[FM13] Paris Saint-Germain F.C

[TAYLORSAFC]

Has anyone else game started with no transfer funds even though there is 70m in balance or is this maby a bug? Also noticed that there was no money transfers at all in the league after my 1st game all deals were frees or loans surely this cannot be correct

[MrSundlofer]

When you start a new game, click "Allow First Window Transfer Budgets" in Advanced Options.

[TAYLORSAFC]

Ah ok cheers will give that a go

[DPalmer5059]

Wondering why this thread isn't as active as it was last year. Anyway here's my plan as manager which will differ from everyone else wanting to buy the BIG NAMES in football. I will be investing in young French, African and South Americans and hopefully make a dent in CL buy buying the occasional BIG NAME.

[Malobali]

What a beautiful and well documented presentation of PSG !

Thanks mate

[Herrjensen]

What an amazing thread Superb structure.

Makes me want to start a PSG save. Will do it when I've settled into my Arsenal save and this will come in handy!

BTW is it me or is Sakho a bit downrated in 13? In 12 he was one of my favourite DC's in the game. So powerful and still decent technical stats. Coupled him with Agger or Vermaelen at Arsenal and later Simon Kjær (also vastly downrated this year - though that's justified as he's been crap the past few years IRL).

[Cass]

Amazing opening posts..

I'm inspired to start a PSG save but really into 'you can't win anything with kids challenge' right now. What shall I do!?

[shummis]

Thank you for amazing thread

I have started playing with PSG. I use my 4-5-1 tactic. But have some problems with passing. My both wingers Menez and Nenê have a lot of misplaced passes. Nenê has just ~55% of succeed passes. At the beginning I set short passes, after it didn't work, I set direct. But it doesn't work neither. Have you some suggestions?

A few players also have problems into blending the team. But I think there is nothing to do much to solve that. Just need some time to learn language for some players.

I was passive during summer transfer window. I didn't buy any players. Just wanted to see the weaknesses of a team till winter. Right now all players look quite good but I think I will need to strengthen DL and DR positions. Do you have some suggestion of good players?

[MrSundlofer]

My both wingers Menez and Nenê have a lot of misplaced passes. Nenê has just ~55% of succeed passes. At the beginning I set short passes, after it didn't work, I set direct. But it doesn't work neither. Have you some suggestions?

Do you want them to be a part of the build-up play? Set the tempo to slow and instruct them not to run with the ball and not to make forward runs. This will result in more players for them to pass the ball to. However, I suggest you instruct them to be two very attacking wingers. Both are capable of running with the ball at speed and dribbling past players, and creating goalscoring opportunities for your striker.

A few players also have problems into blending the team. But I think there is nothing to do much to solve that. Just need some time to learn language for some players.

Exactly!

...but I think I will need to strengthen DL and DR positions. Do you have some suggestion of good players?

Mathieu Debuchy maybe?

[shummis]

Thank you MrSundlofer for your suggestions. I will set the tempo to a bit slower to see that will happen

In my game, Barcelona player Alex Song is in the transfer list due to his request. The worth of the player is 15mil€ and Barcelona asks 24mil€ for him. Is it worth buying? I don't have a lack of midfielders but he is not an ordinary one. What do you think?

[MrSundlofer]

...Barcelona player Alex Song is in the transfer list due to his request. The worth of the player is 15mil€ and Barcelona asks 24mil€ for him. Is it worth buying? I don't have a lack of midfielders but he is not an ordinary one. What do you think?

Yeah definitely! Alex Song is a quality player. But try to negotiate the asking price.

[Andrew!]

I bought Alaba to play on the left and he's been brilliant, if you've not considered him.

[Gdawg69]

How is everyone doing so far - anyone got far in this save?

Personally I have done relatively poorly - found this year harder than most. Which is refreshing for sure. Forced to think about things in more detail instead of palying in auto-pilot almost.

Played 1 and a half seasons so far - finished 3 points behind Toulouse in the first season, and currently find myself 8 points behind in February in the 2nd season. Although I do feel the team are playing better football, and have a quiet confidence that I can claw those points back.

I have been through several formations within this time (having had the master tinkering message twice lol) however I think I am settling on an asymetrical 4-2-3-1 formation. I am aiming to achieve a posessionally dominating passing game that create more 3+ CCC per game. Its hard work, and im not entirely sure i'll get there before I am sacked! (I haven't even won a cup yet because I was using those games for squad players and youths - french league is much harder than I anticipated).

On the plus side, I have just drawn against Barca away from home in the 1st stage knockout of the CL using a boxed 5-2-2(amc)-1 formation with a sweeper man marking messi solely.

Transfer activity has been pretty active in this time I guess. Major signings (through memory as I am not on my personal computer at the moment) have been:

Boschetti (sp) - Italian SW/DC

Contreaou (sp) - Real Madrid LB

Cani - Great defensive mid imo

Nainch....something or other - Great all round midfielder (bargain I IIRC)

Nani - meh, bought him because he requested transfer and my director of sport bid for him

Jadson - the older attacking mid (not the youngster mentioned in the thread earlier)

Anderson - same reason as Nani

Probably more but I can't think at the moment.

I got rid of, most notably, Menez ( i was playing a narrow formation for a long while and he was getting restless)

and will be losing the likes of sissoko & Bodmer et all at the end of this season as they don't figure in my plans.

To sum up - a very challenging, but hopefully rewarding game. Long way of comfortably challenging for the CL (which isn't good enough considering its my 2nd season imo)

[Herrjensen]

Just started my very own PSG on the basis of this thread Got a bit tired of my Arsenal save since I noticed with the Italian tax bug the clubs were leaking money and that bugged me. So fixed that and started with PSG as mentioned.

First signings I have in mind would maybe be M'Vila and also looking at Christian Eriksen. I have a weakness for the boy, even though I already have Pastore for that position. I have faith in Silva and Sakho (one of my favourite defenders in the game, so, so powerful) to be my DC pair of choice so will see later who else I could bring in. Might try and grab Alaba for the left side, and hopefully train him to be better defensively.

[shummis]

So... I have finished my first season with PSG. To start with, I bought nothing during the summer transfer window. I wanted to see my weaknesses. So, in winter I bought David Alaba for ~22mil eu, and Marouane Fellaini for ~25mil eu who was in the transfer list due to his request. They were very good signings. Unfortunately, Alaba couldn't play in CL due to registration, but he did well in Ligue 1. Fellaini brought more solidness and secure in the middle.

The season was perfect. To be honest, I expected a bit more difficulties. I won both Champions Cup and Ligue1. I had some worries at the beginning of the season. Tactic didn't work the way I wanted. But after a few changes and experiments it started to bring victories. The one thing I haven't achieved yet is winning the French League Cup. But it wasn't my priority. I had quite tough schedule on those days, so I let play my second squad and was defeated.

The screenshot of my way in Champions Cup. I defeated Bayer (5-4), Man City (4-2), Real Madrid (4-2)....

The final was awesome. The main purpose was stopping Barcelona attacking football and look for the ability to counter. We ended the game in the result 1-1. I was really scared before the penalty shot-out. I think Barcelona is the most awkward team to compete in it, due to it's players technique and experience. But I was really surprised with the result... You will see it in the screenshot.. Last but not least, we had a lot of problems in semi final and the final. In semi final Ibrahimovic couldn't play , the main our striker. In the final we hadn't almost all the midfielders: Pastore, Fellaini, Motta, Chantome, Bodmer. So Matuidi played as the MC the first time in the season.

Ligue 1 was easy championship. After 28 games it was clear that just miracle could help other teams to win.

About my squad. All the team played really well. You can see it in the pictures. The best players were my central defenders Silva, Alex, Sakho. They were unbelievable. Ibrahimovic played very well in the most important games. Javier Pastore did very good job on the pitch and was one of the most important players. I expected a bit more from Thiago Motta, he didn't deserve the place in the my squad.

So, that was my first season

[JD nawrat]

Started a PSG save tonight. Interesting and should be fun, looking forward to this.

Spent a whopping £79M, selling a total of £20.5M worth of players.

Antoine Griezmann - £21M

Yann M'Vila - £15M

Younes Belhanda - £15M

Kurt Zouma - £20M (+ Sylvain Armand)

Jetro Willems - £7.5M

Tried to sign as many French (or at least part-French) players as I could but hit a stumbling block with LB so went with Willems. Played my first few games and I'm doing great. Very early of course.

AC Milan, Schalke, PSG, Ludogorets

Relatively tough group but I'm confident I'll make it through.

EDIT: Won my first 6 games relatively easily, conceding a grand total of zero goals! Really enjoying this save. Highlight of the season (so far) is a 3-0 victory at home to Lyon, where Griezmann scored twice. Also beat Ludogorets 4-0 in the first CL round, meaning I'm top of the group with Milan second. They beat Schalke in Gelsenkirchen so I'm in with a fantastic shout of getting through now, providing Milan don't trip up at home to Schalke and I treat the Parc des Princes as a fort (I'm almost 100% sure i'll do this).

Enjoying this save a lot so far.

[Ty]

You stole my idea JDownie (well, kind of ).

After work tonight I will be starting my PSG save on the new patch. I don't like normal style games with massive teams, so I am doing the following;

- Signing only French players (no exceptions)

- Phasing out the existing foreign players over 2 seasons (I want Pastore, Ibra, Silva etc. all gone before 2014/15 season begins)

- Concentrate on and develop as many academy players current and future ones as possible

- Win the league with all French team

- Dominate the French national team with PSG

Should be fun, I love a game with a few rules and I feel I could do them at a club with PSG!

[JD nawrat]

Stop copying me Ty!

[Ty]

I have planned on this for ages as well Why you copy me JDownie. WHY!?!

Some great French talent on FM13 as well (like Belgium), so will probably have some fun with this. Hope to see what I can get out of Ibra for one season as well

[Anxiietyyy]

I hope you two don't mind if I follow suit...

[JD nawrat]

You do not have my permission

Just lost my perfect defensive record. After going the first eight games without conceding, we finally lost it to none other than Milan in Milan. Very disappointed. I am beating them 2-1 currently, though. Hopefully we can beat them to punish them for scoring!

edit: wow... winning 2-1 at HT. lose 4-2. this is shocking.

In fairness I had started only 3 players for this game that I would usually start (M'Vila, Sirigu, Ibra) but still... absolute shocker. Obviously my words at half-time haven't worked at all.

[Guesty6]

Struggling with PSG, played 17 games and lying a lowly 8th! Cannot seem to find a tactic that gets goals consistantly and hit with a number of injuries.

Signed Alaba and M'VIla, also got Demba Ba joining in January, what formation are others using?

[Harryseaess]

What a thread this is, one of the best club threads I've seen, well played.

I'm currently managing PSG in 2026, took over about 2 years ago. Got a pretty dominant team full of mostly regens, the only ones that aren't are Kurt Zouma, who is still fantastic and James Rodriguez.

[paulie135B]

Great thread, currently half way through 1st season playing a typical 4-3-1-2 sirigiu, jaillet/van der wiel, silva, sahko, neil taylor, verratti, matuidi/wanyama, bodmer, pastore, gamiero and Zlatan. All playing well bar zlatan just can't get him scoring, we are hovering between 2nd and 3rd. Sold lugano, maxwell, motta, lavezzi, sissoko and alex. Great game but its harder than it looks

[Astrix]

I just lost out on Neymar

Had a transfer worth 51million accepted in summer 2014 and he's gone away and joined Barca.

Dortmund want 82 million for gotze and tottenham want 90 million for bale.

Ba, Gameiro, Ibrahamovic are on the way out

should got around 35million for all of them.... dont know if it will be enough for gotze though!!

Edit

P.S.V are offering 12.5m straight up for Ibra... i hope he goes! Newcastle are paying in future installments

4.5m initial offers for Ba from Gladbach and some other club.... bad ol' buzz

and gameiro... well he's out the door soon enough.

[danm2501]

Started a game as PSG yesterday, and looking forward to my first foray into the French leagues. PSG seemed a pretty solid choice, good squad, money to burn, and some talented youth. As soon as I started it was time to delve into the Transfer market, and boy have I picked up some talented players. I was content bidding for my usual shortlist, Peruzzi, Yttegard Jenssen, Jovetic, but then, a very interesting news story popped up. Manchester United had a bid of just £27m accepted for Gareth Bale. This deal I could not miss out on, and went ahead and tabled a £25.5m bid for the Spurs winger. That bid also got accepted, and then it was a contract battle, which, to my surprise, considering United had beaten me to Neymar on a previous save, went in my favour. I managed to pick up Gareth Bale in the first transfer window for a reasonable sum, pretty delighted.

I then sealed moves for talented right-back Gino Peruzzi (despite competition from a certain FC Barcelona), tenacious midfielder Ruben Yttegard Jenssen, and am currently in the process of buying Stevan Jovetic and Abel Hernandez, but, unless I manage to sell Sissoko, Jallet and Chantome, I imagine I'm going to have to end up picking between the two.

With my current squad, my favoured XI is as follows:

---------------------------Sirigu---------------------------------

--van der Wiel------Silva-----Sakho-----------Maxwell---------

----------------------Motta-----Veratti-------------Bale----------

-----Lavezzi--------------Pastore--------------------------------

----------------------------Ibra----------------------------------

Looking pretty tasty! Long term I'm going to be looking at another defensive minded midfielder, so maybe someone like M'Vila, as I don't think Motta will be my first choice for too long. Then, I'd also like to get a new keeper, most likely Ter Stegen, and finally we'll need a long-term replacement for Ibrahimovic, so that's where Abel Hernandez will come in.

[vrig]

Starting a PSG save to blow off some steam when the penny-scrounging and overachieving with Everton gets too intense. I'm used to grinding out results with teams that have moments of "pretty" football on the break and loads of bullying off the ball. It should be fun to build a team that play "pretty" football, maybe even give Barca a run for their money

Had a look at Lucas Moura - gotta say he doesn't strike me as a £37.5m player. Does he come good for everyone?

[danm2501]

I certainly wouldn't have paid that for him, but he looks promising. He's only 19, has decent stats already, and my scouts believe he's definitely going to improve. Doubt he'll be in the First XI, but will be an excellent back-up, just a shame he's so ridiculously expensive!

[vrig]

I guess there's no point being rich if they can't be stupid too.

I'm thinking of going with a 3-4-1-2 to get the most out of the attacking players - namely Zlatan and Pastore. Trouble is no one in the squad is any good as a WM, right or left. Would be a dealbreaker for most sides, but for this one its just an excuse to dip into the warchest. I'll be looking for a relatively hard working wide attacking player, possibly one for each flank.

[danm2501]

Get Lavezzi on the right wing as an Inside Forward, he's ridiculously awesome. Half way through the 3rd league game, and he's already got 7 goals. 2 in the first game, a hat-trick in the second, and he has 2 in 35 minutes in the third. WAG.

[velvetsky]

finding this save tough - tactics seem to be my issue i think or squad not bonding!

[Gungner]

Started my first save in this years version as PSG, and what a blast I'm having

Signed Keisuke Honda from CSKA, which the fans and the chairman loved, plus it'll give me some good merchandise sales in Asia.

Went on pre-season tour in North America where I won 6 games and drew 1 to LA Galaxy. Ironically enough, it was Beckham who scored our single goal in that match on a freekick, giving us a 1-1 result.

First game of the league is coming up, will be updating when I'm a few rounds in.

[Gungner]

David Alaba signed for left-back. Looking good.

Won my first league game 1-0 at home to Lorient. Not convincing though. Far from it.

Then I struggled to even get a 2-2 draw away to Ajaccio.

My team sucks. Probably too many ego's there.

[velvetsky]

really enjoying this save so far

starting to pick up some form after bringing in Loris from Spurs to replace sirgu who wasnt playing very well!

brought in waynama from celtic to boss the midfield, Falco and suariez who were both on transfer list - zaltan seems to be injury prone on my save - as well as varane (Madrid) felliani evra (troublesome left bk spot filled) Simone Pepe - who is a utitily player

Zomua and Coruria have been bought for the 3rd season

Sold one or two deadwood and loaned out a few for experience

the key for me was not to just buy a "Dream team" but picking players with thought and room to build - with home grown players at heart

[Jogo Bonito]

This is my first time managing in France and I wanted to create a young, all-French team if possible. I'm usually a LLM and it's a nice change to be able to splash the cash. Pre-season wasn't great but we are solid and have won the first two in Ligue 1 without conceding.

I'm using 3 central defenders, with attacking width and defensive support given by my wing-back's. The midfield is flexible but currently comprises an anchorman, DLP and attacking midfielder. In attack I'm trying a target man and advanced forward combination but this may change.

Transfers in:

Teddy Mezague (Montpellier £140k) first team cover

Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle £7.5 million)

Etienne Capoue (Toulouse £13 million)

Olivier Giroud (Arsenal £22.5 million) expensive but I wanted a target man and aerial threat - sadly hit by a 3-month injury just before the league opener

Kurt Zouma (St Etienne £16.5 million)

Jeremy Matthieu (Valencia p/ex - Van der Wiel)

Neal Maupay (Nice £1.3 million compensation) one for the future and in the reserves squad

Anthony Lippini (AJ Ajaccio - loan fee £9k p/m) first team cover whilst I pursue other targets

Gaetan Charbonnier (Montpellier £3 million rising to £5 million) late addition due to Giroud's injury

Transfers out:

Nicolas Douchez (Monaco £2.5 million)

Siaka Tiene (Sporting Lisbon £2.2 million)

Sylvain Armand (Monaco £1.4 million)

Zoumana Camara (Montpellier £1 million)

Alex (Man City £4.4 million)

Gregory Van der Wiel (Valencia p/ex - Mathieu)

Lucas Moura (Arsenal - loan fee £250k p/m and future fee £12.5 million)

Javier Pastore (Arsenal £12 million)

The plan had been to move on Ibrahimovic and Lavezzi to bring in French replacements, but nobody is interested in them, even for £7 million. I offered Beckham out for free and on loan to remove his wage burden but no takers there either. I admire Thiago Silva but would like to reduce the wage bill and replace him with a Frenchman (so far we have failed on Rami, Varane etc). Maxwell and my two Italians are the only other 'outsiders to shift on.

I need a top quality (young) French keeper but so far £10 million hasn't been enough to get in to negotiations for Mandanda, Ruffier, Costil, or of course Lloris. Most of my other targets proved a bit expensive so I have parked my interest in them for now (Cabaye, M'Vila, Benzema, Gomis, Digne, Mavuba, Debuchy, Tabanou, Umtiti, Pogba, Corchia, Theophile-Catherine, Haidara, Niang, Stambouli, Nangis). Sanogo remains an option once he recovers from injury.

Hopefully by the winter window or start of season 2, I may have achieved my mission of having an all-French first team squad, made up of internationals and promising (real) youngsters. I know the likes of Pastore, Thiago Silva, Ibrahimovic and Lavezzi are decent, and you may wonder why I don't want to use them, but making PSG successful in this way gives me something challenging to aim for.

[ReggaeBwoy]

This is my first time managing in France and I wanted to create a young, all-French team if possible. I'm usually a LLM and it's a nice change to be able to splash the cash. Pre-season wasn't great but we are solid and have won the first two in Ligue 1 without conceding.

I'm using 3 central defenders, with attacking width and defensive support given by my wing-back's. The midfield is flexible but currently comprises an anchorman, DLP and attacking midfielder. In attack I'm trying a target man and advanced forward combination but this may change.

Transfers in:

Teddy Mezague (Montpellier £140k) first team cover

Moussa Sissoko (Newcastle £7.5 million)

Etienne Capoue (Toulouse £13 million)

Olivier Giroud (Arsenal £22.5 million) expensive but I wanted a target man and aerial threat - sadly hit by a 3-month injury just before the league opener

Kurt Zouma (St Etienne £16.5 million)

Jeremy Matthieu (Valencia p/ex - Van der Wiel)

Neal Maupay (Nice £1.3 million compensation) one for the future and in the reserves squad

Anthony Lippini (AJ Ajaccio - loan fee £9k p/m) first team cover whilst I pursue other targets

Gaetan Charbonnier (Montpellier £3 million rising to £5 million) late addition due to Giroud's injury

Transfers out:

Nicolas Douchez (Monaco £2.5 million)

Siaka Tiene (Sporting Lisbon £2.2 million)

Sylvain Armand (Monaco £1.4 million)

Zoumana Camara (Montpellier £1 million)

Alex (Man City £4.4 million)

Gregory Van der Wiel (Valencia p/ex - Mathieu)

Lucas Moura (Arsenal - loan fee £250k p/m and future fee £12.5 million)

Javier Pastore (Arsenal £12 million)

The plan had been to move on Ibrahimovic and Lavezzi to bring in French replacements, but nobody is interested in them, even for £7 million. I offered Beckham out for free and on loan to remove his wage burden but no takers there either. I admire Thiago Silva but would like to reduce the wage bill and replace him with a Frenchman (so far we have failed on Rami, Varane etc). Maxwell and my two Italians are the only other 'outsiders to shift on.

I need a top quality (young) French keeper but so far £10 million hasn't been enough to get in to negotiations for Mandanda, Ruffier, Costil, or of course Lloris. Most of my other targets proved a bit expensive so I have parked my interest in them for now (Cabaye, M'Vila, Benzema, Gomis, Digne, Mavuba, Debuchy, Tabanou, Umtiti, Pogba, Corchia, Theophile-Catherine, Haidara, Niang, Stambouli, Nangis). Sanogo remains an option once he recovers from injury.

Hopefully by the winter window or start of season 2, I may have achieved my mission of having an all-French first team squad, made up of internationals and promising (real) youngsters. I know the likes of Pastore, Thiago Silva, Ibrahimovic and Lavezzi are decent, and you may wonder why I don't want to use them, but making PSG successful in this way gives me something challenging to aim for.

Giroud and Sissoko only moved to Arsenal and Newcastle in the summer. How did you manage to sign them? So unrealistic.

[Jogo Bonito]

Agreed it was unrealistic (although if you are old enough it could be that he is the modern-day Clive Allen). Maybe that is why the Giroud fee was so high? Anyway, payback was delivered with a 3-month long injury in pre-season.

The Sissoko one doesn't make sense at all - especially at that fee - to be honest. On the unrealistic theme, having no takers for Ibrahimovic or Lavezzi at £7 million each isn't very realistic either.

I managed to sign a keeper on deadline day - Mandanda for £10.75 million. Defensively we are OK but I haven't got anything right in the attacking sense yet.

Edit: After eight games in Ligue 1 we have scored eight and conceded three (currently in 4th). I think it's very clear where I need to improve!! Hopefully Giroud will be back soon to make a difference.

Champions League form is better, 0-0 at home to Chelsea and a 1-0 away win in Dortmund. Goals galore again

[Jogo Bonito]

Apologies for the double post, has everybody said au-revoir to PSG?

I am now in April 2013, nearing the end of season 1. After 32 games in Ligue 1, PSG are second, two points behind LOSC Lille who have deservedly been leading from the start. The only exceptions to that being two occasions in March where we played before them and held an overnight lead because of it. We exited the Champions League in the first knockout round, beaten by Man City (0-0 at home and a 2-1 reverse in the second leg in Manchester).

My French revolution however would make even Monsieur Pardew proud. In the January window I was able to arrange the further exits of Thiago Silva (£16m), Lavezzi (£9.25m), Sirigu (£4.4m), Ibrahimovic (£9m) and Thiago Motta (£2.7m). The only overseas first-teamers left now are Maxwell, Verratti and Beckham. As I don't play them, hopefully the first two will move on in the summer, and Beckham's crazy earnings will soon be off my wage bill when his contract ends.

The winter window saw me add a second top-class French keeper (Ruffier, £10m from St Etienne), plus Ciani (£1.9m from Lazio) and a slightly expensive Digne (£9m from Lille). I also loaned in Djibril Sidibe from Lille as RWB cover, and Haidara on loan from Newcastle at a stage when I had eight first teamers out with injury including all 3 players capable at LWB.

The 3 centre-back system has enabled us to remain solid and the attacking side took some time to get working but is adequate at the moment. Gameiro scored 9 early goals, and was my only regular scorer whilst Giroud was out for the first 3 months. My targetman (Giroud) only netted one in his first 8 or 9 games before going on a great run (now has 14 in 21 league games). Gameiro went 18 games without a goal but has just ended that famine with a treble in our last game, a 5-1 away win at Troyes.

I'm optimistic for next season even if I cannot overtake Lille to win the league. A top striker to partner Giroud (Gomis if I can't attract Benzema) and another central midfielder (Martin or Cabaye perhaps) should be all I need to compete on all formats next season. If I can't keep Sidibe I may try to tempt Corchia from Sochaux as a second RWB (or Debuchy).

Current squad & formation:

GK: Mandanda/Ruffier

CBR (D): Zouma

CBC (D): Ciani

CBL (D): Sakho

WBR (S): Jallet (Sidibe)

WBL (S): Mathieu (Digne)

DLP (S): Chantome

CM (D): Capoue/Matuidi

AM (S): Sissoko (Menez)

ST (AFA): Gameiro

ST (TMS): Giroud

The other subs are usually Mezague (CB) and Charbonnier (ST).

Edit: We managed to maintain our consistent form whilst Lille drew 6 out of their last 7, leaving PSG to clinch the title with one game to spare, 6 points clear of Lille.

The triumph was definitely down to a solid defence, conceding only 9 at home and 11 away in Ligue 1. Giroud was the main man in attack, finishing with 16 goals from 21 league games. Gameiro (12 in 34) and Sissoko (9 in 35) were the only others to score more than five (infact only one centre back and my two wing-back's scored more than two each). I also pocketed the princely sum of £14k for having the best disciplinary record in the league (despite aggressive tackling and closing down often).

[Hoarau]

No you're not alone, I'm gonna get my yearly PSG save underway tonight. I still find it uncomfortable and almost awkward to manage the kinda funds PSG now have, I must say I'm slightly disappointed to have the "Beckham" circus in town...but at least it won't last forever.

I like your mandate Jogo Bonito, not sure ill follow it too similarly as I'd like to revert back to a former outlook and sign promising home grown and hotly tipped foreigners ala Ronaldinho, Arteta & Anelka. Ill slowly fade the "Hollywood" signings like Beckham, Ibrahimovic and co.

I'm liking the look of partnering Zouma with Sakho, I'd also like to bring in Cabaye, Digne, Nasri, Varane & Benzema as my home front. I quite like the potential of Ocampos aswell as possibly recruiting Check Tiote to being the fear to Paris.

Looking forward to it, will post an update as to how pre-season goes.

[Jogo Bonito]

Cheers Hoarau, welcome to Paris!

I tried to loan Beckham out as he wasn't needed in game, but to no avail. As you say, his contract is up in the summer anyway. Selling the likes of Ibrahimovic & Thiago Silva freed up a load of cash and finances are looking good for the new season when I get there (£1.6 million p/w wages, and £116 million transfer kitty). As you say it does feel a bit unreal and almost too much, but it's a rare change for me as I never manage in the top leagues.

I still try to keep the wages reasonable. Excluding Beckham and the soon-to-be-sold Maxwell, I have four in the £60k-£70k category, three in the £50k-£60k category, three in the £40k-£50k category, and two in the £30k-£40k category. The rest are on sensible wages and I do pull out of deals if I don't feel comfortable.

On the incoming front, Newcastle are prepared to take £13.25 million for Cabaye now so he could be coming in. I looked at Nasri & Martin before, and may consider them again too. Souchaux were relegated but still want £11.25 million for Corchia so I will check other options for RWB. I might even make Djibril Sidibe's deal permanent and keep the cash if Corchia is too expensive.

Benzema or Gomis will be re-approached too and I should be able to get at least one of them to link up with Giroud. Other than that I don't need much more. I looked at Varane and Rami last season and may check on their current values, but my back-three of Sakho, Ciani and Zouma is fantastic, and Teddy Mezague (£140k from Montpellier) is an outstanding and reliable back up.

I just spotted that Zouma had the league's highest rating (7.71) from his 36 Ligue 1 appearances. In fact, six of my team were in the 'stars' selection (is that the players choices?) and eight in the Ligue 1 team of the season. The original six were Mandanda, Zouma, Sakho, Jallet, Mathieu and Sissoko (Giroud and Capoue were added to the second award). That's all of my defence in there (except Ciani who only joined in January) so you can see where my strength was! I'm quite proud of those achievements now that I have seen them.

I like your strategy too, going for some potential stars of the future. To please the Arabic owners I would wholeheartedly suggest Omar Abdulrahman (UAE) who should be available for about £450k. He is a potential star in the game and real world and I am sure the Qatari's would be pleased!

Best of luck and I look forward to reading about your progress!

[Hoarau]

Thanks for the welcome, I've play as PSG for many years, I've been a fan for several after attending a game it's just the drastic change in the clubs culture has unsettled me slightly. I was quite involved in the thread last year but it got to a point where I felt flat with the club. That however has changed this time round and I'm now going to use this to shape PSG into the side I fell in love with and build it how I feel comfortable with.

This has started out with 2 outgoings and a potential 3rd au revour..

Out :

Tiene

Armand

Next on the list is Thiago Motta who will either be heading back to the city of Milan with AC or to Madrid for Atletico. He's on a rather high wage, not really my style so much and he's nigh on 30.

Motta's departure stemed from my first signing, a rather expensive purchase espically after I criticised the current boards policy but I felt this was a key part of my plan for the club, also I will be using player sales to fund the signing so will hopefully be in the black overall for net spend come the end of the campaign.

So far in are :

Yohan Cabaye - £21m

Lucas Digne - £8m

Neal Maupay - £1.2m

My only other target is potentialy bringing in Bernard from Atletico Minerio in Brazil, I'm thinking of having Pastore & him switch positions from out wide to behind the front man constantly. It seems he'll cost a pretty penny so may have to work on unsettling him.

Jogo - How much are you looking to make from selling the likes of Ibrahimovic, Silva etc? I may keep Silva until I can get either/both Zouma & Varane, I'm hoping I can get a good season out of Lavezzi & Zlatan so I can move them on.

[Jogo Bonito]

Excellent, I see your passion for PSG is very real.

I like your ideas and similar to mine in many ways. On any save I always remove players over 30 (hence Douchez, Camara and Armand being unwanted despite their Frenchness), so I see why you moved on Thiago Motta. I was so keen to offload Zlatan, Lavezzi etc that I was prepared to accept much less than I needed to, but in the summer window even £7 million wasn't attracting anybody. I eventually sold them in the winter window for a bigger sum as it happens. For players under 30 I usually add a sell-on clause of 20% on profit.

My sales have so far been:

(Summer season 1) Nicolas Douchez (Monaco £2.5 million), Siaka Tiene (Sporting Lisbon £2.2 million), Sylvain Armand (Monaco £1.4 million), Zoumana Camara (Montpellier £1 million), Alex (Man City £4.4 million), Gregory Van der Wiel (Valencia p/ex - Mathieu), Lucas Moura (Arsenal - loan fee £250k p/m and future fee £12.5 million), Javier Pastore (Arsenal £12 million)

(Winter season 1)Thiago Silva (Man City £16m), Lavezzi (Juventus £9.25m), Sirigu (Udinese £4.4m), Ibrahimovic (Man City £9m) and Thiago Motta (Lazio £2.7m)

(Summer season 2) Verratti (Montpellier £7.5m), Maurice (Troyes £1.7m), Kebano (Bastia £500k). Lucas Moura should be off to Germany for £13m shortly after returning from loan at Arsenal, and I am waiting on offers for Maxwell.

I am in the summer ahead of season 2 now and got an offer for Varane down to an acceptable £22 million, but I pulled out when he was asking for wages over £90k per week - my highest earner is Cabaye who is on £69k p/w after arriving for £14 million. I also knocked Madrid down to £69 million for Benzema (my record fee in any FM version was the £22m I paid for Giroud here last season), but he wanted to double his £100k p/w wage to £200k p/w and talks ended. I may re-visit this again but like you I was finding this uncomfortable. However, as Lyon have so far refused up to £18.5 million for Gomis (last season they were accepting £16 million), I am still in need of a top notch French striker. These are the only two contenders so I am not sure how this will be settled!

In addition to Cabaye, the only other signings for me this summer have been:

Sebastien Corchia (£10.75m) who will eventually take over from Jallet at RWB ( I was unable to re-loan Djibril Sidibe and offers up to £3.5 million were rejected)

Yaya Sanogo (free) to join the likes of Maupay and Ongenda in the Reserves and continue their development

Massadio Haidara (non-contributory loan) returning again because I plan to recruit him permanently to share LWB duties with Digne if I release Mathieu at the end of this season

Apparently we made a profit of £192 million last season and although I still have more than £90 million to spend, I don't plan to use it all as I like to operate a sensible business plan. The possible striker purchase may change this, but that would be a one-off deal to see me through 5 years (Benzema) or 3 years (Gomis). On the negative side I am just about to start my pre-season tour to USA and have seen Matuidi, Sissoko and Giroud are all injured. Whilst I can cope in midfield, that striker situation is causing concern because Charbonnier isn't ready to be a first team regular alongside Gameiro.

[Hoarau]

Yeah you seem to have taken a rather large hit in terms of transfer fees recieved for some players. I'm hoping a good season will see me able to move on larger fees. I like your managing of the wage structure, I think ill be following a similar path with my signings and renewals.

I've sent out for scout reports on both Rodrigo and Victor Wanyama. I'd really like to bring in Sebastian Corchia as Jallet's long term replacement. That's my ideal defence eventually : Digne - Sakho - Zouma/Varane - Corchia, will cost though but ill maybe try for one of them per season. I contemplated bringing Mexes back to France for cover & experience at CB once I ship Alex out, a bit unsure though.

Also there's a young lad at Lyon I suggest you look at, a CB by the name I Umiti(sp?) looks very promising. As for your striker search have you looked at Benzia or a favourite of mine Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang? Could be worth a scout.

How is Ongenda progressing for you? I'm thinking of putting him in from the outset and let him get some game time.

What's your overall target/goal? You looking to win the Champions League with an all French side?

[Jogo Bonito]

Yeah I think those players could have been sold for more, but I wanted to do most of the clearout in season 1, which has been achieved. I just received £13m from Leverkusen for Lucas Moura and I am working through offloading the non-French reserves now (Momo Sissoko and Lugano back from loan etc).

Your targets seem sound to me. As I had several years in East Africa before coming to the Middle East (and likely to be back there soon), I am pleased to see you chasing a Kenyan neighbour! Isn't Mexes a bit old and slow now? I haven't looked at him so may be wrong. Ciani at £1.9 million could give you some value, whilst Teddy Mezague is a cheap, capable and content back-up.

I agree on Umtiti and was after him from the start of season 1. He can play LB/CB but they wanted too much for him and I took Mathieu in a swap for Van Der Wiel instead. The rest of your dream defence is already installed here, barring Varane due to his wage demands. I think I will stick with my current defenders for this season and look again next summer. There are a few decent young lads in the Reserves too that can step up to the back-up role that will be vacated by Mezague once Ciani hits the dreaded 30!

Benzia is on my radar but cheeky low bids were refused last season and I don't want to block Maupay and Ongenda further. They both scored plenty in the Reserves during season 1 (as did Sainrimat in the youth squad) so all of them seem to have great potential. Ongenda had a 10 minute cameo once last season for the first team but I didn't register Maupay for the top team until now. With the addition of Yaya Sanogo to that pool, I need more 'ready to go' strikers instead of upcoming talents.

Giroud and Gameiro are good enough but I am really short if one is absent. The plan is to use my new man alongside my TM (Giroud) with Gameiro from the bench. If Gameiro is absent I am currently using Menez in an obscure advanced right wing role and that works well with Giroud set to the left of the two traditional striker positions. The new man must also be decent in the air so that he can play the TM role if Giroud is absent for any reason.

On that point Madrid just accepted a revised £65m for Benzema, but he has signed a new contract there and now wants £300k p/w to join me. Madrid only increased him from £100k to £110k on his new deal so I don't think I am going to do that. Gomis bids have now reached £20 million and it's not even being negotiated so it's an interesting dilemma.

Aubameyang is Gabonese otherwise he would have been a real contender. I'm not lowering my standards to go with 'French second nationality' players like Moussa Sow, which means I may still have to bite the bullet with Gomis. Others on my shortlist are Mbaye Niang, Corentin John, Fode Koita, Nolan Roux, Djibril Cisse (too old), Fosseyni Cisse, Loic Remy, Sloan Privat and Andre-Pierre Gignac but none of them are exactly what I was after.

You're spot on, I want to try and win the Champions League with an all-French squad if possible.

[Gary_Parker]

I'm seriously going to have to consider going back to Paris for another game. In FM10/11 I used to play as PSG all the time. When they were a proper French club, rather than a millionaires playground. But reading both Jogo's and Hoarau's posts, I really fancy doing the same, selling the nonsense and bringing back a core group of players. (BTW Hoarau was the reason I started with PSG, I remember getting him on the cheap in FM09 when I was Rennes and he was outstanding in every game he played)

What are the youth prospects like in PSG now?

[Jogo Bonito]

It's a rare opportunity to use the cash in a way that isn't vulgar. Make them French, or bring through youth talents from Europe and abroad like Hoarau, or revert to your methods of previous FM series. To me it's not interesting at all to just go and buy the most expensive players in the world, but to others it might be (certainly the Qatari's like that approach).

In my opinion you have lots of youth prospects that could make the grade, but you can supplement that by picking up other club's youth talent if you wish too. The only downside will be that the board do keep mentioning to me 'lack of high profile signings', and the expectations are of course very high. You will have to balance that out Gary.

[Gary_Parker]

It's a rare opportunity to use the cash in a way that isn't vulgar. Make them French, or bring through youth talents from Europe and abroad like Hoarau, or revert to your methods of previous FM series. To me it's not interesting at all to just go and buy the most expensive players in the world, but to others it might be (certainly the Qatari's like that approach).

In my opinion you have lots of youth prospects that could make the grade, but you can supplement that by picking up other club's youth talent if you wish too. The only downside will be that the board do keep mentioning to me 'lack of high profile signings', and the expectations are of course very high. You will have to balance that out Gary.

I want to find another club to replicate my Southampton success. The plan there was to utilise the youth setup and become an all English club (Morgan Schniederlin and Gaston Ramirez were adopted Englishmen by me due to their ability). So I'd like to do the same with PSG and look to a.) become all French (or French citizenship) b.) play my 3-1-4-1-1 formation I've played at Southampton and c.) producing the majority of players through my youth system.

[Jogo Bonito]

I just took a look at the Southampton thread and there is some good stuff going on in there. I like your ideas and think you should give it a go here.

P.S. A very late and overdue thanks to Mr Sundlofer for creating this thread with such excellent detail:thup:

[Gary_Parker]

I think I will. PS, how does Rabiot look after the latest update, is he still the same promising midfielder he was when the game first came out?

[Jogo Bonito]

Rabiot has been kept in my youth team but will be moved up to Reserve level now. Looks very promising and without any specific training is valued at £3.4 million with 4-star potential. I am sure he will make the grade.