KlaaZ

Yep, tried to get a wide one working for ages but then a youtube video from the infamous @Rashidi got me thinking about this formation and it's working remarkably well. I started from his setup and made some alterations to better suit my team, et voila! I generally actually only adapt to formations with two strikers and an attacking midfielder, as they always cause me issues otherwise. In that case, I'll pull one midfielder to the DM slot and play the other one in front of him.

Quite possibly the most efficient game I've ever had.

Didn't know him to be honest. Would have been interesting to see, but I had no transfer budget for two years and by that time it would have been pointless as I brought in Lucca for 3.3M.

Will post an update here on my Parma save (currently in feb 2027) once my season is finished. Never managed in Italy except for FM 2014 (I think), where I spent two years at Roma in a journeyman save that took me from Belgium side OHL to PSG, then Sao Paulo and finally the Roman giant.

Transfer news It's January, and that means more wheeling and dealing! A few players leave the club. Mendy was unhappy with his playing time and goes to Mexico to try his luck, he joins Tigres in a 10M deal. Iversen moves back to Denmark, where he'll play for FC Kobenhavn. Three notable players leave the club on loan to further their development: Togni (Rapid Vienna), Bellander (Rosenborg again) and Soto (Rosenborg again). Rojas also returns from loan but will stay at the club and get some game time off the bench. We strike on transfer deadline day deal after missing out on two potential attacking midfielders. We were in talks with a young guy from Feyenoord who joined Liverpool instead, and a very interesting Chinese player from Bayern who opted for Wolfsburg. In the end, we settled for Pablo Torre, who comes over from Barcelona in a deal that can run up to 27.5M.

Beyond words.. Should have scored five or six times at least.

Go for Boavista!

Transfer news One more signing on the deadline day. We bring in a young German defender on loan to provide some cover, with an optional fee which we might activate if he makes enough progress.

What squad status did you promise him on contract?

Genuinely odd start of the season.

In other news, first time I see this happening.

Absolutely, and quite strangely there is zero interest in him (and the transfer deadline is fast approaching). I was worried to lose him after just one season but it looks like we'll hang on to him at least until the winter break. He still doesn't want to sign a new deal though.

Transfer news At the eve of our first league game, at home against Sampdoria, most of our homework is done. On the outgoing side, we offloaded Seoane and Henrique, both end of contract in the summer of 2027. The former moves to Dynamo Kyiv for 2M, the latter back to Brazil where he joins Internacional in a deal running up to 10M. We also finalize a lot of outgoing loan deals. Our two Colombian kids are still at Nacional until the end of 2026. Apart from that, we loan out (apart from a few academy kids) the following players: Ali Kadhim (Brescia), Manzanaro (Maccabi), Trier (Brondby), Angileri (Palermo), Mele (Reggina) and Guerin (Ajaccio). On the incoming side, we finalize two incoming signings. We finally bring in Frabotta from Brighton to rotate with Zagaritis on the left. And we bring in Bryan Cristante from Roma, 31 years old but a model citizen who looks great as a holding midfielder.

Transfer news Our first signing was one that we arranged in back in February. We bring Tommaso Pogeba, who moved to Germany in 2024, back to Italy for a hefty sum of 27.5M. He's got a lot of qualities, being a very all round midfielder with a great personality and will definitely be an improvement in that area. This also means that Seoane and Henrique, who are entering their final year of contract, will probably leave the club in the near future.

2025-2026: Season review Transfer news We finished one additional incoming transfer in January: We beat Inter to the signature of another promising Scandinavian. Bellander is a Norwegian midfielder currently playing at Rosenborg. We pay 5M to bring him in, and he'll play the remainder of the season at his former club on loan. Serie A We had a great first half of the season, but for one thing: We lost all of our games against the four contenders for a Champions League ticket (Milan, Juve, Inter, Lazio). This means that, despite being unbeaten in all the other games (and drawing only twice), we only sit in fifth halfway through the season. Luckily, with the arrival of Orsolini and a few tactical tweaks, we do better in the return. We even go on a 17 game unbeaten run (including one game from the first half of the season), with notable highlights such as a 4-2 trashing of Juve, a 1-0 steal in Milan and a very important 2-0 victory over Lazio which sealed Champions League football for us. We were even hot on the trail of Juve and Inter but an abrupt 2-0 loss in Torino put an end to that dream. A victory over Verona in the pre last game locked us in third place, and we undeservedly lost again champions Inter on the final day. To be fair, it's going to be very hard to break the top three down. Inter and Juve both had over 90 points this season, with Inter almost breaking the 100 mark, and they both scored over 100 goals, which is about 20% above their xG. In comparison, we also outscored our xG but only by seven goals. I've been wondering if this season would've been different with Lucca up front, but there's no point in dwelling on that. Coppa Italia Another great cup run ended in the semi finals with a very narrow aggregate loss against Milan. For half an hour, we were on our way to our second consecutive final but then a defensive blunder allowed them to equalize and just as quickly, it was all gone. Champions League We were drawn into a very tough group with Liverpool, Atlético and Salzburg. Two great home wins against the two favourites, a very spunky draw at anfield and two wins over the Austrians surprisingly had us win the group. We could even have gone unbeaten if not for conceding thrice in added time in Madrid. We then went out in the first knockout against Dortmund because we just couldn't find an answer to their 4312 narrow formation. Finances and facilities We're currently in a very healthy financial position with over 100M in the bank, mainly thanks to the European campaign and some very good transfer work (Lucca and Farias). Our training facilities are currently maxed out and we expanded our stadium to 28k seats. About the squad and performances I think we had two great transfer windows. Orsolini made an absolute difference, playing on the right in a narrow 4231 formation and averaging 7.79 in 16 league games. He scored eight times and assisted four. Obrégon was also a marked improvement at the back, and Mork recently established himself in the first team as a deep lying playmaker. All in all, our best deal was probably signing Katsamakas for 3M from Bayern. The kid has come up quite fast and although his season has been rather quiet, I think he's going to be a star.

Wrote up an entire season review without posting, come back half an hour later, all gone and overwritten by my last post in this thread.

Season's done, and I can sum it up in one screenshot.

Anderson's been very solid for me at Parma, picked him up on a free as well I think. Can fill a lot of attacking roles, performed very well as a CM(A), MZ and SS.

18.5M, his release clause. And you are partially correct. If I understand it correctly (because it's still vague to me), I can have up to three non-EU players at the end of June. If I have three non-EU players at that point, I can sign up to two additionals, one on the condition that he's got five international caps or has been called up twice in the previous season, the other if a non-EU player leaves (except to another Italian club). The non-EU signings that I've done now are in regards to the future and will be loaned out until they can be registered.

Transfer news Some more outgoing transfer news after all. Hertha Berlin came in for Farias and he was incredibly interested (god knows why, they're 9th in the Bundesliga). We negotiated the offer to 50M up front, 11M in installments and 20% of his next transfer. Farias has always been a mixed bag. He's obviously a player with a lot of qualities, but he never really got it going and the fact that he kept reacting badly when I fined him for poor performances makes me believe that he had some underlying personality issues. Although we have plenty of squad depth, we use a bit of the money to bring in some extra quality on the wings. Riccardo Orsolini was on our shortlist when Bologna went down to the Serie B in 2024, but he opted for a move to Portugal instead. He never got it going there and was now available for 8.5M. We had no hesitation in signing him up. He's a very all round player who I'm sure will be very successful for us. We also sign up Jorge Rojas, a young Colombian, on a free after he left Junior. He's immediately loaned out to Atletico Nacional as we can't register him this season. Below, you can also find the screenshots of our other transfers.

Screenshots will follow later, can't upload them now for some reason.

Transfer news The January transfer window is upon us, and we've already completed a few deals. Balogh leaves for AEK as he's surplus to requirements, we receive 1.8M and 25% on any future sale. On the incoming side, we finalize three signings. Jair Soto joins us from Atlético Nacional and immediately joins them on loan again. At a fee of 650k, this is a relativeley risk free investment with the potential of a very good return indeed. We also sign an 18-year old central defender from Torino for 1.4M. Angileri will be offered out on loan to get some more match experience. And finally, our biggest fish. Mathias Staelens has been on our list for quite some time and we finally moved in. We met his release clause of 18.5M at Zulte Waregem, and he chose us over a bunch of mid table English teams. He'll rotate up from with Esposito, and Mele will go out on loan to get more game time.

Afaik you can also create mentoring groups in the youth squad.

CL group stage. We were the better team, went 0-2 up and had everything under control. Then a lapse of concentration in the 92nd, and I have no idea what happened afterwards. We just stopped playing.

Jesus... Never imploded like this before, in any version of FM.