[FM24Beta] Colombia - Envigado. Quarry of Heroes. [Youth Only]

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2026. 

Liga Apertura. We've taken our good from from playing once a week into playing twice a week and hardly broken stride. It's not just the goals scored that's pleasing, but also the margin of victory. Of our 12 wins this season, only 3 of them have been by a single goal margin. We've also kept 6 clean sheets already this season where as we only kept 9 clean sheets in all competitions throughout the whole of last season. 

Copa Sudamericana. I was a little concerned about this fixture because Llaneros have been a bogey side for us so far in this save, but we won far more comfortably than the 2-1 scoreline suggests.

Records. 

Goal-scoring GK's.

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 7/11 from the spot at 64%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 5/5 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2026.

Liga Apertura. Our form is still pretty good, with 1 loss each for the 1st Team and 2nd Team. I'm not sure how we have managed to play more games than everyone else, but actually I'm happy with that because it should mean less fixture congestion later in the season. 

Copa Sudamericana. 1 win each for 1st Team and 2nd Team is a decent improvement based on previous campaigns. 

Transfers. Although Banguera 6'4" HG will be getting 5% of the transfer fee, we will get 5% as part of a solidarity payment for developing him and then 25% because of our sell-on clause. I had an option to sell this clause earlier for £1.01M, but I decided to hang on and this decision has reaped dividends as we have received £1.6M and will receive a further £425,000 going forward. 

Goal-scoring GK's. It's good timing as Fontalvo 6'4" gets off for the mark for the season, (scoring his 6th career goal), but then gets injured just as (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" returns to fitness after the 2nd broken hand of his short career.

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 7/11 from the spot at 64%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 6/6 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. I could move the £2.3M transfer budget over to the wage budget, but with about £40k pw surplus wage budget available already, there seems to be no reason to move it over when it's not going to be used. We also have other clauses that our DoF has done a deal for, but I'm unsure about cashing in on them at this time. 

  

[Jimbokav1971]

Clauses. May 2026.

We have clauses on 6 players now, and deals available for 2 of them, but none that make sense to cash in on immediately.

Alexis Zapata HG has a 50% clause. 

Cristian Arrieta HG has 3 clauses and £1.25M available for his 25% clause. He's valued at £7.8M - £9.4M, but he's also 30 years old now. I will keep an eye on this. 

Daniel Londoño HG has a 20% clause.

Rodríguez has 7 clauses and deals available on 3 of them. He's playing regularly so I have no wish to cash in on the Appearance clauses, but the 25% clause would be more appealing if it was worth more than £205k considering that he's worth £230k - £2.3M. 

Yaser Asprilla HG has a 30% clause. 

Yeison Guzmán HG has a 25% clause. 

[Jimbokav1971]

International call-ups. May 2026.

Unfortunately he's only contracted until the end of the season and at that time I expect to lose him on a free. 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2026. 

Liga Apertura. This was a poor result, but we still won our 1st League section of the save. 

Liga Apertura. Semi Final Group. As we're in a Group without Millonarios, I'm really keen to win this and get through to just our 2nd Final, (even if we have to play them in the Final). 

Copa Sudamericana. We're no match for River Plate at this stage in the save, so a Playoff position is the best we could hope for. 

Copa Dimayor. This was close, but a sell-out crowd saw us grab a late winner. 

Facilities. We have £4M in the bank and lots of clauses already in play as well as some pretty tidy players attracting significant attention, so I think the future looks good as far as income generation is concerned. At the same time I can understand their reluctance to spend more, (but obviously I know we will reap the rewards later down the line with improved Youth Intakes. The problem here is that although I think I'm well capable of managing the accruing debt, I can understand that El Presidente, (or the AI in the game), doesn't really see this and as a result is hard to manage the really low expectations it has. The biggest barrier here is that most of my income, (prize money and player sales), is in no way guaranteed, so the question is how I try and get around that, (short of having £10M+ in the bank that will effectively only cover the 2 year debt projections at the club).

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I get around this? I don't need help generating money. I just need help proving that I can generate money.  

Because significantly our biggests costs are Player Wages, Youth Setup, Tax, Staff Wages & Bonus payments, (the latter of which increase in line with our success), I don't think it's reasonable to expect that we can reduce these costs in any way that will significantly impact our bottom line. 

Costs. 

Income. With regards to income, Gate Receipts, Prize Money, Player sales & sponsorship approximately cover all the costs, but of course only Gate Receipts and Sponsorship are guaranteed here, (and taken into account in the forecast). If we were to perform poorly on the pitch then our income from Prize Money & Players Sales would be reduced hugely and this is of course the thinking of the AI. 

Goal-scoring GK's. After converting pens at about 50% in his 1st couple of seasons, (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is slowly getting it up and adds 1 more success to his tally this month.

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 8/12 from the spot at 67%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 6/6 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. This is the 1st time that we have won an individual league section and the £400k, (although I knew about it originally), came as a nice surprise. 

Edited October 27, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Jun 2026. 

Liga Apertura. Semi Final Group. With 2 games to play I was dreaming about our 1st silverware, but the wheels properly came off and we didn't even finish 2nd in the end. 

Copa Dimayor. I can't begin to explain to you how much this loss hurt me. Gutted. I haven't been this gutted about a single game result in ages. 

Facilities. When I appealed this decision they use the projected losses excuse. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Unfortunately (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" saw a penalty saved in the win over Independiente Santa Fe, (so at least it didn't cost us points). 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 8/13 from the spot at 62%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 6/6 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. 

  

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul 2026. 

Liga Finalización. 2 points dropped but still a good start to the 2nd half of the season. 

Copa Sudamericana. Our vanquishers here, Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras are big-hitters in Brazil so there is no shame in losing to them. In fact I didn't even try to beat them. I sent the 2nd Team out and I'm quite happy with how they did. Very happy in fact.

Transfers. This is only a little transfer, but they all count right? 

Records. I've set a transfer value of £2M and offered him out, but I've been asking for 50% AND a 12 month 0% loan back so no takers yet. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Nothing this month. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 8/12 from the spot at 67%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is 6/6 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. I know it's a pittance in terms of the Copa Libertadores money, but at the moment we're not good enough to play in that so we will have to make do with what we've got until we are. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2026. 

Liga Finalización. We're just past the half-way stage of the 2nd part of the league and we;re 1 point off the top, (but remain unbeaten). The last game of the season is against Club Atlético Nacional, (we're at home), and it's building to be a title-decider. 

Transfers. Saudi came in for Rodallega HG with 16 months on his contract and offered us £1.5M cash. El Presidente accepted the offer over my head, (and I don't have a problem with that), but when I asked him to renegotiate the deal to include a future % clause he refused.  Even though he's one of our best players, I don't mind selling Rodallega HG at all, (and the money is reasonable/decent), but to not stick a % clause in there is just stupid! 

He's immediately worth £8.4M - £12M. 

Facilities.

I keep asking and asking but I didn't really expect my request to be successful. This is great news. 

Training Facilities. Level 10/11.
Youth Facilities. Level 14/15.
Junior Coaching. Level 17/18/19.
Youth Recruitment. Level 19/20.

I think the next thing I want to upgrade is the Training Facilities, (but that's not likely to be cheap).

Job Offers. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 2 more goals from the spot for (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" this month but he's really not happy because both Porto & Benfica were interested in him and he wants to leave. I actually don't mind him leaving, (everyone has their price), but he won't be cheap because he currently has 3 and a bit years left on his contract and is our best GK.

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 10/14 from the spot at 71%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 6/6 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. We have £4.6M in the bank, but the projections are still looking ugly despite the fact I know that's not a true reflection on our position. 

Edited October 28, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Thebaker]

Making good progress. The south american leagues are crazy for the number of games, european players moan at playing 50 games

[ToMexico!!]

Big job offer there from the biggest(?) club in Argentina 

[Jimbokav1971]

5 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

Making good progress. The south american leagues are crazy for the number of games, european players moan at playing 50 games

I haven't actually looked at how many games players at other clubs are playing but I'm going to do it right now. 

This is us. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" has played 36 games. 
Fontalvo 6'4" has played 13 games. 
That should mean that we have played 49 games so far this season, (but we got knocked out of the Copa Dimayor & Copa Sudamericana early so will be less than in recent seasons. 

This is Millonarios, (who are the best team in Colombia). 
Álvaro Montero has played 39 games. 
Juan Esteban Moreno has played 7 games. 
Bréiner Quintana has played 6 games. 
That should mean that they have played 52 games in total, with at least another 10 to play, (8 league games + 2 Cup games), and then probably 8 Semi Final Games on top of that + 2 League Final games, and then 2 Cup FInal games too..... so a total of 74 games. 

Interestingly, where as we have limited the exposure of our outfield players to no more than 33 at this stage, they have 1 player already on 44(3) appearances for the season and another on 43(3) appearances. 

I thought I would have a look at salary spend in the league and we're probably spending more than I was expecting in comparison to some of the other clubs. Then again perhaps that makes sense because we're running with such a large squad, (because I know in advance we're going to see anyone who we get decent money for and alo because we're going to rotate everyone too). 

That being said, this is still an enormous gulf between ourselves and the likes of the top 4. 

It's interesting that only 2 other clubs are generating more than £1M profit from player sales in a season, and we've generated almost £5m. 

It makes me wonder where the Millonarios money is coming from..... 

And the answer to that means that this save, (while seemingly starting from quite a positive position), is actually possibly one of the roughest I have ever had to do. 

I haven't crunched the numbers yet, (but let's have a little look at them now). 

Assuming that we had built a new stadium and available seating wasn't an issue, (we don't own our current stadium and although it has a 14k capacity we're only allowed to use 5k), then in order for us to generate £1M more in income, (not profit), then assuming we play..... I'm going to usee 33 home games a season, (because that's how many we played last season), then at an average of £10 per ticket over 33 games we would need an average of.... no, that can't be right..... 30k+ extra bums on seats for each of the 33 games. Just for £1M income. 

That can't be right.... 

Ok. Hang on. I think I might know what it is. 

Our average ticket price is £10
Millonarios average ticket price is £18

So if we sell out all 33 of our home games with a 5k capacity then we generate £1.65M in gate receipts.
If Millonarios only had a 5k stadium & sold out they would generate £2.97M in gate receipts. 

It's weird. We have a smaller stadium so demand should be higher here.... but actually no. 

We haven't had any sell-outs this season, (I think we had 3 last season). 
Millonarios have had 7 (SEVEN) sell-outs, (in their 36,343 capacity stadium). 

The income from these 7 games alone, taking (£18 as the average ticket price), is £4.6M.
Our total gate receipts for the whole of last season was only £3.3M.

 Wow. If they every buy a player of us they are going to pay for it and then some. 

[Jimbokav1971]

4 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Big job offer there from the biggest(?) club in Argentina 

You know it's weird. I know I started with automatic badges and playing experience, Continental A Licence & Pro footballer, (National level), what really seems to attract the interest of foreign clubs isn't winning games but selling players and generating money. 

We still haven't actually won anything yet, (despite how well I personally think things are going). 

[ToMexico!!]

10 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

You know it's weird. I know I started with automatic badges and playing experience, Continental A Licence & Pro footballer, (National level), what really seems to attract the interest of foreign clubs isn't winning games but selling players and generating money. 

We still haven't actually won anything yet, (despite how well I personally think things are going). 

It's probably along the lines of that the AI can see what you're doing with Envigado with limited funding, imagine what you could do with £12m/bank balance at Boca. I guess they've sold most of their promising players by now, like Barco and Ezequiel Fernandez. 

[Jimbokav1971]

20 minutes ago, ToMexico!! said:

Big job offer there from the biggest(?) club in Argentina 

Yeah, they've been pretty strong in the save so far. 

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, ToMexico!! said:

It's probably along the lines of that the AI can see what you're doing with Envigado with limited funding, imagine what you could do with £12m/bank balance at Boca. I guess they've sold most of their promising players by now, like Barco and Ezequiel Fernandez. 

Would it surprise you to know that I have never heard of either Barco or Ezequiel Fernandez?  (I'm laughing, but I'm not joking). 

Barco. 

Ezequiel Fernández.

Not exactly the big moves you were expecting?

Edited October 28, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[KristianT]

On 26/10/2023 at 11:28, Jimbokav1971 said:

I don't think I managed to find a South American Super-Cup, but there could be 1 that I've missed. 

Club Atlético Talleres de Córdoba of Argentina won the Copa Libertadores last season and then this season they played against Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras of Brazil in the Recopa Sudamericana. (South American Super-Cup) which was a 2-legged Final, so that brings the total up to 92 games in a season I think. 

There isn't really an off-season at all. 

Our last game last season was on 10th December, (which was the 2nd leg of the Liga Finalización Final). 
The first competitive game this season was on 22nd Jan, (but we had played no friendlies in between because I made the error of a warm weather training camp). 

The previous season we played friendlies from the start of Jan. 

So I think that leaves is 3 weeks off at the end of December and that's about it. 

It is sheer lunacy. I have tried to start of with Santos a couple of times, but never really made it far. Atm I am doing a journeyman in Europe on FM23, but might give South America a go again later.

Either way, I'll follow your adventures

[Jimbokav1971]

1 minute ago, KristianT said:

It is sheer lunacy. I have tried to start of with Santos a couple of times, but never really made it far. Atm I am doing a journeyman in Europe on FM23, but might give South America a go again later.

Either way, I'll follow your adventures

Thanks very much. 

Years and years ago I played a 1 season challenge managing someone in the Pernambuco State Championship in Brazil, (can't remember the name of the team), and then more recently after I got sick of my Basque only save in France I moved to Brazil for the 2nd half of the save, (can't remember who I managed there either), but that's the complete sum of my South American experience in FM. It's challenging but hugely rewarding. 

[ToMexico!!]

5 hours ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Would it surprise you to know that I have never heard of either Barco or Ezequiel Fernandez?  (I'm laughing, but I'm not joking). 

Barco. 

Ezequiel Fernández.

Not exactly the big moves you were expecting?

Barco definitely not, every man and his dog who needs a LB is signing him up due to a £8m release clause at the start of the game. He's at Real Madrid in my save. 

[robilaz]

On 19/10/2023 at 19:30, Jimbokav1971 said:

I haven't given loads of thought to where my FM24 journey was going to start, but Envigado Fútbol Club S.A. of Colombia jumped out at me when I was searching online, so here I am.

Once I had already taken over I started researching the club some more and found the info in the 1st post and it suddenly seemed like an ideal fit.  

I have obviously heard of James Rodríguez & Fredy Guarin, but if truth be told I don't immediately recognise the name of the club itself, (although I understand that they have a reputation for producing wonderkids....

With that in mind.....

In terms of how that looks in terms of numbers..... it looks something like this, (and the way my brain works the number are much better for me). 

Training Facilities. 12/13
Youth Facilities. 14/15
Junior Coaching. 14/15/16
Youth Recruitment. 19/20

In terms of expectations, I didn't have a clue, but this doesn't look great. 

The board, (what's the South American for El Presidente......? I think it's probably still El Presidente), are in no mood to be involved in a relegation scrap and we're expected to to establish ourselves in the First Division and also avoid Relegation on Average Points, (which I think is based on a 5 year average or something, but more on that later). 

Because I'm taking over at a big club rather than a small club, (as is my norm), I've allowed the game to pick my badges and reputation based on the club. 

In terms of the players at the club, I'm not overly concerned about how good they are right now, but we have 11 players with 5.0 PA rating in the senior squad, and 10 more in the U20 squad, (so 21x 5.0 PA players in total). That's something to be getting on with I think you would agree. 

1st Team.

U20's.

I haven't looked at any players yet but I will re-create my trusty old tactic again and then start filling in some gaps and get back to you. 

Just stumbled across this update. I did a youth-only save with Envigado on FM22 - and won Copa Libertadores 3 times. So no pressure! Haha. Seriously though, this is a great club with outrageous youth production. Good luck and I'm looking forward to playing catch-up on your updates

Also, I went to see Envigado play live at home to Nacional in April, when I was in Medellín for a month. It's a funny little stadium - and I'm glad I didn't buy an Envigado kit as 99.9% of the crowd was Nacional fans! 

[Jimbokav1971]

17 minutes ago, robilaz said:

Just stumbled across this update. I did a youth-only save with Envigado on FM22 - and won Copa Libertadores 3 times. So no pressure! Haha. Seriously though, this is a great club with outrageous youth production. Good luck and I'm looking forward to playing catch-up on your updates

Also, I went to see Envigado play live at home to Nacional in April, when I was in Medellín for a month. It's a funny little stadium - and I'm glad I didn't buy an Envigado kit as 99.9% of the crowd was Nacional fans! 

Good to have you following. 

It's hard to tell how good our youngsters are so far. We have certainly had some luck with the players we inherited, (real players), and also with the players that were generated at the club initially, (fake players), but because we're only in 2026 I'm actually not sure even how good the 1st intake are likely to be. 

When I rank the players by CA the top player is a GK from intake 1..... an oh!  I've just noticed that he's "popped" to become out 1st proper HG 

7th on the CA lost is a big centre-half, (again from the 1st intake). 

15th on the CA list is a SC who hasn't really broken into the 1st Team yet, (but is about to). 

It's looking good so far.  

[robilaz]

15 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Good to have you following. 

It's hard to tell how good our youngsters are so far. We have certainly had some luck with the players we inherited, (real players), and also with the players that were generated at the club initially, (fake players), but because we're only in 2026 I'm actually not sure even how good the 1st intake are likely to be. 

When I rank the players by CA the top player is a GK from intake 1..... an oh!  I've just noticed that he's "popped" to become out 1st proper HG 

7th on the CA lost is a big centre-half, (again from the 1st intake). 

15th on the CA list is a SC who hasn't really broken into the 1st Team yet, (but is about to). 

It's looking good so far.  

Nice! The players starting there, like Rodriguez, Diaz, Hurtado, Zapata and Betancourth, were all amazing for me  Then it's luck of the draw with the youth intakes I guess!

[Jimbokav1971]

5 minutes ago, robilaz said:

Nice! The players starting there, like Rodriguez, Diaz, Hurtado, Zapata and Betancourth, were all amazing for me  Then it's luck of the draw with the youth intakes I guess!

Rodriguez went to Coritiba in Brazil. 
Diaz is probably our best player now, (but knows it and wants to leave).  
Hurtado wasn't great and left on a free but has been picked up by Atlético Nacional so maybe he can do something there. 
I've got 2x Zapata's, (both MC's). 
JM.Zapata is the better of the 2.
D.Zapata isn't as good but has better passing/vision so good at unlocking defences. 
Betancourth HG left on a free and is now doing ok(ish) in the 2nd tier. 

[robilaz]

13 minutes ago, Jimbokav1971 said:

Rodriguez went to Coritiba in Brazil. 
Diaz is probably our best player now, (but knows it and wants to leave).  
Hurtado wasn't great and left on a free but has been picked up by Atlético Nacional so maybe he can do something there. 
I've got 2x Zapata's, (both MC's). 
JM.Zapata is the better of the 2.
D.Zapata isn't as good but has better passing/vision so good at unlocking defences. 
Betancourth HG left on a free and is now doing ok(ish) in the 2nd tier. 

Yeaaa JM Zapata was my captain for like 15 years - he was a monster! Set a new record for club appearances, 550 or so! 

[Jimbokav1971]

@robilazhas mentioned Diaz, and so it's a good opportunity to let you know what's going on with him. 

He's one of our most important players at the moment and has scored 91 goals  in 145(8) appearances, which is pretty damn good for a player who is only 22 and not playing at one of the big sides. He's currently  but this originally said something along the lines of "wants to play in the Copa Libertadores", and at the moment he wants to leave on a feee at the end of his contract, (in 15 months). I think, (not positive), that if we qualify for the Copa Libertadores, then we should be able to get him to sign a new contract, but if I'm completely honest with you, we have so many strikers coming through, I actually don't mind selling him so long as the deal is right. I absolutely don't want to lose him on a free though, so if he won't enter negotiations at the end of the season then I will have to sell him. 

I guess we will see what happens when the transfer window opens. 

 

[Jimbokav1971]

14 minutes ago, robilaz said:

Yeaaa JM Zapata was my captain for like 15 years - he was a monster! Set a new record for club appearances, 550 or so! 

JM Zapata is good, but he's not amazing. 

We only play 2 in the middle though so they have a lot of work to do, (often against 3 and even 4), and what I'm very much asking them to do is be the supporting cast rather than a star. We're playing 3 at the back and 3 up front so there's a lot of space in the middle of the pitch, (with 2 WB's). 

D.Zapata is very much the poor relation. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Sep 2026. 

Liga Finalización. The performance against Deportes Tolima was decent even if the result wasn't. It's important not to overreact to results like this and eke out a positive result in the next game. In fact we managed to squeeze a draw into a late late late win so it wasn't as bad as it might have been. 

Despite only losing 1 game in this phase, we're still somehow 4 points off Atlético Nacional at the top, (but remember we play them in the last game of the season). 

New contract. A 4 year contract is great because it takes the pressure off just a tiny bit, but it should also make it less likely that other clubs will approach us. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 1goal for Fontalvo 6'4" this month. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 10/14 from the spot at 71%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 9/9 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Oct 2026. 

Liga Finalización. We're not in great form and I don't hold out much hope of doing anything special in the Semi Final League.  Although we smashed bottom side La Equidad for 7, we also conceded 4 ourselves and that just isn't good enough. We then conceded a late goal against Junior when we should have been out of sight and after that it just went from bad to worse. 

The good news is that we have dodged Millonarios in the Semi League, but the bad news is that we will play both Atlético Nacional & Junior F.C. who took points off us this month. 

Youth Intake preview. This looks good, but as usual we will have to wait and see what the intake itself is like. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Even 2 goals in the same game for (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" wasn't enough to get us the W. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 12/16 from the spot at 75%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 9/9 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Nov 2026. 

Liga Finalización. Semi Final Group. How do we go from smashing 9 (NINE) past Junior, to failing to win our final 5 games? It's really poor. 

Goal-scoring GK's. The 2 goals that (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" scored against Atlético Nacional were included in last months report, (despite being played in the month of November). (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is no longer wanted by Porto/Benfica, but is now a target for Racing Club de Avellaneda of Argentina. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 10/14 from the spot at 71%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 6/6 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. Crashing out of the Copa Dimayor and Copa Sudamericana has taken a toll on our late-season finances, (and also seemingly our form). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Season Stats. Dec 2026. 

Squad by Appearances. (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" made 49 appearances and Fontalvo 6'4" made 14 appearances this season meaning that we played 63 fixtures. 6 outfield players making 40+ starts is way too much and absolutely will have impacted our late-season performances. The reason for this is that because we crashed out of The South American trophy & the domestic Cup early, there was less reason to rotate so the same team was able to play in the run-in more often that I would have expected. Although I didn't need to rest them because of the time between games, I absolutely did need to rest them because of the fatiguer levels over the whole season, (and I didn't). Big mistake from me here. 35 is ideally the max number of starts I want to see, with ideally less than 10 sub appearances on top of that. Please note that this is some sort of scientific calculation based on extrapolated data from multiple sources. This is just my gut feeling, (so take it with a pinch of salt). 

Palacio 5'10" HG has been called up to the senior (COL) squad, but not yet capped. 

Squad by Goals. 3 players on 20+ goals for the season is great, but I remember doing that in Kosovo in FM23 and my immediate thought was, "yeah, but if I can get the front 3 for the 1st Team scoring 20+ goals, imagine how good we will be if I can get the 2nd string each scoring 20+ goals too!)

"Titch" Russell 5'4" is a winger who I have converted to play on the right of a 3 up front. 

Squad by Assists. 4 different players in the squad with 10+ assists for the season, but I really think it should be more. 

Mesa was 2nd choice last season, but with the departure of Cristian Arrieta HG he has stepped up well and 17 assists from WB for quite a limited player is vital to our success. 

Squad by Avg Rating. This is much better than previous seasons, and in particular Ramírez HG had a really good season for someone with such obvious limitations.

Ramírez HG has certainly shown that he is a creative outlet as well as a someone who can finish himself.

Squad by PA. 16x 5.0 PA players is great, especially when you consider that we're almost at the next Youth Intake date. 

Squad by CA. Not loads of quality though with only 6x players better than 3.0 CA. 

[Sir_Liam]

Even if it's only the Sudamericana qualifying for continental qualifying seems to give you enough money to stay in the black, along with some player sales of course.  I think you're at a stage where finances aren't so much of a worry because of that and hopefully you can keep some of your better players a bit longer.

[Jimbokav1971]

8 hours ago, Sir_Liam said:

Even if it's only the Sudamericana qualifying for continental qualifying seems to give you enough money to stay in the black, along with some player sales of course.  I think you're at a stage where finances aren't so much of a worry because of that and hopefully you can keep some of your better players a bit longer.

Yeah, I think I've managed the finances pretty well so far. 

We seem to be comfortable in offering Pro contract to any youngsters we have, (max on 3+2 deals), but the problem comes when we have to negotiate a 2nd pro contract. For our better players this seems to be rising my approx 400%, but is still doable for our better players. 

A 3+2 deal signed at 17 takes the player through to 21 (with 12 months left on his contract so he can still be sold), but where as this was a sensible ploy in previous versions, the chance of a player opting to leave on a free with 12 months left on his contract seems HUGELY increased from FM23 and previous issues of the game. So where as 12 months might have been the threshold that you didn't want to go under previously, it's now up to 18 months in many cases. The problem with that is that players don't want to sign a long 2nd contract because at that stage I guess they're starting to look forward and see a career away from domestic football in Colombia, (even at a club winning trophies & competing in South American competition). 

The most I have paid a player so far is £5,250 pw, (soon to be £6,750 pw), and obviously that doesn't compare with what's available in Brazil or Argentina, (never mind about Europe or the Middle East). 

Just by way of a comparison, the last Brazilian side who we played were Palmeiras and their top earner is on £84,000 pw, (I think that's THE Endrick but it might just be "a" Endrick because although I know the name I don't know anything about him). They have 8 players at the club getting paid more than £50k pw. 

So although I think we're dealing with quite well so far, (and I also think that our current model is sustainable), I also don't think that it allows us to get to the next level as far as player development's concerned, because it doesn't allow us to hold onto the players long enough to make real big money out of them. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Youth Intake day. Jan 2027. 

If we get a good GK through now then that's pretty good because (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is attracting interest from abroad now and although he has 3 years on his contract, the way things are going with players leaving on free transfers we might have to sell him in 1.5 years and as our intakes are promoting 15 year olds we need some time to develop them from their starting point because they're ready for the 1st Team.

I really don't want to sign the following 4 players, but I mist have changed my mind about half a dozen times while writing this and even now I don't know what I'm going to do. 

I don't mind not signing (27m) Tuberquia (L.Self-B) because we have so many strikers so I think that's my decision made. I'm just not signing him, (even though his Det is only a little low rather than really low). So he's gone. 

(27p) Arcos (L.Det) 5'10" is the 1st of 2 centre-backs with (L.Det) , and at least he is only just (L.Det) rather than (Unamb)+(L.Det). He's not very good and I think we can get away without signing him so he's gone too. 

(27n) Quintero (Unamb) 5'10" is the 2nd centre-half with (L.Det) but he also has the dreaded (Unamb) mix. He looks a little better but there is just no point signing a player with lowish PA who has (Unamb)+(L.Det). I'm going to release him too, (even though it's dangerous releasing 2 DC's from the same intake. 

(27e) Trejos (Unamb)+(L.Det) is the best of the 4 being considered for release, but he's actually the easiest decision. He's a winger that needs to be re-trained as a SC and with (Unamb)+(L.Det) it's just not worth it unless he's amazing, (and he isn't). I'm going to release him too. 

So after I release the above 4 players, it leaves us with the following. 

(27a) Pacheco (Real) looks decent. In fact he looks better than decent for a 16 year old, (although I'm going to have to get rid of that PPM).  

(27b) Hoyos (Perfect) looks great, and I just love that personality. I also don't mind the PPM considering we play just 2 in the middle of the pitch. 

(27c) Brewster (ENG)(Bal) looks decent. 

(27d) Sierra (F.Pro) 5'11" isn't the GK that I was hoping for based on the preview, but he's only 15 so it's early days yet. 

(27f) Torijano (Driven) looks a little raw, but I'm loving some of his mentals. 

(27g) Soria (F.Pro) looks more of a SC than an MC, but we have so many strikers that I'm tempted to try and turn him into an MC. 

(27h) González (COL)(VEN)(Bal) is actually a player I quite like the look of, (as an SLC). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jan 2027. 

Liga Apertura. It's not hugely important that we start strongly, but it is really important that we don't start really badly. This will do us fine. 

Rankings. We crashed out of Continental competition and the Copa Dimayor early, so we've missed any chance to boost our rep.

Transfers In. 

Transfers Out. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Good to get (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" straight off the mark for the season in the 1st game. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 13/17 from the spot at 76%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 9/9 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. Our bank balance has dropped from £4M to £2.8M, but we're back in the Copa Libertadores again this season so assuming we get to the Group Stage again our finances should look pretty decent. If you don't make the Group stages of the Copa Libertadores I don't know if you drop into the Copa Sudamericana..

Edited October 30, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Feb 2027. 

Liga Apertura. The 2nd Team did really well in the league this month, and I mean REALLY well. They averaged 4 goals per game and when they were 3-2 down against Junior, (who are a Semi-Final-League team), they came good late on with a little help from some 1st Team players on the bench . The plan was for us to not lose too much ground while the 1st Team were playing in the Copa Libertadores qualifying rounds, so for us to sit top after this period is absolutely amazing. (Even more so because I have blooded more youngsters). 

Copa Libertadores. We were comfortable victors against Boston River of Uruguay, but when I saw that we had been drawn against Brazilian side Bragantino I went and checked to see what would happen if we lost this round, (because that's what I was expecting), and I was relieved to find out that if we lost in this Round we would still drop into the Copa Sudamericana Group Stage. The 1st Leg went as expected with Bragantino dominating the ball, (61% possession), and having nearly 20 shots, but after an hour it was still 1-1, (after we caught them on the ball at the back and punished them with our only shot on target), and although they scored a winner, I was well chuffed with a 2-1 loss away in Brazil. The 2nd leg was different in that we were 3-0 up after 29 mins and they couldn't live with us. We were overloading them hugely at the back and even their £31M man up front couldn't wipe the smile off my face when he got 1 back after 34 mins. It was still all us and we bossed the game even more than they did at their place, (62% possession!!!!) and we had 9 (NINE) shots on target and might have won by even more. This was a big big big big BIG win when I was already resigned to losing and playing in the Copa Sudamericana. 

Club Atlético Nacional are a fellow Colombian side, (and probably the 2nd best side in the Country after Millonarios). 
Clube Athletico Paranaense are top of the Brazilian league right now. 
Club Universitario de Deportes are from Peru, (but haven't won the league there for 19 years). 

Transfers Out. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Another goal for (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" brings him to 14 career goals. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 14/18 from the spot at 78%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 6/6 from the spot at 100%.

Finance. The most we've had in the bank before now is a touch over £4M, so to have almost £6M in the bank right now suggests we're moving in the right direction. The projection obviously says that we're still screwed, but we don't care about that anymore! 

[Jimbokav1971]

NxGn 2027. 

I really like this little feature, but the way the AI decides on who is on the list seems to be very random. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" was ranked #28 on this list last year and he has dropped to #37 this season, (which is strange), but then again this list seems a law unto itself. 

(24a) Gómez (Bal) 6'5" was ranked #43 last season but has missed out on the list completely this year. 

If I had to pick 1 player who I thought had a chance of breaking into the list this season, then it would be (24c) Suárez (F.Amb).

Just to show you what we're up against in Colombia though, there is 1 other Colombian on the list this year and he's at Millonarios and ranked #38. 

Pacheco (COL) * is quite frankly ridiculous. Just look at him. He would immediately be our best player. He's only 18 and has already scored 42 career goals. I would love to produce a player like him. Maybe 1 day eh! 

[Jimbokav1971]

International Recognition. Mar 2027. 

The 1stplayer to be called up to National side was (20) Palacio 5'10" HG. Although he was called up, he was never capped. 

More recently, (21) Banguera 6'4" HG, (who now has 3 Caps), was called up after he left us.

Also called up, (after he left us), was (16) Parra 6'0" HG, although he also hasn't earned his 1st cap yet. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is the reason for this post because as well as being called up to the Senior (COL) Squad, he has also been awarded his 1st Cap. 

(21) Holguín HG has also been called up to the (COL) squad, but hasn't been capped. 

I've had a look and of the players who I can scout, (South America only), there are 2 more players who are products of our Academy and who have been capped. 

(12) Arango HG has 2 Caps but no goals.

(18) Durán HG looks great, but he had left the club before I arrived. 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Mar 2047. 

Liga Apertura. We dropped points towards the end of the month, but actually I'm really pleased with how the season has started considering the 1st Team played in Copa Libertadores qualifying. We're surprisingly top of the table 2 points clear of Deportivo Independiente Medellín, 3 points clear of Club Atlético Nacional, (who have played a game more), and 4 points behind big-hitters Millonarios. 

Copa Libertadores. Now that we have qualified for the Group stages, the roles/priorities have been reversed and the 1st Team have reverted to playing Liga Apertura games with the 2nd Team stepping up in the Copa Libertadores. The 2 draws here should therefore be viewed as hugely positive results. 

Facilities. 

Oh no!  Look at the cost. I didn't know it was going to be that much!  I was expecting £1M - £1.5M or something like that. We've just spent almost £4M on facilities and we're nowhere near ready to spend that sort of money yet. 

On the plus side, I'm expecting this to give the CA of our intake players a much needed boost, (despite what the SI boffins tell us). 

This is what the Facilities are like now. I will do an update when/if they get built. 

Training Facilities. L10/11.
Youth Facilities. L14/15. 
Junior Coaching. L17/18/19.
Youth Recruitment. L19/20.

Goal-scoring GK's. A 1st miss of the season from the spot for (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" who does still score 2 this month. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 16/19 from the spot at 78%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 9/9 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. As mentioned above, I think I made a mistake in spending £3.2M on a Youth Facility upgrade, but at the same time it could be a mistake that will prove beneficial in the long-term. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Injuries. Apr 2027. 

The number of injuries are building up, but thankfully none of those currently on the list are 1st Team players. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Liga Dimayor player development. Apr 2027. 

My teams often top these lists in Youth Only saves simply because everyone at the club is a product of our Academy so it sort of gives us an unfair advantage. What I like to do is ignore the players still playing with us and concentrate on those playing elsewhere.

*You might notice that I have given these players nicknames a prefix to indicate which season they came through the intake, (but before the game started). 

[Jimbokav1971]

Significant new contract. Apr 2027. 

Part of the problem with this type of save is that where as you want to offer your hot young talents the longest contract with the longest option extension, the players tend to want the opposite if you aren't dominating domestically and so far we haven't been able to keep our best players long enough to make proper money on them and instead have had to sell them early for much smaller fees, with the larger portion of their fee coming from a 25% sell-on clause as they are sold a 2nd time later in their career. 

This is the 1st time that I have managed to make a really significant contract extension. 

(24c) Suárez (F.Amb) had only made 7(5) appearances in all competitions before this season and I have been a little surprised by his ability to step-up quite this early. His agent asked for a new contract and when I looked he had about 18 months left and this was a really key player for the future so I thought it was a good idea to try and get it done early. 

I opted to pay him significantly more than he was asking for, (he was initially only asking for £1,500 pw), but the idea behind this is that I'm not paying him what he's worth now. I'm paying him less than he will be worth later in his contract because I have signed him to a 4+3 deal which will keep him at the club until he's 26 years old, (or 25 if we manage to sell him with 12 months on his contract). He insisted on a min fee release clause, but where as he wanted £1.5M, I increased it to £2.5M but also stuck an expiry date of Nov of this year in there and I think there is little chance of that being met). I bunged both him and his agent a few quid up front and that was enough to get the job done. 

I need to go and do a few more deals like this now. Of course I'm gambling that his PA is as good as suggested, (5.0 PA), but to be honest he doesn't have to be amazing for this to be a really good deal.

He's scored 6 goals in 8(2) appearances in all competitions, (largely playing for the 2nd Team), and has been awarded the MOM award in 3 of his 4(1) league appearances. 

The strange thing is that he isn't even a player I particularly like.  He's not a proper central striker because of his natural ability to play in midfield and his low(ish) composure, but at this stage of the save he's great so I'm not complaining. The other thing that I noticed, (more in the FM23 Kosovo save), is that when you have the correct players in the 2 PF(a) roles out wide, the central AF(a) tends to drop deep to link play pretty regularly, (which is not something I anticipated/expected). So basically, the thing I don't like about him actually makes him even better. 

[Scribe]

Good job on the new contract for Suárez. Hopefully you'll have enough money to do the deals you want to with others after the huge spend on new facilities.

[Jimbokav1971]

Apr 2027. 

Liga Apertura. I hate draws, but I'm not complaining about an unbeaten run because we all know what momentum is like in FM. We should have beaten Real Santander after being 3-0 up, (and we missed a pen), and we were leading Millonarios until the 95th min so that one's a kick in the nads.

We've now only lost 1 of our last 15 games, and even going all the way back to the start of the season we've lost just 5 in 27, 3 of which were in the Copa Libertadores. 

We're no longer top, but I'm delighted with our form. 

Copa Libertadores. Our last game is against Clube Athletico Paranaense of Brazil (away), so I expect to be knocked out. 

Records. 

Goal-scoring GK's. (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" hits the bar from the spot against Club Deportivo Real Santander as we give up a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3,  and then saw his spot kick saved in the next game against Club Universitario de Deportes. The good news though is that he bounced back with a goal against Millonarios and the significance if this is that although we missed 2 of them, we have been awarded penalties in 3 successive games for the 1st time in this save. This perhaps hints at out increased competitiveness in games considering the 2nd game was the 2nd Team in the Copa Libertadores and the 3rd was against Millonarios. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 17/23 from the spot at 74%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 9/9 from the spot at 100%.

You may or may not have noticed, but when I post the GK screenshots I rank them by PA and (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" has been ranked behind both (27d) Sierra (F.Pro) 5'11" & (25b) Hyam (ENG)(IRL) 6'1" recently, but as you can see he is now ranked at the top again. The reason for this is that his guaranteed PA has increased from 4.0 PA, (with a possible 5.0 PA), to 4.5 PA, (with a possible 5.0 PA). The reason that's happened is of course that his CA has popped from 4.0 to 4.5, (so the PA has to also increase).

Squad by CA. I appreciate that star ratings are notoriously unreliable, but when you have nothing else to use.....

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is obviously at the top and that's no surprise looking at him. 

(21) Holguín is the surprise inclusion in the (COL) squad and I wonder how much that has impacted on his star rating, (in terms of rep). 

(16)  JM.Zapata is a very important player for us and I have just extended his contract until the end of 2029, (so about 2,.5 years).

(24a) Gómez (Bal) 6'5" is developing really nicely and I really like the look of him. 

(20) Palacio 5'10" has been called up to the (COL) squad but never capped. 

(19) Ordóñez 6'1" has developed into a key player for is. 

Finances. 

Edited October 31, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

1 hour ago, Scribe said:

Good job on the new contract for Suárez. Hopefully you'll have enough money to do the deals you want to with others after the huge spend on new facilities.

Yeah, it's not so much about how much money we have, (and even available wage budget is pretty sizeable). 

The bigger issue is players just developing more quickly than the club is developing and wanting to move abroad. I can't really blame them. I expect to have some unhappy players later in their contracts though. 

[Thebaker]

Ramos is developing into a great player, surprised his media description is just gk. Which clubs are interested in him?

[Jimbokav1971]

4 minutes ago, Thebaker said:

Ramos is developing into a great player, surprised his media description is just gk. Which clubs are interested in him?

Originally it was Porto & Benfica. 

Then it was Club Atlético Nacional. 

Now it's Millonarios. 

[Jimbokav1971]

May 2027. 

Liga Apertura. A win and a draw was enough to see us finish top of the 1st Phase League. 

Liga Apertura. Semi Final Group. It's earls days yet, but we've started well and if we beat Junior FC in our home game we should qualify with ease for the Final. 

Copa Libertadores. We've pocketed our money for getting to the Group Stage so how well we do now doesn't really matter. We're just here for the money. 

Copa Dimayor. I thought a 3-0 win was comfortable enough to see us through, but we only squeezed through by a single goal in the end. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Nothing this month.

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 17/23 from the spot at 74%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 9/9 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. £2.5M in the bank isn't too shabby when you consider what we've spent on facilities this year. 

[Jimbokav1971]

Jun 2027. 

Liga Apertura. Semi Final Group. It was all so easy. All we had to do was avoid defeat against Junior FC and we would top the group. The only problem is that I hadn't accounted for a 1st half red card and a 1-0 loss. 

Transfers. I had to sell (20) Díaz because he wasn't interested in signing a new contract and I couldn't risk him leaving on a free. The £1M is great, but I'm hoping that the 25% will be worth more than that. 

Facilities. 

Training Facilities. L12/13.
Youth Facilities. L16/17.
Junior Coaching. L18/18/19.
Youth Recruitment. L19/20.

Job Offer. 

Goal-scoring GK's. Nothing this month. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 17/23 from the spot at 74%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 9/9 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. 

Edited October 31, 2023 by Jimbokav1971

[Jimbokav1971]

Jul 2027. 

Liga Finalización. We've only lost 1 in 11, (in the league), but we're drawing FAR too many games, (5 of those 11), and the way I see it is that we would be better off winning 2 and losing 3 of those 5 games, (6 points), than drawing 5 and losing 0, (5 points). The problem with looking at it in isolation like that is that it doesn't take into account the wins that we're maybe getting because of the momentum boost

Copa Sudamericana. Knockout Playoff. So this appears to suggest that if you finish 3rd in the Copa Libertadores Group Stage then you qualify for a Knockout Playoff for the Copa Sudamericana that will allow us access to the Knockout Stages of the Copa Sudamericana if we win. 

Losing on pens is always a toughie, and especially so because I don't think that Montevideo City Torque are way better than us in the way that the Brazilian sides are. We shouldn't be losing 4-2 in the 2nd leg when we're drawing 2-2 with 6 mins remaining. 

Transfers. Although (16) Parra 6'0" HG hasn't been our player since the 1st window of the save, (£100,000 was a paltry fee but it was simply a case of getting anything for him rather than letting him leave on a free), we have at least earned another £175,000 out of this latest deal by way of a solidarity payment because we developed him. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 1 goal this month and no misses bring (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" to 18 career goals. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 18/21 from the spot at 86%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 9/9 from the spot at 100%.

Finances.

[Jimbokav1971]

Clauses. Aug 2027. 

I'm trying to really be quite rigid with including sell-on clauses when I'm selling players, (although it's not always possible when a contract is running out and there is decent money on the table). 

(11) Cristian Arrieta HG is not for sale and there is no valuation, but he was sold for £1.3M 2 years ago so it would be good to get him a move, (although he's 31 and has 2 years left on his contract so if we can get a decent deal done for this clause I would sell it. 

(20) Díaz has recently gone to Belgrano in Argentina for £1M and has already scored after 1(2) appearances but we might have to wait a while to get a return on this 25%.

(23) Pacheco. went for a nominal fee because he was never going to play for us again, but it should be said that he scored 4 goals in 6(2) league appearances a couple of years ago so he's not rubbish either. The DoF has done a deal worth £61k for his 30% clause, and I think I'm going to accept this because I don't see us getting more than that. 

(24o) Canchila (Bal) was sold for a nominal fee simply because they offered money for him and I couldn't see him ever playing for us. He has made his Liga Dimayor debut so maybe I was wrong. He's only got a 1+1 deal though so not sure we will get anything out of the 25% clause. If the DoF does a deal for the clause I will probably cash it in based on his current valuation. 

(26j) Portilla (Bal) has a 40% profit clause rather than a 25% sale clause and I'm fine with that. The valuation is pretty low and he's in the 2nd Tier, (not playing), on a 2+1 deal so not sure how much we should expect from this clause. 

(12) AZ Zapata (COL)(ECU) is 31 now and despite this being a 50% sale clause, I'm not sure it's worth much more than a small round of drinks, (if that), as he's only contracted until the end of the season. 

(18) Asprilla is doing well at Watford in the Championship, but not well enough that he has managed to fire them to promotion. He's got a high valuation and I would love 30% of that, but he only has just over 1 year remaining on his contract and I'm concerned about him leaving on a free, (although probably not as worried as Watford will be). 

Rodríguez is transfer listed at only £350k, so 25% of that is less than £100k. We're also due £100k after 3 more league goals, and has scored 2 goals in 0(3) league appearances this season so he just needs an opportunity. 

Rubio. has scored 10 goals in 25(4) appearances in Serie B in Brazil, but Chapecoense are actually bottom of the league and in serious danger of being relegated/ 

[Jimbokav1971]

Aug 2027. 

Liga Finalización. We're not playing well, but we're playing well enough to win 4 of 6 league games this month and it's the draws last month that are probably costing us more than the 2 losses this month. 

Copa Dimayor. Well the good news about losing the home leg of a Quarter-Final 6-2 is that there is no pretending that you're going to turn things round in the 2nd leg so you can just pick a squad based on PA for the experience. 

Records. 

Goal-scoring GK's. 2 more goals for (24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" this month bring him to 7 goals for the season and 19 career goals. 

(24e) Ramos (Driven) 6'1" is 19/25 from the spot at 76%.
Fontalvo 6'4" is now 9/9 from the spot at 100%.

Finances. We're down to 2.3M in the bank now.