KlaaZ

Sesko's great though, and that's an amazing first season with Bologna. if you can, pick up Anderson from Lazio if he's released, or Araujo from Benfica (I think).

It's tight at the top. I think we can rule out Juve at this stage, but both Inter and ourselves have everything to play for.

He dropped a little attribute wise though after a month. Considering loaning him out already, had the same thing with my Spanish kid until he went out on loan.

Looks like I'll have to start playing wingers again. What a player..

Heroic. Just hoping that Obregon won't face a long suspension as it was a professional foul.

Another hellish month..

Transfer news Some more news, both on the incoming and outgoing side. Juan Soriano isn't playing anymore since the arrival of Carnesecchi, he moves on loan to San Roque Lepe. Guerin and Pirola also go out on loan to Cagliari and Sampdoria. And finally, I made a very hard decision to accept a 16.25M offer for Mork. The young Scandinavian has been doing really well in midfield, although his ratings may be skewed because he takes all corners and most indirect free kicks, but his progression has been disappointing and I feel that with both Bellander and Soto returning, plus the signing of young Cappiello for the future, we have plenty of other options in central midfield. He moves to Feyenoord on deadline day, and I genuinely hope he does well there. On the plus side, this frees up some funds, which in turn also allows us to move on deadline day. There's a lot of interest for both Staelens (City) and Esposito (repeated bids from United). I've talked the former out of leaving but Esposito really wants to go. We agreed on a 97M price tag, and for now the interest has died down, but I'm already preparing for a future without either of them by signing a young Brazilian with a lot of potential from Atlético Mineiro. Marcus Vinicius is a two footed model citizen of only 18 years old, I'm a bit worried about his natural fitness and bravery but apart from that, he has no standout weaknesses.

Transfer news It's January 2nd, and we are happy to announce a few incomings. First off, we pick up a young Colombian striker at Deportivo Cali. Fer Narro only just turned 18 and despite a very average personality looks like he could be a great player. At a fee of only 1M, this guy is a steal. And even better, he has a second nationality, Spanish, which makes it so he doesn't need to occupy a non-EU slot. Our second signing is also one for the future. Gennaro Cappiello is a 19-year old Italian midfielder who came through the youth academy of Milan. There's a lot of work on him, but if he fulfills his potential he could go on to do great things. I also really like his PPM's, which makes him perfect for the DLP position. We may have overpaid for him though, with 8.75M. Finally, we provide some more depth in the attacking midfield strata by shopping in Scandinavia (where else). Kobenhavn academy product Morten Jensen, 21 years old, joins us for a fee of 11M. Good player already and if he can improve just a little bit, I think we have quite the gem on our hands.

Transfer news A very busy month of August with a lot of deals, let's dive in! Togni joins Atalanta on loan to get more playing time. I signed him back in 2025 for 18M but his progression has been slow. I'm hoping this move will kickstart his development. Cristante was asking for a ridiculous contract (140k p/w), so I put him up for sale after he started infecting his teammates with complaints. He joins Pachuca in a deal going up to 20M, on a 39k p/w contract, which is actually less than what he was earning here. After signing Poulsen, I decided to cash in on Frabotta. He joins Aston Villa for 15M. Haidar Ali Khalim doesn't fit into our system as we don't use wingers, he's shipped to Belgium where he will play for Genk, we get 8.75M. Ferrarini is also not required anymore, he joins Cagliari on loan with a future fee after x games played. And finally, Figueira goes out on loan to get more playing time. There were also a few 'almost' deals. We accepted a 55M bid for Araujo but the player rejected Aston Villa. The same happened with Rojas, who was under a whopping 93M bid from Bayer Leverkusen but failed to reach an agreement. On the incoming side, we sign two more players for the future. Fabio Bartalucci is a young Italian defender who can play both right back and central defense. He'll play another season on loan at his former club, Brescia, before joining us in an 8.5M deal. Efraim Espirito Santo is only 17, and will need to develop some more first. That said, I have high hopes for this kid. He joins from SLB for 6.25M.

Transfer news Done deal, we have a new goalkeeper! Being the Italian champion has its perks, because we managed to seduce Marco Carnesecchi to join us from Napoli. It comes at a price, for a fee of 25.5M, but it also means that we finally have a high quality goalie who will function as first choice for the next four or five years.

Transfer news Out with the 'old', in with the new. Deminguet was surplus to requirements and wanted to leave, we cash in and let him move to Verona for 5.25M. The same goes for Maldini, who joins Fenerbahce for 14.5M. And finally, Real Madrid came in for Rindsem and because of his lack of progress, I decided to negotiate to see where we could land. In the end, we sold him for 55M and 20% of his next sale. Unfortunately, due to clauses, about 15M of the fee goes to Rosenborg, but fair play to them. Four new faces in the incoming front. We bought Andreas Poulsen to strengthen the left back position, Blackburn was willing to let him go for 5.25M which I considered a steal. This also means that Frabotta can go if we receive a good offer. Apart from that, we have little more depth in midfield after signing Nicolo Fagioli from relegated Udinese, transfer fee 8M. He'll provide some competition for Mork in the playmaker slot. Langerbein went back to Dortmund as he wasn't interested in negotiating, so I went shopping at PSG and brought back a young Uruguayan kid to bolster the defense. Meet Fernando Iglesias, for whom I have very high hopes. And finally, we signed 18-year old Mathieu Carrupt from Tondela for 5M as a (future?) replacement for Rindsem. We're also in talks with a goalkeeper, but as we face competition from Hertha I'll only reveal him if he actually signs.

That would be twice the prize money, right? The next step is winning something in Europe. I'm 'only' expected to qualify for the CL this season, so I may focus on that front more.

2027: Up front That leaves the striker position. Esposito has been our main man in the first half of the season but with the progress Staelens made, I pulled him back to the AM strata. Staelens has been quite impressive, and he has a lot of growth potential left. His mentals are amazing in any case. Esposito is also only 24, so the future is ours. And to create a bit of a luxury problem, Rojas has been doing very well in the cup and in Europe as a rotation option. He came second in the goalscoring stats in the Europa League and was our main gunner in the Coppa Italia. I still can't believe I picked this kid up on a free. And finally, we still have academy product Mele in the waiting room. I'll try loaning him out again, hopefully to a Serie B team.

2027: Behind the striker As I've already hinted earlier, I play a narrow 4231, which means three players in the central attacking midfield strata. That also implies a lot of attacking midfielders, so let's get started! The standout player is Orsolini, who joined us from Sporting a year and a half ago and has been ever present. He's been one of our most decisive players up front, playing on the right side. Whenever he's tired, Rindsem steps up and delivers. The other positions are a bit more mixed. I'm a big fan of Katsamakas, the young German who joined us for 3M from Bayern, but his technicals sometimes get in the way of his performances. With André Anderson we have another player with a lot of goalscoring potential, and Biuk is also not the worst player. On top of that, we brought in Torre during the winter break, which gives us even more options. And finally, we have young Moreno-Manzanaro in the waiting room, although he'll probably go out on loan again for at least another year.

2027: Central midfield Central midfield has been a difficult place to fill in in the past. We had players like Seoane, Henrique and Mesa here in the past but although they did well, they lacked consistency. This season has been a lot better. The signing of both Cristante and Pobega, and the standout performances of Mork, were key in this department. It's also the position where we have a lot of upcoming talent. Togni, Bellander and Jair Soto have all been out on loan to get more game time. The latter two will remain there until the winter break. At that point, I'm planning to integrate them into the squad. Soto is a great defensive minded option and Bellander looks like a better version of Mork. That said, it is possible that I'll bring in one more holding midfielder as I've had my eye on someone for over a year now and it's finally time to strike.

2027: The defense All right, after our first double, it's time for a squad assessment. Let's start between the stakes. With the departure of Iversen in January, we only have Soriano as a realistic option here. He joined us in the summer of 2025from Espanol and has been consistent, if not exceptional, ever since. Diogo Figueira made his debut this season, playing in three European games, but he hasn't really progressed since his arrival in the same year. I have a Chinese regen goalkeeper on my shortlist but I can't afford him right now as he came through the ranks of Bayern. This is probably the position where we could do with an upgrade the most. At right back, we're okay when it comes to depth, but quality is a bit less obvious. Zortea is our main man and has been doing excellent, but looking at his attributes, I'd only rate him a good Serie A player at most. His backup, Ferrarini, is notably worse in the technical department and will be allowed to leave the club as youngster Orlandi has been impressive this season. On the left flank, Zagaritis has been with us right from the start in the Serie B and is showing serious quality. He keeps drawing the interest of big teams, but so far I've been able to keep him around and I'm hoping to keep that up right until he hangs up his boots. We brought in Frabotta as his backup this year and the Italian did well whenever called upon. If necessary, Orlandi can also play this position. In central defense, we're very much set for now. I managed to extend Obregon's contract until 2032, without a release clause this time, so I'm hoping to build around him. Valenti also started with us in the Serie B but is entering his final contract year and asking for a lot of money to extend. If we can't reach an agreement, I'm hoping to make a lot of money off him and replace him with a similar quality player. Araujo is a mixed bag. He's a very all round player, but also the one who tends to make the most mistakes at the back. He's currently under a 45M bid from Leeds, an amount for which I'm very much willing to let him go. If that happens, I might bring in Langerbein on a permanent basis. We also have Guerin and Trier here, but they both haven't really made any good progress on loan (especially the latter), so I'm considering selling them if a good offer comes up.

Rather unlucky in the home game really, 1.41 vs 2.18 xG, but lost 1-4. Played the 'B-squad too because of fixture congestion, the league had priority.

2026-2027: Season overview Serie A To put it mildly, we had a great season. We started off wonky with a win, a loss (in Roma) and a draw at home against Milan, but then everything clicked. We only dropped points once before the winter break, in a home game against Inter where we just forgot to finish the game. We beat every other team, including away wins in Turin, Naples and Rome (Lazio). We kept our good form throughout January despite drawing against relegation candidates Udinese, with four additional wins. In February it looked like our form would finally break after two consecutive draws (Milan away and Sassuolo away), but we picked it up again with a streak of wins until the end of March, where we drew in Cagliari. April was another unbeaten month, beating Lazio, Torino and Atalanta and drawing away at Inter, and with Juve finally dropping points it seemed like we would be able to comfortably pull it over the finish line. An away draw at Salernitana and two home wins later, we could seal the title in our prelast game at home against the Turin giant by picking up just one point. But we choked and despite being the better team, they took the three points home. This put all the pressure on our last game against Udinese, where the same rules applied. Juve trailed us by three points, so they had to win and we had to lose. If that happened, direct results would prevail and as we beat them 0-1 and they beat us 1-2, we'd lose the title. We started well enough but our finishing let us down and when Udinese converted a penalty just before half time, I thought we were done for. But a quick glance at the other results showed Juve 3-0 down in Rome, with Locatelli sent off as a bonus. From that point on, all stress vanished. Rojas equalized in the second half, and we secured our very first Serie A title. Deservedly, after leading the pack from match day seven onwards. Coppa Italia We secured the double, and deservedly so judging by the teams we kicked out. We beat Roma 4-1 in the third round, Fiorentina in the quarter final, and Juve in the semis (with a 6-2 home win to put the icing on the cake). And we finished it by beating Inter in a spectacular final 3-4 after converting a penalty in the 121st minute! Europe We were unfortunate with the group draw in the CL, getting City and Dortmund (who I really wanted to avoid after last year's trashing), together with Shakhtar. We managed to secure third place through a win and a draw against the Ukrainian team and a home draw against City. The Europa League went better. We eliminated Dynamo Kyiv, surprise package Qarabag and Stuttgart before stumbling over Arsenal in the semi finals. We couldn't overcome a heavy (and overinflated) 1-4 home loss at the Emirates, despite beating the English 1-2 at home. Finances and facilities With 70M in the bank, we have a very healthy financial position. The facilities remain unchanged as I don't have the option to ask the board to expand the youth setup. There are plans afoot to build a new stadium though, which got me very excited! Our defensive performance is very visible in the team of the year. Notable absence of Obregon for some reason, despite him being our best player.

Stumbled over the finish line, big writeup coming up later.

Reminder me to send some flowers to Rome after this game. And perhaps Locatelli as well.

DRAMATIC CUP WINNERS

IT'S HAPPENING

Meeting the youngsters: Francesco Orlandi We currently have two right backs at the club. Zortea is our main man, having joined us for 1.5M from Frosinone back in 2023. He's been very consistent, with Ferrarini as a (lesser abled) backup when he needs a rest. Recently, however, Zortea was out on injury and as I didn't register Ferrarini for Europe (because we have no homegrown players from the academy), I was looking for alternatives. Obregon is fairly capable of playing in the right back position as well, but he's needed centrally so we looked at the youth squad to see who we could potentially promote. And that's when I noticed Orlandi. Orlandi's by nature a left back, but he's accomplished on the other side of the pitch as well and as I'm playing with inverted wing backs, his left foot would not be a disadvantage there. Going by his attributes, he may actually be destined for a role in central defense, but for now we played him in the right back role and he's been doing very well there. The first team football also jumpstarted his progress, and it looks more and more likely we'll let Ferrarini go at the end of the season and give Orlandi a permanent first team spot.

Oh, and it can be devastating.

Yeah, I've seen it in other games as well (although not to this extent). It may also be in part down to your team becoming a bit more complacent after going a few goals up.