Hoarau

Harry Winks Position - MC Club at start - Tottenham Never used him before, managed to get him to the Scottish Championship last season where he guided us to a League and Scottish Cup double. Spurs gave me him for a second season and with some buttering up I managed to talk him into signing for us on a bosman, mostly due to Rangers now being his favourite club and me his favourite staff. For such a young man he has real composure on the ball, due to the lower standard of the football he really stand out with his class and range of passing. Even though he's only got influence of 12 he's the club captain, I feel he leads by his performances on the pitch. Great wee young player. Hoping he can continue to grow now we've secured him on a permanent. Should be easily recruited cause Spurs seem not to rate him too highly.

Finished my first season, won the Bundesliga which was a pleasant surprise. I'll do a decent update over the weekend but have to say preseason has went mental.. To start with Reus asked to STAY since no one would match my £95m asking fee, as I mentioned in a previous post my goal in this save was to challenge Bayern and bring home Gotze & Lewa, well after a double(crazy) bids from PSG for both Abumayang & Mkhitaryan, which combined to nearly £123m in total I managed to bring home one of my boys.... It was costly though, £105m... Lewandowski will lead the line in the forthcoming season!!

Worst thing ever, one of my kids manages to delete my save! Been trying to restore since dinner time, no joy. Committing the worst FM crime ever, restarting but pre-editing my ins and outs to the dates they happened in game.. I know for shame, but I was having an amazing save.

This just keeps getting better & better

Leeds United Season : 2018/19 Overview : What can I say, the difference in my mood when finishing this season and last season is hard to fathom, we really outperformed what I had expected us to. Our performance in the league was sensational, especially at home where it became somewhat of a fortress. We seem to be developing some what of a rivalry with Liverpool which is a shame as I have real life man-love for Jurgen Klopp! I have no idea how both those results happened against Liverpool both positively(6-1..) and negatively(4-0..really!?). We seem to have Man City's number, coming away this season with two 2-0 victories against them. Chelsea & Arsenal seem to be two teams we just cant get a result from, that's something i'll have to address tatically I think. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Transfer Centre : Ins & Outs - Ins(of note) : I'll start with what I consider my number 1 bargain in this save, Jack Wilshire for £4.9m has proved to be inspired, he's gave a bit more experience, at higher level at least, to our young midfielders. His vision is second to none and he can pick a pass on the turn better than most I've managed in FM. The less said about Chuba Akpom the better, read down some to see how he turned out, I faired much better with the signings relegated duo Haris Seferovic & Jack Grealish, not crazy fee's for our club easily returned in their respective performances. Seferovic was our number one striker and really lead the line chipping in with a great showing of 27 goals. Angelo Fulgini is a young French RB who can also cover at DMC, played well enough when called upon, may see more game time this coming season due to Byram's departure. Tiemoue Bakayoko was brought in from Roma to rotate with Kouyate, played really well and done his job, some interest in him at the end of the season so he could move on if the right bid comes in due to his value being near £23m. The next three seems to show somewhat of a unofficial partnership between ourselves and Monaco, Anwar El Ghazi, Paul Nardi & Thomas Lemar. Nardi is our back up keeper who really did shine when called upon, really good to have a reliable number 2. El Ghazi & Lemar where great additions adding explosiveness and creativeness we really haven't had before. This is a mass of newgens to boost the youth teams, some real gems in here that should provide us with a steady stream of first team players which could prove to be bargain prices. Outs(of note) : Ridiculous profit made on both of these lads, Elyounousi went due to me having my bid for Grealish getting accepted and Wolfsburg offering all the money upfront. The same happened with Tottenham, I was adamant I wasn't letting him go for cheap especially to a league rival, but when the stepped in and offered £45m straight upfront I had to accept, againwith me already finding a suitable replacement in El Ghazi for a exceptional fee he had to move. ----------------------------------- Player Performance : Squad - Overall i'm delighted, the boys really pulled up their socks this season and showed real potential, here's a glimpse of how we performed. Players Awards Player Stats I couldn't believe when one of the England squads was announced and this was what I saw, it's great to have a real homegrown spine to our squad and I'm consciously making transfer decisions based on this. My only regret is letting Sam Byram leave but after that offer from a club like Barcelona I couldn't make the player anymore unhappy, I'm kinda hopeful he gets unhappy there and we can bring him back eventually. : Managers Player Of The Season - Jack Grealish I could have went with any number of the squad here, Haris Seferovic being the main shout but I really feel young Jack ended up being one of our unsung heroes this season. After Aston Villa got relegated I scouted Jack to see what the damage would be and was pleased to find out Villa only wanted £10m, for me that was a no-brainer due to his home grown status, age and potential. He was a menace to defences, a real live wire, and has great delivery, especially at corners. Signing Of The Season - Anwar El Ghazi I have to agree with the fans here, after losing Lozano last year I was worried some of our flair and creativity would be clearly absent but after spotting this lad on the transfer list I sent for a scout report that came back stating he was a must buy, I checked his asking price and was shocked Monaco only wanted just over £7m. He didn't ask for ridiculous wages, south of £50k a week is great in my mind. 24 games - 7 goals - 6 assists, not a world beating haul but he settled in quickly and adapted well to our set up. Under Performer Of The Season - Chupa Akpom Brought in for £9m, sold for £5m. Poor all over, I thought I could mould him into a mini-Walcott of sorts due to some similar stats and having age and room to develop but he just couldn't take to any role. Other players started performing much better at the important times of the season so he became unhappy and asked to leave. He's since been sold on after a campaign of 11 games - 1 goal - 1 assist. Perhaps not enough time given to him but with the performances of others he just didn't seem interest during play. I hate not being able to develop someone I eyed as having talent. ----------------------------------- Pre-Season : Targets - I've not really got anyone in mind but I reckon there will be significant interest in some of players given their performances. i'm hoping for not too busy a summer as I don't want to break the squad up and have to spend the start of next season trying to gel a new squad together. Expectations - Not to get too carried away but I reckon we can push for the Champions League places again, hopefully progressing out of the group stages. I value the domestic cups quite highly, especially for the fans sake, so i'd like to give us a chance of picking one of them.

What is happening at Basel? Ha!

I'm nearly done with my preseason friendlies, it's taking longe than I thought due to more transfer business being done that I had intended... As I have done the unthinkable, some of you will not approve but I felt it necessary. Oh and I man-love wee Tarashaj, what a player.

I'll be reviewing the squad and doing all my preseason work tomorrow, as I've just got that out the way with Darmstadt, so hopefully I can get that done and throw a wee update up tomorrow evening and maybe even get a league game or two in. EDIT - unlucky Jogo, that sounds horrific, did you get a CB? Let me recommend Harold Cummings.

What a first league game! Anyone who knows me round here knows i'm always on the look out for a bargain, in most of my games, sans exceptions like Dortmund, I always love to find a free transfer or bosman before paying huge sums. I also use the loan market quite a lot at first while funds are tight. That's good to hear there is room to grow financially, I do the same as yourself were I load up the wages using any excess transfer funds I have. Yeah its only been over the last few versions of FM ive started to use the DoF, last years was the year I saw real improvement followed by this years being the most realistic feeling. I like it as different DoF's bring different players to your attention that I may not necessarily have on my radar.

Darmstadt 15/16 Overview : Preseason was a success, weak teams but it was good to gel the squad with some wins, boost morale. I'm sure I'll be on the end of a few spankings but i'm hopeful we can pick up enough points to survive. The squad has some good players already in it, really happy with the performances of Rausch, Heller & Stroh-Engel. Quite excited about the difference between Darmstadt & Dortmund, the struggle looks to be a long one but i'm sure it'll be rewarding in the long run. The funds at the club are very limited and seems like there wont be much investment, hows the money if you survive the first season? ---------------------------------- Transfer Centre : I'm going to use as many of the original squad as I can but there were obvious holes and weaknesses I needed to address, the depth was a worry so I've filled the squad out. I'm quite excited about some of the signings, my DoF brought in Traore and Pflucke which I was really happy with, both young energetic attacking midfielders, they'll give us an edge we didn't have. Jose Valencia I've had in other saves and he's explosive, can turn a game and grab an all too vital goal. Another player I'm excited about is Harold Cummings, a young CB from Panama who has the potential to be a real solid Bundesliga defender. Ins & Outs -

Dortmund 15/16 Overview : I was intending to approach this season as a building campaign but we've started well and we're keeping pace with Bayern, after beating them I feel if we can keep on this track we can stand a good chance of sneaking a first season title! It's been a tough preseason with both Reus & Kagawa approaching me asking to leave for Champions League clubs, I managed to talk Kagawa down and he seems content to stick with us but Reus couldn't be reasoned with. Arsenal & Man United came in with terrible bids which I rejected, this of course made him even more unhappy but i'm adamant if I have to let him go it'll be on my terms and for a astronomical fee. The window shut without any further bids, Real Madrid & PSG are interested in him as we approach the January window, so we'll see how it goes. My other goal apart from the obvious(compete domestically and Europe etc) is to try and bring back Lewandowski & Gotze, it's gonna be tough to get Lewa I know but I've seen Mario get unhappy in other saves so that's my main mission. ---------------------------------- Transfer Centre : I hadn't intended to do too much business, options up top weren't ideal and I had intended to play PEA out wide until his form in the pre season friendlies made me change that plan. With only £10min the starting kitty my options were limited, that was until I made a couple of sales and also requested more money in the wage budget, which I told them was gonna be used to keep our star players from leaving. I promptly adjusted the extra into the transfer fees to give me som more room to manoeuvre. I felt I had to make these moves this season due to other teams putting bids in for players I had on my shortlist, I couldn't miss out on a couple of these. Ins & Outs - Ins(of note) : Papa Lahat Diakhate A young African central midfielder, hoping he can be our Yaya of sorts. Breel Embolo One of my main targets when I started this save, a real wonderkid in the sense of the word. Can play anywhere along the front line which is great, will eventually either play as our AF or SS with the gentleman below. Gabriel Barbosa Again another lad i'd eyed up before starting the save, he's destined to be our main frontman, another outstanding potential with the added bonus of attracting enough attention he could fund the return of Lewa or Gotze. Julian Berndt Transfer listed on deadline day! With Reus all but decided he's leaving us I thought there's no way I could miss out on a top level replacement. All the potential in the world to become heir to Marco's throne. Outs(of note) : Adrian Ramos - Tottenham £7.75m Moritz Lietner - Stuttgart £1.3m I let Ramos go due to him not really being my ideal front man, yes he has decent physicals but with PEA and my new recruits I didn't see him getting any chances. Lietner was just dut to his development stagnating in both real life and in game, a few versions ago I had real success with him but he has key attributes just not there. ----------------------------------- Competition Review : Bundesliga - Doing better than I had originally thought we would, went on a 10 game unbeaten streak which ended horrendously against bitter rivals Schalke where they won 3-2. This was a tough game to loss as the fans really value games against that lot.. I made up for it a few games later by clawing back some pride(and points) by defeating FC Bayern 2-1 at home. A great result and a very confident people performance. ----------------------------------- Player Performance : Squad - Really happy with PEA, as I mentioned I had intended to play him as a pacey winger tearing fullbacks apart but with my current set up he's hanging on the shoulder of the CB's and seems to always find space, he does however waste a number of chances in front of goal but that's to be expected with some of his stats in the position. Some special mentions go out to my project for the season Felix Passlack, I mentioned last time out I'm hoping to develop him into a sort of "Reus-clone", but of course not as all conquering. He's been really good in his limited apperances, 10 games - 1 goals - 4 assists. Henrikh has weighed in with 9 goals in 21 games which is impressive from my point of view cause I keep switching his position and role. My main man is Gundogan, 18 games - 4 goals - 8 assists, those stats might not be that impressive to some but it's what I see during the games, the lad runs the show and really does have a hand in everything, I really wish there was a stat to keep track of the player who passes the ball to the person who gets the assist because if there was Ilkay would be in double figures easily! ha!

Again so vague with the names lol! Makes your updates all mysterious.. That's was precisely the problems I had with both Mandanda and Nkoulou hence why I had to let them go. I manage with the ethos of an unhappy player will not disturb the rest of my squad so as soon as it affects morale they have to go. Team morale and player happiness is just to important a commodity in FM these days that it can cost you points if they dip. I'm just at the start of season two with OM so I'll stick up a wee update soon.

Cheers Jean_Luc, this thread really is a great read, awesome work man. I'm actually sticking with the squad that's here, I'll supplement it to give us some depth. I'd never heard of Valencia until Welsh recommend him in the Leeds thread, he's a handful so hopefully he can give us something different. I'm playing with a lone frontman and two wide attacking wingers, so Valencia's pace will combine well with Heller and Rausch, that's a packet front three to lead our counter attacks. Is there anyone in particular I should be looking to sell early to either free up wages of get some transfer budget in?

After getting bogged down with too many saves I deleted all but 4 & have just started a 5th with this gloriously fun club. The thread really makes a save for me and after getting bitten the same way with Leeds & Grasshoppers this thread sold me. Only played three preseason friendlies, haven't sold anyone but I'm massively scouring for bodies. I've made one signing so far, Jose Valencia comes in to add real pace and cutting edge I felt lacked in the front line. I also took the chance to reshape the back room, bringing in Andress Brehme as DoF, Gerd Muller as a coach & Johan Mjailby as asst manager. I also added some other staff I'll post about when I do a proper update once the transfer window closes. I've got a save with Dortmund(I have man love for Klopp & Reus, aswell as a mission to bring Gotze back)currently aswell and it's a real chalk and cheese difference with the two. Love the Bundesliga!

What a thread. Just read from top to bottom.. Grasshoppers have just hit top spot on my save to do list! I've got a few saves on the go but thinking of ditching one.. This could be my next project.