dothestrand

2031-32 Season Review: Fourmidable! La Liga: 1st (-) - 101 points (-) Copa Del Rey: QF (lost to Las Palmas 0-1) Super Cup: W (beat Real Madrid on pens, 1-1) Champions League: QF (lost to Man City 1-2 on aggregate) Another comfortable La Liga title, our fourth in a row now. We finished on 101 points again, 14 clear of Barcelona and 18 clear of Real Madrid. We lost one league game, our 34th of the season, which was away to Alaves, a game that we were clearly not going to win. We went behind twice and equalised, then had a man sent off and conceded again. So close to being an Invincibles! Despite this performance in the league, we only had four players in the team of the season, which was dominated by Barcelona (if their players are individually performing so well, how are they losing matches?) We won the Super Cup for the first time in this save on penalties after a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid. We were defeated in the Copa Del Rey at the QF stage by Las Palmas with a very lacklustre performance. Had we won, we would've played Valencia in the SF, who won the competition, so consider that a trophy missed out on. We finished second again in the CL group stage, and our reward in the last 16 was a tie against Man Utd, who we beat 6-5 on aggregate. In the quarters, another trip to Manchester beckoned. City defeated us 2-1 on aggregate, so fine margins. City then hammered Inter in the SF and are playing Chelsea in the final. Squad Performance A real squad effort this season with more rotation than usual, with 15 players making more than 20 league appearances, and another 3 making more than 10 appearances. Nobody played more than 25 matches, and that's not down to injuries. Fortunately, we have enough squad depth now that we can switch up the starting XI often, and the players are just about happy enough with it (you get the odd gripe about starting enough games but that usually goes). The attacking players were in great form, with nine attacking players averaging more than 7.0 in the league. The defensive ratings were interesting as apparently my two Spanish international CBs were not the best performing! Transfers Not much to report. We brought Unai Simon back as a rotation GK - he's 34yo and still Spain's number one. We also signed this wonderkid from Man City. He started at Eibar and wouldn't sign for us, and then went to City. We loaned him a couple of seasons ago, but still wouldn't sign permanently. Then after a great loan at Palermo, he finally agreed. He's an AMC/AMR by trade but very quickly retrained as a CM, so that versatility will get him more game time. We also signed an attacking midfielder from Real Sociedad for 20m-odd who may come good, but we can afford the gamble. Youth Development A poor intake this season but it doesn't really matter - we've got so many promising players anyway. No new wonderkids at the moment - Eguaras is the only players who's gained this reputation this season, but I'd expect a few other youngsters to have that status soon, so you'll see them then. Going Forward Well, hopefully it's another league title and can we go further in the Champions League? Let's hope so. A few seasons back, the elite sides would've battered us, now we can definitely compete, so with a bit of luck, we can hopefully get a few results together in the knockouts. In terms of squad changes, Vivian, Sancet and Aimar are in their 30s now, Simon too - any decent offer for any of them would probably be accepted as we can cover their departures. But I am just as happy to keep them around.

My game is very flush with keepers. My first choice is a regen and I've got these two out on loan: I reckon Mateo is the best of my three keepers, but I don't really want to lose any of them so I'm fine with loaning him out (I've also brought Unai Simon back to the club in the 31-32 season as backup).

@MattyC78 I find I can never get past a few seasons of another save before returning to Athletic Club, a save I know I can keep going til the next FM comes out. In any other save it's too transfer-heavy, transitioning the squads constantly. With Athletic Club you know there's a focus and an ethos that gives you something to work with and you can work with players over a long period and to help them develop. I could go Lezama only but that's not probably not realistic and the game usually factors in that certain players would never move so it's not like you can hoover up every Basque player.

I've had Astralaga as a third keeper but I don't think he's ever better than that.

IRL, Athletic Club often re-sign players who didn't quite make the grade during the first spell at the club - Gorka Guruzeta and Inigo Ruiz de Galarreta being two current examples. Has anyone had this happen in their save? He left FOUR seasons ago, and has been at his current club the best part of two years.

It always annoys me that given Athletic Club's history of developing young players, the game never seems to start with many young players capable of stepping up. Vicandi and Huestamendia are the only players this year who really came good for me. Given the intakes I subsequently had, I'm amazed the game didn't really rate some of the young players higher.

2030-31 Season Review: Three in a row La Liga: 1st (-) - 101 points (+2) Copa Del Rey: W (beat Deportivo 3-1) Super Cup: SF (lost to Barcelona 1-2) Champions League: QF (lost to Paris St Germain 2-4 on aggregate) A third consecutive La Liga title was won fairly comfortably, 10 points ahead of Barcelona in second, and 18 ahead of Real Madrid in third. A favourable early season fixture list allowed us to race out of the blocks, and it was only towards the end of the first half of the season that we met our league rivals. We only lost one game all season in fact; away to Celta Vigo, which was fairly disappointing really. We actually did the double over Barcelona and drew both matches against Real Madrid. This might be a high watermark in the league as I'd be amazed if the fixture gods would be so kind again. We won the league and cup double against surprising opposition in the final. For Deportivo, the glory days of Roy Makaay and Diego Tristan seem an eternity ago, and we polished them off in the final with no real alarms. We had quite a kind run to the final, though we did knock out Real Madrid in the SF. We finished top of the Champions League group stage, winning 7 of the 8 matches (and drawing the other). We beat Chelsea in the last sixteen, but couldn't get past PSG in the QF. Squad Performance Here's our best XI. Not too dissimilar to last season, with the same standout players, though Xabi Jimenez, our previous wonderkid GK is now our first choice. I will talk about Mikel Gomez more a bit later. Despite doing so well, our strikers - Galan and Casado - are inconsistent. Fortunately, we're scoring so many from midfield that we can cover their profligacy. It was a good all round effort with the squad though, which is evolving nicely. Transfers Mikel Gomez was the big signing, a wonderkid from Osasuna, who cost a cool 66m. Absolutely worth it though as he can play anywhere in the midfield though he's more likely to play CM alongside Sancet. The main other signings were speculative punts on young Basque players who may or may not come good but we've so much money in the bank that it's no bother. We sold Agirrezabala to Man City for 80m - probably didn't need to but we've got so many good keepers that it seemed crazy to turn it down. Jimenez is at his level already. Youth Development More wonderkids are coming through and some positions will really be spoilt for choice. Jose Mateo My Dennis Irwin/Phil Neville, a full back who can play both sides of the pitch. We signed him at 16 from Osasuna and it's really in the last season or so that he's really kicked on, since we moved Aihen Munoz on. Iker Etxebarria He's been a bit of a slow burn, but a couple of decent loan spells have really helped him develop, especially in terms of his physical attributes. He can play both deep and attacking midfield, so may deputise for both Sancet and Gomez next season seeing as we're going to try to move JJ Guerrero on (he and Guillamon are the two I'd like to sell this Summer). Javi Lopez Not sure I need another striker, but he can play AML, so will give us another option there. Likely to spend more time out on loan as we're well covered in those positions. He signed from Eibar's academy at 16yo for 1m. Markel Olabe A strange sort of player - incredibly versatile but I wonder whether he'll be good enough to nail down a single spot in the side. I see him more as a full-back than a winger, but his defensive attributes aren't so good. Xabi Ruiz An excellent prospect at LB - he played the first half of the season in the first team squad, but I sent him on loan for more game time (but Brest barely played him!). He'll be back next season though. We got him on a free from A. Cirbonero, a small club in the Navarre region! And besides these wonderkids, there are many more talented players who could develop into strong first team players. After three titles in a row, I'm still hungry, but I want to really crack the Champions League. We've just got to be more consistent against the bigger teams.

Palermo were my favourite Serie A team for a while, glad to see them bouncing back. And with former legends, what about Fabio Grosso, taker of the winning penalty kick in the 2006 WC final?

Yes I imagined more went into it because Aimar has a penalty taking attribute of 16 but he does not score 8 in 10 in game play, more like 6 in 10. So obviously mental attributes kick in etc. As an example, he had the chance to give us an early lead against Barcelona. He missed and we lost the game.

How much can you improve the penalty takers at your club? At Athletic Club, I have signed Aimar, whose penalty taking is 16, but nobody else is even in double figures. This means that when I have a cup penalty shootout, I am watching on nervously, wondering whether the next four takers will Jaap Stam it. Can you train penalty taking and for it to have strong results? Could you take a player with penalty taking 10 and turn him to a 15, say?

My bigger gripe in the game is young players, who've never been anywhere near the first team, asking for tens of thousands of pounds per week. When I play as Athletic Club, I don't have much choice as I need to retain these players, but this is completely unrealistic that a player would ask for that kind of salary.

Next update... 2029-30 Season Review: Back to Back Titles La Liga: 1st (-) - 99 points (+4) Copa Del Rey: F (lost to Real Madrid 0-1 in final) Super Cup: SF (lost to Barcelona) Champions League: SF (lost to Inter Milan 2-4 on aggregate) Another successful season, as we retained the La Liga title with more points than the previous season (had we won our final game against Betis, we'd have passed 100 points) and we performed consistently well in the cups. We actually won La Liga with a couple of games to go, which meant a stress-free last couple of games. Barcelona were our closest rivals, 7 points back - Real Madrid a further 5 points off them. A poor season for Los Merengues, but I'm sure they'll be back. Barcelona defeated us in the Super Cup semis - let's move on, and Real Madrid defeated us in the Copa Del Rey final - shame we couldn't bring another piece of silverware back. We had a great season in the Champions League though. We finished fourth in the league phase and our reward in the last sixteen? You guessed it - Real Madrid! We lost 0-2 at the Santiago Bernabeu but won the home leg 3-1. An epic 7-6 penalty shoot out went in our favour. In the QF, we beat Borussia Dortmund 1-0 over two cagey legs. Then in the SF, we won the home tie against Inter 1-0, but that was wiped out by DiMarco's worldie in the first couple of minutes and we just couldn't hold them off. A chance missed, maybe, but good progress nonetheless. Squad Performance No real tactical innovations - we're well set up to play a 4-3-2-1 with the emphasis on retaining possession. The squad is pretty much the same as before, with some players really stepping up like Huestamendia, Guerrero and Benito, and others like Merino and Casado, our young striker, having relative blips. Transfers Nothing major to report. We signed Iker Galan from Osasuna for 1m - he became a wonderkid immediately (screenshot below) and the better of our strikers. We also signed a young Basque regen on loan from Man City (they'd signed him from Eibar) with an optional release fee, but he almost certainly won't move. Dani Rodriguez was the main departure. His development had plateaued and we had better long-term options. Youth Development The guys posted in the last update remain wonderkids or are too old for that status (but still excellent!) As expected now, Lezama is a superb conveyor belt of talent and we're spoilt in all areas. We have Xabi Jimenez, our promising keeper out on loan still - and I have two five star potential keepers also out on loan - both probably at the same level. In terms of new wonderkids: David Albisu came through our academy and spent the last season in La Liga with Cadiz, averaging nearly 7.0 in a midtable side. Excellent technical stats and some good mental and athletic stats. I'd like that teamwork/workrate to improve though! Asier Extebarria had a reasonably okay season in Ligue 1 but needs to improve technically and mentally before he's ready for a first team squad place. To be honest, I'm surprised he's a wonderkid as I think I've got better long-term options here. Iker Galan is a very solid, all-round forward with no real weaknesses. Whilst I think Casado and Martinez (on loan at Valencia) are more likely to succeed, Galan will be a good backup or can be sold later for a good profit. Looking ahead, we've a few more potential changes to the squad to make. Vencedor wants to move on, and I won't stand in his way. I don't think I'll get his 50m value, but I'll take a decent bid. Merino has 1y left on his contract and is considering his options - I'd take a bid if one comes in. Guillamon is 30 now and reached his peak a few years ago, so a good offer would also be accepted. No real transfer options, but the pipeline of young talent makes that unnecessary now. Can we make it a hat trick of titles?

It's been a while since I've done a season update. I tried a few other saves but nothing is quite like an Athletic Club save. I'm not even sure I posted an update on my 2027-28 season - we finished second behind Real (their fourth title in a row). 2028-29 Season Review: Double Winners! La Liga: 1st (+1) - 95 points (+5) Copa Del Rey: W (beat Osasuna 2-0 in final) Super Cup: F (lost to Real Madrid) Champions League: Knockout Play Off Round (lost to Barcelona) Our most successful season so far, winning our first two trophies of the save, including La Liga. Real Madrid were ahead for most of the season but surprisingly slipped up a couple of times in the final few weeks, so we went into the last day of the season with a one point lead. We were away to Sevilla, which was a potentially tricky tie. Luckily the fixture computer did me a favour as Real were away to Barcelona. Anyway, as long as we did our job, it didn't matter what happened at the Camp Nou. Well, we were absolutely hammered 3-0 with our defence getting nervous and losing the ball in dangerous positions, and a clinical Sevilla forward line just picked us off. Luckily, Barcelona took an early lead and I was just crossing my fingers than they'd hold on - which they did! So, not the victory lap I'd have liked, but the title was ours nevertheless. The Super Cup was a familiar tale - play Real in the final and lose. However, we beat Real in the QF of the Spanish Cup and despatched Villareal in the SF. Playing Osasuna in the final was very kind and it was a routine victory. Champions League was a bit of write-off as Barcelona demolished us at home, which left us too much to do in the return leg. Squad Performance We'd played a 4-3-3-0 for most of the save but the emergence of a potentially world class striker (Bittor Casado) as a real attacking focal point meant we changed to my preferred 4-3-2-1. We're starting to see some regens in the first team squad too - with Javi Jimenez, Oier Benito and Casado amongst my strongest performers. I'll share some screenshots of the next generation of talent below. Peio Huestamendia has become a really good wide option in my save - it'll be interested to see whether anyone's got anything from him. Unai Vencedor was a rotation option too, and most of the rest of the squad are other regens too. Transfers In the 27-28 season, the main signing was Kepa to strengthen the GK positions (700k!) whilst I had sold Alvaro Fernandez, Laporte, Djalo and Moncayola for around 80m combined. This season had few incomings - Merino came in for around 50m (even at 32 he's world class) and otherwise just other Basque regens. Le Normand went back to Saudi Arabia and we sold an unhappy Aimar Vicandi to Southampton for 25m (max of 30m with add-ons). We've reached the point now where we will only sign regens and just sell off the ageing original players. Youth Development This is really starting to pay off now. I have SEVEN wonderkids - a goalkeeper, FOUR defenders, and two attackers. Screenshots below! And then there is a huge amount of talent waiting to come through. If they're not ready for first team action or I'm already strong in their positions, then loans really accelerate their development. And we're likely to be strong in all areas going forward as we've had players come through in all positions. Xabi Jimenez (GK) (HG) denotes home grown btw (and ** is just an internal note for me to watch them)! Xabi joined us in 24-25 and has spent two seasons on loan at St Etienne and the last season at Getafe in La Liga (they were relegated but he performed well). Hopefully he gets a bit stronger over the next few seasons but his raw goalkeeping ability is excellent. He will probably stay on loan for another season as we have Agirrezabala and Kepa - hopefully in La Liga again. Javi Jimenez (RB) Another player from the 24-25 intake, he's really kicked on over the last year as our first choice RB - hopefully he can develop those technical stats more. Oier Benito (DL/DR/DC) A versatile defender who can play anywhere across the backline - I'd see him more as a CB in the first instance, but he can deputise in the full back positions when needed. He cost 20k from Burlades (a Navarre-based club in the fifth tier). Carlos Acosta (DC) The best of the defensive wonderkids, I think. He was pretty much my first-choice CB this season. He cost 135k from Laredo, a fifth-tier side (which is not in the Basque country but he is Basque) and will be capped by Spain soon. Alejandro Larrazabal (DC) I'm surprised he's a wonderkid really as his potential isn't quite as high as those above, but he will be a solid CB option to come. He's been on loan twice in the Championship and also in the second division in Spain - all of these have helped him progress. Bittor Casado (ST) Our first-choice striker and if he could improve aerially, he'd be frightening! But give him a sniff in the box and he'll score. Great mental stats too - perhaps a potential captain? Cost 20k from Huarte, another Navarre-based side in the fifth tier. I've really lucked out with regens coming through the lower divisions that can make the grade. Eduardo Martinez (ST/AMR) It took ages for a decent striker to emerge, and now I have two wonderkids up front. Eduardo cost 875k from Alaves at the age of 16, and he's had loans in Spain, France and England, hitting the net with regularity. The other good thing about Eduardo is that he can play AMR and he'll probably alternate playing up top with playing as an inside forward. I could bombard you with screenshots of other players, but I'll wait until they become wonderkids. There are probably 7-8 guys with 5* potential and then loads more between 4-4.5*so we're spoilt for choice really. The next players to transition out will be Guillamon, Vivian, Aihen Munoz, and Vencedor. One of the two CBs may leave this Summer, Munoz almost certainly will and I'll take good offers for Vencedor as he's become a bit of a prat to manage. Sancet is 29 but still has a few years at this level. Next season, I hope we'll make a better crack at the CL.

Great updates @bowieinspace and you've had some excellent players come through Lezama. I'm very envious. I'm a few seasons back and will get back into playing. I luckily do have some good keepers coming through so that position isn't a long term issue.

Stoke City got relegated after a simmed first season so I'm going to see how I get on with them as they were my local team at uni. It's quite nice as basically the guys on big money who you want to leave are very happy to and are getting offers.

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

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.

Very doable. You've a great Basque spine and in my Athletic Club save they've produced better youngsters than my academy (I keep signing them).

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.

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!

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

@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?

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.

2025-26 Season Review: Going One Better La Liga: 2rd (+1) - 89 points (+6) Copa Del Rey: F (lost to Real Madrid) Champions League: Round of 16 (lost to Liverpool) A great season as we improved in both the domestic league and cup competitions and still performed admirably in Europe. A second place finish in La Liga with six extra points is fantastic, and we were only 7 points behind Real Madrid (and were 4 points ahead of Barcelona), so we're closing the gap. The top three has pulled away massively now - Sevilla were 4th but 12 points off 3rd, then Villareal were 5th, a further 9 points behind Sevilla! We reached the final of the Spanish Cup but couldn't lay a glove on Real Madrid - some good wins on the way though. In the Champions League, we squeaked through to the knockouts, where we initially faced Napoli, who knocked us out last season. A home draw was followed by a brilliant 1-0 win on their patch. The last round of 16 was against Liverpool, who beat us 2-1 at San Mames. Done and dusted? Well, astonishingly we turned it around at Anfield to make it 3-3 on aggregate, but lost out on penalties. I'll take that though as it shows we can compete. Squad Performance Below, you can see how the players performed. I persevered with the 4-3-3-0 (no striker) formation I tried out last season, and it worked really well. This line-up's not quite accurate as Sancet would be where Dani Rodriguez is, and JJ Guerrero would be in Sancet's position in CM. Sancet is great in the final third and scored as much as I'd expect from a striker, and the other attacking players chipped in too. Vicandi spent the first half of the season on loan, then got injured, but when he returned, he performed much better than Inaki (who was on the bench in the final stretch - a 6.76 season average is poor, and I'm looking to move him on now). The standout player for me though is Aldasoro - what a return! A couple of million from Racing Club Santander is an absolute steal. He is a Duracell bunny of a footballer and plays the BBM role perfectly. Overall though, we rotated the squad well and gave young players some opportunities along the way. Transfers I went into the season with two targets - Aimar and Guillamon - and hoped I'd get one of them. We burned out entire transfer budget on Guillamon (32.5m plus add-ons) and his versatility makes it worth it. We sold Vesga with six months of his contract left for 6m, which gave us some breathing room, though I spend that on an excellent-looking DM from Osasuna (who's been in and around the first team). Inigo Vicente moved on too, as once Vicandi came back, there was no role for him. Youth Development We had a very good intake and our two previous intakes/youth signings over the last few years now mean we have a number of players who are developing well, in most positions. Here's the DM I signed from Osasuna - definitely the most promising of all. We have 4.5* potential players at CB and CF (who can play across both wings) in the B side, so they're only 1-2 years off being first team quality. Three 5* potential players in the U19s in the GK, AMC and AMR positions too, so I'll keep an eye on those. There are also a number of talented young Basques out there not looking to move yet but remain on the radar. Looking Ahead No point being modest now - top three is an absolute minimum and more progress in Europe would be very nice! I'm looking to sell Inaki this Summer. I want 50m and a Saudi club is interested, but as long as I can get the money to sign Aimar and save the wages, I'd be happy. The GK situation is an interesting one with Simon, Fernandez and Agirrezabala all good enough to be first choice. I wouldn't be devastated if someone offered good money for Simon, but keep two and loan one sounds fine too if Inaki leaves. UPDATE: OK, so I've sold Nico for 132m (release clause), Simon for 75m and Inaki for 20m. Wish me luck! I've signed Aimar and a load of Basque regens.

@southside_hitmen Thanks for the tip on Victor Musa. I don't have the English leagues added to my game, so I don't know if he will just 'appear' as soon as I do, or whether he's out of the database for good. He looked fairly decent though, when I just started a Man Utd game to check. @bowieinspace I started a new game just to look at the youth players again, to see whether there was any difference from the start of my save - not really, so no need to re-start the save.