FM24 - Athletic Club (Bilbao) - Loyalty and Long Term Saves!

[MattyC78]

We've just completed our first full season and surprising ourselves by being sandwiched between Barca and Real in the top three.

There were no transfers in, largely as I'm only going to buy back former youth players and youngsters from our affiliates (if anyone).  I did clear out a few players in January that hadn't had much gametime.  Asier Villalibre wanted to leave so he went for £2m.  Inigo Ruiz De Galarreta (£4.4m), Peru Nolaskoain (£230,000) Gorka Guruzeta (£850,000) and Mikel Balenziaga (£0) also left without any real loss of options.  Aitor Paredes left on loan which was eventually accepted by Iker Muniain.  I promoted Imanol, Urko Izeta, Aingeru Olabarrieta and Benat Prados to plug a few gaps in the squad. 

This is our best 11 and largely reflects how we lined up except we played a gegenpress (not wing play) as our default tweaking styles as required in games.  Inaki was also our main striker but he disappointed at times.

 

In the Spanish Cup it opened up for us as we were joined in the semi-finals by Levante, Elche and Girona.  This was a fine chance to get our first trophy which nearly went begging as we struggled past Levante in the semi-final.  After drawing 2 all at theirs we then were leading 1-0 in the home leg before they scored with their only shot in the 95th minute.  We got the winner in extra time .  Girona proved easier in the final as Dani Vivian and Inaki Williams got the goals to give the two nil victory and our first trophy.

Next season will probably be more of a challenge as we try to cope with European football.   I am looking to see if we can bring back Aymeric Laporte and maybe a goal keeper for depth to deal with injuries.  Other than that we may look to give certain players new contracts to protect our assets.

[bowieinspace]

@MattyC78 we’ve been given a wing play tag as well, I wouldn’t describe my tactic as being a wing play tactic though, I think perhaps something in the match engine. Not complaining though I think the match engine is excellent generally speaking. Not perfect but this is an enjoyable variation of it

[kevaggel]

I am about to start a save with Bilbao, do you know if there is a face pack just for the team without downloading a huge megapack ?

[IllJLllI]

Hi all, just wanted to share this crazy game I had after losing the first leg 1-3. We scored in injury time twice to take it to a ten-round penalty shootout and won!

 

Edited November 14, 2023 by IllJLllI

[MasterFolke]

This is by far the best teamthread ive seen and i wish all threads about teams would look like this:)

I have a question, if you are sucessful in the beginning and get to the CL and all, what happens later on when you need to do the generationalchange and perhaps struggle in the leauge, will the board fire you?

[kevaggel]

The fun in these saves begins after 4-5 seasons, when lack of good players in a position will force to create a new tactical approach or retrain players in a new position.

[dothestrand]

31 minutes ago, MasterFolke said:

This is by far the best teamthread ive seen and i wish all threads about teams would look like this:)

I have a question, if you are sucessful in the beginning and get to the CL and all, what happens later on when you need to do the generationalchange and perhaps struggle in the leauge, will the board fire you?

In most of our experiences, you can generally transition the ageing players out and replace them with Basque players at other clubs or regens through your academy. The main thing is to keep hold of the core squad and then the likes of Yuri, Herrera, Dani Garcia, etc. can be moved on and replaced with the players @bowieinspace mentions in his first posts. Once you get the CL places, you can generally hold onto them.

[bowieinspace]

7 hours ago, MasterFolke said:

This is by far the best teamthread ive seen and i wish all threads about teams would look like this:)

I have a question, if you are sucessful in the beginning and get to the CL and all, what happens later on when you need to do the generationalchange and perhaps struggle in the leauge, will the board fire you?

Yeah personally I’ve always found there’s enough quality newgens out there to keep improving the squad rather than worsening, at least over the first 5 years. Athletic realistically have 3-4 players who are good enough for a top 16 Champions League starting XI - Vivian, Simon, Nico Williams and Sancet. Others you will be gradually trying to upgrade anyway. The challenge can be if there’s a specific position or two where your existing players at the start of the save are older and replacements are thin on the ground - then if you don’t get good newgens super quickly in those positions you can be scrambling - the full back positions are the obvious area this year. That can require some flexibility tactically, but you can usually get by with either players who simply aren’t quite as good or retraining.

[Pavi]

9 hours ago, MasterFolke said:

This is by far the best teamthread ive seen and i wish all threads about teams would look like this:)

Totally agree, as a IRL Athletic fan and long time lurker of the threads they are always of great quality. Let me thank @bowieinspace for his dedication and efforts all these iterations of the game.

[bowieinspace]

8 hours ago, Pavi said:

Totally agree, as a IRL Athletic fan and long time lurker of the threads they are always of great quality. Let me thank @bowieinspace for his dedication and efforts all these iterations of the game.

Thanks Pavi and @MasterFolke also, appreciate the kind words. I think the thread is great because the community gets behind it and everyone who enjoys the Athletic save and contributes here are super passionate about it, much like how the Athletic community approaches the club in real life.

[southside_hitmen]

FM24 Athletic Club Affiliate Guide

Just like last year, I have put together a guide of how to deal with your own and rivals affiliates playing as Athletic.  I have spent the past week after the game was released going through the pre-game editor with a fine tooth comb for any club that is linked to Athletic, their rivals, or any non-affiliated Basque clubs.  I have turned that into the guide below that you can use in your own games.

Hope it helps you in your saves!

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The Notebook - aka Go Slow To Go Fast

At game start, I follow and create a note for each of these clubs listed below with my manager.   It takes a little time at game start to get all the clubs listed below followed and noted, but it makes things soooo much easier long-term.  I've noticed the Notebook seems to be a criminally underutilized feature in FM, but I use it so that I can be kept aware of a few things:

• Follow a club so I can see if they gain promotion (especially to a playable league) and get relevant news items in my inbox on them
• Adding a note for each club allows me to see which clubs (note icon) are Basque on the Youth Intake lists for easier scouting
• Adding notes allow me to see which clubs are Basque (note icon) on the fixture/game scouting screen (I always have at least one scout dedicated to just churning through Basque vs. Basque games so I can see as many players as possible)
• You can categorize your notes and filter off of them in the notebook, so you can quickly filter by all Basque clubs if you want to get team reports on all 131 Spanish Basque teams, the 9 French Basque teams, all of Sociedad's affiliates, or whatever you like for categories

I usually roll with the following categories, but feel free to use whatever works for you

This means my notebook might look a little something like the below, which allows me to quickly filter and pull up whatever I need to club wise.  This means I don't have to reference wikipedia (the list of Basque clubs isn't comprehensive anyway there - more to come on that) or something out of game or try to copy/paste, which helps me blow through scouting much faster.

Just hit the "Filter" button on the top right and away you go.  Grab team reports (including U19 squads, a rarity in FM) from this screen for easy scouting, hop to team home screens, etc...

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Athletic Club Affiliates

Next up, affiliates!  And, oh boy, do you have a bunch (41!) at game start.  Most of these are standard 1st buy option deals, meaning you get a chance to match any offer made for any player on that club.  You can try and get more throughout your save if you like, but the starting batch should be more than good enough.

Keep an eye on the domestic affiliates especially, as if they get promoted to playable or higher leagues they can become a valid loan destination for your players.  Also, a general reminder you probably don't want to loan anyone to a club in a non-playable league as they won't get game time obviously.  The default DB goes down to the 4th tier of Spanish football (Segunda division) as a playable league, so make sure load up as many as your PC can handle.

You also have 2 non-loan U19-only affiliates (Antiguoko and Danok Bat) that you can scoop up U19's from.  Antiguoko even plays in the same league as your U19 team.  Games in that league (U19 Division 1, Group 2) are a good opportunity for you or your scouts to watch in person, as you can see how your younger players are progressing while getting some scouting in (that particular U19 league your team is in is exclusively Basque U19 teams!).

As far as international affiliates, you have 3 at game start.  Each them offer a little something different for you:

• Aviron Bayonnais (France) - You can get an academy link here on Day 1 giving you access to FRENCH BASQUE YOUTH INTAKE players coming directly into Lezama.  Bonus points here, as the club is in French Basque country and will naturally produce some French Basque players for their own academy that you own 1st Buy Option over given your link.  They are 1 tier below a playable league in France (which you should also load up) so if they make the jump up in your save you can get a lot more French Basque players coming through.  Once they do make the jump, try and use your loan agreement with them to pump them up the French pyramid as you may be able to setup a commercial link long term
• Altınordu (Turkey) - Keep an eye on this club, if they gain promotion to the Turkish Super League you can setup a commercial link with them to increase your profits (they won't do this while still in the 2nd tier).  I usually load up the top 2 Turkish leagues as playable because of this.  You can also get an academy link on Day 1 if your prefer, which will give you some Turkish-Basque youth intake players if that's your style (I keep it to Spanish/French myself)
• Athletic Club Bastia (Italy) - Can get an academy link Day 1 here as well.  Buried deep in the 6th tier of Italian football there isn't a ton of hope for a commercial or loan link here.  Same deal on Italian-Basque players if you want it

Try and be opportunistic with any other international affiliates you may find during your game, as the end goal with each could lead to a commercial link, scouting knowledge, or academy players coming into Lezama.

Finally, here is a list of all 41 Athletic Club affiliates, including the tier/division they play in and the type of link.  I go through and update my list in game after each season if teams move up/down

List of all Athletic Club Affiliates (click spoiler to see)

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
1	La Liga	Athletic Club	Senior	Athletic Bilbao
2	La Liga 2	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Amorebieta
2	La Liga 2	Athletic Club	Loan	Burgos	Non-Basque
3	Primera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Sestao River
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Arenas Club
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Barakaldo
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	B Team	Bilbao Athletic
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Gernika
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	Loan	Numancia	Non-Basque
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Tudelano	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Aurrerá Ondarroa
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	C Team	Basconia
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	Loan	C. Durango
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Leioa
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Padura
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Portugalete
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Urduliz
5	Tercera G15	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Oberena	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera G15	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Pamplona
5	Tercera G15	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Txantrea
5	Tercera G16	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Oyonesa
6	Div Honor Alava	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Laudio
6	Div Honor Alava	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Urgatzi K.K.
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Balmaseda
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Bermeo
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Getxo
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Indautxu
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	S.D. San Pedro
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Santurtzi
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Santutxu
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Sodupe
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Somorrostro
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Uritarra
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Zalla
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Zamudio
7	Spanish Regional	Athletic Club	B Team	Amorebieta B	Amorebieta B
7	Spanish Regional	Athletic Club	B Team	Gernika B	Gernika B
7	Spanish Regional	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Retuerto
7	Spanish Regional	Athletic Club	B Team	Sestao B	Sestao River B
7	Spanish Regional	Athletic Club	1st Opt	U.S. San Vicente
U1	U19 D1	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Antiguoko	No Loan
U2	U19 D2	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Danok Bat	No Loan
F5	National 3	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Aviron Bayonnais	French Basque - Can get Academy link (FRENCH BASQUE PLAYERS!)
F2	TFF 1. Lig	Athletic Club	Mutual	Altınordu	Turkey - Can get Academy link (which gives 1st option)
F6	Promoz. Umbria B	Athletic Club	Mutual	Athletic Club Bastia	Italy - Can get Academy link (which gives 1st option)

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All Basque Clubs

So "scour the Basque clubs" you say?  Ok, but which clubs are... Basque?  I actually never knew the answer to this myself, so I went digging in the editor while cross-referencing a bunch of irl census data from Spain and France.

We even have 6 "new" Basque clubs added for FM24 that are represented below:

• Añorga
• Derio
• Lerinés
• Aurrerá B
• Egüés B
• Zirauki

The result is a list of all 140 clubs in the autonomous Basque region and the historical Basque territories (basically Navarre and a corner of SW France).

List of every Basque Club in FM24

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
1	La Liga	Athletic Club	Senior	Athletic Bilbao
1	La Liga	Alaves	Senior	Alavés
1	La Liga	Osasuna	Senior	Osasuna
1	La Liga	Real Sociedad	Senior	Real Sociedad
2	La Liga 2	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Amorebieta
2	La Liga 2	Eibar	Senior	Eibar
3	Primera	Osasuna	B Team	Osasuna Promesas
3	Primera	Real Sociedad	B Team	Real Sociedad B
3	Primera	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Real Unión
3	Primera	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Sestao River
4	Segunda	Real Zaragoza	1st Opt	A.D. San Juan
4	Segunda	Alaves	B Team	Alavés B
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Arenas Club
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Barakaldo
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	B Team	Bilbao Athletic
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Egüés
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Gernika
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Izarra
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Mutilvera
4	Segunda	Real Sociedad	C Team	Real Sociedad C
4	Segunda	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Tudelano	Athletic Club and Osasuna
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Tudelano	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera G4	Alaves	C Team	Alavés C
5	Tercera G4			Anaitasuna
5	Tercera G4			Añorga
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Aurrerá Ondarroa
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	C Team	Basconia
5	Tercera G4	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Beasain	No Loan
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	Loan	C. Durango
5	Tercera G4	Eibar	B Team	C.D. Vitoria
5	Tercera G4			Derio
5	Tercera G4			Deusto
5	Tercera G4	Osasuna	1st Opt	Lagun Onak
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Leioa
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Padura
5	Tercera G4	Real Sociedad	Loan	Pasaia
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Portugalete
5	Tercera G4			San Ignacio
5	Tercera G4			Touring
5	Tercera G4	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Urduliz
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	A. Cirbonero
5	Tercera G15			Alesves
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	Ardoi
5	Tercera G15			Avance
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	Mutual	Beti Kozcor
5	Tercera G15			Beti Onak
5	Tercera G15			Bidezarra
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	Burladés
5	Tercera G15			Cantolagua
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	Cortes
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	Huarte
5	Tercera G15			Lagunak
5	Tercera G15			Lerinés
5	Tercera G15	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Oberena	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	Oberena	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera G15	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Pamplona
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	Peña Sport
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	C Team	Subiza
5	Tercera G15	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Txantrea
5	Tercera G16	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Oyonesa
5	Tercera G16			Vianés
6	Div Honor Alava			Amurrio
6	Div Honor Alava			Ariznabarra
6	Div Honor Alava	Alaves	1st Opt	Aurrerá
6	Div Honor Alava	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Laudio
6	Div Honor Alava	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Urgatzi K.K.
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Aretxabaleta
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa	Real Sociedad	B Team	Beasain B	Beasain B
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Bergara
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Beti Gazte
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa	Eibar	C Team	Eibar C
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Elgoibar
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Hernani	No Loan
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Oiartzun
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Ordizia	No Loan
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa	Real Sociedad	B Team	Real Irún B	Real Union B
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Tolosa	No Loan
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Urola
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Zarautz
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Balmaseda
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Bermeo
6	Div Honor Vizcaya			Dinamo S. Juan
6	Div Honor Vizcaya			Erandio
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Getxo
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Indautxu
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	S.D. San Pedro
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Santurtzi
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Santutxu
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Sodupe
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Somorrostro
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Uritarra
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Zalla
6	Div Honor Vizcaya	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Zamudio
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Aluvión
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Amigó
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Aoiz
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Artajonés
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Azkoyen	No Loan
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Baztán
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Corellano
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Erriberri
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Gares
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Idoya
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Injerto
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Iruña
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Murchante
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	B Team	Mutilvera B
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Peña Azagresa
7	Spanish Regional	Osasuna	1st Opt	Amaya
7	Spanish Regional	Athletic Club	B Team	Amorebieta B	Amorebieta B
7	Spanish Regional			C.D. Vasconia
7	Spanish Regional			Fontellas
7	Spanish Regional	Athletic Club	B Team	Gernika B	Gernika B
7	Spanish Regional			Lagun Artea
7	Spanish Regional	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Retuerto
7	Spanish Regional	Athletic Club	B Team	Sestao B	Sestao River B
7	Spanish Regional	Athletic Club	1st Opt	U.S. San Vicente
7	Spanish Regional	Osasuna	1st Opt	Urroztarra
7	Reg. Pref. Alava	Alaves	Alaves	Aurrerá B	Aurrerá B
7	Reg. Pref. Alava			Salvatierra
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G1	Osasuna	B Team	Egüés B	Egüés B
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G1	Osasuna	1st Opt	Gatze Berriak
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G1	Osasuna	1st Opt	Ilumberri
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G1	Osasuna	1st Opt	Mendi
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G1			Zirauki
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G2	Osasuna	B Team	A. Cirbonero B	A. Cirbonero B
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G2	Osasuna	1st Opt	Lourdes
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G2	Osasuna	1st Opt	River Ega
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G2	Osasuna	Mutual	Valtierrano
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G2	Osasuna	1st Opt	Zarramonza
U1	U19 D1	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Antiguoko	No Loan
U2	U19 D2	Alaves	1st Opt	Betoño
U2	U19 D2	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Danok Bat	No Loan
F5	National 3	Athletic Club	1st Opt	Aviron Bayonnais	French Basque - Can get Academy link (FRENCH BASQUE PLAYERS!)
F5	National 3	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Genets Anglet	French Basque - No Loan
F6	R1 - Nelle Aquitane			Arin Luzien	French Basque
F6	R1 - Nelle Aquitane			Bayonne Croisés	French Basque
F6	R1 - Nelle Aquitane			Hiriburuko	French Basque
F7	Regional			EL Boucalais	French Basque
F7	Regional			ES Aubinrorthais	French Basque
F7	Regional	Bordeaux	1st Opt	JA Biarritz	French Basque
F7	Regional			St Palais Sport Football	French Basque

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Rivals and Other Basque Clubs

No save preparation would be complete without also diving in on your Basque rivals affiliate structure so you can hopefully snipe a few players from their affiliate teams.   I note/follow these teams as well for all the reasons listed above, but especially for Youth Intake days.

Every single club below is Basque and generates Basque regens unless otherwise noted

 

List of Real Sociedad Affiliates
* Note another French Basque club here (Genets Anglet)

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
1	La Liga	Real Sociedad	Senior	Real Sociedad
3	Primera	Real Sociedad	B Team	Real Sociedad B
3	Primera	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Real Unión
4	Segunda	Real Sociedad	C Team	Real Sociedad C
5	Tercera G4	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Beasain	No Loan
5	Tercera G4	Real Sociedad	Loan	Pasaia
5	Tercera G16	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Berceo	Non-Basque - No Loan
6	Pref Las Palmas	Real Sociedad	Scouting	Maspalomas	Non-Basque
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa	Real Sociedad	B Team	Beasain B	Beasain B
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Hernani	No Loan
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Ordizia	No Loan
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa	Real Sociedad	B Team	Real Irún B	Real Union B
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Tolosa	No Loan
U2	U19 D2	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Valvanera	Non-Basque - No Loan
F5	National 3	Real Sociedad	1st Opt	Genets Anglet	French Basque - No Loan
F2	Superettan	Real Sociedad	Merch	Örgryte IS	Sweden

 

List of Osasuna Affiliates
* Note 2 cross-affiliations here with Athletic

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
1	La Liga	Osasuna	Senior	Osasuna
3	Primera	Osasuna	B Team	Osasuna Promesas
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Calahorra	Non-Basque
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Egüés
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Izarra
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Mutilvera
4	Segunda	Osasuna	1st Opt	Tudelano	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera G4	Osasuna	1st Opt	Lagun Onak
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	A. Cirbonero
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	Ardoi
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	Mutual	Beti Kozcor
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	Burladés
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	Cortes
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	Huarte
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	Oberena	Athletic Club and Osasuna
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	1st Opt	Peña Sport
5	Tercera G15	Osasuna	C Team	Subiza
6	Pref La Rioja	Osasuna	Mutual	Agoncillo	Non-Basque
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Amigó
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Artajonés
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Azkoyen	No Loan
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Corellano
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Idoya
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Murchante
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	B Team	Mutilvera B
6	1ª Aut. Navarra	Osasuna	1st Opt	Peña Azagresa
7	Spanish Regional	Osasuna	1st Opt	Amaya
7	Spanish Regional	Osasuna	1st Opt	Urroztarra
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G1	Osasuna	B Team	Egüés B	Egüés B
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G1	Osasuna	1st Opt	Gatze Berriak
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G1	Osasuna	1st Opt	Ilumberri
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G1	Osasuna	1st Opt	Mendi
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G2	Osasuna	B Team	A. Cirbonero B	A. Cirbonero B
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G2	Osasuna	1st Opt	Lourdes
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G2	Osasuna	1st Opt	River Ega
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G2	Osasuna	Mutual	Valtierrano
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G2	Osasuna	1st Opt	Zarramonza

 

List of Alaves Affiliates

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
1	La Liga	Alaves	Senior	Alavés
4	Segunda	Alaves	B Team	Alavés B
5	Tercera G3	Alaves	Affiliate	Laredo	Non-Basque
5	Tercera G4	Alaves	C Team	Alavés C
6	Div Honor Alava	Alaves	1st Opt	Aurrerá
7	Reg. Pref. Alava	Alaves	Alaves	Aurrerá B	Aurrerá B
U2	U19 D2	Alaves	1st Opt	Betoño
F1	HT Prva Liga	Alaves	1st Opt	Istra 1961	Croatia

 

List of Eibar Affiliates

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
2	La Liga 2	Eibar	Senior	Eibar
5	Tercera G4	Eibar	B Team	C.D. Vitoria
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa	Eibar	C Team	Eibar C

 

List of Non-Affiliated Basque Clubs
* Includes 6 French Basque clubs

Spoiler

Tier	Division	Affiliate of	Type	Club	Note
5	Tercera G4			Anaitasuna
5	Tercera G4			Añorga
5	Tercera G4			Derio
5	Tercera G4			Deusto
5	Tercera G4			San Ignacio
5	Tercera G4			Touring
5	Tercera G15			Alesves
5	Tercera G15			Avance
5	Tercera G15			Beti Onak
5	Tercera G15			Bidezarra
5	Tercera G15			Cantolagua
5	Tercera G15			Lagunak
5	Tercera G15			Lerinés
5	Tercera G16			Vianés
6	Div Honor Alava			Amurrio
6	Div Honor Alava			Ariznabarra
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Aretxabaleta
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Bergara
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Beti Gazte
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Elgoibar
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Oiartzun
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Urola
6	Div Honor Guipúzcoa			Zarautz
6	Div Honor Vizcaya			Dinamo S. Juan
6	Div Honor Vizcaya			Erandio
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Aluvión
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Aoiz
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Baztán
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Erriberri
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Gares
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Injerto
6	1ª Aut. Navarra			Iruña
7	Spanish Regional			C.D. Vasconia
7	Spanish Regional			Fontellas
7	Spanish Regional			Lagun Artea
7	Reg. Pref. Alava			Salvatierra
7	Reg. Pref. Navarra G1			Zirauki
F6	R1 - Nelle Aquitane			Arin Luzien	French Basque
F6	R1 - Nelle Aquitane			Bayonne Croisés	French Basque
F6	R1 - Nelle Aquitane			Hiriburuko	French Basque
F7	Regional			EL Boucalais	French Basque
F7	Regional			ES Aubinrorthais	French Basque
F7	Regional			St Palais Sport Football	French Basque

---------------------------------------------

Closing Thoughts

If I missed any Basque clubs that you are aware of, please let me know!

Thanks again to everyone who contributes to this thread each year.  Love the challenge that this save brings and I hope this guide helps you in your saves.

Aupa Athletic!

Edited November 15, 2023 by southside_hitmen

[southside_hitmen]

Filters

"But @southside_hitmen, that info above is really great but... it's just too much to manage...
Can't you just like, give me a thing that does all this for me?
What if I ask reallllly nicely?  Pleeeeassse...."

Yes.  Yes, I can.  I have attached filters to this post so you can just hop in the player search screen, import the filters in your game, and carry on with your day.  This is incredibly powerful for youth intake season, as you can see every player at every Basque club, born in French Basque cities, in your or your rivals affiliates, etc... just by clicking the filters.

A reminder that we are adhering to Athletic Club's philosophy

Quote

The club’s sporting philosophy is governed by a code which states that Athletic Club may only field players who have come through its own academy or the academies of other clubs in the Basque Country, or players who were born in the following territories which constitute the Basque Country: Biscay, Gipuzkoa, Alava, Navarre, Labourd, Soule and Lower Navarre.

Why use these filters instead of just clicking Nationality = Basque?
(Spoiler: you should do that too, and I have included a few of my preferred filters around that as well)

The short answer is that on occasion, the game will mislabel a player who should be Basque based on where they are born or what club they came up in as only Spanish.  These are the only Spanish 15-16 year old players that I am "ok" with grabbing in my saves, as they fit the Athletic philosophy.  This seems to happen about 1x every 2-3 years with regens and, as I want to master this little universe of the Basque region, I just don't want to miss any players.

I also like to slice and dice my player search different ways and the filters below allow me to do things like snipe youth players from teams in Sociedad's system or grab reports on everyone in Athletic's affiliate structure, especially around youth intake time.

Anyway, on to the filters.

---------------------------------------------

Formed in the Basque Country Filters
"may only field players who have come through its own academy or the academies of other clubs in the Basque Country"

• BAS Club - ALL | Filter for players at all Basque Country clubs in Spain and France (140 total clubs)
• BAS Club - ESP | Filter for players at all Basque Country clubs in Spain in the local regions of País Vasco and Navarra (131 total clubs)
• BAS Club - FRA | Filter for players at all Basque Country clubs in France (9 total clubs)

Note: I use "real" names for clubs, so YMMV if using the default data.  City filters will work either way though.

---------------------------------------------

Born in the Basque Country Filters
"or players who were born in the following territories which constitute the Basque Country"

• BAS City - ALL | Filter for players born in all Basque Country cities in Spain and France (130 total cities)
• BAS City - ESP | Filter for players born in all Basque Country cities in Spain in the local regions of País Vasco and Navarra (120 total cities)
• BAS City - FRA | Filter for players born in all Basque Country cities in France (10 total cities)

---------------------------------------------

Affiliate Club Player Filters
Use these to keep track of all your affiliate clubs players, or swipe some youngsters before the Osasuna's and Sociedad's of the world can grab them

• AFL - Athletic | Filter for players at Athletic and their affiliates (42 total clubs)
• AFL - Alaves | Filter for players at Alaves and their affiliates (8 total clubs)
• AFL - Eibar | Filter for players at Eibar and their affiliates (3 total clubs)
• AFL - Osasuna | Filter for players at Osasuna and their affiliates (37 total clubs)
• AFL - Sociedad | Filter for players at Real Sociedad and their affiliates (16 total clubs)
• AFL - None| Filter for players at unaffiliated Basque clubs (43 total clubs)

---------------------------------------------

General Basque Filters
General filters that I also use

• Basque | Filter for all players of Basque nationality, with some helpful filters unticked (age, min release clause, height, etc...) that I use to make sure I grab any Basque players outside of Spain & France
• Basque Yth Con | Same as above, but with anyone Basque who is on a youth contract (for regen season)
• Spanish U16 | All Spanish 16 and under players.  Not my style to grab these guys (unless they fit the above criteria), but to have a complete set for Athletic, I threw this one in

---------------------------------------------

Adding These To Your Game

1. Download them and put them in your `Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2024\filters` folder (create a "filters" folder if you don't have one)
2. Start your game and go to the `Scouting > Players in Range` screen
3. Click "New Search" on the top right, then hit the Gear icon on the bottom left of the popup screen and "Manage Filters..."
4. Click the "> Import" button select the one you want and click "Load" and you can import them into the game
5. Click the Gear icon again and you will see it in the list below

---------------------------------------------

Hope these help you in your saves!

Happy Wonderkid hunting to all, and to all a good night!

BAS Club - ALL.fmf BAS Club - ESP.fmf BAS Club - FRA.fmf BAS City - ALL.fmf BAS City - ESP.fmf BAS City - FRA.fmf AFL - Athletic.fmf AFL - Alaves.fmf AFL - Eibar.fmf AFL - Osasuna.fmf AFL - Sociedad.fmf AFL - None.fmf Basque.fmf Basque Yth Con.fmf Spanish U16.fmf

Edited November 15, 2023 by southside_hitmen

[dothestrand]

@southside_hitmen Thanks for this - amazing work! I added those filters to my editor data, then re-started my game. I'm a bit of a novice - what should I expect to see with these? Are they visible in the Scouting Screen?

 

[southside_hitmen]

18 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

@southside_hitmen Thanks for this - amazing work! I added those filters to my editor data, then re-started my game. I'm a bit of a novice - what should I expect to see with these? Are they visible in the Scouting Screen?

Apologies for not adding instructions to the above post (will do shortly).

1. Download them and put them in your `Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2024\filters` folder (create a "filters" folder if you don't have one)
2. Start your game and go to the `Scouting > Players in Range` screen
3. Click "New Search" on the top right, then hit the Gear icon on the bottom left of the popup screen and "Manage Filters..."
4. Click the "> Import" button select the one you want and click "Load" and you can import them into the game
5. Click the Gear icon again and you will see it in the list below

Edited November 15, 2023 by southside_hitmen

[dothestrand]

@southside_hitmen Thanks - I've got those filters working now! This makes life much easier!

[Gregisawesome13]

Is anyone running into any issues with renewing contracts in the B team due to the lower league salary cap and rules?

[bowieinspace]

7 hours ago, Gregisawesome13 said:

Is anyone running into any issues with renewing contracts in the B team due to the lower league salary cap and rules?

I've not had that issue this year so far, but I did have that problem last year.

What I've done this year is basically extend everyone I possibly could (most players have 2 year extension clauses at game start) on low wages. Once you get a year or so in I find wage demands go crazy, and everyone wants too much. At that stage I just don't renew those guys and move them on, then I sign every below average youth intake player I can on youth contracts to add depth. I get two years in the B team out of most of my good youngsters without having to register them for the B team. As soon as they reach registration age they're either in the first team, out on loan or in the B team if I have salary cap space.

[dothestrand]

At the start of the game the B squad players are all on sensible wages. But then they suddenly ask for ridiculous wages even when they've never played a first team game or aren't anywhere near the first team squad. This happens every year and isn't remotely realistic. If had a guy in the C team last year who at the point he was due a contract renewal asked for the best part of 100k per week!

[kevaggel]

First season completed:

These are the two main tactics:
 

Top Goalscorer : Villalibre - 16, Top Assist : Munian - 13

Now starts the torture to renew contracts and get rid Unai Simon who wants to find a new club.

As for transfers i signed Aldasoro in January, and Guillamon for next year so we are covered in midfield.

I 'm going to need an extra DC and DL since we play in UCL next season.
This one is the best newgen who came through the first youth intake :

[bowieinspace]

2027/28 Season Review

La Liga - 3rd (90 points), 1 less point than last year.
Copa Del Rey - Lost in QF to Sevilla
Supercopa - Lost in SF to Valencia
Champions League - Lost in SF to Bayern

Another good season, probably fairly reflective of where we are at this stage and also how Real/Barca are getting on. We finished 3rd on 90 point this season, Barca in 2nd on 91 points and Real 1st again on 99 points (with 109 goals scored!) - at the moment Real are perhaps just too good for us over the course of a season and they look set to continue being excellent for a long time... I look at their starting 11 and they have Endrick, Rodrygo and Vini Jr up front, with Camavinga, Tchouameni and Bellingham behind - they've then added two excellent young CBs... they're just considerably better than us. Barca are also excellent but more on our level perhaps than Real - their individuals are better but the AI squad management probably pulls them down to our level. They too have a good young squad though so will be competitive for some time. I'm happy about that as I hope the AI squad building 'improvements' will help them longer term, and SI have said this is an area they're hoping to improve with a patch also. We probably could have gotten a few more points in the league, not enough to catch Real Madrid but could have been closer for sure - we rotated a lot to prioritise our best Champions League run so far.

The Champions League has treated us well in the last two years, reaching the QF and then the SF this year - both times we've finished in the top 8 and have looked capable of competing with the top teams. This time around we beat Milan in the round of 16 with a 4-1 scoreline, in the QF we then took on Porto and overcame a 0-2 defeat in the first leg to win 4-2 AET on aggregate. In the semi final we took on Bayern and were comfortably second best - we had enough chances that we could have made a fist of it, but overall quality told and we made too many mistakes and missed too many chances. 

In the other competitions we had defeats to Sevilla and Valencia while rotating our squad - we're still not quite strong enough in terms of depth. 

On the transfer front we are continuing to churn our squad and bring our talented youngsters through - we've been very fortunate with some excellent intakes in the initial years. This summer has seen us move on Jesus Areso and Dani Rodriguez - the former was a solid RB option but wasn't taking us forwards, and the latter has been great for us but we're becoming swamped in attacking talent - 50 million in the bank there (mostly Dani Rodriguez). We have more money than we know what to do with now so I've agreed with the board to purchase our stadium.

 

Squad

GK - Unai Simon, Julen Agirrezabala, Iker Alvarez
RB - Nico Williams, Josu Blasco
LB - Eneko Cordoba, Aihen Munoz
CB (x2) - Dani Vivian, Javi, Carlos Saenz, Igor Zubeldia
DM (x2) - Unai Vencedor, Hugo Guillamon, Gaizka Alboniga-Menor, Mikel Guruzeta
CM - Oihan Sancet, Jon Castro
AM - Aimar, Gorka Merino
CF (x2) - Jon Martin, Mikel Rojo, Aitor Gorrotxategi, Jon Ibanez

 

Ok so if you've read through that list you're probably wondering what on earth Nico Williams is doing at RIGHT BACK. Well quite simply he's pretty good at it! My full backs are very attacking in their role, so while his tackling of 8 leaves a bit to be desired, his marking of 11, positioning of 14, concentration of 13, anticipation of 14, work rate of 15 and 13 decisions are very decent in terms of his defensive capabilities. As my system is a 4-2-2-2 with no wingers, I've been using Nico as a forward, but he's just not as effective as he should be given his ability level, and with the level of youngsters I have coming through I decided it would be a fun experiment to convert him into a wing back. I have one excellent academy prospect at RB who is in the B team this year, and then Josu Blasco I feel will never suit my system that well despite him being pretty good, so my plan is to use Nico there, bring in my prospect next year as back up/rotation and redeploy Blasco elsewhere, or sell him depending on how things go.

In my last update I showed Josu Blasco, Eneko Cordoba, Javi, Saenz, Guruzeta, Castro and Gorka Merino - all have taken decent steps forward this year. Javi is turning into a world class CB gradually, but I think eventually he will become a DM, while Eneko Cordoba's improvement has shown that the investment in him was money well spent. 

This year I get to show you two new newgens who have entered by squad - welcoem Aitor Gorrotxategi and Jon Ibanez into the forward line - I LOVE these guys.

 

 

First up is Aitor Gorrotxategi - a pressing forward on my system, excellent physicals and wonderful attribute spread for a forward. He has huge potential and is one of those players I expect to be world class. 

 

 

Secondly Jon Ibanez. My coaches have consistently given him slightly less potential but his attributes have been pretty insane ever since he joined as an academy player. I think his modest pace/acceleration harm his CA/PA, but as a DLF on support his other attributes more than make up for it - ideal player for my system. Although Jon Martin will take some ousting given his development, I can see Jon Ibanez and Gorrotxategi being my forward line for a decade.

[kevaggel]

I signed Gorosabel in the summer and 2 months after he wants a new contract..... nice

If it wasnt Bilbao he would be in the second team with double intensity, triple physical training per day.

[Sherkey]

10 hours ago, kevaggel said:

I signed Gorosabel in the summer and 2 months after he wants a new contract..... nice

If it wasnt Bilbao he would be in the second team with double intensity, triple physical training per day.

This is teamtalk intensity, right? And it's slightly more amped up this year, which could make sense for certain personality types.

[dothestrand]

I've had this happen before and it usually takes a bit of caving in to get the players out of their funk. Players are a bit precious if they can't handle criticism of bad performances (they react like scolded children if you give the angriest type of feedback!) Good luck asking Muniain to resolve someone's unhappiness. He's the most miserable guy in the squad. 

[Skora11]

Have started a save with Bilbao and really enjoying it so far. I am currently in January and have myself sitting 3rd, with the pick out result beating Barca away 2-0 with the 2nd goal being an absolutely beauty. Must have been 30 odd passes building out from the back and playing through the Barca press. 

Anyway, Guruzeta may not have the greatest attributes in the game but he scores the goals when thrown in. Scored a few vital winners from the bench and also when he gets a start seems to pop up with a few. Nico Williams is on fire with 14 goals from 20 games and a 6 or so assists from the right wing. He is currently unhappy though as City put an £80mil offer in which I knocked back. All his team mates have agreed with my treatment though (apart from Inaki). 

My only signing, which I have only just made in the January window, is Alvaro Djalo.

[Istorian]

What a fantastic thread describing the current state of Athletic Club and how to have a good save with them! Nice work!

 

I am currently in the process of making a separate 3 league system for the Basque Country, making it independent, giving it a national team, integrating its clubs in European competitions, etc.

I have noticed a weird thing about regens, and after many hours playing around the pre-game editor I cannot seem to fix it so I'll ask here in case anyone knows: No matter where I set up the local regions of the cities in the database, or how I change the languages of the regions, the regens all end up coming with Spanish and French nationality still, with Pays Basque as 2nd nationality (even though Pays Basque is now set up as an independent nation and they should only get this as first nationality). There are very few, maybe 2 or 3, regens throughout all Basque clubs that pop up every season with just Basque nationality, so the game realizes that this can happen now, but the vast majority of them still come up wrong.

 

Does anyone have any ideas how to fix this? I'd love to get it working so I can release the files to the community and let you play around as well!

[Dadecane]

Reallllle Realllle. #Kubismo 😜 

[bowieinspace]

7 hours ago, Dadecane said:

Reallllle Realllle. #Kubismo 😜 

 

[dothestrand]

2026-27 Season Review: Getting Closer (sort of...)

La Liga: 3rd (-1) - 90 points (+1)

Copa Del Rey: QF (lost to Real Madrid)

Super Cup: F (lost to Real Madrid)

Champions League: Round of 16 (lost to Nice)

La Liga was a lot closer this season, with a genuine three horse race for the whole season. Real won it again, but on 94 points and Barcelona finished second on 91 (we drew away to Atletico Madrid on the final day, so would've snatched second had we won). Daylight between us and Atletico, who finished 4th, twenty points back. And we did this without Simon and the Williams brothers (which I will discuss in the transfers section!) So, although we've dropped a place, we won a point more, and it feels a lot more competitive at the summit now - this is the closest I've been to overhauling the two giants of Spanish football. 

Domestic cups are a familiar story - we inevitably face Real and we lose. Champions League was a disappointment overall. We performed really well in the group stages and for the first time we finished in the top eight, so entered the round of 16 and Nice was one of the best ties possible for us. We lost 5-2 on aggregate. We weren't even in bad nick - it was just a couple of games where it just didn't work out.

Squad Performance

Tactically, we're shaping up the same as last season - a 4-3-3-0 with no out-and-out striker, with the three attacking midfielders weighing in with the goals. I'm particularly pleased to see JJ Guerrero really push on, and even though he plays in a deeper playmaker role, he still gets forward enough. 

Don't pay much heed to the 'best XI' as Sancet would've been playing in the AMC position more often than not (rather than Aguirre, a Basque regen from Villareal's academy, who only made seven starts) and Sancet's role in MC would've been played by Moncayola or Aldasoro. 

The rest of the first team squad was filled out by Agirrezabala (who rotated with Fernandez) and Iker Alvarez (GK), Gorosabel, Nunez (for half a season), Le Normand (I'll explain!), Guillamon, Griezmann, and Alvaro Djalo. 

Transfers

In the last post, I mentioned that I had made some huge transfer-related decisions. I wanted shot of Inaki Williams anyway as his performances were sub-par and his wages a killer. I got less than I'd have liked from Galatasary (best part of 20m), but I'd take it. Nico's release fee was paid by Man Utd (132m - which was reduced when he signed a second new contract during this save) and Simon left for Chelsea for 75m because I had Agirrezabala and Fernandez in the squad and some guys coming through the academy. So, I thought I'd cash out at his peak value. That obviously left us with shedloads in the bank. Nunez moved to Saudi in the January window as he was unhappy and he was becoming something of a spare part anyway. 

I was like a kid in a candy story. We signed Aimar (30m + 5m), Moncayola (46.5m), Djalo (23m), Aguirre (aforementioned Villareal Basque regen - 11m), Griezmann (10m - he's retiring after 1y of a 2y deal), Laporte and Le Normand (both free), and somewhere between 10-15 Basque regens from various clubs. Laporte had been available on a free anyway after his Al-Nassr contract expired and is on 95k per week. Le Normand had been signed by Al-Hilal very early on in the game, and was transfer listed for a very affordable amount but his salary demands were ridiculous. In January 2027, they tore up his contract. It took a couple of months of trying and failing before he agreed to accept 40k per week! Fortunately, no-one else got in there first. 

Were all of these deals successful? Probably not. I wouldn't say any really excelled. But my young players weren't ready and the money was there to burn. There is still resale value on those guys if I want to move them on - and we still have a transfer budget of 100m anyway, so it's all moot.

Youth Development

After a few seasons of Lezama bearing fruit and picking off the best of the Basque regens, we have a very strong B, C and u19 squad, and we will hopefully reap the dividends of this soon. I loaned out the most promising talent, and I think we have around a dozen players who are genuine first-team material; either now or in the next couple of years. There is talent in all positions really, so I think we will be able to replace any older players we want to move on. Excitingly, a B team striker was on loan at Bristol City and was the top scorer in the Championship. He may not be ready for the first team yet, but he will ask some interesting tactical questions when he is. A CB was also on loan in the Championship and he kicked on massively. Maybe I should find an affiliate in England!

I found a Basque-born player in Newcastle's academy, which I always like as I semi-invent back stories for how these kids (in his case, born in Elizondo in Navarre) wound up in England. He's joining for 15m, and he has a lot of development to do, but the scouts really rate him.

Looking Ahead

Every season feels like a transitional season, but this may actually be one of those. I've an ageing defence and with some players evidently in decline like Gorosabel and Yeray. Munoz and Laporte are attracting interest too. It's possible some or all will move on. That will leave some holes in defence, but with Vivian, Le Normand and Guillamon able to play CB, it just depends how I want to cover the full backs (I've got good youth options at RB but LB is trickier). I'll possibly let Djalo leave too if he gets any interest, as I can cover his place, but I'm just as happy to rotate him, especially as we've lost Griezmann to retirement. 

If I do some serious surgery on the squad, then I'd expect to fall back a little - I'd still expect to finish third but be a bit more off the pace, but with the expectation that this would recover within a season or two. But let's be ambitious.

Edited November 26, 2023 by dothestrand

[Dadecane]

15 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

 

Hehe. Love what u guys are doing with this thread. Bilbao, due to their transfer policy, is definitely a challenging and exciting club to do a save on. 
 

im spanish myself (raised in the states) and a lover of all things spanish football specially the history of the clubs and how its been linked to social standings and politics in spain thru most of its history. Bilbao is a special special club. Kinda crazy that in all my years playing FM, every single time playing in Spain, ive never done a Bilbao save. Hmm

[Zengoroth]

So I have decided to start an Athletic Club save this year as my main save, after having several successful saves with them over the last few years. I chose to start on the 'Your World' game mode as I wanted to simulate something a little more realistic, by taking over in the off season and being able to build the squad in my own image. After looking at the squad and all the players, I decided I wanted to try something a little different with the formation/tactics rather than the usual 4-3-3 or 4-2-3-1, and so I came up with this: 

The Idea behind this tactic is that Muniain would drop deeper into the CAM position, pulling a defeder with him, allowing space for the shadow striker, wingers or even the right Inverted wing back to run into. I liked the look of Muniain as a false 9 as he is quite a creative player and would operate well in the tight spaces rather than running in behind, something the Williams brothers and Oihan Sancet would be much more suited to. In possession, this would create a kind of 2-3-5 kind of shape, with the inverted full backs reinforcing the midfield, providing solidity and, for the right back, running into the space left by Muniain and linking up with the more advanced players.

 

For transfers I didn't go too wild, signing Julen Jon Guerrero for £550k and Dani Rodriguez for £2.5M, while also selling Dani Garcia for £3M, Jon Morcillo for £3M, Gorka Guruzeta for £2.5M, Mikel Balenziaga for £200k and Peru Nolaskoain for £725k. I also agreed on future transfers for Jesus Areso (£3.1M) and Javi Lopez (£4M), with both of them joining the club at the end of the season as I planned on letting Yuri and Oscar De Marcos go after this season was over due to them being in ther 30's now with them most likely declining as the year goes on. I promoted Luis Bilbao to play backup to Nico Williams on the right wing, and also planned on using Nico Serrano to rotate/ cover for Sancet in the shadow striker position. To rotate with Muniain up front, I kept Villalibre and Raul Garcia who I would play as DLF(S) when needed.

 

Despite some fairly mixed results in our pre-season friendlies, we started our league campaign with some good results, playing some really nice football with the players taking to this new tactic pretty seemlessly. Some stand out performers early on are Oscar De Marcos who was MOTM in the first game of the season, getting 2 assists and winning a penalty, Nico Williams who has scored 3 goals, and Iker Muniain who has scored 2 in the first 3 games. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of the season goes and how this tactic holds up over the rest of the campaign but if we can finish in the european places at the end of the season I will be happy. I have been training more standard 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 tactics as backups just in case this new system ends up being a disaster. 

 

Edited November 27, 2023 by Zengoroth

[MattyC78]

We have just completed our second season.  We were not able to bring anyone back to the club.  Realistically the main target is Aymeric Laporte as the only player that will significantly strengthen the first team.  Sadly he followed the Saudi money, transferring for £55 million and he is on a weekly wage roughly equal to my wage budget so I do not see him coming back in the near future.  Therefore there were no transfers in and we let a couple of bit part players go for small sums (Juan Artola for £675,000 and Benat Prados for £800,000) meaning the squad was largely unchanged.

We struggled at the start of the season.  Mikel Vesga was unhappy that I was unprepared to double his wages at the age of 31 when he had two years left on his contract.  Many of the squad agreed with him including Iker Munian, my captain.  I'm not sure how much of our sluggish start was down to this but it certainly did not help.  In the end, we recorded a second place finish in the league.  It looks a lot tighter than it was as Real and Barca fell away in the final weeks and we went past Barca on the final day of the season as they drew with Real. 

Real also knocked us out of both domestic cup competitions (Semis of the Spanish Cup and Final of the Super Cup).  In the Champions League we were unlucky to be knocked out by RB Leipzig in the first knockout round after the group stage.  In summary it was a reasonable season where we met our targets comfortably but were unable to properly compete with the bigger teams.  We competed hard but there were some games  where we were completely outclassed. 

There were no real surprises in our team of the year.  It may look different next year as age is catching up with some of the team/squad so I need to make some changes and may need to make a change to the system over the summer. 

[kevaggel]

Second season completed with a double.



Inigo Martinez decided to retire in the age of 33.... he 'll be replaced by Jorge Herrando.
Nico is unhappy because he wants to move to a bigger club, at least he is ok to wait for a release clause bid.

[Maverik1828]

What leagues do you guy load up when playing an athletic save?

[dothestrand]

7 hours ago, Maverik1828 said:

What leagues do you guy load up when playing an athletic save?

All the Spanish and French leagues possible, and I may have some of the English leagues too. 

[MattyC78]

Have things changed in the Champions League?  I didn't think you could play other teams from the same nation in the league stage.  I have faced Real the last two seasons.

[basqueliverpool]

57 minutes ago, MattyC78 said:

Have things changed in the Champions League?  I didn't think you could play other teams from the same nation in the league stage.  I have faced Real the last two seasons.

its a bug thats been fixed if start new save

[Patti]

I am playing first season with Athletic Club, tied with Real Madrid at first place coming into January. The club has 4 million in balance since I bought David Garcia for 17m in the summer. So the board takes a 51 million mortgage loan and gives me 36 million in transfer fee, which makes sense since I need to add depth for the upcoming title challenge.

However, it does not add into the balance. So instead, I how the same balance but I am in 51 million of depth and have to pay 700k a month for 72 months. Has anyone experience this?

[southside_hitmen]

On 07/11/2023 at 09:32, southside_hitmen said:

24.0 Basque Fixes

The attached file adds Basque as a 2nd nationality for 41 players who were born in the Basque region but didn't have Basque 2nd nationality set in game.

It also properly moves the city of Oyón to the País Vasco region (it's in Alava province irl) so regens born there will get Basque nationality.  This also has the knock-on effect of Oyonesa now generating Basque prospects.

I will enter a bug tracker ticket for the 6 "new" players I found in '24 that haven't already been submitted to the data team as well, hopefully to be included in the next official FM24 patch.

Put it in your `Documents\Sports Interactive\Football Manager 2024\editor data` folder to use when starting a new game if you like.

Full list of changes below

 

City/Club Changes

City	Larrabetzu	No local region selected, still assigned to nation of Pays Basque, but should be in Spain and País Vasco
City	Lesaka	No local region selected, still assigned to nation of Pays Basque, but should be in Spain and País Vasco
City	Oyón	Local region listed as La Rioja, but should be in País Vasco (it's in Alava province irl) and people born there should get Basque 2nd nationality (this does not currently happen for newgens from here)
Club	Oyonesa	Should be a Basque club, newgens should get Basque 2nd nationality since it's in Oyón (which is in Alava province not La Rioja)

 

French Player Changes

ID	Name	Details
50038318	Mickael Berthelot	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Bayonne)
2000030867	Lucas de Ataíde	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Bayonne)
85052244	Rémi Elissalde	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Biarritz)
85080719	Pierre Maubaret	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Saint-Palais, has played for only French Basque teams)

 

Spanish Player Changes

ID	Name	Details
2000116049	Unai Uberuaga Regulez	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Amorebeita, País Vasco)
2000115306	Alejandro Lafuente Ventura	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Azagra, Navarra)
2000122512	Unai Buján Díez	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Barakaldo, País Vasco)
2000122541	Julen Rodríguez Castro	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Bilbao, País Vasco)
2000125367	Aitzol González Corrales	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Bilbao, País Vasco)
2000191366	Gonzalo Alfaro García del Cerro	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Bilbao, País Vasco)
2000111013	Jaime Vallejo Mellado	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Corella, Navarra)
2000211676	Jaime García Navascués	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Corella, Navarra)
2000125423	Aitor Pérez Marco	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Estella, Navarra)
2000125386	Guzmán Sanz Serrano	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Fontellas, Navarra)
2000046853	Odei Martin Sorondo	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Irún, País Vasco)
51078655	Samuel Goñi Villava	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Marcilla, Navarra)
67126235	Alberto Flores Santamaría	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Oyón, La Rioja) [Oyón is actually in País Vasco province but is wrongly attributed to La Rioja in game]
2000120981	Tasio Villacampa Apesteguía	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Pamplona, Navarra)
2000121516	Aitor Equiza Hervás	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Pamplona, Navarra)
2000121920	Daniel Sancho Macaya	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Pamplona, Navarra)
2000121927	Javier Martínez de Eulate Gradín	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Pamplona, Navarra)
67105016	Sergio Murugarren Salvador	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Pamplona, Navarra)
2000125387	Xabier Sola Arre	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Pamplona, Navarra)
67193147	Cristian Gilés Sánchez	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Pamplona, Navarra)
2000159044	Iván Rubio Arriezu	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Pamplona, Navarra)
67222322	Santiago Samanés Bonito	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Pamplona, Navarra)
2000100132	Christian Mutilva Razquin	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Pamplona, Navarra)
2000116067	Izan Lecumberri Iturbide	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Pamplona, Navarra)
2000120560	Iñaki Alonso Lasa	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Pamplona, Navarra)
67293074	Jesús Sayés Chueca	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Peralta, Navarra)
2000143515	Diego Almazan Moctezuma	Should be Mexican, not Spanish. Was born in Salvatierra, Mexico. Not Salvatierra, Spain
2000122516	Jon Elorza Roy	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in San Sebastián, País Vasco)
2000124846	Julen Olasagasti Imizcoz	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in San Sebastián, País Vasco)
2000132927	Ayoub Goudani El-Baraka	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Tafalla, Navarra)
2000121909	Jon de Luis Suescun	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Tafalla, Navarra)
49036981	Thomas Perchaud	City of Birth should be Pau, France not Tolosa, Spain
2000121488	Pablo Martínez de Eulate Lasa	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Zizur Mayor, Navarra)

 

New for FM24 Spanish Player Changes

ID	Name	Details
2000251496	Jagoba Gil Roz	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Erandio, País Vasco)
2000261422	Íñigo Astudillo Campos	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Estella, Navarra)
2000077276	Xavier Sola Ruiz	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Olite, Navarra)
2000306027	Miguel Auria Olazabal	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Pamplona, Navarra)
2000266034	Alexander Esparza López	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Tudela, Navarra)
2000272181	Victor Osezele Musa Aigbomian	Should have Pays Basque 2nd nationality (born in Tudela, Navarra)

24.0 Basque Fixes.fmf 15.95 kB · 11 downloads

Just went through this after the most recent update and wanted to make 2 points:
1) None of these have been fixed yet in the default database
2) These fixes will still work and luckily there is no additional new players added that should be Basque and are not, so this fix is still able to be used no problem for your game worlds  

[MattyC78]

Third season complete.  We were top going into the New Year but fell away.  We drew a couple of games and lost away to Villarreal but we were not that bad.  Barcelona went on an incredible run of form and completed the season unbeaten.  I'm not sure we could have done any more and yet still we fell just short.

Considering we are not buying players who have not been through our academy we are doing okay and having to be flexible with our approach.  The squad were unhappy with the lack of depth at the start of the season.  I can't say I was overly chuffed either but complaining is hardly going to help.  The loss of the older fullbacks left us exposed on the flanks so I decided to go with a 3-4-3 formation which I can't say I loved.  We did look exposed on the flanks at times.  Our wingers are not the best defensively but when it clicked it did click.  Here are pretty much our first eleven when all were fit.

In a repeat of last year we bumped out of the Champions League in the first knock-out round by RB Leipzig but we fared better in the domestic cups.  We reached the final of the Spanish Super Cup versus Barcelona.  I tired to relieve pressure in the lead up to the game.  There was an early disallowed goal from Barca and we rode our luck a bit but went in at half time one up through a Unai Vencedor.  Oihan Sancet then doubled our lead before they pulled one back.  Frenkie De Jong then equalised in the final minute.   At this stage they had dominated the game but we could count ourselves a little unlucky not to hold on.  In extra time we continued to be positive but we were taken apart on the break to lose 4-2.

In January again we looked at Aymeric Laporte but he is still unaffordable.  There is nobody else that improves the first team but we do agree to sign Jesus Areso on a free in case we go back to full backs for next year.  After the transfer window Nico Williams withdrew his transfer request so I went straight in to offer him a new contract to tie him down for a further two years and also increasing his minimum release clause.

In the Spanish Cup we met Barcelona in the final again in a repeat of the Spanish Super Cup.  Barcelona came out of the blocks scoring inside 3 minutes and soon doubled their lead.  They completely dominated the first half and could have scored a couple more as they hit the post and Unai Simon saved from point blank range.  We came back at them in the second half.  In the 68th minute we brought off Iker Muniain and threw on Jon Morcillo.  He was in the right place at the right time as the ball broke to him in the box to pull one goal back.  Then three minutes later Nico Williams laid it across the box for Inaki WIlliams to tap in and we had a second final tied at 2-2 with Barcelona.  This time we held on in extra time and Simon was the hero saving penalties from Kessie and even catching a penalty from Ansu Fati.  A second trophy of the save and the first time we had beaten a big side in an important match.  Hopefully there will be more to come.     

    

 

[Zengoroth]

23/24 Season

 

This has been a great season overall. We managed to finish second in the league to Real Madrid, overtaking Barcelona on the last day with a 3-2 win at the Camp Nou. We got knocked out of the Copa Del Rey in the Fourth round by Villareal at the end of January, but after that we went on an incredible run of form, not losing another game for the rest of the season. 

In terms of transfers, I made a few more deals in the January window, Picking up Alvaro Fernandez for £2.5 Million (allowing us to loan out Julen Agirrezabala to Huesca in return for some game time), and agreeing another future transfer for Aihen Munoz for £2.5 Million, setting us up nicely for next season. 

The tactic worked surprisingly well, and I only made a few changes, most notable of which being Bringing in Julen Jon Gurrero into the sarting line-up as an Advanced Playmaker. He did a great job running things from the centre of the pitch and has become a nailed on starter in this position over De Galarreta. The only issue I think we had this season was that we ddn't really have a main goalscoring threat, with our goals being spread out amongst the team, with Nico Williams and Iker Muniain picking up 12 goals each and Inaki Williams scoring 11. Despite this, we still scored 87 goals in the league, the second most of any team and we put together some incredible attacking moves in games. I was also able to give minutes to a lot of young players this season, with Vicandi, Alboniga-Menor, Junior Bita, Peio Canales and Dani Rodriguez all getting a fair amount of game time to hopefully speed up their development. Oscar De Marcos was one of my favourite players this season, continuously popping up in attacking areas and grabbing a fair few goals and assists. I only wish he was 10 years younger because he would have this position on lock. 

Looking forward to next season, I'm hoping to shift some of the deadwood (players like Raul Garcia, Ander Herrera and De Galarreta) and replace them with either players from the academy or signings I can make, with my aim to bring down the age of the squad and continue developing youngsters for the future. I would love to bring in Aimar, however being priced at £68 million makes him a bit out of reach. I was hoping Osasuna might get relegated so I could pick him up cheaper, though that did not happen. I will also be looking at brining in Odriozola as his contract ends with Madrid at the end of this current season and he would be a big improvment on Lekue. The only other players I'm looking at are Guillamon, to reinforce the midfield and central defense, and Ivan Martin, who I think would be a good rotational option in pretty much all of our attacking positions. 

Hopefully next season we can pick up some silverware and can continue to play good football, will keep you all updated on how it goes!

Edited December 11, 2023 by Zengoroth

[DavutOzkan]

Is it normal for scouts to not come back with recommendations when playing as Athletic? I am unsure if this is an error in the way I have things set up or an issue with the game (there is a thread on the main forum about this). 

I don't have it committed to memory, but I believe I have my scouts set up for all of La Liga, the Segunda Division, the third tiers, and then young Spanish players (<= 21 years old), but they haven't come back with much. They should only be recommending Basque players, right? After a few months into the season though, the only recommendations greater than a rating of B- I have are the initial ones that my scout had before I created the focus. The recruitment focus update emails also continue to say "we are consulting our own internal staff for recommendations" or whatever the text is, but it is along those lines.

I noticed that the default staff for Athletic have a few that are doubling up as a scout and an analyst, so I am also wondering if this is impacting the lack of recommendations thus far. 

Any suggestions? 

[kevaggel]

Make sure that you set the current ability in the grey/silver stars range.

I don't like the new scout module so i do manual searching and scouting right after youth intakes, i am using the notes in-game to keep track of Basque based teams and dates.

[DavutOzkan]

4 hours ago, kevaggel said:

Make sure that you set the current ability in the grey/silver stars range.

I don't like the new scout module so i do manual searching and scouting right after youth intakes, i am using the notes in-game to keep track of Basque based teams and dates.

Thanks, I edited them when I played last night and I think it might be helping, but I may need to lower them even more. 

I too don't like the new scouting system. I didn't play 23 so coming from 22 to 24 was a suprise. I'm not sure what was wrong with the old way. 

[skybluedave]

Started an Athletic save. Reaching the end of Jan, in 5th (joint with 4th). Started season slowly as I flicked between formations. Started with a diamond, then tried a 433 and now settled on a 4231. 

These are my transfers end of Jan:

Moncayola my marquee summer signing. To sit alongside Vesga and free up Sancet. Brighton came in for Yuri and I couldn't really turn that down. Unfortunately Aihen Munoz wasn't available outside his release clause (too much) and Javi Lopez of Alaves has no interest in joining a rival. So first half of the season left back was Imanol and I tried Berenguer there as a make shift left back but that didn't really work. Come January though Aihen Munoz was available for a lot less so I pounced and that should be that position sorted. 

Djalo was transfer listed at Braga and I had to pounce. I'm not a fan on Munian in the game so Djalo will get a lot of game time while Munian covers all 3 AM positions from bench. Jesus Areso I maybe over paid for but wanted to secure a right back as de Marcos is off to Middle East end of season. Big earners Ander Herrera and Raul Garcia weren't playing enough to justify wages so went in January along with Dani Garcia who too wasn't playing. Left me short in centre mid so Sangalli came in on loan as cover until Vencedor returns in summer. 

Plans for summer will hopefully be quiet. Iker Munoz at Osasuna is number 1 target. Should be able to match his min fee and he can cover/rotate with Moncayola. Nico Serrano I think will join first team as he's having a strong loan in Holland. He'll probably take Dani Rodriguez spot who I will send to B team or loan out. 

Dani Vivian is wanted which is annoying, I rejected a bid from Arsenal and have agreed to sell him if somebody pays £48mill. In theory I could sell and replace with Guillamon and maybe try for Aimar but Guillamon signed a new contract recently and Aimar is super expensive so probably prefer to stick with what I have

This is shape of squad/1st team:

Season going well. Famous win at Bernabeu and won the Derby away, but then also a few really poor results (home defeats to Las Palmas and Rayo). Clean sheets hard to come by too. Nico has been amazing, Inaki struggled so far. Top 6 is kinda cut off from rest of league, so hopefully be ok for Europe but CL or EL who knows

[skybluedave]

I'm gonna have to stop this save 

For some reason I can't offer anyone any wages anymore and I don't know why. Maximum I can offer youth players is 1k a week so can't get my first batch of (very good) youth candidates contract

I'm well under my wage budget by 100 odd grand. Both club one and league salary one.

I'm guessing it's coz I'm in the red for balance but that should clear once next season roles around, bit harsh that this would stop me offering even basic wages for youth guys

[Skora11]

15 hours ago, skybluedave said:

I'm gonna have to stop this save 

For some reason I can't offer anyone any wages anymore and I don't know why. Maximum I can offer youth players is 1k a week so can't get my first batch of (very good) youth candidates contract

I'm well under my wage budget by 100 odd grand. Both club one and league salary one.

I'm guessing it's coz I'm in the red for balance but that should clear once next season roles around, bit harsh that this would stop me offering even basic wages for youth guys

Just get your DoF to sign the recommended youth players and then can offer them full time contracts in next season. 

I think it's due to FFP but should sort itself out when new season starts.

[skybluedave]

3 hours ago, Skora11 said:

Just get your DoF to sign the recommended youth players and then can offer them full time contracts in next season. 

I think it's due to FFP but should sort itself out when new season starts.

Yeah, wait til after youth team match and then let my DOF sign them to £55pw youth contracts. I then holidayed to end of season and checked and my finances were back in black and I could offer wages again. 

So reload and finish season myself tonight now. When I holidayed my assistant managed to finish in CL places. Lets see if I can do the same...

[skybluedave]

5 hours ago, skybluedave said:

So reload and finish season myself tonight now. When I holidayed my assistant managed to finish in CL places. Lets see if I can do the same...

So had 3 games to go. in 4th spot, 7 points clear of Villarreal. 

I have, Atletico H, Alaves A & Barca H 

Villarreal have Granada A, Cadiz H & Las Palmas A

I have tougher fixtures but only need 1 win or Villarreal to slip up once... be fine surely. I lose against Atletico and Alaves. Villarreal win their 2. I'm also deep in injury crisis. This is my squad before the Barca game, a Barca team that need to win to take title 

Now for reasons I have no idea. Villarreal play their game the day before, while everyone plays same time final day. No idea why. They LOSE to Las Palmas, I then have a stressless, relaxing meaningless game against Barca, where my cobbled together injury riddled since put in a fine performance and win 2-1. Capped by Alboniga-Menor coming off bench with 7 mins to go and scoring from 20 yards in only his 2nd appearance for 1st team this season  And turns out that goal cost Barca the title 

[Skora11]

I am looking to replicate the Bilbao model with my local team (Kilmarnock). Does anyone know how to implement a strict board policy where I could only sign Ayrshire based players?

[skybluedave]

Not had much time on FM this week due to Xmas run in. But ready to now. 

So after finishing 4th in 1st season, I went into summer relatively happy and not a huge amount of money available I targeted 2 transfers and that was it. Gorosabel for right back and Iker Munoz from relegated Osasuna (16.5mill and 11.25mill respectively). Aimar would be nice, especially as relegated but 28mill relegation release clause is a bit too rich for me, and would rather spend the money I have on afore mentioned 2 players. 

BUT then Newcastle hit Vivian's min fee release and he was off for 48mill. I then went and bought Zubeldia (transfer listed) to replace and then went big on Aimar. So going into summer thinking it would be low key, I've ended up adding 4 new key players to the side... 

And this is my squad going into season. It's potentially a tad too big for my liking. I can see a few guys on the bench not getting the minutes they want but hopefully the CL games will counter that as I rotate.