How to get the most out of the transfer market - really struggling to find players

[Sunderland AFC]

3rd season in and currently at West ham. Set up a decent scouting network and noticed some more players have appeared but this version is a nightmare. 

Not really true values to sort by on the player search page. Majority of players with highest values look terrible. I have 80m to spend and really struggling.

 

Any tips?

[Marling]

16 hours ago, Sunderland AFC said:

3rd season in and currently at West ham. Set up a decent scouting network and noticed some more players have appeared but this version is a nightmare. 

Not really true values to sort by on the player search page. Majority of players with highest values look terrible. I have 80m to spend and really struggling.

 

Any tips?

I am mainly relying on scouts so far this year tbh, I use the stars as well as the grades and I try and ignore anyone who is rated 3 stars current but 5 future over the age of 24 as they’ve got high potential but you’ll never reach it 

[nico_france]

Do you have a big DB ?

How many leagues are you running ?

It definitely has an impact 

[lovenkrands01]

19 hours ago, Sunderland AFC said:

3rd season in and currently at West ham. Set up a decent scouting network and noticed some more players have appeared but this version is a nightmare. 

Not really true values to sort by on the player search page. Majority of players with highest values look terrible. I have 80m to spend and really struggling.

 

Any tips?

Here's my go to players, some from FM21 still very good. These guys are all relatively cheap and doing the business for my much revamped Barca team.

GK - Livakovic £14 Mil

MF - Gravenberch £50 Mil

DR - Calegari £12 Mil

DL - Rugerri £Free (2nd season)

DC - Zagadou £5 Mil (always ends up transfer listed)

ML - Velasco £10 Mil

I just beat Real 4-0 with these boys

[gmulv]

I love the fact this year players who have expiring contracts in a year that their transfer values really drop so clubs don’t lose them on a free.

on deadline day I managed to sign dybala for 40m and belotti for 2m (yes 2m) as they would not sign new deals at their clubs.

half a season later they are both banging in the goals and belotti is now worth 70m and dybala 100m.

may be worth trying to target players with expiring contracts if you find any.

[Gee_Simpson]

On 02/11/2021 at 21:12, gmulv said:

I love the fact this year players who have expiring contracts in a year that their transfer values really drop so clubs don’t lose them on a free.

on deadline day I managed to sign dybala for 40m and belotti for 2m (yes 2m) as they would not sign new deals at their clubs.

half a season later they are both banging in the goals and belotti is now worth 70m and dybala 100m.

may be worth trying to target players with expiring contracts if you find any.

Yeah there's some incredible players whose contracts are running down. Belotti and Dybala like you said but also Brozovic, Kessie and Mbappe!

[gmulv]

8 minutes ago, Gee_Simpson said:

Yeah there's some incredible players whose contracts are running down. Belotti and Dybala like you said but also Brozovic, Kessie and Mbappe!

Just got mbappe on a free for Liverpool  really pleased  I did have to sell a couple of players though to free up enough wage budget!!!

[Gee_Simpson]

22 minutes ago, gmulv said:

Just got mbappe on a free for Liverpool  really pleased  I did have to sell a couple of players though to free up enough wage budget!!!

Nice! 😊

I'll definitely be going for him for Man Utd, hopefully I can get him. I'll be using a 352 (3412) so I would have him in a strike partnership with Ronaldo which could be deadly. Then I'll most likely bring in Haaland when Ronaldo starts declining. Potentially having Ronaldo, Mbappe, Haaland and Greenwood as striker options would be insane. I'll most likely try for one of Kessie or Brozovic, most likely Kessie. 

Edited November 4, 2021 by Gee_Simpson

[Balotelli]

I've filtered the scout reports to only show players they rate at, at least A-. Otherwise you end up bombarded with everyone and anyone. I have found this helps alot.

[Marinho]

2 hours ago, Balotelli said:

I've filtered the scout reports to only show players they rate at, at least A-. Otherwise you end up bombarded with everyone and anyone. I have found this helps alot.

AFAIK the scout recommendation is also influenced by price, no ? Unless you go all Youth + Potential (to each his own, of course) you miss out on a lot of really good options, imo.

 

as for the OPs question: I found that it is difficult to operate at that specific "rich and prestigious, but not super rich and super prestigious" level. Or at least it is if you expect to sign only perfect options for every position. You likely have a couple standout players and expect new targets to be or approach that level. But in truth those gems will be tough to come by, so getting good 'role players' becomes more important. 2nd season with Leeds i just signed Nandez from Cagliari and Berg from Bodo/Glimt. Never had either on my personal radar and neither will be a star player, but scouts suggested them and they fit very well in the roles i was looking to fill. Personally i just collect players on a short list regardless of the current asking price and go for 'type' rather than that one specific guy. That way i can afford to wait if one of my options gets cheaper as the summer drags on. And prices do fluctuate in both directions. Sometimes it can be a good idea to get a deal done early (even in March or April with leftover Budget) as there is less competition but sometimes it can also be worthwhile to wait till August 31.

As for the setup i pretty much leave it to my Chief Scout nowadays, setting a general focus to my liking and sometimes a Short Term Focus or three. Then collect the interesting players to a shortlist. April/May/June i will then manually scout them (first for a week, then full knowledge if interesting still).