FM 24 | Real Betis Balompié | Vamos Los Verdiblancos!

[Litmanen 10]

34 minutes ago, Captain_T said:

I hope you will continue the save. Will be interesting how you set up your team for the nett season.

 

If nothing crazy happens, I'm going to continue with this as I really enjoy the save and the slow progress. As the club board's aim for next season is to qualify to the Champions League, it might well be the end of the road for me. 

[Litmanen 10]

Pick of players

 

 

***

As predicted, our first youth intake is looking promising. Obviously, with an attributeless skin and with just a few months with these players, it is still difficult to say how good they are at the moment and how good they can be. 

After last season, our youth team has been almost empty of players as most of them grew too old and were shifted either to our B or C team. The B team had a brilliant season in the fourth level of Spanish football and they were thereby promoted to the Primera Federacion as champions. The aim is to take Betis Deportivo as high as possible so that the B team can work as a good platform for our younger players to make their way to the first team.

First team

Our season turned out to be a bit of a disappointment in the end, even though we conquered Copa del Rey in the end. I do not see big problems with the team when I look at the players on paper. 

Right-back would probably be the first single position to mention here. At the beginning of last season, we had Sergiño Dest here as an option but as things went sour with him, the players that played in this position were Youssouf Sabaly, Óscar Mingueza, and our January signing Leandro Morgalla. The thing with Sabaly is that he is 31 years old now and still considered a 'good La Liga' player who is valued at about one million. Last summer we received multiple 8+ million bids for him but he did not want to move elsewhere. Now, on the other hand, it makes no sense to sell him basically for free. With Pepe retiring, Mingueza is going to shift to become our leading center-back and hopefully, he can also wake Igor Zubeldia back to life. Morgalla didn't put a foot wrong last season, so he is going to get a chance as our first-choice right-back now.

When talking about center-backs, we also need to think about whether can we still trust Zubeldia and Pezzella. German Pezzella was once again our best central defender last season but his legs are already gone and his distribution isn't great either. Zubledia on the other hand was supposed to be our new defensive leader but he failed miserably. So, do we look for the Mingueza and Zubeldia partnership to flourish or will we bring a more experienced center-back in his prime to the team and let him take the lead?

The second talking point would be midfield. Do we continue with William Carvalho - or is it time to move on and sign someone younger? With Sergi Altimira returning from Watford, we have quite a young and intelligent base for midfield but what it is lacking is a player like Guido Rodriguez who can win the ball back and distribute it securely mainly to Lo Celso, Rodri, etc. In his prime, Carvalho could easily have been this player for us but now his ball-winning ability has deteriorated. Does he still have any use for us? 

The third and most obvious one would be the center forward position. Kai Havertz was our best goalscorer last season with 16 in all competitions. This tells you a story that we were not good enough in this area. Not even close. Young Assane Diao has been developing rapidly and is already considered a La Liga-level player but he also showed last season that he isn't yet ready to perform regularly. Nabil Fekir on the other hand spent most of the season in the shadows but at the end of the season, the experienced Frenchman performed magnificently well. The biggest question here is: do we still want to trust Fekir not falling back into 20 game goal drought and kicking off or do we want to bring in someone who is considered both consistent and aerially capable?

What do you think? Which should be our main priority or priorities?

Edited March 18 by Litmanen 10

[Litmanen 10]

I'm sad to say this but I need to let this career update go. The transfer values simply broke after the winter update conflicting with the brilliant realism update by @Daveincid. Was really enjoying this one and that is why I will also be writing about my next career. 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Litmanen 10 said:

I need to let this career update go

Ah, that's a shame.

Hope you find another good one 

[Litmanen 10]

1 minute ago, warlock said:

Ah, that's a shame.

Hope you find another good one 

Already did. Was actually thinking between three different options: Cercle Brugge, Sparta Rotterdam and Palermo. Would have probably gone with Cercle but thanks to the owner being a Russian oligark, opted to Palermo. Already have my save game set up and will start a new thread either today or tomorrow. 

[warlock]

1 hour ago, Litmanen 10 said:

Already have my save game set up and will start a new thread either today or tomorrow.

Looking forward to it