Convincing high reputation players to join

[maxfriend]

I'm managing Fulham, a firmly established mid-table premier league side. I'm trying to sign a striker playing for Porto in the champions league due to the transfer fee being modest in relation to his ability. I've had a number of 20m including add ons bids accepted, but he always refuses to enter contract negotiations on the basis that Fulham are not playing in the champions league. Is there any way I can change his mind other than by qualifying for the competition, such as making him top target, buying players and coaches he has good relationships with, asking my higher reputation players to speak out in the press, or will the outcome inevitably remain the same?

[Things Could Get Messi]

Even making the Champions League doesn't solve everything. A couple of my Lincoln players have moaned to me recently about wanting to move to Liverpool as it's "a bigger club" even though we are in the Champions League, Liverpool aren't and we've beaten them in the last 4 meetings. We have even won 2 trophies since they last won anything! 

Being more serious though, a Champions League spot does result in more high quality players being happy to consider a move to your club. However, if a long established top club also moves in for the same player then you will lose out on him a lot more often than not even if you did make him the better offer. Finding ways to get an advantage is always worth keeping in your mind. One thing I always try to do is save a good amount of my budget and not use it during the summer. The vast majority of AI clubs use up their budget and/or fill their squads. Trying to do business at a different time of the year often then results in nobody else making an offer for the player you want. I notice a lot of AI sides also list players right at the end of the January window when they suddenly seem to realise they can't register them all! There are other flaws in the behaviour of the AI as well which can help if you know how to spot them but I won't tell SI everything I know about their game. 

Another little tip I can give you as well at the moment is to try and get 1 or 2 of the best young talents listed for loan each season. It's a cheap way to get a couple of wonder kids and they will usually end their loan spell with your team on their Favoured Clubs list. If you go for them again on loan or try to sign them on a permanent transfer at some point in the future then this will put you in a strong position even against bigger clubs. If a player has the option to join a team on his Favoured Club list then he will choose to move there in most cases. 

[maxfriend]

45 minutes ago, Things Could Get Messi said:

Even making the Champions League doesn't solve everything. A couple of my Lincoln players have moaned to me recently about wanting to move to Liverpool as it's "a bigger club" even though we are in the Champions League, Liverpool aren't and we've beaten them in the last 4 meetings. We have even won 2 trophies since they last won anything! 

Being more serious though, a Champions League spot does result in more high quality players being happy to consider a move to your club. However, if a long established top club also moves in for the same player then you will lose out on him a lot more often than not even if you did make him the better offer. Finding ways to get an advantage is always worth keeping in your mind. One thing I always try to do is save a good amount of my budget and not use it during the summer. The vast majority of AI clubs use up their budget and/or fill their squads. Trying to do business at a different time of the year often then results in nobody else making an offer for the player you want. I notice a lot of AI sides also list players right at the end of the January window when they suddenly seem to realise they can't register them all! There are other flaws in the behaviour of the AI as well which can help if you know how to spot them but I won't tell SI everything I know about their game. 

Another little tip I can give you as well at the moment is to try and get 1 or 2 of the best young talents listed for loan each season. It's a cheap way to get a couple of wonder kids and they will usually end their loan spell with your team on their Favoured Clubs list. If you go for them again on loan or try to sign them on a permanent transfer at some point in the future then this will put you in a strong position even against bigger clubs. If a player has the option to join a team on his Favoured Club list then he will choose to move there in most cases. 

Thanks mate, a lot of helpful tips there. I'm currently in October and no other teams are interested in the player which makes it all the more frustrating