mlpowell

It finalizes just after the Champion's League final. You can have your wage slider however you want up to that point and it doesn't matter. The other tip I remember seeing for La Liga saves was always push contracts to the start the next season, your salary cap is automatically compensated to account for them.

re: salary cap, I'm not sure it's actually recalculating based on revenue (as it should) at all - if you pour all your budget into payroll right before the announcement you get that much plus a little IIRC. If you try to keep payroll to a minimum (so players don't ask for more money) and forget to switch it over, you'll have a salary cap of a little more than your minimum payroll on the slider and wind up screwed the next season.

It's kind of like your assistant's suggested lineups - it's the Champion's League final, this is the time to give your third string goalkeeper a time to shine! The AI doesn't seem to be able to differentiate between a major continental league and a random second-tier cup.

re: 3, this is to force you to use the negotiation screens IMO. I get swamped with Championship clubs who offer $0 and 0%, they will almost always go to paying 100% the salary but never a dime on top. But then if I reject those the Belgian/Italian/French teams start coming around - they'll offer money but no salary. I can almost always push them to pay the initial loan fee plus 100% salary. The biggest trouble with loans is when clubs don't play your loanees even after promising starter/important player - there needs to be a coach blacklist that reminds you who's screwed you before. re:4, yes there's absolutely a benefit to U21 and reserves even after they're 18. They get more experience points (or whatever the internal mechanic is) for playing senior matches but they still grow. If you make CA visible you can see it - and in the youth setup, matches still matter as far as I can tell. An U21 or U18 player who's not put in a position on the tactics screen develops slower than one who does.

I'd like some kind of non-adversarial mechanics beyond the awful praise being a good boy stuff. I've got a 21-year old striker I signed when he was 18, he's been my #2 for two years, now has 12 international caps and could start for most clubs outside the biggest. I wish I could have a dialogue to ask him if he wants me to be open to selling him to a club where he can start (explaining that he's stuck behind a 24 year old Ballon d'Or winner), instead of waiting for a contract renewal and then throwing a fit because I won't make him a starter. Actually, 99% of the interaction mechanics are too adversarial - I pour points into man management/being a motivator, never yell at halftime and only remember to criticize bad performances sometimes so I end up with "very close" relationships with almost all my players. Why does every contract impasse or reaction to a lowball offer have to be WW3?

This continues to happen to players when they come back from loan. I know in responses to these issues SI says 'the player isn't actually unhappy about playing time' and it will catch up, but I've had three who complain about wanting to leave because they've been denied the chance to play first team soccer. One went on loan, came back and went into the first team in Portugal. Started 13 league matches, 10 cup matches, subbed on 3 more. Agreed playing time is squad player, has never shown more than youngster even at the start of the next season.

A more rational transfer system. One I just dealt with a minute ago - snaked Gvardiol from Man City for 77 million because of financial difficulties. Won the Liga Portugal and Champion's League with him. Arsenal comes in during the summer and offers 30 million and some add-ons. I countered with 125 million - a fair value based on what I could spend to replace him and make a profit on his initial transfer fee - they, of course, packed their bags. He's mad that I didn't accept the 30 million. Wouldn't accept any asking price over 60. It's not realistic that a player who knows he was purchased for 77, morale is superb in general and just won the CL would expect a club to take a major loss on him after a season. I don't mind AI lowballs and trying to unsettle players, that's sort of vaguely realistic but way too often I get players mad that I won't sell them for a loss even though we're winning and all other indicators are that they're happy. I've just stopped agreeing to asking prices and started using the editor to remove unhappiness after I tell them they've blown it. Cheating is the only way to work around the broken transfer system sometimes.