dothestrand

I skipped a couple of seasons through to make the huge rebuilding job easier. It seems to be easier to sell players once the game's been running a while. Barcelona finished second twice anyway. At the start of the third season, I'd got rid of all the non-La Masia players or those who didn't meet the required standard (e.g. Alba was a fine LB but was superseded by Grimaldo). Barcelona were hugely in debt so I only ever got around 30-40% of the transfer fees back, making it harder. Plus, some guys were sold for criminally low amounts. Still, I was able to bring back most ex-La Masia graduates I wanted to. The squad should be competitive against Real Madrid. Starting XI (4-1-2-2-1) is Onana, Bellerin, Grimaldo, Pique (c), Bartra, Busquets, Olmo, Roberto, Pedri (LWF), Messi (RWF), Icardi. Bench is decent, includes Reina, the two Sergi Gomez's (Sevilla DF, Dortmund MF), Cucurella, Eric Garcia, Moriba, the other Busquets, Fati, Abel Ruiz (back from Braga).

Suarez is on the way out too. It'll be a good rebuilding job for both Koeman and FM21 players!

There are two Dutch defenders at Liverpool too, Hoever and Van Den Berg. Can't see Liverpool selling them for anything other than crazy money.

I think it's under the home grown status option.

AZ are a great team to manage. Even if you sign just Dutch players and build with youth, I reckon you'd still win the league soon enough, as Ajax will sell their best players (but also get awesome regens). If I recall, signing domestic Dutch players can be difficult - their clubs want ridiculous prices. Dirk Proper (NEC) would be available on a Bosman in most saves after the first season, but you'd have lots of competition. Vitesse - Thomas Buitink would be a great striker. Riechedly Bazoer was tipped for big things at Ajax and moved to Germany, but is back at Vitesse. Still only 23, he'd be an excellent CM. Heerenveen - Arjen van der Heide is a promising winger. Mitchell van Bergen was at Vitesse in older editions and was an excellent prospect, though not sure he's as good this time around. Sherel Floranus is a good full back option. Feyenoord - Justin Bijlow is often a potential world class keeper, but you've got Schendelaar coming through, haven't you? Tyrell Malacia and Lutsharel Geertruida are two good full backs. Wouter Burger was a real prospect in the last edition, I think. If you could somehow nab Jeremy Frimpong from Celtic, you'd be doing well! Ludovit Reis at Barcelona would be a very good addition; there's a young Dutch CB in their B team, who's promising too. Rick van Drongelen at HSV is usually gettable for a few million if you need a CB. Ferdi Kadioglu is in Turkey now, but maybe he'll return to the Eredivisie? So in my experience, there are lots of great young players out there. Whether you'd be able to afford them is another!

Also Grimaldo, Icardi, Adama Traore, Keita Balde, Sandro Ramirez - https://www.marca.com/en/football/barcelona/2018/09/18/5ba0c5ff22601d192c8b4623.html These guys would all be first teamers/rotation players. I know you can filter searches by 'favourite club' but you can't do 'former club' annoyingly.

Ex Lyon, just signed for Rennes.

Sorry @OlivierL I only use the second nationality filter to search for players. I never do anything sophisticated like tagging. Often I search by birthplace for specific towns or cities e.g. if I wanted a team JUST of players born in Bilbao. I found a great Basque born regen at Sporting Gijon in my save but I was unable/ not permitted to sign him. Not sure how that worked though. He didn't have Basque second nationality despite being born in Pamplona of somewhere clearly in the Basque country.

I think Brentford are just too easy to get promoted. How long would it take anyone to get say, Charlton, to the Premiership?

My gripe is that players ask for a new deal immediately after promotion, even if they had automatic increases built into their wage. Unless that's realistic, but usually I just sell those who whinge.

Yeah that's what I'd do. Jensen and Norgaard were signed from Spain and Italy but they'd still count if you're including Danes.

Good luck @manutdfan1999 you've probably seen the Athletic Club thread in the Good Player and Team Guide forum. You've got a great starting squad, easily good enough for a top six spot. Future improvements are probably needed in CM and CF but hopefully you get some regens come through - unless you're signing other Basque players.

FCSM have a great set of young players already. I'd love to see how they develop around 4-5 years in.

I'm giving it a go (after generating the first season). The approach I would take is Spanish under 23s and Spanish-speaking youngsters e.g. South American (but younger, under 21s?) So there is scope to bring in Dani Olmo (ex-Barca of course), Unai Simon, Pelayo Morilla, Thiago Almada from Argentina. What I find though is it's incredibly difficult to move players on unless a club specifically comes in for them. Every player who leaves will leave on subsidised wages (e.g. Messi starts on 1.2m per week - even selling him for 40m means I would need to pay 600k of that!) Also the club only reinvest around 20% of the money coming in as they're in debt. But that's OK, I should have enough for the players I need. I would expect the second season to be rocky but I'm keeping the likes of Pique, Busquets, Alba etc. and will want to move those on after the second season.

Sid Lowe's written a great piece about Barca's potential decline in the Guardian - https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jul/02/messis-influence-troubling-finances-and-boardroom-turmoil-why-barcelona-are-a-mess I would be curious to start a save that moves on from the Guardiola-era superstars and the erratic recruitment since and puts La Masia and other young Spanish talent at the heart of the rebuilding project. Anyone tried this/similar?