Selling players

[ajc28]

Apologies if this has been discussed elsewhere but just wondered if anyone has any good tips for negotiating when selling players.

I find that when I buy players I end up having to spend way over the supposed value the game gives them, often over double. Yet when I try to sell a player I can't manage to get an offer even 1 pound above value and end up letting them go for their value or sometimes even less so I don't get stuck with a player I don't want and at least get some money in.

So how can you maximise your selling price? If I put a player on the transfer list because I want to sell them, does that just tell the game that I don't want the player so noone will be prepared to offer me much?

[DSYoungEsq]

If I put a player on the transfer list because I want to sell them, does that just tell the game that I don't want the player so noone will be prepared to offer me much?

Yes, and it's easy to understand why. Let's analogize.

Suppose you own a car. It's an 8-year-old model, kinda small, 200K+ miles on it. You decide it's time to drive something worthy of your new status, having just landed a new job. So you look up via the Web the "value" of your car for resale, and you put an advert in the paper offering it for sale. I come along, see the ad, look at the car, look up it's purported value, then I ask myself, "Self, why is he selling this interesting old runabout?" And the answer comes back in a blinding flash of intuition: you need to get rid of it; you don't want it; it's not worth enough to you to keep. And being a bright chap, I realize that there is a cost to you if you do keep it: insurance, reg fees, maybe annual taxes, maintenance so it doesn't slag down into a heap of rust on your front lawn, etc. So I'm hardly going to offer you its full value, because I've got to figure you'll be plenty willing to deal to get rid of it and avoid these future costs.

By comparison, you own a flashy sports car, 8 years old but quite good-looking and running well. It's a desirable car, and you've got no real desire to part with it. But I come along and see it, and I've just GOT to have it; it's exactly what my daughter has been nagging me for for the last 6 months and I am tired of listening to the whinging. I know what the "value" of the car is, but darnit I need it now, and I know you probably have no incentive to part with it, so I am quite sure that, to induce you to part with it, I'm gonna have to pony up some added moolah. Perhaps lots of it. See the difference?

And we have to add to this the fact of demand for the player. If the player is likely to have plenty of clubs willing to buy him, his price is going to go up. But when you decide to list him for sale, it's likely because you've decided he's a dud, a poser, a Freddy Adu (ok, maybe that's harsh, but you get the idea). So the chance that he's gonna command a large amount of interest from other clubs is probably microscopically small, and them as ARE interested have transfer budgets they measure by the 100's of **£'s, you know? And once a player is in that level of ability, there's literally thousands of him lying around, ready to be snapped up by needy 6th division teams. He's become something of a fungible good at that point. So he's not going to command much in the way of a price, is he?

The trick, then, is to buy players who aren't in demand, either at their old club (they're sitting on the bench and kicking their heels) or at other clubs like yours, players who nevertheless have the talents you need to increase your team's ability as a whole. Then you can sell off your "wanted" players while they are still fresh and helpful, and, thus, valuable.

Unlees you are City, of course; then you just snap up whomever you want for whatever is asked, and end up having to sell 30 odd players at fire-sale prices.

[BurakUeda]

From my experience, if player has good potential, other teams will pay a lot more that his initial value.

Same for buying players. They will ask ridiculous amount of money when you want to buy their "indispensable" 18 y/o wonder kid.

Had quite a few youngsters cost me only 100~200K to sign, and couple of seasons later I sold them for 3-4M.

[BenjiDavidson]

DSYPUNGESQ - Sorry if i repeat anythign you said but the prospect of readin a post that long at thistime of night gives me a headache lol

But i have noticed myself that if you intend on buying a AI team's player you are forrced to pay way over the odd's for this player, take Ribery for example, every game i play he is valued at say 13m yet they negotiate to sell him to me for 29m yet when real madrid or barca inevitably buy him he costs 13-15m which is roughly his valuation, which seems bloody rediculous to me.

Geting an inflated transfer fee for your stars! now the only way i have found to get a massive transfer fee for a player is.... To not sell him, simply reject every offer that comes in for him, take fabio for example i bought him for my spurs side in the summer for 5m had a brilliant 1st 6 months with me, january comes i get a 8.5m offer for Real Madrid & others i refuse multiple offers, sumer comes after another brilliant 2nd half of the season for fabio and the offers start again which i repeatedly reject untill late august when they reach 18.5m andi eventually sell, had it happen with a few of my players where it spans over a couple of seasons! much like the cristiano madrid saga where it sems never ending but i eventually get the stupidly high fee's!

[Fen_]

Hi, There is a little trick to sell players, it doesn't always work, but i would say 80% of the time it does. It can be seen as "cheating" but to me it's balanced as the AI prices when you want to buy are usually quite high. Anyway here it is:

-First right click on the player you want to sell, and go to the availability screen (i play in french so not sure of the name) That's the screen where you can set a price, change squad status and transfer/loan list a player.

- Once you're there, set the asking price to 0 , click "transfert listed" , click "not avail for loan", and lastly click the lowest squad status (not needed). But do not offer your player yet

-Now you have to let a day pass in the game, so click continue , just one time, now go back to your player and have a look at the clubs interested in him, there should be quite a few ones. If there are more than 2-3 clubs, you can now offer your player for 0 in cash and 40-60M in 24 months for a star player, 20-30 for a first teamer, 10-15 for a good sub, do not add any clause. Now this is the "official" Trick, but sometimes i needed some cash and found out you can sell for cash too butyou won't get as much money, for me usually just under twice the value of the player. (it of course also depends on how many clubs are after him after the "continue"). Also don't get too greedy with poor players, as i tried too offload a young useless player, had some bids for 250k when he was estimated at about 80, i wanted to make more, ended up having him for the rest of the season, while 250K was a good price for him

With this trick, i was able to sell players like Mathieu Valbuena from marseilles 12 M euros cash, while his value was about 4.5 and he had played only 8-10 game in the season, or a young reserve player with no future valued a 100K for about 350K.

It can fail, mostly when the player you are trying to offload is getting old and has a Huge salary compared to the clubs interested in him, what i usually do then is to reset everything, re-integrate the player for a week or so, and try again. You also have to "test" the selling price, if you go too high you will get low bids.

Anyway this has helped me a lot to offload decent players for a very good value, and I have to give credit where it's due: A french player came up with this trick on Footballmanager.net: http://www.footmanager.net/forum/vendre-cher-un-joueur-t8329.html and this was for the 2008 version of the game, but it still works, as long as you dont get too "greedy". I think the 60 M for example is too much, didn't work for me, but i am yet to sell a big star so i am not really sure. Valbuena is a decent/good player but i'm quite happy getting 12 M for him. Of course the value you can get also depends on how long their contracts are, you won't get a lot if there is only one-two years remaining.

Hope this can help.

Have a nice day.

[TheRealMagpies]

I sometimes use media comments to gauge how many £'s i can fleece ai managers for.

Only works if there is interest in the player though.

Eg:

You bought a Player 4 years ago for £1,000

Player is currently valued at 85,000

On Transfer Settings page set his minimum value at 850,000

Wait for a media comment, regarding a possible transfer bids (this is the slow & patient bit), as they will contain a price other clubs are prepared to pay.

Comment 1 - Club will pay 425,000

Comment 2 - Club will pay 385,000

Comment 3 - Club will pay 415,000

Comment 4 - Club will pay 230,000

Now you have to decide what is the minimum you want for him.

Open the 'offer to clubs' page and enter a total transfer cost that does not exceed your chosen option (lump sum or lump sum + monthly)

Confirm sale.

If you set the value from comment 4, all 4 clubs will bid and you will get lots of other bids from other clubs.

If you set the value from comment 2, only 3 of the clubs will bid, you will still get extra bids from other clubs.

If you set the value from comment 3, only 2 of the clubs will bid, you may get several other random bids.

If you set the value from comment 1, only 1 of the clubs will bid, you may get a few additional bids from other clubs.