for you to say they won't budge, but maybe they originally wanted 25 for the player and have already "budged" 10 million, with 15 being as low as they're willing to go.

For every player there has to be a number where it's the lowest they're willing to sell for, otherwise everyone would be free. For the player in question that number is 15 million.

[Baodan]

32 minutes ago, RocheBag said:

I see you're not interested in a conversation. Carry on making snide remarks instead.

Speaking of snide remarks, did you happen to reread your own comment?

1 hour ago, RocheBag said:

You can do that too. No one is forcing you to accept their offers.

Did I imply with my comment that I as a manager was unable to set a price for my player and refuse to negotiate it? You barely gave my comment a glance and disregarded the original comment that prompted my reply. I at least read your reply and tried to understand the logic behind it.

Don't bother answering, cause I too believe this conversation is over.

[RocheBag]

21 minutes ago, Baodan said:

Speaking of snide remarks, did you happen to reread your own comment?

Did I imply with my comment that I as a manager was unable to set a price for my player and refuse to negotiate it? You barely gave my comment a glance and disregarded the original comment that prompted my reply. I at least read your reply and tried to understand the logic behind it.

Don't bother answering, cause I too believe this conversation is over.

You're making an awful lot of assumptions here. I did read the whole thread. You have an issue with the fact that the AI sets asking prices at whatever value they want and refuses to negotiate. 

"They don't play by this rule."

No one can tell you or the AI how much is reasonable to accept for their player. If they want to keep their player more than they want the amount of money you're offering then they will reject your offer. This isn't a bug or working incorrectly. The club wants the player more than they want the money.

Just like when you transfer list a player, you have a number in your head that's acceptable, and anything under that number you will reject. This is how buying and selling works. 

[Bothan Spy]

I conducted an experiment with Manchester city and offered out Aguero for FREE at the start of a new game and stated that I would be willing to pay 100% his wages. Zero interest. 

Tried the same with spurs and Harry Kane. Zero interest. Try it.

I think that conclusively proves the transfer AI is not great. For some reason the game has made selling top players virtually impossible.

[StevehFC]

Having the same issue. 

This issue has been in the game for years and hasn’t been fixed. 

[Bothan Spy]

Offered otamendi, fenandinho, Kompany, aguero and silva for FREE at the start of a new game. No clubs are interested...

You can argue all you like about clubs not wanting players, etc. But they are free! I've offered to pay there wages. No interest? Really? Bad AI.

This is a MAJOR bug that needs sorting! 

I even spoke to them all and they are happy to leave and would get on the phone soon...

Zero interest. 

[Bothan Spy]

I think SI have tried to be too clever over transfers and failed miserably. 

The Italian market is dead, the transfer budgets are not set right to say the game starts in July and trying to sell folk over 30m is just a waste of time. 

They have taken the fun out of the game and successfully killed the transfer market.

[Boomer Ang]

The impossible sell are just a “ way “ to prevent the human player to prevail/exploit the AI on selling players, exchanging them from human to AI is pretty much a cosmetic procedure, I mean, you should expect the players’ value to be cut by 70-80% even for young top players, if you want to sell them.

if you buy young top players instead, the average price is around 200-300M.

funny 

[RocheBag]

1 hour ago, Boomer Ang said:

if you buy young top players instead, the average price is around 200-300M.

funny 

Those managers aren't looking to get rid of their players, so of course they're going to cost more. Not funny at all. Just common sense.

[wardog]

Having the same issue as OP for anyone sayoing lower my expectations this is the standard of offer im dealing with on a daily basis for any player. Transfer listed or not transfer listed, regardless of value or playing time. And squad role makes no alternative either. I haven't even recieved a single bid thats not non-negotiable. 

 

You can tell me to lower my expectations that would be fine if i was demanding 4.4m for a transfer listed player in this spot. But i think if i lower my expectations this low I might as well put all my players on a stall and say free to any home

[Boomer Ang]

2 hours ago, RocheBag said:

Those managers aren't looking to get rid of their players, so of course they're going to cost more. Not funny at all. Just common sense.

Yes but funny was referred to the fact that if I sell them the AI offers 20M for Marcus Example 21 yrs wonderkid but if ai buy Marcus Example 21 yrs wonderkid from the AI the price is 200M.

that is funny or weird or Marcus Example is cheating on his age because he is 39