[FM23] Athletic Club (Bilbao) - Aupa Athletic!

[dothestrand]

6 hours ago, MattyC78 said:

We have reached the end of 2025/26 and the defence of our title.  In terms of transfer updates, we brought in David Garcia for £1.6 million in January after he turned us down in the summer as the belated replacement for Unai Bilbao.  We also bought a few Basque youngster which I hope be pushing for first team spots in a year or two.   Real Madrid have completely fallen away and were no challenge whatsoever. However, Barcelona were formidable in reaching 100 points and running way to the title, leaving me in a battle with Athletico for second place.  Robert Lewandowski was phenomenal.  Thankfully at 37, he cannot continue forever. 

Barcelona also dominated Europe and were one goal better than us over two games in the semi-finals before they went on to retain their title.  In the Super Cup we were knocked out in the semi-final by Athletico before we went on to get our revenge in the Copa Del Rey by beating them 3-0. 

We have a few youngster kicking around the squad but we are still very much reliant on the same core group of players.  Iker Muniain, Inaki Williams and Nico Williams are irreplaceable in this team. With two of them in their thirties we have to hope they have a little of Lewandowski's longevity.

   

I have been contemplating dothestrand's comments about youngsters getting a full season of first team football and feel I may be promoting players too early and then holding back their development.  I have been having problems with the B team.  The wage restrictions mean I can only register a couple of our youngsters.  It may be a job for the summer contemplating how I maximise youth development otherwise the future years are going to be a struggle.

 

I always want to keep my youngsters together to hopefully build up a collective mentality and to develop as a team, but it never reaps the results loaning them out individually does. I have around a dozen guys playing in the second division and it's doing wonders for their development. I don't really want anyone playing at a lower level than that, but I just don't think I can replicate that kind of finishing school for your youth talents.

[dothestrand]

Alaves regen - look at him! He won't sign at the moment but I'll persevere. He'd only be around 10m.

[bowieinspace]

2027/2028 Season Review - Treble Spectacular

 

La Liga - Winners, 94 points, 2 points clear of Real Madrid
Copa Del Rey - Winners, beat Real Madrid in final
Supercopa - Winners, beat Barcelona in final
Champions League - Lost in QF to Man Utd on penalties

A really fantastic domestic season winning everything we could! It was a touch scrappy though, especially coming through the latter half of the season after the update to the match engine, as while our tactics are still very good, our primary 4-3-3 I found from the match engine changes we were being caught on the counter more often than I'd like. I played with a few adjustments and will continue to do that over the summer - likely just tweaking the left back from wing back to full back role. The mezzala on that side pushes a lot higher off the ball than in previous games so combined with an attacking IF, that side of the pitch is at risk. 

 

Transfers/Squad Building

Robin Le Normand was a really good addition for us and allowed us to have 3 centre backs of similar quality to rotate. Aside from that, the two young left backs I promoted last season have both continued to develop consistently which is great. This summer I don't have any major additions planned, just one signing so far which is a second/third choice goalkeeper (Ayeza out, Iker Alvarez in). I have loaned out Peio Arregi for a season of consistent first team football, as well as a couple other young prospects who could have contributed. I am promoting a couple of youngers who I have featured below.

 

EDIT - We have sold Andoni Etxabe and I've promoted Alain Rubio to take his spot as back up to Nico Williams. Etxabe will be a loss as he's a physical unit and scores quite a few headers, but I feel like he's hit his peak. Rubio has a lot of room to grow so I'm going to give him a go. If it doesn't work, Etxabe has gone to Man Utd so will be transfer listed in 12 months anyway.

GK - Simon, Padilla, Iker Alvarez
RB - Barrenetxea, Gorosabel
LB - Lacruz, Villar
CB - Vivian, Guillamon, Le Normand, Goni
DM - Vencedor, Iker Castro/Javier Prieto (mostly Castro as he's no longer eligible for the B team). I will use Guillamon here too.
CM - Sancet, Gallego, Moncayola, Julen Jon Guerrero
RW - Nico Williams, Rubio
LW - Aimar, Pascual
CF - Garai, Karrikaburu or Javi

I am giving Javi pre season with the squad to see if I want to use him instead of Karrikaburu...make or break.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 6, 2022 by bowieinspace

[MattyC78]

14 hours ago, dothestrand said:

Alaves regen - look at him! He won't sign at the moment but I'll persevere. He'd only be around 10m.

Wow.  He looks like quite the passer.  One to keep an eye on. 

[dothestrand]

Season 25-26: Steadily Improving (and some silverware at last!)

La Liga: 2nd, 86 points (+8 from last season)

Champions League: Lost in Round of 16

Super Cup: Semi Finals

Spanish Cup: Winners!

Squad Performance

Well, the good news to start with was that Real Madrid didn't win La Liga! A quite remarkable slip in standards by Los Merengues, who've hitherto been unstoppable in this game. But Barcelona came back to life after a couple of mediocre seasons. They haven't signed anyone, but that highly impressive starting XI just seemed to click. We improved in the league, back to where we were two seasons ago more or less with the points tally. What the table doesn't reveal was that about two-thirds of the way in, Barcelona and us were more or less neck and neck, but some sloppy defeats set us back (away to Getafe and Vallecano for example - games we should really be winning). Barcelona lost a few themselves at the back end, so whilst we can reflect on a good season in the league, it's with a few regrets. With a bit more ruthlessness, I think we could've taken that title. 

We beat Barcelona in the Spanish Cup for our first silverware in the save. Barcelona had knocked us out of the Super Cup SF in January, and our Champions League experience was a mixed bag. We were looking good in our 'group' but leading Hertha Berlin 1-0, Vencedor had a moment of madness and got sent off - inevitably when you get a red card in this game you just collapse. We finished in the top 16 and got through to the knockout phase. A superb 3-0 win at PSV got us more or less through, though a much rotated side lost 2-0 at home, which was dicey! Inter Milan duffed us up in the next round though of course. We still need to improve in Europe. I don't mind a hiding from City or Liverpool, but I think Italian clubs are very beatable. Hopefully we can get past the last 16 next season.

Not too many standout performers this season. The two Aimars (Oroz and Vicandi) were constant threats out wide. Nico was not La Liga top scorer after two previous awards, but he was second with 20 league goals in 29 starts. Griezmann scored 16 in 22 starts and had a two-month lay off in that time. Vicandi also got double figures. Vencedor and Sancet hovered around the 7.0 mark, with most of the defence just a smidge under. Generally, there were good individual performances, but these players can do better.

Transfers and Youth Intake

We let Muniain go in the Summer. No longer captain and physically fading, we moved him onto Porto. As mentioned, Griezmann came in for 10.25m on a two-year deal. He performed really well as we've seen and his last year may see a decline, but he'll be a good bench option. We had a lot of cash in the bank to splashed 43.5m on Martin Zubimendi who can play the DM and CM roles. He's taking his time to bed in but will allow a bit more rotation in midfield without a decline in quality. It was a huge fee but we've got a huge transfer budget we can't do much with. Guillamon was at Liverpool and my 40m bid was accepted but City gazumped me. By gazumped, I mean offered him HALF of what I did, but warming the bench at the Etihad is every footballer's dream. They'd sell him to me of course but he's not up for moving. Hopefully we can resurrect that deal. Le Normand is at Man Utd and I'm trying to haggle a price. He's not worth upwards of 40m at 30yo, so it's a waiting game. Some filler players moved on, and as I mentioned before, I've loaned every promising youngster out to the second tier for some regular minutes and development time.

Looking Ahead

The squad is quite settled and I'm hoping we can bring a couple of players in if they become available. We still have some squad depth that could be moved on - Benat Turrientes, I'm looking at you!

We've several young players on the cusp of the first team, at the 2.5-3 star current ability, but I may still loan them out for one more season rather than have them kick their heels on the bench. I definitely have guys who could surpass Aimar Oroz's ability within a season and I've got LBs who're almost on par with Aihen Munoz. We have a good striker who can come back when Griezmann retires next season.

Barcelona are clearly back and Madrid will be too, so we'll have a tough fight in the league. Top three should be comfortable now, but a title is so close, but so far away. We've got the taste for trophies now!

[Doyce7]

This may be a long post, you have been warned. First time posting here and I wanted to share my own progress in the Athletic Club adventure. I am in year 5 now, hence the long post, but I wanted to briefly cover the last 5 years and then start regular season updates like some of you guys do!

First season transfers

most of these will be some up front and some over 3, it's going to look like I have way too much budget. No ins in January 

In: Julen Jon Guerrero from Real Madrid for 13M pounds, Jon Moncayola from Osasuna for 12M, Alex from Real Madrid for 185K, Roi Torres from Real Madrid for 200K, David Garcia from Osasuna for 9M

all outs were in January

Out: Mikel Vesga to Al-Ain for 3.5M, Oscar De Marcos to Charleroi for 81K, Alex Petxarroman to Ibiza for 100K, Gorka Guruzeta to Granada for 950K

First season was kind of a struggle but managed to finish in the Europa League places. One very nice surprise is that, I was able to get 22 goals out of Asier Villalibre, I was surprised reading this thread that not one person had reported getting results out of this man. He has been firing my whole save to this point, I'll post his stats at the end. Overall I think I had to be happy with a 6th place finish. Look at Betis!

Lost to Barcelona in the semis of the Copa Del Rey

Team of the year for season 1. I have run a 4-3-3 for this whole save. Muniain has been a fantastic MEZ for me, Villalibre has been playing as a PF 

Transfers for season 2, 23/24

In: Ander Herrera for 215K from PSG, Hugo Guillamon(to play CB) from Valencia for 34M, Mikel Merino from Man City for 31M, Cesar Azpilicueta from Chelsea for 8.5M

Out: Dani Garcia to Valencia for 3.6M, Unai Nunez to Espanyol for 475K, Imanol to Brescia 925K, Dani Vivian to Spurs for 32M(release clause, this one hurts but it did allow me to make the Merino deal)

Huge improvement in season 2, but Barcelona are just too much. Knocked out of the Copa Del Rey by Sevilla in the 3rd round, real disappointment there. As for the Europa League we made it to the Semis before going out to AC Milan 7-6 on aggregate

That front 3 was immense all season

Season 3, 24/25 transfers

In: Unai Nunez from Espanyol for 3.7M, Kevin Rodrigues from Adana for 5M, Jon Karrikaburu from Sociedad for 8.5M, January deal Aihen Munoz from Sociedad for 10M

Out: Alex Berenguer on a free to Wolves(would not sign new deal), Yeray to Osasuna for 9M(why Unai Nunez is back)

This was much closer than it looks, we had it in our hands but lost 2 of the last 3 games of the season and went into the final day with a shot at the title. Pain. First season in the Champions League, we made it through the league phase but ran up against Man City in the first knockout. The Copa Del Rey we made a run all the way to the final but lost it to Real Madrid 3-1. So close to a double but we get nothing out of it. 

Inaki spent some time out with injury this season but Villalibre stepped up again and bagged a ton of goals for me. 

Season 4, 25/26 transfers

In: Benat Turrientes from Hoffenheim for 10M, January signing Dani Vivian from Bayern for 52M rising to 68... yikes but had to be done. Martinez is about done and the other options to pair with Guillamon are not exactly top tier

Out: Inigo Lekue to Bordeaux for 675K, January transfers Ander Herrera to Wolfsberger AC for 140K, Jon Karrikaburu to Paranaense for 8.5M, David Garcia to Udinese for 140K(had already agreed a precontract and I had just gotten Vivian back so might as well get something)

LA LIGA CHAMPIONS!!! 2 years ago 83 points left me 15 points off Barcelona, last season 87 points left 5 points off Barcelona, this season 83 has me 7 points clear of Real Madrid. Barcelona had a dreadful season. We made another run to the Copa Del Rey final, but this time... we lost to Real Madrid again, sigh. In the Champions League we went one step further and got knocked out by PSG in the last 16. 

This season saw the bedding in of the first youth players to come through the academy. Striker Unai Vallejo, winger Lander Beitia and RB Joseba Arberas. 

These screenshots are from April 27 so they are a year older than when they broke into the team

That just about does it, I did promise to post Villalibre's goal return so that will be the last thing. 

[Doyce7]

Forgot to mention that the top two players in the Next Gen award are...

 

[MattyC78]

Congratulations to bowieinspace, dothestrand and Doyce7.  I love seeing Athletic win and good Basque prospects.

[MattyC78]

In the summer of 2026 we were given a massive transfer budget of £95 million with a board requirement to spend it.  We tried to get a couple of youngsters but with limited success.  The only person real addition that we managed to secure was Hugo Guillamon from Arsenal for £38 million.  He is a welcome upgrade to our options in defensive midfield.  

Inigo Martinez very oddly decided to retire from international football after having not been involved in a squad in four years.  We persuaded Ander Herrera to delay his retirement but it will be his and Inigo's final season. 

Jon Morcillo left this summer for £10 million and Julen Agirrezabala for £3.2 million.  This summer we had all sorts of top clubs hounding our young players.  They became unsettled and wanted to leave.  Three of them were eventually convinced to sign a new contract but there was no convincing Ekaitz Sesma.  With only a year left on his contract, we had to get the best possible price and eventually agreed a £9.75 million deal with Arsenal and we brought Imanol back  for £2.4 million as our back left back as a replacement.

[Doyce7]

2026/27 Athletic Club de Bilbao

Another busy summer transfer window, busy for Bilbao standards I guess, more on the outs than the ins.

Out: Jon Morcillo RW to Bologna for 5M, Julen Agirrezabala GK to Sevilla for 3M, Benat Turrientes DM to Empoli for 9.5M, Kevin Rodriques LB to Portimonense for 2.4

In: Martin Zubimendi DM from Real Madrid for 21M, Aitor Fernandez GK from Osasuna for 375K, Eneko Prieto LB from Las Palmas for 350K

Morcillo decided that he would not sign a new contract and would walk away for free after this season so I started offering him out and settled on 5M from the Italian club and sent him on his way with my thanks. He made around 90 appearances for me, mostly off the bench, I have younger players coming through that need his game time anyway. Agirrezabala was tired of being an eternal backup which is fair enough really so he is allowed to head off to Sevilla, where he will... be a backup and only play 2 games all season. Turrientes was a flop in his first season at the club and after I saw Zubimendi on the transfer list I just wanted as much of my investment back and I could get and Empoli came in and helped me only lose 500K on the deal. Rodrigues was 3rd choice LB by the end of last season. The emergence of Arberas on the right allowed Azpilicueta to be backup on the left. I got a couple of pretty good years from him and get back half what I paid, I'll call it a win...just.

Zubimendi was on the outs at Real Madrid and he is the perfect man to backup DM behind Vencendor, so for 21M it's a definite steal. With Agirrezabala going I needed a new backup keeper and none of the academy boys were ready or needed to be actually playing on loan, so in steps Aitor Fernandez an older keeper who has no problem sitting behind Unai Simon and collecting a paycheck. Prieto is one for the future. The situation at LB looking forward is fairly desperate. I have not had any LBs come through or even someone I could retrain to play LB. Prieto is a longshot gamble, maybe he'll come good some day. 

My team heading into the season

GK Unai Simon Aitor Fernandez

LB Aihen Munoz Cesar Azpilicueta 

CBs Hugo Guillamon, Dani Vivian Unai Nunez, Inigo Martinez

RB Ander Capa Joseba Arberas 

DM Unai Vencendor Martin Zubimendi

CM Mikel Merino, Oihan Sancet Jon Moncayola, Iker Muniain, Julen Jon Guerrero 

AML Inaki Williams Lander Beitia, Aimar Vicandi

AMR Nico Williams Asier Munoz

PF Asier Villalibre Unai Vellejo

As per usual we come into the season as 5th favorites but we have finished top 2 years in a row and won the thing last season. We get off to a great start, unbeaten in the first 13 games of the league season and winning the first 3 Champions League games against Ajax, Leipzig and Dinamo Zagreb. Things started wobbling a bit in November with losses to Lyon and Levante, we actually responded to the Levante defeat by beating Man City in the next game! Unlucky for us Real Madrid were also rolling and unbeaten at this time and things came to a head with a top of the table clash in early December, a game that saw Real Madrid open up a 7 point advantage over us after a 3-1 defeat in Madrid. We were able to rack up the points in the league throughout but Real Madrid, you could say, won the league that day. Valencia even overtook us late on in the season when we were resting players for the Champions League, more on that in a minute. No top 2 finish for Bilbao this time around. A good league season, more points than we had in a title winning season last year. Real Madrid were on another level this season

The Copa Del Rey saw us go out in the Quarters against Barcelona on penalties. Not much to be said there.

The Champions League is another matter entirely. We finished 4th in league play so got to skip the first knockout round and go straight to the last 16. 

Heartbreaking to reach the final only to lose but honestly we were so outclassed by Bayern. We were also missing Inaki Williams who got hurt against Arsenal and will be out for 6 months. Nico Williams was also a bit hobbled by the final. 

 

The team of the season hasn't changed much but there is one new name that you haven't met yet.

Asier Munoz. From the same intake as Vallejo, Beitia and Arberas. He now makes 4 players from the 2022/23 youth intake to become a regular part of the first team and he may have the most potential of the bunch

summer plans:

I am not really sure. I have a solid team with a few young pieces and coverage at every position, other than LB, LB is a black hole it seems. I have 25M to spend and finally have a really healthy bank balance after all the money I flashed around on the promise of making it back later. The only move I have planned is bringing in Javi Lopez to back up Munoz at LB, Azpilicueta is still getting the job done but the man will be 38 early next season and there is NOBODY else that is close to first team ready at LB and I can't find another Basque player who can even play LB other than Laporte, which, if I signed him, he is not playing LB. I think I may have to just find a RB or midfielder to retrain. 

But other than Lopez, maybe a new RB to compete with or start over Arberas but I don't want to block him by bringing in Odriozola or Gorosabel both are 30 or 31 years old and would cost my whole budget anyway and I'm not sure I could get my head around that. 

Inaki Williams will miss at least the first couple of months of next season with a spine issue and if he loses too much pace, at his age, I may need to move on from him but I'm not sure Beitia is actually ready for the fulltime gig and Muniain is definitely not a long term option at 35. I could go get Aimar, he is still at Osasuna and could be had for around 20M but when Inaki comes back, if he is still a star, that leaves me with 3 guys for 1 position and I do not like that for my teams. 

Should be an interesting summer for sure. 

[bowieinspace]

Let me introduce you to 'diminutive winger' Rubio with his best mate, 'towering forward' Javi.

 

[Doyce7]

well... This was a fun match

[dothestrand]

@Doyce7 You should definitely sign Javi Lopez at LB if you can. He's a fantastic signing. 

[Doyce7]

Season 6: 2027/28

So in the summer, I didn't really feel the need to change too much. The only departure came in the shape of Ander Capa leaving on a free to Cadiz. He didn't play that much last season and figured to play much less this upcoming one so I let him walk and go find more playing time, in what would be his final season as a footballer. As for what I brought in...

In: 19yo RW Jose Antonio Orbegozo from Tudelano for 165K, total punt, he might come good or he play just be depth for Bilbao B. 17yo R/LW Mario from Corduba for 2.7M, lots of potential with this guy, he might end up in midfield though as he is not the fastest. 16yo CB Yadel Blanco from Las Palmas for 450K, high potential and 6'2"(I am a sucker for big boys at CB). 25yo LB Javi Lopez from Cremonese for 2.8M, I have spoken about the need for a backup LB, He'll have to do for now. Lastly for the summer deals, 31yo RB Alvaro Odriozola from Monaco for 19.5M, I said I didn't want to bring in a 30+ RB over Arberas but I could not find a backup and so Odriozola will just have to be ok with splitting time. 

Trusting in youth:

Inigo Martinez retired at the end of last season so I promoted young Artiz Losa to the first team to be my 4th CB, he became 3rd choice very quickly. I said I like em big, this guy is 6'3", I got him from an affiliate club a few years ago for 115K, what a steal. 

Inaki Williams was hurt to start the season so the starting job fell to academy graduate Lander Beitia and he never let it go, even after Inaki came back. He has been in the first team a few years now but this was his first season actually being the guy at IF on the left. Unai Vellejo continued to split time fairly evenly with Asier villalibre up front. Joseba Arberas split time with Odriozola. Asier Munoz was the main backup for Nico Williams. Beitia, Vallejo, Arberas and Munoz all came through the same youth intake, the first of the game, and there is still one other Inigo Seguin, that is still showing great potential but his development has been slowed by injury and retraining him to play midfield instead of winger. I ended up having 7 players under the age of 21 play 15+ times this season. This is why I love this save so much. I could wax poetic about some of these guys all day but I need to move on. Before I do, somebody got an award in January and I am like a proud father

January shakeup: 

In January I felt like I needed to shake things up a bit Martin Zubimendi was complaining about lack of playtime and honestly I wasn't sure about giving him more playtime. In order to play him I would need to play Unai Vencedor less and that guy is a rock who seems to never tire. So when Benfica offered 36M flat for Zubimendi, I jumped at the chance. Another Case is Unai Nunez, he came and complained he was not playing. He was not playing, because in his first 3 games of the season, he had a 5.8, a red card in the 10th minute of a game and the 3rd time he played he had 5.4. He was not going to play for me again after that display. Anyway, Nunez went to Gijon for 5M. 

In January I made 3 signings, all for the first team. First up was Ivan Martin, a 28yo midfield/winger to add a bit more depth in multiple areas, he comes in from Villareal for 3.2M. Deadline day saw Iker Alvarez join as backup keeper from Benfica for 1.1M. The biggest signing was the second one made, Andoni Etxabe, a just turned 19yo LB from Sociedad. Because he was at Sociedad, I had to trigger his hefty release clause of 40M, but he will be the best Basque LB in the world in the near future(I think). 

Chasing records:

The season didn't get off to the best start, losses to Real and Atletico Madrid in the first 6 games. Loss number 3 happened on match day 14, Nov 28 against Osasuna, we would not lose again. Going into the last 2 games with a chance to break Real Madrids records of most wins and most points in a season, we kind of bottled it and drew the last 2 games. Despite not making history, it was a fantastic league season, 24 match unbeaten run to end the season. Can we challenge Barcelona's unbeaten record next season?

Champions League and Copa Del Rey:

In the Champions League we finished the league stage top and drew Monaco in the last 16. We started away from home and well, we got 2 red cards and finished the game with 9 men, lost 3-1. The home leg we could not get any momentum going and drew 1-1 to lose 4-2 on aggregate, very disappointing to go out at this stage

The Copa Del Rey was much more successful. We managed to avoid any of the other big teams until we met Barcelona in the final and 2 Lander Beitia goals were the difference and we lifted the Copa Del Rey for the first time in the save!

All in all, you would have to say this was a very very successful season, despite the disappointment in the UCL. 

Here is the team that won the double, just like the legendary 1984 Bilbao team. 5 players under the age of 21, 4 of them from the same youth intake, I think I can start calling that group a golden generation and maybe just maybe, the class of 23 will lead us to a Champions League victory one day.

Looking ahead: 

Once again I have 25M to spend in the summer but unlike last summer, there are no glaring holes. I have starters and backups at every position and young players coming through to fill any gaps. Unless something pops up or one of the better Basque players goes on the transfer list, I may not even make any first team signings. We shall see. 

There are a couple of candidates from the academy or B team that could find there way up to the first team this season. 

The best of the bunch is Gorka Aizpurua, he is ready for first team football but I may need to loan him out so he can play more consistently. If he sticks around he would be 3rd choice at both striker and left wing. 

Next up Miguel Angel Losa, another of the class of 23, while not quite as talented as the others, I still think he has a future role in this team. I think he will be in the squad as a rotational option in the center of the park. My midfield is incredibly strong but I want to get him game time next season.

This is Mario, who I brought in last summer for 2.7M, he will likely stay in the B team for next season but may get the occasional call up.

Lastly, Roberto Alonso, this kid has a big and bright future. I wanted him to be a guy who plays for the B team and gets a few callups this season but he got upset that I did not loan him out and would not sign a new deal. I decided in January that, ok I'll loan you out and hope to get a new deal in the summer. But before I could get him out on loan he comes to me with the "explore options" talk. Great. I think I will just have to sell him in the summer but I am going to try to sell him for less than I could but force in a buy back clause. I have done this with a couple of other sales. Sold one kid for 2.5M but had a buy back clause at 8M if he ends up really good. Very disappointed in this kid, I had high hopes. 

 

Sorry I keep doing these super long posts. It's hard for me to talk about this team and save without going off for ever. There is so much I would like to say or show you. This is the abridged version I assure you. 

Edited December 10, 2022 by Doyce7

[MattyC78]

15 hours ago, Doyce7 said:

Season 6: 2027/28

So in the summer, I didn't really feel the need to change too much. The only departure came in the shape of Ander Capa leaving on a free to Cadiz. He didn't play that much last season and figured to play much less this upcoming one so I let him walk and go find more playing time, in what would be his final season as a footballer. As for what I brought in...

In: 19yo RW Jose Antonio Orbegozo from Tudelano for 165K, total punt, he might come good or he play just be depth for Bilbao B. 17yo R/LW Mario from Corduba for 2.7M, lots of potential with this guy, he might end up in midfield though as he is not the fastest. 16yo CB Yadel Blanco from Las Palmas for 450K, high potential and 6'2"(I am a sucker for big boys at CB). 25yo LB Javi Lopez from Cremonese for 2.8M, I have spoken about the need for a backup LB, He'll have to do for now. Lastly for the summer deals, 31yo RB Alvaro Odriozola from Monaco for 19.5M, I said I didn't want to bring in a 30+ RB over Arberas but I could not find a backup and so Odriozola will just have to be ok with splitting time. 

Trusting in youth:

Inigo Martinez retired at the end of last season so I promoted young Artiz Losa to the first team to be my 4th CB, he became 3rd choice very quickly. I said I like em big, this guy is 6'3", I got him from an affiliate club a few years ago for 115K, what a steal. 

Inaki Williams was hurt to start the season so the starting job fell to academy graduate Lander Beitia and he never let it go, even after Inaki came back. He has been in the first team a few years now but this was his first season actually being the guy at IF on the left. Unai Vellejo continued to split time fairly evenly with Asier villalibre up front. Joseba Arberas split time with Odriozola. Asier Munoz was the main backup for Nico Williams. Beitia, Vallejo, Arberas and Munoz all came through the same youth intake, the first of the game, and there is still one other Inigo Seguin, that is still showing great potential but his development has been slowed by injury and retraining him to play midfield instead of winger. I ended up having 7 players under the age of 21 play 15+ times this season. This is why I love this save so much. I could wax poetic about some of these guys all day but I need to move on. Before I do, somebody got an award in January and I am like a proud father

January shakeup: 

In January I felt like I needed to shake things up a bit Martin Zubimendi was complaining about lack of playtime and honestly I wasn't sure about giving him more playtime. In order to play him I would need to play Unai Vencedor less and that guy is a rock who seems to never tire. So when Benfica offered 36M flat for Zubimendi, I jumped at the chance. Another Case is Unai Nunez, he came and complained he was not playing. He was not playing, because in his first 3 games of the season, he had a 5.8, a red card in the 10th minute of a game and the 3rd time he played he had 5.4. He was not going to play for me again after that display. Anyway, Nunez went to Gijon for 5M. 

In January I made 3 signings, all for the first team. First up was Ivan Martin, a 28yo midfield/winger to add a bit more depth in multiple areas, he comes in from Villareal for 3.2M. Deadline day saw Iker Alvarez join as backup keeper from Benfica for 1.1M. The biggest signing was the second one made, Andoni Etxabe, a just turned 19yo LB from Sociedad. Because he was at Sociedad, I had to trigger his hefty release clause of 40M, but he will be the best Basque LB in the world in the near future(I think). 

Chasing records:

The season didn't get off to the best start, losses to Real and Atletico Madrid in the first 6 games. Loss number 3 happened on match day 14, Nov 28 against Osasuna, we would not lose again. Going into the last 2 games with a chance to break Real Madrids records of most wins and most points in a season, we kind of bottled it and drew the last 2 games. Despite not making history, it was a fantastic league season, 24 match unbeaten run to end the season. Can we challenge Barcelona's unbeaten record next season?

Champions League and Copa Del Rey:

In the Champions League we finished the league stage top and drew Monaco in the last 16. We started away from home and well, we got 2 red cards and finished the game with 9 men, lost 3-1. The home leg we could not get any momentum going and drew 1-1 to lose 4-2 on aggregate, very disappointing to go out at this stage

The Copa Del Rey was much more successful. We managed to avoid any of the other big teams until we met Barcelona in the final and 2 Lander Beitia goals were the difference and we lifted the Copa Del Rey for the first time in the save!

All in all, you would have to say this was a very very successful season, despite the disappointment in the UCL. 

Here is the team that won the double, just like the legendary 1984 Bilbao team. 5 players under the age of 21, 4 of them from the same youth intake, I think I can start calling that group a golden generation and maybe just maybe, the class of 23 will lead us to a Champions League victory one day.

Looking ahead: 

Once again I have 25M to spend in the summer but unlike last summer, there are no glaring holes. I have starters and backups at every position and young players coming through to fill any gaps. Unless something pops up or one of the better Basque players goes on the transfer list, I may not even make any first team signings. We shall see. 

There are a couple of candidates from the academy or B team that could find there way up to the first team this season. 

The best of the bunch is Gorka Aizpurua, he is ready for first team football but I may need to loan him out so he can play more consistently. If he sticks around he would be 3rd choice at both striker and left wing. 

Next up Miguel Angel Losa, another of the class of 23, while not quite as talented as the others, I still think he has a future role in this team. I think he will be in the squad as a rotational option in the center of the park. My midfield is incredibly strong but I want to get him game time next season.

This is Mario, who I brought in last summer for 2.7M, he will likely stay in the B team for next season but may get the occasional call up.

Lastly, Roberto Alonso, this kid has a big and bright future. I wanted him to be a guy who plays for the B team and gets a few callups this season but he got upset that I did not loan him out and would not sign a new deal. I decided in January that, ok I'll loan you out and hope to get a new deal in the summer. But before I could get him out on loan he comes to me with the "explore options" talk. Great. I think I will just have to sell him in the summer but I am going to try to sell him for less than I could but force in a buy back clause. I have done this with a couple of other sales. Sold one kid for 2.5M but had a buy back clause at 8M if he ends up really good. Very disappointed in this kid, I had high hopes. 

 

Sorry I keep doing these super long posts. It's hard for me to talk about this team and save without going off for ever. There is so much I would like to say or show you. This is the abridged version I assure you. 

Congratulations on further success.  Some of those youngsters look like they are coming on nicely.

 

[MattyC78]

21 hours ago, dothestrand said:

@Doyce7 You should definitely sign Javi Lopez at LB if you can. He's a fantastic signing. 

Interesting.  He has never looked like much in my world.  I shall have another look but he didn't seem as good as Imanol when I have compared previously.

[MattyC78]

It feels like we are coming to the end or an era.  A couple of players are in what should be their final seasons, Inigo Martinez is 36 and his performances have dropped a bit and I have always struggled with his inconsistency.  He would probably have gone earlier if he hadn't significantly dropped his wages and if there was any option to replace him.  Ander Herrera is 37 and I enjoy how his personality impacts on the squad but he has not played as much recently after I persuaded him not to retire last season.  I have plenty of midfield options so I may let him move on this summer.

On top of that two of the team leaders are starting to decline.  Iker Muniain is 34 and not controlling games like he has in the past and Inaki Williams is 32 and  he has had  few injuries and these are starting to impact on his main strength, his pace.  They still have a place in the squad but it is time for a couple of youngsters to start to step up and exert some influence on the team.  Both Muniain and Williams have taken wage drops which means that there stays can be longer.  Williams took a reduction of £80,000 per week earlier in the season and a reduced contract term.

[dothestrand]

9 minutes ago, MattyC78 said:

It feels like we are coming to the end or an era.  A couple of players are in what should be their final seasons, Inigo Martinez is 36 and his performances have dropped a bit and I have always struggled with his inconsistency.  He would probably have gone earlier if he hadn't significantly dropped his wages and if there was any option to replace him.  Ander Herrera is 37 and I enjoy how his personality impacts on the squad but he has not played as much recently after I persuaded him not to retire last season.  I have plenty of midfield options so I may let him move on this summer.

On top of that two of the team leaders are starting to decline.  Iker Muniain is 34 and not controlling games like he has in the past and Inaki Williams is 32 and  he has had  few injuries and these are starting to impact on his main strength, his pace.  They still have a place in the squad but it is time for a couple of youngsters to start to step up and exert some influence on the team.  Both Muniain and Williams have taken wage drops which means that there stays can be longer.  Williams took a reduction of £80,000 per week earlier in the season and a reduced contract term.

I have Odriozola, Aihen Munoz and Yeray all out of contract in my current season. I can't see myself renewing any of them at this rate. That's a big loss to the backline but only Odriozola is a regular though declining and on big wages. Interestingly I resigned Herrera at 37 and Inaki on loan (I'll explain more when the season ends!) So there is a Dad's Army feel to my current season. 

[bowieinspace]

2028/29 Season Review - 2 Steps Backwards?

 

As the title suggests, a tough season for us without a trophy..

La Liga - 2nd 92 points (4 points behind Real Madrid)
Copa Del Rey - Lost in QF to Real Madrid
Supercopa - Lost in SF to Real Madrid
Champions League - Lost in round of 16 to Bayern Munich

 

Tough times this year, 92 points is very respectable but Real Madrid were back on fire this year having made some very impressive acquisitions, they beat us on penalities in the Supercopa and comfortably dispatched us in the Copa Del Rey. The Champions League was extremely challenging this year as we had a very tough league phase draw having to face Liverpool, PSG, Benfica, Porto, Man City and Sporting CP (alongside Panathinaikos and Dinamo Zagreb) - Benfica and Porto are both excellent on my save and two draws there meant we missed out on the top 8 by 2 points, even though we did pretty well elsewhere in the fixtures. We then defeated Spurs comfortably in the play off round before getting well beaten by Bayern who were the eventual winners of the tournament. We also lost to them in the Club World Championship also in similar fashion.

 

Transfers and Squad Building

Things are starting to look somewhat challenging for us long term. We have a couple of decent full backs who will be very good players in Inaki Lacruz and Aitor VIllar (with others in the pipeline also), however centre back is a huge issue. There hasn't been a top level Basque centre back come through at any stage during my save so far...the ones I have don't look to be top tier players but will probably do in a pinch. Fortunately Vivian and Guillamon are both around 30 so have some years left, and Le Normand at 32/33 has a bit longer left as well. Fingers crossed we see some quality youth come through otherwise we're going to be stretched before we know it. We just keep getting wonderkid wingers every year it's ridiculous. 

Transfer wise we've made a few moves this summer to make room for some younger players coming through - Jon Moncayola has been a fantastic servant for us but was entering his final year and wanted a huge payrise so I elected to allow him to depart for a decent fee given we have reasonable squad depth. I also sold Julen Jon Guerrero who just never made his potential with us - I think he needed to play week in week out and he could have been a real star, but he never got that with us - he made huge improvements during a loan to Portugal a couple years back but then never really came on. His determination stat of 6 never really appealed to me either. I opted to bring in a player from the B team who has had great potential but whos development has somewhat stalled, so this is his chance to stake a claim. Finally Andoni Gorosabel also departed the club - we have young player who had a great loan spell in La Liga last season, so keen to see what he can offer as back up to Barrenetxea. 

Javi did indeed end up replacing Karrikaburu (the latter had always bee fantastic for us, but hated big matches and that causes us a few issues). Javi is a really interesting forward - he's absolutely huge and that gives us a different dynamic, and he's exceptionally well rounded also. He scored a lot of goals (including a lot of headers!) and was an excellent replacement for Karrikaburu, albeit a slightly different playstyle. When playing Javi we keep things tactically very similar, but just mix the crosses up rather than keeping them low. Javi reminds me a bit of Olivier Giroud to be honest.

After releasing Stephane Chevalier last season due to his wage demands, we have panicked about lack of future centre back options and resigned him from Rennes. He's been loaned back for a year as part of the deal and we ended up paying him a big wage anyway. Well done me.

GK - Simon, Alvarez, Jauregi
RB - Barrenetxea, Larrea
LB - Lacruz, Villar
CB - Vivian, Guillamon, Le Normand, Goni
DM - Vencedor, Castro
CM - Gallego, Jimenez, Sancet, Prieto
RW - Nico Williams, Rubio
LW - Aimar, Pascual
CF - Javi, Garai

 

Welcome to the squad!

 

 

 

Tactical Tweaks

We've made a few tweaks to our system to hopefully suit the match engine changes, or perhaps just an evolution of our system. We have toyed with substantial changes however our team is well suited to a 4-3-3 so it seems a bit forced to move too far away from what we're doing.

- The LB has moved to FB (S), as the wing back on support was pushing too high and leaving that flank exposed defensively - this definitely became more noticeable after the recent update. 
- We removed the step up more option to avoid getting caught by balls through/over the defensive line. 
- As the FB role has changed, we adjusted the DM to a DLP (D) rather than an anchor role. Our players in that role are technically pretty capable so I felt it makes sense, and we didn't need to be quite so cautious with the role choice with the FB being more sensible in their approach.

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by bowieinspace

[sgevolker]

Hi Guys,

so  decided to give this a go, I Iike the limitation only to Basque Players and I think it's a nice challenge. I also see a lot of potential in the starting squad and the club. So here I am.

Thanks to the phänomenal introduction from @bowieinspace I feel well prepared. The first act was to renewal Nico Williams contract with a much larger minimum Free Release Clause.

Then I did some of the usual thinks to prepare the start:

• Introduction to the Squad
• Set up first Team and Youth Training based in the Tactic 
• Set up individual Training based in the Tactic 

I will start with a 4-3-3 as most of us here. I created three types of tactics, so I can easily change it depending on the opposition and match momentum:

• Fluid Counter Attack (the standard)
• High Pressing
• Possession based

Last but not least I also set up custom set piece routines. I hope they will also have an huge impact on results.

For the scouting I also followed your approach and created recruitment focuses to find some nice Basque Players and Newgens.

Friendlies are already scheduled, so please which me luck.

Take care 

Edited December 12, 2022 by sgevolker

[Doyce7]

17 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

Fingers crossed we see some quality youth come through otherwise we're going to be stretched before we know it. We just keep getting wonderkid wingers every year it's ridiculous. 

Quote

No joke. This has been an issue for me as well. I keep trying to retrain the ones who have some ability to play somewhere else, mainly midfield

 

[dothestrand]

I have more wingers than I know what to do with. If you're lucky you can turn one into a striker or central midfielder but good luck ever turning one into a full back. 

[bowieinspace]

11 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

I have more wingers than I know what to do with. If you're lucky you can turn one into a striker or central midfielder but good luck ever turning one into a full back. 

Yeah nearly all of mine have horrific defensive stats. Within my squad right now I have Garai playing CF who is actually a right winger, Jimenez coming through as a mezzala but was originally also a winger and then I have two youngsters I have keen training as a CF and RB to diversify. I still have Rubio, Pascual in the first team in winger roles plus Etxabe who I sold to Man Utd, and about 4-5 youth prospects coming through as wingers who all have high potential. 

Being honest I’m not sure if they’re legitimately all wonder kids or whether the game has some issue with overrating them. Either way, my lack of diversity this year has been frightening. 

[MattyC78]

 

7 hours ago, Doyce7 said:

 

  I have a real shortage of defenders in my youth intakes as well.  I have a couple of possible fullbacks but only some much weaker options at centre back.  You can either do without or retrain players to cover other positions but it is always hard with a shortage of centre backs and goalkeepers.  I have been wondering if it is do with with my head of youth development.  I usually try to go for one that likes to play as I do with a great personality to influence the younger players.  I have noticed that my current one, Guillermo Amor, has an adventurous playing mentality and I was wondering whether this leads to better attacking players.  I was tempted to make a change to someone defensive like Per Mertesacker to see if that would lead to better defensive options coming through. 

[bowieinspace]

3 hours ago, MattyC78 said:

 

  I have a real shortage of defenders in my youth intakes as well.  I have a couple of possible fullbacks but only some much weaker options at centre back.  You can either do without or retrain players to cover other positions but it is always hard with a shortage of centre backs and goalkeepers.  I have been wondering if it is do with with my head of youth development.  I usually try to go for one that likes to play as I do with a great personality to influence the younger players.  I have noticed that my current one, Guillermo Amor, has an adventurous playing mentality and I was wondering whether this leads to better attacking players.  I was tempted to make a change to someone defensive like Per Mertesacker to see if that would lead to better defensive options coming through. 

I have Huw Jennings as my HOYD - he has 15 defence coaching and prefers a fluid counter attack style, so not exactly adventerous. The lack of centre backs is across the whole Basque region on my save unfortunately! I've had a decent goalkeeper come through though.

[dothestrand]

5 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

I have Huw Jennings as my HOYD - he has 15 defence coaching and prefers a fluid counter attack style, so not exactly adventerous. The lack of centre backs is across the whole Basque region on my save unfortunately! I've had a decent goalkeeper come through though.

I've luckily nicked a keeper from Real Sociedad who should replace Simon by the time he's gone. I want Simon to get 100 caps before that happens though!

I've got some reasonable full backs. Javi Lopez is the first choice LB for the foreseeable but I have good enough regen backups. Replacing Odriozola will be harder. Nunez may do it alongside a regen for a while. I've got some half decent CBs, probably 2-3 who could be first team material but each with more development needed. By 2030 or so, a big transition will be coming in my squad. 

[sgevolker]

 

So, I've got a nice start into the save. Beating Barca 4:0 at home and also have more possession is a very nice result.

After 8 Games we've got a good run only lost one of them. We also did not loose against Real and Atletico. 

I hope it will continue like this.

Take care 

 

[Pellegrini's Espresso Bar]

What are nations you should look to load?

[Doyce7]

2 hours ago, Pellegrini's Espresso Bar   said:

What are nations you should look to load?

Only ones you really NEED are Spain and France but after that it's personal preference and how much your pc can handle. I have a pretty decent pc so I run the top 6(Eng, Spa, Fra, Ger, Ita, Por) leagues in Europe, Brazil, Argentina and then I think I have Netherlands, Belgium, Turkey and Scotland loaded as well

[Doyce7]

Curious how everyone else handles the B and C teams.

1. I do my best to make sure the B team has the players they need to stay in the Segunda Division, including purchasing players for the B team if I need to and have spare money. Has anybody found it worth paying attention to the B team or do you guys just loan players of Segunda standard out instead? 

2. The C team I basically just place players who are over 19 but not good enough for B team and don't have much potential anyway to see out their contracts.  The only exception is GK, only becuase only 1 can play for the B team. Does anybody else just not care about the C team?

3. Do you wait until a player turns 18 to move them out of the u19s and into B/C teams or do you move 17yos up if they are good enough to contribute?

[MattyC78]

We have completed the 2026/27 season, dominating the league but failing in the cups with a semi final loss to Athletico in the super cup and a fourth round loss to Sevilla in the Copa Del Rey.

Jon Karrikaburu had a productive season with 40 goals in all competitions.  This was despite him never being the preferred starting option.  I would still always pick Inaki Williams over him and I have been trying to give some game time to one of my wonderkids, Alvaro Pascual.  

So far I have been heavily reliant on Iker Muniain, Inaki Williams and Nico Williams.  This was the first year where they have not all starred with only Nico making the team of the year.  This surprised me but may indicate that it is time to move on.

 

I’m a little concerned by the performance of our centre backs but this will not have been helped my inability to fully utilise corners since the latest update.

[MattyC78]

1 hour ago, Doyce7 said:

Curious how everyone else handles the B and C teams.

1. I do my best to make sure the B team has the players they need to stay in the Segunda Division, including purchasing players for the B team if I need to and have spare money. Has anybody found it worth paying attention to the B team or do you guys just loan players of Segunda standard out instead? 

2. The C team I basically just place players who are over 19 but not good enough for B team and don't have much potential anyway to see out their contracts.  The only exception is GK, only becuase only 1 can play for the B team. Does anybody else just not care about the C team?

3. Do you wait until a player turns 18 to move them out of the u19s and into B/C teams or do you move 17yos up if they are good enough to contribute?

My B team have been promoted and relegated a few times and I have struggled a little with the wage cap.  I have rarely bought players for the B team and only if they have high professionalism and are cheap. 

I try to let my under 17s develop in the under 19s but sometimes promote them if they are exceptional.  Once they are over 18 I try to focus on getting them first team football.  If they are good enough to get 15 to 20 games then I promote them to the first team.  If not I send them to play for the B team.  If they are better than the rest but not quite good enough I send them out to get first team football at the highest level I can.  I use the C team purely for the players that I do not think are going to make it, to clear room in the under 19s and B team.  I am starting to take control of setting the training for the under 19s and B team.

[Doyce7]

On the eve of the 2028/29 season I wanted to give a quick update for the summer since not too much has gone on. 

First off, a couple of retiring players. Iker Muniain and Cesar Azpilicueta have decided to go out on top after a second La Liga title and become, not very good, coaches. We wish them well but neither will be becoming a part of the staff. 

On the ins, it is mostly guys to reenforce the B team as about half the team is gone, either moved up to the first team or released

In: Inigo Bidaurrazga 21yo RB from Sevilla for 500k, Unai Jauregi 17yo LB from Subiza for 2.8M, Luca Sangalli 33yo CM from Las Palmas for 775k, Alvaro Gallardo 16yo GK from Real Betis for 575k, Andreu Perez 16yo LB/CB, who will be retrained as a DM, from Barcelona for 1.1M

On the outs there are only 2. Roberto Alonso is an academy graduate from 2025 who has great potential but was upset that I didn't loan him out and decided he was going to run his contract down. I didn't loan him out for 2 reasons, he was almost good enough for the first team, he wouldn't have played at a much higher level than the B team and I was retraining hm to play midfield instead of winger. It pains me to sell someone so young and talented but I would lose him for nothing in 12 months, so he goes to Manchester United for 5.5M but, and this is a big but, I ended up being able to add in a buy back clause for 20M. I will check back in with him in a few seasons time and if he has developed well, I can bring him back at a reasonable rate. 

The other departure is a sad one in that he just never developed the way I had hoped, probably my fault really as I neither loaned him out nor played him enough. Aimar Vicandi has left the club to join Vigo for 5M. He only played 40 league games across the last 4 seasons and has been surpassed by at least 4 other, and younger, players out wide. I hope he can be a late bloomer.

This is how the team shapes up heading into the season.

Marks indicate players who came through a youth intake, white is the class of 23, red is the class of 25, I plan to keep updating this throughout the save as I find it fun to keep track of what players came through together. 

I think I forgot to mention it, but Unai Vencedor was promoted from vice captain to captain before last season in place of Iker Muniain and Nico Williams was named Vice Captain. These two will likely hold these positions for a number of years. 

Still no love from the media. 

Lets see if we can go back to back, or if we fall back again like we did in the last title defense

[Doyce7]

1 hour ago, MattyC78 said:

My B team have been promoted and relegated a few times and I have struggled a little with the wage cap.  I have rarely bought players for the B team and only if they have high professionalism and are cheap. 

I try to let my under 17s develop in the under 19s but sometimes promote them if they are exceptional.  Once they are over 18 I try to focus on getting them first team football.  If they are good enough to get 15 to 20 games then I promote them to the first team.  If not I send them to play for the B team.  If they are better than the rest but not quite good enough I send them out to get first team football at the highest level I can.  I use the C team purely for the players that I do not think are going to make it, to clear room in the under 19s and B team.  I am starting to take control of setting the training for the under 19s and B team.

Not dissimilar to what I have been doing. My B team went up and down a few times but each time the wage cap has gone up. The cap is now 110k and that is enough for me to actually use them as a farm for Segunda level players. I hope it keeps going up as that would be very helpful in the future I'm sure

 

ETA: One major annoyance and I don't know if it is just me, probably not, is the incessant loan offers for 16yo youth players to be fringe players. I feel like this is something that should not happen but during a transfer window, especially January I get like 10 or 12 offers almost every day to loan a 16yo 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Doyce7

[bowieinspace]

1 hour ago, Doyce7 said:

Not dissimilar to what I have been doing. My B team went up and down a few times but each time the wage cap has gone up. The cap is now 110k and that is enough for me to actually use them as a farm for Segunda level players. I hope it keeps going up as that would be very helpful in the future I'm sure

 

ETA: One major annoyance and I don't know if it is just me, probably not, is the incessant loan offers for 16yo youth players to be fringe players. I feel like this is something that should not happen but during a transfer window, especially January I get like 10 or 12 offers almost every day to loan a 16yo 

I work around this by setting each player to 'not available for loan' when the first offer comes in.

 

3 hours ago, Doyce7 said:

Curious how everyone else handles the B and C teams.

1. I do my best to make sure the B team has the players they need to stay in the Segunda Division, including purchasing players for the B team if I need to and have spare money. Has anybody found it worth paying attention to the B team or do you guys just loan players of Segunda standard out instead? 

2. The C team I basically just place players who are over 19 but not good enough for B team and don't have much potential anyway to see out their contracts.  The only exception is GK, only becuase only 1 can play for the B team. Does anybody else just not care about the C team?

3. Do you wait until a player turns 18 to move them out of the u19s and into B/C teams or do you move 17yos up if they are good enough to contribute?

 

I try to keep my B team in the Segunda but rarely sign players specifically for this purpose. My B team have been hovering around mid table in recent seasons, going up and down depending on players being promoted to the first team.

My C team were promoted to the playable leagues last season for the first time and they stayed up with a load of players the game gave me for free to fill the team up. They actually nearly got promoted. They fell away in the second part of the season because all of the players were complaining about wanting new contracts.. issue is they all want insane money for their level. I just let the C team largely fall away to be honest cause it's such a hassle to deal with all the contract BS.

I generally keep players in the Under 18s until they turn 17, then they move to the B team normally. First team is just dependent on whether they're good enough!

[bowieinspace]

January 2030 Update

 

Currently on a path to regain our league title, sitting pretty 9 points clear, as well as finishing top 8 in the Champions League to get straight into the last 16. We're also still in the Copa Del Rey but lost in the semi final of the Supercopa.

We ended up doing a bit of transfer business, all outs though as we continue to bring through our young players. We saw key players depart in January, firstly Javier Prieto who was a young player in my squad - really solid but I am very confident he had peaked young, so he was sold on with a buy back clause. This has allowed me to move Aimar back to central midfield and promote Aitor Aguirre from the B team. 

Although centre backs are a long term concern for us, we're in a weird predicament at the moment where having Vivian, Guillamon and Le Normand means opportunities for the young options that we do have are quite limited...I wanted Mikel Goni to get more games, and also start using Iker Lozano in the first team as well here and there (he's still under 19 so doesn't require registration). Lozano is far and away by best central defender youth prospect. With this in mind when I received an offer from Robin Le Normand (who is now 33) from PSG, and saw he was going to be upset if the move was blocked, I felt it was a no brainer to move him on. A great servant for a few years!

Welcome Aitor Aguirre and Iker Lozano!

 

 

 

Player Spotlight

Finally it's time to showcase one of my newgens who have made a good impression in the first team. Given he has been so good this season after underperforming this season, I feel Ander Pascual deserves to be the subject of this years January showcase. He's 14 goals from 21 appearances in all competitions so far this season, with an average rating of 7.55 from the left wing position. He's come on really nicely and is always a threat now.

 

[dothestrand]

@bowieinspace A regen winger who can actually cross a ball? You have been spoilt! 

[bowieinspace]

53 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

@bowieinspace A regen winger who can actually cross a ball? You have been spoilt! 

I've got about 10 of them haha

Edited December 15, 2022 by bowieinspace

[dothestrand]

Season 27-28: La Liga Glory!

La Liga: Champions, 94 points (+8 from last season)

Champions League: Round of 16 (lost to Barcelona)

Super Cup: Semi Final (lost to Real Madrid)

Spanish Cup: Third Round (lost to Real Betis)

 

 

Squad Performance

After 44 years of hurt, we finally captured the La Liga title that we'd been getting closer to in the last few years. A quite incredible league season, breaking the 90 point barrier for the first time in the save. In fact, it turned out to be a walk in the park. We finished a whopping THIRTEEN points clear of Barcelona and Real Madrid finished third on 72 points (so that's TWENTY-TWO points behind). Ouch! Barcelona definitely underperformed, but that's two seasons on the bounce for Real Madrid of sub-75 points. That might be their current ceiling. That's what happens when Man City nick your best players I guess (Rodrygo and Tchouameni have swapped climates in the last couple of seasons) and you reinvest poorly. 

Really strong performances across the squad. Simon was GK of the season, Griezmann was top scorer (25 in 32 games) and player of the season (not bad for a 37 year old and he retires on a high!) and we had EIGHT of the starting XI in the team of the year (besides the two above, Nunez, Vivian, Odriozola, Nico Williams, Sancet and Dani Rodriguez were selected). But the other first team squad players performed well too - Le Normand, Javi Lopez, Zubimendi, Vencedor, Aimar Oroz, Aimar Vicandi all impressed. 

So, that's the league. We were less successful in the cups. The Super Cup always seems like a crap shoot. We had a reasonably tough away tie against Real Betis in the early rounds of the Spanish Cup but I'm disappointed we left the tournament that early as reigning champions. The Champions League is a real groundhog day at the moment. We don't make it into the top eight, but we win our first knockout round (against Monaco), before losing in the last sixteen. That's definitely where we've got to make more progress.

Transfers and Youth Intake

Our transfer policy this season was a bit of a departure, and certainly not in the board's expectations. To loan our promising youngsters on the edge of the first team squad (regular game time does wonders for their development), I brought back some of the former Athletic Club veterans to fill out the squad and allow some rotation. So Ander Herrera and Jokin Ezkieta came in for a combined 2m, whilst Inaki Williams came in on loan from PSG. Herrera was only a short-term deal and Inaki won't return, so they'll be off the books at the end of the season. We let Jon Moncayola and Alvaro Fernandez leave. Moncayola had been replaced as the DM by Zubimedi, and after he was unsettled by both Man Utd and PSG, I let the latter sign him for 15m (above his market value). Fernandez was never going to be first choice and it seemed every week a new club offered a risible bid. I just led him go to the first side willing to pay 1m - well done Celta Vigo! 

Our youth intake was reasonably decent but the best players as usual are wingers. We signed a handy Basque GK from Villareal so not a total write off on the regen front.

Looking Ahead

We're at a key transitional moment now with several first team players past their best and out of contract. Odriozola, Yeray and Aihen Munoz are likely to leave, which leaves some holes in the back line. Odriozola was largely first choice but Nunez can play RB and we have other options. The latter two were bench players anyway. As mentioned before, Herrera will leave, and whilst Griezmann has another year on his deal, there's a chance he may retire. We're going to save loads in wages this Summer. 

In terms of how we may improve the squad, we may move for Laporte. He's 33yo and Man City will do business for 30-odd million but wages could be a kicker. Guillamon is also at City but usually isn't interested in a transfer. The 16yo at Alaves I mentioned before won't sign for us but there's plenty of time to work on that. 

Wonderkids

I'll only post images of young players once they're in the first team or at wonderkid status. We have four wonderkids at the moment, which is nice!

Aitor Alberdi was signed a couple of seasons ago from Real Sociedad. He was on loan this season at Real Betis and the coaches reckon he's a La Liga standard GK. He was even capped for Spain this season! He'll stay out on loan until we move Simon on, but hopefully we can get him a top flight loan.

Mikel Garitano has had a couple of good loan seasons at Malaga and Osasuna respectively. Only 18 and with a lot of development to go, but he can cover the gaps we'll have at RB and CB, so he may be in the first team squad. This depends on whether we can sign Laporte or Guillamon. But I'm super-excited about a quality young Basque defender.

Markel Ojeda is a winger who's had two excellent loans at Las Palmas and Elche in the second tier. He has a resolute personality and impressive physical stats. I'm less enamoured on his technical skills, so I'm wondering how effective he will be at our level right now. We have so many wide players, we can afford to continue loaning him out and hoping he kicks on. But if his progress stalls, we'll move him on as I suspect his potential will be usurped. 

Julen Armendariz has the edge over Ojeda right now. He was on loan but returned after injury and made a reasonably number of appearances in the second half of the season once we could register him. He may stay around as Griezmann will retire.

There are loads of young players with 4-5 star potential who're developing well besides these.

Edited December 16, 2022 by dothestrand

[bowieinspace]

[dothestrand]

If the game doesn't want you to win, @bowieinspace it will find a way. 

[bowieinspace]

7 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

If the game doesn't want you to win, @bowieinspace it will find a way. 

Certainly will! Haha. 

[MattyC78]

9 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

Ouch that hurts.  The game is brutal sometimes.

[MattyC78]

In the summer of 2027, we moved a couple of young wingers who were not making any progress.  Jose Antonio Lucio was sold to Liverpool for a fee rising up to £9 million and Mario Merino for £7.5 million to Man Utd.  I’m a little disappointed in both but we have an abundance of young wingers and I shall keep an eye on them both to see if they develop any better in England.

I brought in a couple of youngsters; Unai Susaeta for £100,000 from Vallecano and Borja Undabarrena for £24 million from Osasuna.  These are both for the future so the only first team squad additions are promotions of three youngsters from the B team.  Nestor Olabarrieta will bolster options in centre midfield and I had to fend off some Premier League teams in the summer and Chelsea retain an interest.

 

Asier Blanco had a great season on loan at Espanyol scoring 4 goals and assisting 14 averaging 7.12 so he is being brought in as understudy to Nico Williams.

The final newcomer is Urko Santana who is the best youth centre back is a long way from being first team ready but he is the best option we have to replace the retiring Inigo Martinez.

[bowieinspace]

2029/2030 Season Review - Back on Top

 

La Liga - 1st, 95 points (4 points clear of Real Madrid)
Copa Del Rey - Lost in semi final to Real Sociedad
Supercopa - Lost in semi final to Barcelona
Champions League - Lost in semi final to Liverpool

Very close to an excellent season here, in the end with just the league title to celebrate (albeit this was very well earned and a good result in itself). Real Madrid pushed us all the way winning 13 and drawing 1 of their final 14 games, so we had to keep pushing without much of a breather all the way until the final week. 

The rest of the competitions were a story of what might have been, losing three semi finals in unfortunate circumstances. The Champions League semi final I posted a screenshot of a few days ago - we won the first leg 4-0 (and deservedly so), and then back at Anfield for the second leg was just bizarre - a very even game in which they were remarkably clinical and we were remarkably...not clinical... missing a few excellent chances alongside a goal disallowed for a narrow offside, leading to a 5-0 loss. Crazy game! Similarly in the Copa Del Rey we beat Real Sociedad 2-1 in the first leg (a scoreline that massively flattered them), and then lost the second leg 3-1 where they basically had no chances and scored 3 screamers. Two very bizarre semi final results where pure bad luck came into it, and we actually played well in both. The Supercopa was a closely fought match which ended 2-0 to Barca, no real complaints there albeit we gave it a decent go.

 

Transfers/Squad Building

The sales of Moncayola and Le Normand allowed us to develop a few young players a bit more which was ultimately pretty sensible. We also sold Peio Arregi for 10million in the summer who looked set to be a backup option at best, as well as Javier Prieto who I mentioned in my Jan update I think. We signed 3 excellent young prospects from Osasuna and Real Sociedad from their 2030 intakes, one looks a bit meh but the other 2 look like they may go on to have a good impact in the future with the first team. 

We're in to October now and we have a young striker, Ignacio Goikoetxea, who is just firing. He came into the side for the final 2 games of last season as we were at home vs the bottom 2 teams and we had a few injuries in the forward areas anyway, and he scored back to back hat tricks. His overall level was still a bit low compared to Javi/Garai so I elected to have him play for the B team this season as he's still 17. A couple months in and he's featuring off the bench in the Champions League where possible, and is prompting me to rethink my squad. Oscar Jimenez has not really been developing how I hoped (albeit the writing was perhaps on the wall for him) despite plenty of mins in the team, so I am close to abandoning that or at least just loaning him out - if I do this I will drop Garai back into midfield and train him as a mezzala, which will give space for Goikoetxea to step up to rotate in the first 11 with Javi - I'm super excited about this guy!

Aside from this we did some manouevering in the back up goalkeeper department, with Gaizka Ayeza returning to replace Iker Alvarez. He is third choice behind Simon and Jauregi - the latter will get decent minutes this season to ensure he continues his development as he's now too old for the B team and rejected a La Liga loan to Girona where he would have been first choice...I didn't understand that one at all as his profile noted he was 'hoping to go on loan for experience'. Weird. 

Stephane Chevalier is also now back at the club and getting amongst the first team, he looks set to be quite important for us if he develops well. I won't post a screenshot but he's a solid CB/RB hybrid type of player around the 2.5 star mark - nothing world beating right now but with our lack of CB options I imagine he will be very useful, and he has room to grow apparently as well.

Simon is now 33 and is starting to show signs of decline, albeit he should be good for a while yet. We have two promising keepers in Jauregi and also another in the B team, but I don't think either will reach Simon's level. Maybe someone else appears but I need to make sure Jauregi gets games this year to keep him improving!

Last season we saw a lot of impressive performances - Javi as the centre forward was exceptional leading the line while Lacruz and Larrea are taking big steps forward in the right/left back rolls. Pascual had his best season by far scoring regularly from the left wing and Aguirre was excellent as a deputy on his side - those two look likely to hold down our left wing for many years. Gallego was a tough one last season, he was unsettled in the summer of 2029 by Liverpool and remained unhappy all season (as they maintained at least a minor interest in him throughout), that did impact his performances but generally he still played well and I was largely able to keep him motivated via individual team talks. This summer he finally decided he was over it and we've been able to extend his contract further and raise his wage also to secure him.

GK - Simon, Jauregi, Ayeza
RB - Larrea, Barrenetxea
LB - Lacruz, Villar
CB - Vivian, Guillamon, Lozano, Chevalier
DM - Vencedor, Castro
CM - Sancet, Gallego, Aimar, Jimenez
RW - Nico Williams, Rubio
LW - Pascual, Aguirre
CF - Javi, Garai, Goikoetxea

 

It's perhaps a good time to post a few screenshots of certain players who have developed well since they joined the first team ranks. Gallego and Pascual I have featured recently, but let's take a look at Lacruz who has made the LB spot his own and his development continues to impress me, Castro who has always maintained a very high potential and has continued to steadily improve (he's a genuine threat to Vencedor now for his place in the team), Javi who is just a very unique forward and Larrea who has taken the starting RB spot.

 

 

 

 

[steviemay17]

Struggling in my first season to get any kind of consistency out of any of my big players, Munian and Inigo Martinez are the prime suspects for dropping a 6.2 or worse every time the going gets tough. Encouraging youth intake however, hopefully I can finally find a solution to my issues up top, while a potential warrior at the back and a handy full back who can play on either side is also especially welcome.

Just need to figure out how to get Ivan Martinez on a leadership course, making of the future club captain right there if he can improve

 

[bowieinspace]

47 minutes ago, steviemay17 said:

Struggling in my first season to get any kind of consistency out of any of my big players, Munian and Inigo Martinez are the prime suspects for dropping a 6.2 or worse every time the going gets tough.

If you want any insight on your set up to help with that just ask. Generally speaking I find Martinez needs to have some cover for his slight lack of physicals - I try to set traps further up the pitch to avoid him dealing with high balls into the box or getting caught with balls in behind. Generally though I find on this game any central defenders who lose a few headers just get hammered on the rating anyway, so smaller central defenders look bad even if they’re actually doing other stuff well. 

Muniain I had a lot of success with but that was on an older version match engine so it might have changed. I reckon he’s best in a playmaker role to be honest 

[Doyce7]

2 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

If you want any insight on your set up to help with that just ask. Generally speaking I find Martinez needs to have some cover for his slight lack of physicals - I try to set traps further up the pitch to avoid him dealing with high balls into the box or getting caught with balls in behind. Generally though I find on this game any central defenders who lose a few headers just get hammered on the rating anyway, so smaller central defenders look bad even if they’re actually doing other stuff well. 

Muniain I had a lot of success with but that was on an older version match engine so it might have changed. I reckon he’s best in a playmaker role to be honest 

I got the best out of Muniain when he was playing as an attacking Mez. As for Martinez, I used him as a standard BPD but I always had Vencendor helping out the defense and Simon playing as a sweeper to clean up anything that gets past them. 

[Doyce7]

3 hours ago, steviemay17 said:

Struggling in my first season to get any kind of consistency out of any of my big players, Munian and Inigo Martinez are the prime suspects for dropping a 6.2 or worse every time the going gets tough.

What formation are you playing?

[bowieinspace]

29 minutes ago, Doyce7 said:

I got the best out of Muniain when he was playing as an attacking Mez. As for Martinez, I used him as a standard BPD but I always had Vencendor helping out the defense and Simon playing as a sweeper to clean up anything that gets past them. 

Yeah I definitely had some good results with Muniain as a mezzala as well