The Art of the Deal

[Nombre de usuario genérico]

While this may be informative for some, I'm interested in knowing if there's a way to improve upon the transfer fee.  The best I've come up with is using a combination of three options: the Fee, After League Appearances, and 3 Installments (12 monthly).  I've tried a few other options, albeit on just a few attempts, but the other options never seem to reduce the fee.  Perhaps, I'm not using them in the right circumstance.  Although, I feel have a good system, so maybe I shouldn't be complaining.

Here is my method, which allows me to get a player for about 1/7 the asking price upfront, if Fee was used without any added options.  This usually takes several attempts.

1. Find the lowest fee that will be accepted.  Offer the default player's value and you'll be presented a counter offer.  If you halve the difference between the two numbers, this will be the lowest fee that will be currently accepted.  For example, if you offer the player's value of 10M and they owning team counters with 20M, they will accept 15M as the fee.

2. Add 'After League Appearances' fee to reduce the original fee.  I always add the maximum number of 50 league appearances.  Using this option is great at cutting the fee by at least half.  The only downside is that you'll need to offer about 10% over the price of the fee.  So, from step one, raise the 15M fee (15M x .10) to 16.5M.  Now, using the 16.5M, split it into a 60/40 ratio, putting the 60% portion into the After League Appearances side.  (This ratio isn't set in stone and may need to be altered closer to 50/50 to be accepted.)  60% of 16.5M is 9.9M.  I will then test the offer to see if it'll be accepted.  If it is, the problem is once the offer is accepted, the only way to lower the offer further is to reload the save and start again.

3. Now that you know 9.9M is good, take the remaining 40% of the 16.5M (6.6M) and divide it by 3, which is 2.2M.  If you double it (4.4M), you can put that number into the 3 yearly installments, while putting the remaining 2.2M as the fee.  So, to sum it up, the 15M player can be had upfront for 2.2M instead.

While using this method creates a headache of paying money in future payments which makes it hard to keep track of, you are able to buy a much greater number of players doing this.  When the future payments become due, you can sell the extra players you bought for a tidy profit that you wouldn't have been able to afford in the first place if you hadn't done this.

Because of the 50 league appearances option, this comes in real handy if the player you're trying to acquire is only a backup or someone you're going to loan out anyway as they may never get the games required before you turn around and sell them.  However, with that said, I do this for my starters as well.  Yes, I'll end up paying 10% more for those players in the long run.  And, no, I don't ever buy back their clause if I know they'll reach the 50 league games for the same reason mentioned above.  I'd rather lose the money in the future so I can invest more now.

Now, if anyone has any ideas on how to use the other additional fees or have a better method, I'd love to know.  The other additional fees don't seem to add any benefit using my method.

 

Edited February 18, 2021 by Nombre de usuario genérico

[Nombre de usuario genérico]

Now, that I'm thinking about it.  The quicker way to do this using just one attempt would be to figure out Step 1, add 10% to it and then put 4/7 of that total into the 'After League Appearances,' 2/7 into '3 Installments (12 monthly)' and 1/7 into the 'Fee.'

Edited February 18, 2021 by Nombre de usuario genérico

[djpdavey]

6 hours ago, Nombre de usuario genérico said:

'3 Installments (12 monthly)'

I often get confused by the wording. It's that 1 installment every 12 months for 3 years or 1 installment every 4 months for a year?

[danielclouston1]

40 minutes ago, djpdavey said:

I often get confused by the wording. It's that 1 installment every 12 months for 3 years or 1 installment every 4 months for a year?

1 installment every 12 months mate.

[djpdavey]

I tried this out and it works nicely.

[The Amazing Dale Watkins]

I tried this out as well, and it's definitely not working - at least with the 21.3 update.

[Outsider23]

I just discovered that when you're trying to buy players it does actually make a difference if you have a good relationship with the manager who is selling. I bought a CB from Liverpool and was surprised when they accepted an actually reasonable fee instead of trying to screw me with ridiculous clauses. Afterwards Jurgen Klopp told the media that the reason he was willing to let the player go for such a "low" price is the apparently great friendship we share; kissing his ass in all of those press conferences paid off I guess.

[Nombre de usuario genérico]

10 hours ago, The Amazing Dale Watkins said:

I tried this out as well, and it's definitely not working - at least with the 21.3 update.

This works in almost any case.  The only thing is that the numbers aren't exact every time.  The 10% increase in price may need to be higher.  I believe once I had to pay something like 14.5%.  As I've also said, the 60/40 split may need to be closer to 50/50.  Once, it was below 50/50, where the Fee was higher than the 3 yearly payments.  That's why do this in steps in multiple attempts.  If that doesn't work for you, then raise the 10% to 15% and use 50/50.  It should work almost every time.

The only time I haven't seen this work is when the player has a release clause.  Sometimes, in that case it may still work, but in other times the selling team wants that entire release clause paid in full.

With that said, I am playing FM19, not FM21.

[The Amazing Dale Watkins]

Well, things must have changed since the FM19 days. The minimum accepted amount is still halfway between your initial offer and their counter offer, but I had to pay a much higher premium for using the after 50 league appearances clause, something more like 22.5% with paying down 1/4th of it. I may still be worth it, but it's not as sweet a deal.

[Nombre de usuario genérico]

2 hours ago, The Amazing Dale Watkins said:

Well, things must have changed since the FM19 days. The minimum accepted amount is still halfway between your initial offer and their counter offer, but I had to pay a much higher premium for using the after 50 league appearances clause, something more like 22.5% with paying down 1/4th of it. I may still be worth it, but it's not as sweet a deal.

That's good to know.  I just hope the change wasn't due to this thread.  It was the reason I hadn't shared this sooner.  djpdavey said it worked.  I just don't know what version he's running.

[Sharkn20]

Oh the typical 3 installments cheat!! Well done! This is been running around for a bit, not an art. Just a cheat! I wish SI closed this loophole once and for all!

[Nombre de usuario genérico]

1 hour ago, Sharkn20 said:

Oh the typical 3 installments cheat!! Well done! This is been running around for a bit, not an art. Just a cheat! I wish SI closed this loophole once and for all!

It's the 10-15% price increase and 'After League Appearances' that makes this one work (cheat) so well, but thanks for your reply.