FM24 | A Sporting Heritage | The Guajes of Gijón

[Litmanen 10]

8 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Yikes at that Determination. The shirt has massive van de Vaart flashbacks for me

Thanks, though. I don't recall if Kane developed as well in FM10 as he did in real life?

Probably not. But I would much rather see newgens starting as something like this than they currently are. In my opinion it is first of all too easy to see straight from the beginning which of the newgens are going to be good, and secondly I feel that too many of them reach really high percentage of their full potential even before they turn 20. 

When you look at U-21 sides and real players at 18 or 19 years old in the beginning of the game. Most of the really promising ones are still far away from being ready for the first team responsibility and these players have already been there for 3-4 years before "spawning". 

Of course there are always going to be those who peak at really young age but I'd say that majority should progress slower and go into the loan out for a couple seasons before being ready for the big games. 

[BML]

21 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said:

The shirt has massive van de Vaart flashbacks for me

Such a great shirt. Even more so when you consider we were wearing the yellow bodily fluid shirt the season previously!

Edited January 16 by BML
So that 'p' word is filtered...

[Shrewnaldo]

8 minutes ago, Litmanen 10 said:

Probably not. But I would much rather see newgens starting as something like this than they currently are. In my opinion it is first of all too easy to see straight from the beginning which of the newgens are going to be good, and secondly I feel that too many of them reach really high percentage of their full potential even before they turn 20. 

When you look at U-21 sides and real players at 18 or 19 years old in the beginning of the game. Most of the really promising ones are still far away from being ready for the first team responsibility and these players have already been there for 3-4 years before "spawning". 

Of course there are always going to be those who peak at really young age but I'd say that majority should progress slower and go into the loan out for a couple seasons before being ready for the big games. 

There were supposed to be changes this year about late developers and variable progression, so hopefully a bit more realistic. Agree that there are too many 'first-team' ready newgens but then I tend to play in leagues where newgens come through at older ages. Starting at 15 is a bit new for me.

1 minute ago, BML said:

Such a great shirt. Even more so when you consider we were wearing the **** shirt the season previously!

Oooooh, intrigue as to what the *'d word was. Afraid my recall of Spurs' shirts isn't that good. I basically remember the Holsten shirt per Klinsmann, the Puma one with the navy band and... that's about it

[rich ruzzian]

At 15 years old, i think the most young boys will develop fysically in real life.

Let's hope the changes SI did in the development of newgens and young talents work as intended. Because just look at Harry Kane, he was in no way a supertalent coming through the ranks of Tottenham. At the clubs he was on loan in his younger years, looking at his statistics there was no way that he would turn out the player he is now. 

Edited January 16 by rich ruzzian

[BML]

32 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Oooooh, intrigue as to what the *'d word was.

Begins with P and rhymes with MISS.

It was this lovely number and received the above nickname from Spurs fans as soon as it was announced:

Spoiler

 

[higgins]

13 hours ago, Chris_ANZFM said:

Here I am 😂.

What a wonderful start this has gotten off to. Really enjoy the concept, couple geographical areas of the game that I’ve never paid much attention too so I get to enjoy this all as new. 
 

Also, just wanted to make a special mention to the moustache on that CB in the intake, absolutely outstanding. 

Indeed, a lookalike Tom Selleck 

[Shrewnaldo]

13 hours ago, Chris_ANZFM said:

Here I am 😂.

What a wonderful start this has gotten off to. Really enjoy the concept, couple geographical areas of the game that I’ve never paid much attention too so I get to enjoy this all as new. 
 

Also, just wanted to make a special mention to the moustache on that CB in the intake, absolutely outstanding. 

Missed this, apologies. Welcome to the new thread!

7 minutes ago, higgins said:

Indeed, a lookalike Tom Selleck 

I was thinking more that Mario bad guy, Prof Eggman?

2 hours ago, rich ruzzian said:

At 15 years old, i think the most young boys will develop fysically in real life.

Let's hope the changes SI did in the development of newgens and young talents work as intended. Because just look at Harry Kane, he was in no way a supertalent coming through the ranks of Tottenham. At the clubs he was on loan in his younger years, looking at his statistics there was no way that he would turn out the player he is now. 

All fair. Some players just don't develop until their early 20s and some even later. I've always thought FM represented this quite well - you could pick up a high PA player who had suffered for lack of game time and, at 24 or 25, still make a really handy player out of him. The problem was always that there's too many world beaters at 17.

1 hour ago, BML said:

Begins with P and rhymes with MISS.

It was this lovely number and received the above nickname from Spurs fans as soon as it was announced:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

Lovely

[-Jef-]

Fickle isn't a bad personality. Just an annoying one to handle. High ambition, low loyalty and maybe good professionalism (depends on media handling style). Honestly, regens all look decent. Most important aspect for regens, IMO, is good personality and good mentals and at least decent technicals

[Shrewnaldo]

21 hours ago, -Jef- said:

Fickle isn't a bad personality. Just an annoying one to handle. High ambition, low loyalty and maybe good professionalism (depends on media handling style). Honestly, regens all look decent. Most important aspect for regens, IMO, is good personality and good mentals and at least decent technicals

Fair point. I'm primarily on the look out for Professionalism and, recently, Determination for the personality indicators. I guess "fickle" just sounds bad intuitively rather than necessarily indicative of these attributes. His media handling is "media friendly" so not great help there wrt his Professionalism.

[Shrewnaldo]

Season 1 and lookahead

A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón

An odd season, for me. It didn't feel like we were that good but, in the end, we were two points away from securing a playoff spot and, according to the underlying numbers, were probably unlucky to not be significantly more successful.

Somehow Zaragoza held onto the playoff spot despite losing their last five games on the bounce. For us, losses to Espanyol and then a shocker at arch-rivals Oviedo saw us drop to 7th and out of playoff contention. Indeed, that Asturian derby match is a good example of our season in microcosm.

3 (three) catastrophic individual errors, including two own goals, gifted our greatest enemy the lead and we managed to underperform our xG by 1.45 in order to lose 4-1 despite dominating the game. But that's football. Individual matches can always go either way and these sorts of events should even themselves out over the season, right?

Wrong. We underperformed our overall xG and xGA to leave us 5 places below our "expected" finish - second place bringing with it automatic promotion. And just look at Eibar and Valladolid - over-performing to the tune of 15 and 25 points respectively. But that is what you'd expect good teams to do - over-perform against the average. We, on the other hand, have performed below the average at both ends of the pitch.

All told, I'm not too disappointed by another season in Liga 2. I think another second-tier campaign in which we can blood some youngsters and start to mould the squad is going to suit me fine - whilst the three clubs that are coming down from La Liga (Almería, Las Palmas and Osasuna) do not strike me as likely to dominate the league and hog the promotion spots next term.

And so now I'm on to one of my favourite parts of any save - the first summer window.

Referring back to the targets in my planning posts, I'd eventually like to have 60% of the first-team squad from our own academy (or trained at Mareo), whilst those players will also command 50% of the game time. For both measures, we're a bit short of that for now and so my first port of call has been to identify existing prospects within the club that could be ready for first-team football next season. The updated squad planner for 2024/25 currently looks like this:

I appreciate this will be hard to read for many of you but I don't think the details are all that important to anyone but me. For a bit of context, the colours represent the following: bright orange are those of questionable talent that are subject to replacement; dull orange are those which will be promoted from the squad below; blue are new signings; and green are those that I would consider selling.

Before any further recruitment, this would then boost our "trained at club" contingent in the first team to 50% - closer to my target but conscious that the number will likely drop once some of those gaps are filled over the summer.

Borja Montes is one worth highlighting - having had an outstanding season in the under-19s I have decided to jump the B team and put him straight into the first team squad. Because we're still in the second-tier, I think that jump is easier to make - plus we're really short of options at the back. Montes will likely be back-up for both the right and centre DC positions - for the former he play understudy to another 6'4" defender, Pelayo having agreed a pre-contract to come in from Barca. Whilst the latter will never become 'trained at club', having come through La Masía, he was born in the Asturian town of Avilés and therefore forms part of my wider strategy.

Also coming through the door will be former-guaje Pablo Pérez.

Pérez left the club in 2022 to play in the Indian Super League - a move which doesn't seem to have worked out as he spent last season at Rayo Majadahonda in the Primera. 20s for Aggression, Bravery and Work Rate are going to grab anyone's eyes and I really like him as an option off the bench. 

Those are the only two deals I've pre-arranged and were aimed at positions I knew needed replacements - 35 year-old Argentine centre-back Carlos Izquierdoz and Mexican loanee striker Esteban Lozano both on their way out the door. They'll be joined by Romanian centre back Alex Pascanu and another Mexican, Jordan Carillo. I'd really like to keep Carillo but he had no future fee agreed and will most likely return to Santos Laguna. All-in-all, we'll see nine members of the first team squad leave:

That's just under £35k a week, about 22.5% of our overall budget, leaving the club in the summer. You might wonder why Cote, playing 2700 minutes and of the Guajes, will be allowed to leave - he has been excellent but he'll be 35 at the start of next season and his physicals have already started the inevitable decline. With Diego Sanchéz picking up 1300 minutes this year and Pablo Garcia stepping up from the B team, we have two Guajes ready to pick up the reins.

Speaking of the B-team, I have yet to see any indication of their status and whether or not they'll be promoted into the playable leagues. I really hope so because arranging 42 friendlies to keep them match fit has been somewhat tiresome. If they are, then there's a number of gaps in the B-team squad planner that will also need filled. For these, I've been looking to Liga MX and the affiliate deals that we have with Santos Laguna, Club América and Atlas Guadalajara. Being a second-tier club in Spain, we can't attract the best youth prospects yet, but I wanted to start the trend and reflect the Orlegi ownership of Sporting. 

Luis Guerrero will hopefully be the first of many. Whilst clearly not of a level for my first team, should they be promoted, Sporting B will still be in the fourth tier I'm hoping that Guerrero will be of sufficient quality to operate as a quality 6 - a slot which you'll see in the squad planner is vacant and so, importantly, he will not impede the development of any guaje.

Again, for me it's about committing to the premise of the save and starting to understand how early I need to scout the Mexican players, what level of player will be willing to move to Sporting and (in an entirely imaginary sense) starting the trend of Mexican players finding a route to European football through Gijón. And for now, those signings will almost certainly have to free transfers with the board (all "never use the money of the future to resolve a problem of the present") giving me just £450k for transfers.

That may be supplemented by some sales if the likes of Rubén Yañez (GK), Christian Rivera (6) or Uroš Đurđević (9) attract solid bids. All three were first team-members but combine underwhelming performances with not-being-Guajes. Đurđević was particularly frustrating - despite top-scoring with 15, he at one point went on a 12-game barren streak and barely exceeded his xG. At £14,500 a week, he's almost 10% of my entire wage budget and I feel his cost outweighs his value. 

To be fair, there aren't many players who I would consider 'must keeps' - wingback Guille Rosas being one of the very few.

He's literally out on his own in terms of creativity from the flank and was tied down to a new deal, with a much higher minimum fee clause, in January. Other than Rosas, fellow Guajes Nacho Martín (6) and Gaspar (10) would take an awful lot of money for me to accept their departure. Everyone else has a much more reasonable price, should interest arise.

And that leads me into the transfer window which, like I said, might genuinely be my favourite time of any FM save.

¡Siempre Sporting!

[Shrewnaldo]

Huge boost for the save as Sporting B are promoted into the fourth tier and therefore into the playable leagues. Really, really pleased to see this 

[rich ruzzian]

Great news for you! 

[Deisler26]

Lovely statistical breakdown. More please!

[Lestri]

12 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Huge boost for the save as Sporting B are promoted into the fourth tier and therefore into the playable leagues. Really, really pleased to see this 

Will be great to see the pathways in action! 

[Shrewnaldo]

9 hours ago, Deisler26 said:

Lovely statistical breakdown. More please!

I will make you regret this request :-D

[Deisler26]

3 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said:

I will make you regret this request :-D

[SixPointer]

On 18/01/2024 at 00:52, Shrewnaldo said:

Huge boost for the save as Sporting B are promoted into the fourth tier and therefore into the playable leagues. Really, really pleased to see this 

Prefect for the plans you have! Planning on upgrading the coaching staff? Maximise the gains from the promotion?

[Shrewnaldo]

1 hour ago, SixPointer said:

Prefect for the plans you have! Planning on upgrading the coaching staff? Maximise the gains from the promotion?

Well my plan was to delegate the hiring of the minor staff at the B team and under-19s to my new Technical Director. Unfortunately, he doesn't seem to have much of a work ethic and hired precisely no-one so far. I'm going to give him until the start of the season and then step in. I'm hoping the biggest gain will come from them playing competitive fixtures - plus I fully expect that the B team will coast through the Segunda and the constantly high morale should provide another boost to development.

[ifinnem]

Pretty sure you can automatically have your assistant arrange a friendly rach week for your B Tm or u19s. Not that you need that now...

[Shrewnaldo]

6 hours ago, ifinnem said:

Pretty sure you can automatically have your assistant arrange a friendly rach week for your B Tm or u19s. Not that you need that now...

I tried that in the staff responsibilities? But it didn't work so I just ploughed through it manually. The whole B team thing seems to be quite bugged. The staff job adverts being another one that just didn't work 

I think because they're this odd blend of sub-team and affiliate, some stuff just doesn't work

 

[Shrewnaldo]

Too far?

A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón

It's been a busy summer of transfer business and I suspect it isn't finished yet, but I'm already concerned that I've gone too far and ended up with an unnecessarily weakened team. Indeed, our transfer business has seen us slide down the season preview predictions from 7th to 10th... never a good sign.

All of the departures are justifiable though. Bamba simply isn't good enough. Milovanovic was an odd one - having been signed IRL last summer and immediately loaned to TSC in Serbia, the latter never taking up his optional fee to make that deal permanent. I didn't fancy him and let him go to Eibar considering that we would have better and more suited 9s to rely on.

Last season's primary 9, Uroš Đurđević, has moved to Czechia - I said in the last post that his £14,500p/w wages outweighed his value - so you can imagine how keen I was to sell when a 10% annual increase clause saw that rise to £16,000p/w. This is perhaps the deal that's given me most concern because, having confirmed his sale, we then missed out on the free transfer of Miguel de la Fuente. De la Fuente would have been an outstanding signing but opted to join fellow La Liga 2 side Tenerife for less money. Such is life.

Christian Rivera also departed El Molinón having forced my hand somewhat. His contract was up at the end of the season and he had indicated he would "consider his options". We all know what that means so I decided to cash in while I could. The last signing was the only mistake on my part - I hadn't noticed the Diego Sánchez's minimum fee clause, a legal requirement in Spain, was so low at £800k. I had intended him to be my first choice left wing-back replacing Cote. The unexpected interest from Premier League Southampton was paired with him losing interest in signing a new deal - so I decided to de-risk the move by negotiating below his release clause but taking him back on loan for two seasons. Knowing that he wouldn't gain a UK work permit, Southampton were only too keen to oblige. Sanchez is the Guaje to be sold but at least we'll keep him for two seasons whilst I develop others.

Coming in the other direction, you can clearly see the influence of the planned recruitment strategy with four arrivals from Mexico including three from affiliates. Guerrero, Eguade and Carballo will support the B-team initially - all in positions where there was no incumbent Guaje to compete with.

I'd already mentioned Pelayo and Pérez in the last update but my major disappointment with this window is that I've been unable to add any further ex-Guajes. One Asturian has joined - 16-year old newgen José Mariá from affiliate Mareo Logroño but that's your lot. Instead, I've decided to take in a couple of loans whilst I develop the academy players. Rafa Marín from Real looks a solid option whilst we've exchanged one Uros for another up top with Serbian Sremčević replacing the exepensive Montenegrin Đurđević.

Clearly a talented prospect, the Serbian also satisfied my board who were getting tetchy about their stated objective to "sign players under the age of 20 for the future". Sremčević and German centre-back Christian Kouam have satisfied them on this score for now.

I'm afraid I made one other mistake - giving Guaje centre-back Borja Montes a new contract and only then promoting him to the first-team. I failed to notice that his new contract is below the minimum wage requirement for registration in La Liga 2, meaning that - at least for the moment - he cannot play and will likely need to return to the B-team. This triggered my loan signing of Kevin García from Mexican affiliate Santos Laguna but is also one of the areas where further recruitment may take place.

Financially, I've transformed the club's fortunes over the summer and this has seen the originally transfer budget swell to ~£2.5m. Therefore, an additional centre-back shouldn't be a problem. Indeed, I'm also on the lookout for an additional 6 and 9, and genuine quality at 10. 

It's that spark of quality which I think we're lacking up front - responsible for our underperformance at the business end last season. The problem, though, is how far to deviate from the transfer priorities. I feel like the attacking options I have in the B-team are not good enough for La Liga 2 yet, whilst I have exhausted the opportunities for former-Guajes or other Asturian players. 

I'm loathe to bring in long-term options that will constrain future opportunities for the youth players and I don't want to over-spend to bring in experienced players. So I'm on the lookout for some aging players with good personalities that are willing to come to the club in their 30s and do a job for a season or two - whilst providing mentoring duties for the raft of youngsters.

To that end, I also convinced the board to improve the Junior Coaching so hopefully this season's intake will come through with slightly higher CA. Meanwhile, our youth coaching facilities have been downgraded but I have no option to improve them... which feels a little odd. 

Regardless, I head into the season a little concerned that I've let too many players go and insufficiently replaced them with ready talent... we have five league fixtures before the window closes so there might be a mad scramble if we start poorly.

¡Siempre Sporting!

[ifinnem]

Yeah B teams often have issues. I'm not convinced they really help with developing players since the level is usually so low.

I also have a save where I haven't had an option to improve youth facilities for a while but did before. Is it linked to rep?

[SixPointer]

Good business, you confess to a couple of mistakes but i feel like you covered for them. 
 

Uros looks extremely talented, looks like he could become a lethal weapon with that acceleration pace and first touch. I do love a physical striker but he seems to have enough already to lean towards being complete.

 

[Shrewnaldo]

9 hours ago, ifinnem said:

Yeah B teams often have issues. I'm not convinced they really help with developing players since the level is usually so low.

I also have a save where I haven't had an option to improve youth facilities for a while but did before. Is it linked to rep?

I've never seen it linked to rep - unless that's a new thing? I've always had the option available until the facilities are maxed out

8 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Good business, you confess to a couple of mistakes but i feel like you covered for them. 
 

Uros looks extremely talented, looks like he could become a lethal weapon with that acceleration pace and first touch. I do love a physical striker but he seems to have enough already to lean towards being complete.

 

Yeah I think he looks decent - my only concern is the obvious lack of consistency in an 18 year old. But the bonus is that his value has already sky-rocketed so should give me some nice profit.

 

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

In other news, we found the genuine quality for DM with, a player I really like irl, Mario Lemina joining from Wolves for £1.7m. 30 with a Perfectionist personality and also capable of covering at right wing-back. Lovely deal.

Meanwhile, we found some risk-free quality at 10 with Boca Juniors' Aarón Molinas joining on loan with an optional future fee of £5.75m come the end of the season. Molinas has an Italian passport meaning that I can assign our two non-EU slots to Mexican players per our Orlegi strategy.

[SixPointer]

Love the idea of the loan deal, risk free like you say. Something I have actually started to do myself. I wasn’t a big fan of loan deals previously but if you structure it like you have it makes total sense!

I had two strikers on loan, both with contracts running down both done well on loans and I’ve no signed both for free 

[Litmanen 10]

Molinas looks quality. Also exactly the type of player thst I always like to build my teams around. 

[Shrewnaldo]

5 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Love the idea of the loan deal, risk free like you say. Something I have actually started to do myself. I wasn’t a big fan of loan deals previously but if you structure it like you have it makes total sense!

I had two strikers on loan, both with contracts running down both done well on loans and I’ve no signed both for free 

I typically avoid loan deals too, concerned that I'm just throwing value away. But there are some circumstances that I think they're great - old players that wouldn't have any resale value anyway, for example.

3 hours ago, Litmanen 10 said:

Molinas looks quality. Also exactly the type of player thst I always like to build my teams around. 

Yeah I like the look of him a lot. He was transfer listed but I couldn't afford his fee. This way I get to take a good look at him, build up a good relationship and, should we go up, hopefully be able to afford him at the end of the season 

[Riebow]

On 20/01/2024 at 12:11, Shrewnaldo said:

I'm afraid I made one other mistake - giving Guaje centre-back Borja Montes a new contract and only then promoting him to the first-team. I failed to notice that his new contract is below the minimum wage requirement for registration in La Liga 2, meaning that - at least for the moment - he cannot play and will likely need to return to the B-team

Don't worry about that. I'm doing a youth only save in Spain and I was very surprised when almost none of my players were eligible. You can just put them in the lineup and they will get registered anyway!

[Shrewnaldo]

6 hours ago, Riebow said:

Don't worry about that. I'm doing a youth only save in Spain and I was very surprised when almost none of my players were eligible. You can just put them in the lineup and they will get registered anyway!

I think that's fine for u19 players but doesn't work for me once players are too old for that. Anyone in the B team had to be registered 

[Shrewnaldo]

Nevermind the Newgens

A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón

We've reached the halfway point of season 2 and things are going well on the pitch. Or rather pitches. The first-team are top of La Liga 2, the B-team are top of the Segunda Federación and the under-19s are top of the Spanish U19 Division 1. Can't really say fairer than that.

The B-team has faced a little more competition than I had anticipated and have even lost a game - to nearest competitors Cultural Leonesa. From just down the road in Léon, they were relegated from the Primera last season and are just a point behind our B-team. Racing Santander B, in third, are some 14 points behind that.

Either way, the performances across the board have been excellent and this has prompted me to take stock for a second. The only development post I've made so far has focused on the first intake of newgens but, coming into the club at 15, it'll be several seasons before they are endangering the first team. In the meantime, there's a raft of real life prospects in the Sporting squad and a handful that I've brought in since.

So I thought it'd be worth taking a wee look at some of my favourites and where they fit within the playing pathway.

Under-19s

Diego Matabuena

Creative Midfielder 6/10

On day one at the club, Matabuena was listed as the best prospect at the club and initially I was sceptical. There's way too many low single-digit attributes in key areas but he's progressed steadily and has performed pretty well for the under-19s so far. Still only 17, there's a half decent chance that he could become a solid creative 10.

Angelo

Goalscoring 10

Another of those odd youngsters with top-heavy attributes in some good areas but then big gaps in others, Angelo was another that I wasn't massively convinced by but has performed superbly for the under-19s and should be able to do a job for the B team next season.

Tzalo

Goalmachine

23 goals in 14 starts for the under-19s is going to make you stand up and take notice. Again, top heavy but in all the right areas really. He strikes me as the sort of player that will smash is at lower levels but is going to struggle at the higher echelons where players have to be more rounded. 

Sporting B

Damián Garcíá-San Pedro

Goalkeeper

 

Just 3* potential but, looking at those attributes, he genuinely looks handy to me. I like the basic attributes in goalkeepers - Positioning, Reflexes, Handling, Command of Area, Aerial Reach and Agility. 11, 14, 13, 11, 15, 16. That's not too shabby at all for a 19 year-old. Yes, some mental deficiencies but that could come with experience and probably good enough to be a homegrown bench warmer. There's a second 'keeper called More who I initially liked better but Garcíá-San Pedro looks to have secured the B-team slot for now.

Lucas Ferreras

Centre Back

I like. 6'2" with pace and high Determination and Decisions, he was accelerated into the B-team this season despite being young enough for the under-19s. He's impressed, albeit at a relatively poor level, and might be a candidate for acceleration into the first team if we don't go up this year. I also brought in German centre-back Christian Kouam who may be one to keep an eye on.

Sebastián Valenzuela

Wingback... I think

One of the Mexican imports brought in by Orlegi before I started the save, Valenzuela is starting to look the business. He's the polar opposite to the under-19 options with 10-13 across almost the entire raft of attributes but nothing exceptional. I'd ear-marked him for the wingback slot but the B-team manager has been playing him as the left of the three centre backs. With what I'd call 'broad rather than tall' attributes, that sort of versatility absolutely makes sense.

Jorge Montes

Wingback... definitely

Valenzuela has been pushed to centre-back because of Montes who has been exceptional from left wingback for the B-team. And just look at those arrows. Obviously there's a couple of deficiencies in the mentals and that Strength but I'm a big fan.

Franco Rossano

Wingback

Montes and Valenzuela meant that another Mexican, Franco Rossano, was pushed to the right flank. To be honest, I saw this as a stop gap, with other prospect Kevin Picon already in the first-team squad and expected that Rossano would just fill the slot for a while - particularly considering those physicals. But he's done really well for the B-team and has given me some thought about 'wrong footed' wingbacks. He's scored 3 this season (and many more last season) cutting onto his strong foot from wide. Something to consider.

Damián Cáceres

6

Cáceres is really only lacking Concentration and Strength to make him a really, really good physical 6. So I've had him pegged as the more creative 6 in our double pivot - albeit I'd appreciate better dribbling and flair. At 21, he'll likely make the step up to the first-team squad next season.

Aarón Quintana

6

Quintana has the same issue as Cáceres - he's just missing those one or two attributes that would probably see him already in the first team squad. His Vision and Composure need to improve for him to be the creative 6, Marking and Concentration are a bit low for the sitting 6.

Enol Prendes

9/10

Clearly held back by his physicals but Prendes. With his exceptional Technique, First Touch, Off the Ball and Flair I see him as being a creative 10 trying to play in between the lines. Both my 9 and the other 10 need pace to try and get in behind the defence, so it absolutely makes sense to tailor him for the less physically-demanding role. 

Joshua Mancha

9/10

The last of the original Mexican imports, Mancha has been the worst performer in the B-team by quite some distance. He is, however, filling the second 10 role which is struggling throughout the three teams and is indicative that I just haven't got the front three right yet. I see this second 10 as being the "link role" - ahead of the creative 10 but playing off the advanced forward 9. This clearly hasn't worked yet so I'm willing to give Mancha more time to prove himself.

Álex Lozano

Winger 10

Lozano has been held back by being a winger, which we don't use, and then breaking his ankle last season - keeping him out for at least 3 months. I've tried to re-train him as that 'link 10' but he hasn't even had the game time in which he can fail to impress. Given Valenzuela and Montes, I really don't need another wingback on the left and so I'm at a loss what to do with Lozano. I suspect he'll just leave the club shortly and end up back on the wing somewhere else - which is a bit of a waste for us, as I think there's a player in there. I'll probably regret this in 3 seasons when I get bored and revert to wingers.

Álex Oyón

9/10

Yet another 9/10 who isn't really perfect for any of the roles I play but who has been smashing it as a 9 in the B-team. Ok 8 of his goals have come from penalties, but 12 in 18 from open play is pretty handy anyway. Despite these impressive numbers, I'm just not convinced by Oyón - there seems to be too many gaps in his attributes. But, perhaps a legacy from playing with graphical attributes, so long as he keeps producing then I'm just going to ignore the gaps I think *should* be there. Exceptional First Touch, Technique and Decisions with good Off The Ball, Flair, Finishing and Composure... it's clear to see why he's bagging goals in the Segunda.

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That all gives me some nice prospects to work with whilst the newgens start to come through. I've got high hopes for Ferreras, Valenzuela, Montes and Matabuena as the best prospects - with a handful of the others likely to be squad rotation options that should give me 7 or 8 Guajes towards my target of 60% (15). With the likes of Christian Joel Sánchez, Borja Montes, Pablo García, Nacho Martin and Dani Quiepo already in the squad and getting significant game time I feel that there's a solid foundation of homegrown players to work with.

I've also convinced the board to improve the Junior Coaching twice (now Excellent), something I hope to see reflected in this year's newgen intake - even if the preview is uninspiring.

The training facilities are also currently being upgraded from Excellent at a cost of £2.5m, whilst I still cannot ask the board to improve the Youth Facilities - a major disappointment.

I am able to ask them to improve the Youth Recruitment but I'm unsure whether or not I'll do so. My understanding is that this will simply increase the range of recruitment - allowing the club to draw newgens from other countries and even continents. I'm not sure this is something that I want. Considering Turkish clubs in FM, they all have terrible Youth Recruitment and so they typically produce only Turkish newgens. Isn't this what I want? To prioritise Asturian talent? I'd welcome any thoughts on this and whether I'm simply misinterpreting the Youth Recruitment mechanic.

¡Siempre Sporting!

[Lestri]

It does get frustrating when the Board starts to prioritise the first team over the youth production line. I was always under the impression that Youth Recruitment was more focussed on your ability to be up the pecking order for domestic pre-intake, i.e if you have a higher rating, more likely to pick up those pre-intake players without any good ones being poached before they join the Youth Intake for that year. I was under the impression the nationalities of your intake players are dependent on scouts/HoYD country familiarities and any club linkages overseas. But I have no evidence to back that up! 

Handy positions for your three teams to be in though, can't be upset with that.

[Shrewnaldo]

2 hours ago, Lestri said:

It does get frustrating when the Board starts to prioritise the first team over the youth production line. I was always under the impression that Youth Recruitment was more focussed on your ability to be up the pecking order for domestic pre-intake, i.e if you have a higher rating, more likely to pick up those pre-intake players without any good ones being poached before they join the Youth Intake for that year. I was under the impression the nationalities of your intake players are dependent on scouts/HoYD country familiarities and any club linkages overseas. But I have no evidence to back that up! 

Handy positions for your three teams to be in though, can't be upset with that.

Someone on twitter reminded me of the fantastic Evidence Based Football Manager videos which do a deep dive into the youth intake mechanics. You can watch the summary here - 

 

You were absolutely correct - Youth Recruitment also impacts your pecking order in taking good newgens from the 'draft pool'

 

[Lestri]

8 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Someone on twitter reminded me of the fantastic Evidence Based Football Manager videos which do a deep dive into the youth intake mechanics. You can watch the summary here - 

 

You were absolutely correct - Youth Recruitment also impacts your pecking order in taking good newgens from the 'draft pool'

 

I would assume that keeping the scouts to Spain and Mexico should keep it relatively close regarding your intake spread?

[Shrewnaldo]

43 minutes ago, Lestri said:

I would assume that keeping the scouts to Spain and Mexico should keep it relatively close regarding your intake spread?

I don't recall anything about scouting regions affecting your intake nationalities - did I miss something?

I thought this was always influenced by club geography, staff nationalities, national preferences, club preferences, RNG and the affiliate links (per EBFM's video) 

[Lestri]

5 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said:

I don't recall anything about scouting regions affecting your intake nationalities - did I miss something?

I thought this was always influenced by club geography, staff nationalities, national preferences, club preferences, RNG and the affiliate links (per EBFM's video) 

Whoops - meant to say, if the scouts are Spanish/Mexican and your preferences, that should keep it close. 
Forgot a few words!

[Litmanen 10]

Extremely interesting looking latest post. Definitely will give it a proper read after work today. Also finally remembered to give this thread a follow. 

[Shrewnaldo]

17 hours ago, Shrewnaldo said:

 

I thought about this quite a lot and just can't accept the risk of such poor intakes. We've successfully bumped the Youth Recruitment to go with the earlier improvements to Junior Coaching, but I've also taken the decision to replace the Head of Youth Recruitment. Whilst Óscar Garro had decent attributes, he just didn't have the personality that I was wanting to transfer into the newgens. Balanced personality with Media-friendly media handling style and 12 for Determination is all a bit meh. So out he went to be replaced by newgen staff member Feliu Márquez

14 for Determination is better but it's the Professional personality which I was truly after, whilst maintaining decent attributes for Working With Youngsters and JPA/JPP. With luck, this will have a positive impact on the upcoming intake and going forward.

[-Jef-]

I've also found that all of staff in smaller part also influence player personalities. I remember @_Ben_ going all out for prof/model citizen type personalities few years back and barely had any bad intake personalities after it settled (there is a settling period, not all changes are immediate)

[Shrewnaldo]

The Second Intake

A Sporting Heritage - The Guajes of Gijón

I'm flying through the save, loving it, and have already reached the second youth intake day... and it looks rather promising. Just like last time, I'm going to go through it 'live' on this post.

As a reminder, this was the rather uninspiring preview:

...which prompted me to sack the Head of Youth Development and replace him with a newgen staff member that has a better personality, leading to this intake.

...and that looks much tastier than either the preview or last year's intake. So here goes...

Manuel Navarro

Centre back 'elite talent'

I like the aggression and boy are the physicals better than last year's intake. Balanced personality is mid, as my son would say, and Determination of 7 will need to be increased. But nothing is catastrophically low - Heading and Marking of 7 will need a bit of work but technicals should increase nicely over time and it's always nice to have a left-footed centre back with a bit of pace. This is an excellent start to the intake, particularly knowing that centre back has a number of gaps in our squad planner across the B-team and under-19s.

Raimundo Montiel

LB/CB - 'elite talent'

Oddly Montiel is listed as a left-back only for me to notice that he's only natural at centre-back... this bug has existed in FM for years and it's so infuriating... anyway, another left-footed centre-back with better physicals but poorer in the air that Navarro. Personality is mid again. I'm thinking Montiel might make a better wingback afterall, or perhaps a defensive 6. He seems to be pretty well-rounded but the low Dribbling and Flair would push me away from a wingback role that I'd want to be more creative. I'll hold off for a while and see if his aerial ability improves in a few years.

Carlos Rojas

Ball-winning 6

Yikes, that personality. 'Temperamental' means he has low Professionalism and that can be a killer for development... which is a real shame because just look at those mentals! He looks like he'd be an absolutely phenomenal ball-winner at 6 so I'm immediately thinking that Perfectionist Mario Lemina will be asked to mentor Rojas and encourage him to realise the obvious potential that he has. The physicals might have started on the low side but the technicals are just about there and those mentals...

Tomás

Playmaking 6 - 'top talent'

Much better personality and your eye is automatically drawn to his outstanding Passing and Determination, plus Technique and Teamwork - so the playmaking 6 role looks about right. Low Flair would keep him in a deep role, to my mind, whilst there are obvious defensive deficiencies to keep him away from a ball-winning role.

Javier Bravo

Shadow Striker - 'top talent'

Again, physicals are just so much better this time around... and 14 for Dribbling, Flair and Technique could make for a fun watch. But there are quite a few gaps for me - his mentals are particularly concerning without Anticipation, Off the Ball and Vision. Is he a creator or a finisher... or neither? I can't say I'm overly excited by Bravo - although he reminds me of Alex Lozano who I've just played twice in the league due to injury troubles... I wasn't too bothered about Lozano but he's scored in both games so... maybe I should shut up

Hugo Quinones

Playmaking 10 - 'top talent'

Decent beard for 15. Fair play.

Physicals are a massive yikes, although at least the Natural Fitness may imply they will increase? Another with some top-heavy eye-catching attributes at First Touch, Technique and Flair... then looking closer he only has two mental attributes below 8, and I think I'd only be looking for a prospective 10 to have better Finishing amongst his technicals. So I think Quiñones is another with real potential.

Mario Rodrígues

9 - 'top talent'

Ok... he can't jump and he'd get blown over by a light breeze but there's some real potential here. Determination and Aggression obviously catch the eye but he's also got really solid starting attributes for Dribbling, Finishing, First Touch, Technique, Flair and Off the Ball - all of which have the makings of a lovely poacher. Personally, I like my lone strikers to be more imposing physically and 5'9" / 3 Jumping and Strength... that just feels like it's never going to get up to scratch. So maybe as part of a front two...

Dani Moya

Left back - 'decent talent'

Just hang on a second there. My HoYD / coaches say he's got 2* potential... but am I crazy to think there's a player here? The mentals are impressive enough with only Concentration something that might cause any concern for a defensive player. Technically, he's only 3 points away from double-figures on Marking and Tackling. His Spirited personality implies decent Professionalism, as does Level-Headed media handling. I don't use them at the moment but I can see a solid inverted full-back in Moya, despite being rated as the second worst of my intake.

And he's been using the same beard oil as Quiñones.

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

Outside of that, there are 6 'good talents' and 2 'decent talents' which I think are complete duds. But we've got 8 players out of this intake who look genuinely quite handy. I think Rojas, if we can sort out his personality, is the most promising of the bunch so he'll probably come straight into the first-team training set-up so I can organise that mentoring (what a stupid system that is by the way - surely they can be mentored without need to train with the first team. Ridiculous).

 

@-Jef- I think, from the Evidence Based FM video, that only the HoYD's personality directly influences the personalities of the intake, but I'm not 100% sure. I always pay attention to the personality of the staff regardless, though - more out of superstition that any knowledge of its impact. I'm very happy to be enlightened otherwise.

[SixPointer]

Good to see the physical side of the intake improving! No sign of any real Mexican link in the academy?

[Shrewnaldo]

One of my favourite news items in FM - such a great addition to the game in FM20 or whenever it was.

Four teams still vying for the two top promotion spots. Almería look set to bounce straight back up, barring a complete collapse. Can we hold off the challenge form Levante and Elche? I think we have the hardest run-in - with the away leg of the Asturian derby coming at the business end of the season for a second campaign in a row. Málaga will also likely be fighting for playoff spots and then there's the final day showdown with Elche...

It's going to be tight.

I'm also taking an interested look at the bottom end of the table with both Depor and Racing likely to take some tasty players with them into the Primera... some raiding options available there.

18 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Good to see the physical side of the intake improving! No sign of any real Mexican link in the academy?

Sadly not. We don't have that sort of affiliate link with any of the Mexican clubs and I don't appear to be able to amend the links yet. I might have to ask for another affiliate and try again.

[Shrewnaldo]

Actually, scratch that @SixPointer - I had another look at the affiliates and I could negotiate the options...

Which means we now have this option with both Atlas and Santos Laguna

For the save narrative, this is huge. Massive fan of this so thanks for the prompt to re-check @SixPointer

[SixPointer]

16 minutes ago, Shrewnaldo said:

Actually, scratch that @SixPointer - I had another look at the affiliates and I could negotiate the options...

Which means we now have this option with both Atlas and Santos Laguna

For the save narrative, this is huge. Massive fan of this so thanks for the prompt to re-check @SixPointer

Perfect, that’s worked out nicely with your intentions 

[Shrewnaldo]

We almost threw it away - losing to Oviedo in the Asturian derby meant we went into the final day needing to better Levante's result at Osasuna. We did our part, coming from behind to beat Elche.

The first goal came from Damian Cáceres - a B-team player that I had to play due to a midfield injury crisis - and Sremcevic, who had gone 15 hours without a goal through the middle of the season.

And Osasuna held up their half of the bargain to bag themselves a playoff spot where they'll play... Levante. Fun.

Best part of £10m to survive.

[SixPointer]

1 hour ago, Shrewnaldo said:

We almost threw it away - losing to Oviedo in the Asturian derby meant we went into the final day needing to better Levante's result at Osasuna. We did our part, coming from behind to beat Elche.

The first goal came from Damian Cáceres - a B-team player that I had to play due to a midfield injury crisis - and Sremcevic, who had gone 15 hours without a goal through the middle of the season.

And Osasuna held up their half of the bargain to bag themselves a playoff spot where they'll play... Levante. Fun.

Best part of £10m to survive.

Job done! Now the real work begins. Have you identified targets already to boost your chances of survival? Am intrigued to see how you’ve scouted and built up your shortlist 

[OYTNANAK]

On 12/01/2024 at 23:45, Shrewnaldo said:

Do you mean which leagues I have loaded? If so, please see below. If not, please let me know what you mean and I can share that instead!

What about the 'Detail Level' of those leagues? Are all of those leagues (besides Spain) simulated properly? Or just quick sim?

[Shrewnaldo]

9 hours ago, SixPointer said:

Job done! Now the real work begins. Have you identified targets already to boost your chances of survival? Am intrigued to see how you’ve scouted and built up your shortlist 

The only main targets are Jose Gragera and Aaron Molinas. Gragera is a former Guaje currently at Espanyol and not getting much game time. Molinas has been on loan with us this season and has an optional £5.25m fee to make it permanent... I'm not sure I can afford that given the other strengthening we need

4 hours ago, OYTNANAK said:

What about the 'Detail Level' of those leagues? Are all of those leagues (besides Spain) simulated properly? Or just quick sim?

For now, only Spain is full detail. I was thinking of experimenting with full detail elsewhere but didn't want to screw up and make my game unbearably slow

For a future save where I'm back with graphical attributes (say if I good back to Verona) then I think I'd bump a selection of 5 or 6 leagues to full detail and use the stats from there. With the focus on youth and the Mexican market, I don't think I need it in this save

[OYTNANAK]

1 hour ago, Shrewnaldo said:

For now, only Spain is full detail. I was thinking of experimenting with full detail elsewhere but didn't want to screw up and make my game unbearably slow

For a future save where I'm back with graphical attributes (say if I good back to Verona) then I think I'd bump a selection of 5 or 6 leagues to full detail and use the stats from there. With the focus on youth and the Mexican market, I don't think I need it in this save

Thank you for the reply. Yeah, I think full detail in some leagues other than ours is much more needed when playing without attributes.

[Deisler26]

Promotion and Mexican club links? It's all coming up Shewnaldo! Congrats!

[_Ben_]

On 14/01/2024 at 19:19, Shrewnaldo said:

I don't play wingers, so that's not a great start., Plus he's unambitious. And then we have a winger with 8 pace... I clearly can't turn him into a wingback with 1 for marking, 4 for tackling and 3 for positioning. So what can I turn him into? Honestly, I can't see much of a future for Soriano but I'll retrain him as a 10 to give him a chance to prove me wrong.

Really good work Shrew - clear to see that this has stuck and you're engaging with it as well as enjoying the success.

Will have a deeper dig through stuff over the next day or so but can I get an update on the above lad please. I'd said about a DLF but interested to see what he looks like a year on...