FM16 - French Football - Joie de vivre

[bestbrother]

The excitement for season 4 is firmly on the field, again we have worked our magic in the transfer market to bring in big time players for little initial outlay... BUT and its a big BUT this year, alot of 50 league appearance clauses are going to kick in this season and a rough guess would say that £300m (minimum) is owed

Add to that our 2.5m weekly wage bill and things could well get a bit tricky for those running the club. A tycoon takeover is needed in reality, but as long as I can spend, ill be loading up the squad as much as I can.

On to that, this is how we will start the season (bar additions/subtractions in August):

GK

Asmir Begovic

Kevin Trapp

DF

Hidde Ter Avest

Marcos Rojo

Ramiro Funes Mori

Emanuel Mammana

Ignacio Abate

Javi Manquillo

Achraf Lazaar

MD

Prince Oniangue

Sebastian Rode

Aleix Vidal

Kwadwo Asamoah

Fernando

Steven Defour

Charles Aranguiz

Rodrigo Bentancur

Zakaria Bakkali

Fabian Delph

Ladislav Krejci

Mateo Kovacic

Jake Wilshere

AF

Jese

Nicola Sansone

Stevan Jovetic

Wayne Rooney

Wilfried Bony

Christian Benteke

Not a bad bunch for a team like Reims

EDIT

OK so ive been tempted into selling, Aleix Vidal goes to Juve for 30m, plus another 8 in clauses. Hidde Ter Avest to Atletico for 21.5m and Achraf Lazaar to Dormund for 24m.

I will look to add another defender but we have versatility to cover those losses.

EDIT2

Been sucked into a mini rebuild having looked at the squad. Krecji (5.75m) and Sansone (3.8m) have both gone. Coming in so far we have Elneny from Arsenal, this gives me room to shift a midfielder probably Defour and/or Aranguiz.

And as im sat here, Aranguiz goes, just 1m to Lens but it prevents his 50 game clause coming into affect and we save a fortune on his salary. Defour leaves for nothing but it shifts his salary. In comes Lazar Markovic, he made his way to Real and without game time, we snagged him for... yeah, nothing upfront!

[bestbrother]

Season 4 has been ruined in just 1 month of poor form.

We started by making the Coupe de Ligue Final, but then it went downhill and fast.

3 draws and 2 defeats in 5 league games - puts us now over 10pts adrift of PSG

A home loss in the Coupe de France to Toulouse, ends our hopes of defending the competition

A dismal 5-2 aggregate loss to Southampton in the Europa League last 32 (they have Guardiola as manager!)

Off the field its a mess, but ill wait to see what happens come the end of the year on that front.

EDIT

With transfer clauses triggering constantly, we found ourselves over £300m in the red, with a net debt of over £400m. Then takeover news came and it wasnt good.... a consortium came on board, immediately plugged the hole with a £450m bank loan and then decided to clamp down on my frivoulous ways.

The transfer budget has been taken away, we get 0% from transfers and worst of all (almost comical) is the proposed weekly wage budget of £96,000... yes just 96k per week for the whole squad.

At the minute we have 4 players who each on their own earn over £100,000 per week... plus the whole squad is on a 50% yearly wage rise clause, so that will increase to over 10 players

Our wage bill as it stands is £2.3m per week

On the field we would lose the Coupe de Ligue Final to PSG and wind up 2nd in Ligue 1, to yes you guessed it, PSG. Though we would win 10 from our final 12, drawing the others and easily clear of 3rd place Marseille.

[Jogo Bonito]

You make fast progress, but it's not looking good there now! Graduate of the Peter Ridsdale school of economics by any chance?

[bestbrother]

You make fast progress, but it's not looking good there now! Graduate of the Peter Ridsdale school of economics by any chance?

Financially we are a cess-pit.

Putting things into perspective, our annual gate receipts are £6.1m... our weekly wage bill £3.1m. Even after the takeover we now have a balance of -£44m... totaling an overall net debt of £437m. We are projected to be in the red by over £200m come the end of the season... its not going to get any better.

On the pitch its getting rough as well, we just cant click in Europe and chuck away 2nd place in the group. Whilst in the league we are in a rut again, going from 1st to 5th on the back of a miserable Christmas (4pts from 7 games).

[bestbrother]

I wont go into our finances, suffice to say ive been threatend with administration (not sure what happens in the French league if it kicks in) but on the pitch we have some of the best names in football, delighting the 20000 fans who turn up to watch.

Kevin Trapp

Javi Manquillo Rafael Varane Alexsander Dragovic Mattia De Sciglio

Paul Pogba Thiago Rodrigo Bentancur

Mateo Kovacic Lazar Markovic

Angel Correa

All that with Giannelli Imbula, Funes Mori, Daley Blind, Adrien Rabiot, Seb Rode, Lucas Moura, Balde Keith, Gareth Bale, Rafinha and Antoine Griezmann sat on the sidelines waiting their turn

D'Reim'land

[nico_france]

I wont go into our finances, suffice to say ive been threatend with administration (not sure what happens in the French league if it kicks in) but on the pitch we have some of the best names in football, delighting the 20000 fans who turn up to watch.

Kevin Trapp

Javi Manquillo Rafael Varane Alexsander Dragovic Mattia De Sciglio

Paul Pogba Thiago Rodrigo Bentancur

Mateo Kovacic Lazar Markovic

Angel Correa

All that with Giannelli Imbula, Funes Mori, Daley Blind, Adrien Rabiot, Seb Rode, Lucas Moura, Balde Keith, Gareth Bale, Rafinha and Antoine Griezmann sat on the sidelines waiting their turn

D'Reim'land

Cheers mate,

Great team, no doubt about it,

But i don't see the point of such a bunch of overpaid talents when your club is in bankrupt, even if the game is not really realistic from times to times, you just killed it

[Sabine]

Although bestbrother's save seems like a fun ride, I have gone a more realistic approach with Reims.

Reims have an absolutely amazing history of developing some of the greatest French players of all time and I thought it should be my duty to emulate that. I'll use the first two or three seasons developing a squad that can possibly challenge for European spots and then head on from there.

Here are the transfers that I have made, I might be making more depending on how the deadline day goes:

The outgoings are pretty straight forward for the most part. The aging and not good enough players are going out and replaced by better players.

I ended up getting really good offers later for N'Gog and especially De Préville, which I couldn't simply turn down with fears of disrupting the squad.

The ingoings are the following:

Christophe Verdier is a young regen I was made aware of by my scouts early on and he looks the business and a potentially great goalkeeper for the future. I've made him my immediate back up to Carrasso for the season.

Sofiane Saadi is a very raw, but potentially gifted right winger from Red Star, scouted by the same guy who got me Verdier. I have put him in the reserves instead of loaning him out because he needs a lot of tutoring and a lot of work.

Benjamin André was brought in from Rennes to provide competition for the vast amount of central midfielders that we have. He looks the absolute part for a team like us and can only improve. Has played all five of the games I've played so far and I'm a massive fan of him.

Lucas is the big signing of the transfer window and I'm amazed that I managed to get him. I think a lot of players of this version know how good he can become and the fact that a club like Reims can sign him is pretty exciting. He kicked the hell out of our transfer budget but I cannot wait to see how he develops.

Paul-Georges Ntep is another coup for the club from Rennes. He is already a French international and can potentially be even better than he already is. He has also been a massive revelation so far, scoring an astounding 8 goals from 5 games from the left inside forward slot.

Bryan Dabo was brought in with his team mate Paul Lasne for added depth into the squad. I'm not a massive fan of Dabo because most of the roles he plays in are competent despite being a natural in that position and he's best off (apparently) as an MR/Winger, which I wouldn't dream of playing him in. Training him as a right complete wing back, however, could be a thing I may do in the future.

After all these transfers, my weekly spending is only £290,228 per week and I still have £26 million to spend, but there aren't really many players I want to spend that on until we establish ourselves this season. I also want to keep the club financially sound. If we don't qualify for European football this season, I will end up having to sell a few of the higher earners like Dabo, Ntep and André, but still try and improve on the squad.

My overall goal this season is to get at least into the Europa League spots, and it is doable with the squad I have assembled.

We are killing it so far, with Toulouse doing even better than us but we have had a couple of pretty tough games, as opposed to Toulouse just rolling over the mid-table and relegation fodder sides.

edit:

Uros Spajic has become the first non-French player (although still domestically signed) to join the club for £5.5 million. He will provide added depth in the central defender department and probably be the new starter, with a price like that. This means the total spending for this season is at £31.15 million, meaning that if we don't qualify for the Europa League, we are very much screwed financially.

[nico_france]

Although bestbrother's save seems like a fun ride, I have gone a more realistic approach with Reims.

Reims have an absolutely amazing history of developing some of the greatest French players of all time and I thought it should be my duty to emulate that. I'll use the first two or three seasons developing a squad that can possibly challenge for European spots and then head on from there.

Here are the transfers that I have made, I might be making more depending on how the deadline day goes:

The outgoings are pretty straight forward for the most part. The aging and not good enough players are going out and replaced by better players.

I ended up getting really good offers later for N'Gog and especially De Préville, which I couldn't simply turn down with fears of disrupting the squad.

The ingoings are the following:

Christophe Verdier is a young regen I was made aware of by my scouts early on and he looks the business and a potentially great goalkeeper for the future. I've made him my immediate back up to Carrasso for the season.

Sofiane Saadi is a very raw, but potentially gifted right winger from Red Star, scouted by the same guy who got me Verdier. I have put him in the reserves instead of loaning him out because he needs a lot of tutoring and a lot of work.

Benjamin André was brought in from Rennes to provide competition for the vast amount of central midfielders that we have. He looks the absolute part for a team like us and can only improve. Has played all five of the games I've played so far and I'm a massive fan of him.

Lucas is the big signing of the transfer window and I'm amazed that I managed to get him. I think a lot of players of this version know how good he can become and the fact that a club like Reims can sign him is pretty exciting. He kicked the hell out of our transfer budget but I cannot wait to see how he develops.

Paul-Georges Ntep is another coup for the club from Rennes. He is already a French international and can potentially be even better than he already is. He has also been a massive revelation so far, scoring an astounding 8 goals from 5 games from the left inside forward slot.

Bryan Dabo was brought in with his team mate Paul Lasne for added depth into the squad. I'm not a massive fan of Dabo because most of the roles he plays in are competent despite being a natural in that position and he's best off (apparently) as an MR/Winger, which I wouldn't dream of playing him in. Training him as a right complete wing back, however, could be a thing I may do in the future.

After all these transfers, my weekly spending is only £290,228 per week and I still have £26 million to spend, but there aren't really many players I want to spend that on until we establish ourselves this season. I also want to keep the club financially sound. If we don't qualify for European football this season, I will end up having to sell a few of the higher earners like Dabo, Ntep and André, but still try and improve on the squad.

My overall goal this season is to get at least into the Europa League spots, and it is doable with the squad I have assembled.

We are killing it so far, with Toulouse doing even better than us but we have had a couple of pretty tough games, as opposed to Toulouse just rolling over the mid-table and relegation fodder sides.

edit:

Uros Spajic has become the first non-French player (although still domestically signed) to join the club for £5.5 million. He will provide added depth in the central defender department and probably be the new starter, with a price like that. This means the total spending for this season is at £31.15 million, meaning that if we don't qualify for the Europa League, we are very much screwed financially.

Wow great stuff Sabine!

Lucas and Ntep are incredible signings for your side and prices are really fair tbh

I really look forward to see how you perform

Cheers mate ?

[lewis999]

How much do Reims start with budget wise? That's over £20m in the first window with around 13-14m back.

[DKB]

How much do Reims start with budget wise? That's over £20m in the first window with around 13-14m back.

they don't start out with much, but there is a mistake in the wage budget which if adjusted allows you to splash £26m and still have loads of money left in the wage budget

[Sabine]

Yeah, their budgets are probably an exploit from an oversight, but I would highly recommend not using it all up because their finances are pretty dire. I'm in financial trouble already and only have a weekly wage spend of £310k/week.

However, it's an absolute riot so far.

[Jogo Bonito]

Pleased to see the thread pick up and lots of French activity going on! I'd never have predicted it would be Reims that dragged every one in, but the error on wage budget certainly makes it an interesting alternative to challenge PSG!

[stevio36]

Hi everyone, so glad I found this thread. My story started with managing the club I support Birmingham City and after getting them up first season, we only survived 2 seasons before relegation and after being thumped 5-0 at home to Huddersfield, I resigned feeling I had done all I could and waited for a job offer.

Out of nowhere Montpellier contacted me for a interview and low and behold I was managing in the French League(never managed there before), well it was hard work for my first half season but we managed to finish 15th with the club in debt,no money for transfers etc but during the pre-season my DOF made some good loan signings, I promoted some very promising youngsters and we are having a good season so far(highlight was a 1-1 draw with PSG). The debt has come down even thou the board keep going on about it, we have some money for shroud signings but my highlight was getting Gary Cahill on a free for wages of £11,000 per week.

The downsides was being knocked out of both cups early on but we did reach 5th at one stage. Its mid season now and I am sure we can reach the top 10 or better. I will post the entire season once this season has finished as I enjoying the ups and down at my club.

[Gene]

Been looking at playing with a French side for a bit now. I usually run a save with Bordeaux but decided on Stade Rennais. Not spent much money, 875K or so. Brought in Malbranque to play as a deep sitting playmaker and then and handful of younger players with potential. Alfareal from Le Havre and Lasme from Sochaux show promise up and I also brought in Vitija Sadik from Grasshoppers. Had a deal for Gabmin from Lens agreed but the contract couldn't be worked out - also tracking Hassen from Nice.

Currently sitting 7th after 8 matches. Lots of 1-0 and 0-1 matches right now. Trying to keep things tight before I begin to play more expansive once Gourcuff comes back. Really excited to see how Janvier and Dembele get on.

[thomas166]

Oooh the thread's perking up again

[Jogo Bonito]

Excellent, welcome to the new posters. I'll have to pick up my OM save or start a new one with the 16.3 version. Rennes, Montpellier (and Reims) make for some interesting reading as they're not amongst the most popular picks. Perhaps Euro 16 fever is going to catch on, and we might even attract a few more French efforts when people see more of the stadiums on TV.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

What good players would be good to sign for Reims to sell on for profit and make the club better off financially as someone said their finances aren't very good even though you have that glitch.

[Sabine]

Ntep seems to fit that description, Ronaldo Beckham.

You could also try and get Andrija Zivkovic for £1.1 million and sell him on in a couple of seasons for 10s of millions because he's a potentially world class player.

I haven't done the latter because I don't find him a realistic enough transfer, something I kinda regret now.

[Sabine]

Excellent, welcome to the new posters. I'll have to pick up my OM save or start a new one with the 16.3 version. Rennes, Montpellier (and Reims) make for some interesting reading as they're not amongst the most popular picks. Perhaps Euro 16 fever is going to catch on, and we might even attract a few more French efforts when people see more of the stadiums on TV.

I will end up picking up an OM save after I've been to the stadium for the England game. The place and city look absolutely stunning.

[Sabine]

To balance the books a bit, I have sold my best striker to Sevilla for £7.5 million.

I have, however, brought in the brilliantly named Kevin Lasagna for £1.6 million and £10k/week less wages.

I also sold Franck Signorino to Gent for £70k and Hugo Rodriguez for £250k.

Replacing Signorino is an absolute bargain of a player from Chile, who came to the club for £135k and is happy playing back up to Atila Turan. All of this means that my wage budget is under £300k/week again and I have gained back £22 million in transfers now and I'm pretty confident of a champions league place this season.

Why am I so confident?

TEN points clear at the top of the table in January.

Our only loss was a very hard fought 1-0 loss to PSG with them pretty much hitting us with everything they have but it took Matuidi from a bundled corner to get the win in the 68th minute.

The highlight of the save so far however, was this destruction of Lorient.

Things are looking bloody up, shame that our bank balance isn't though.

[Chewy2006]

what kind of tactic(s) and team instructions are you using sabine if I may ask?

[nico_france]

Ntep is performing like a beast with you Sabine!!

Used to buy him last year and he was already awesome

Btw what a great season so far, really impressive stuff ?

[Sabine]

The tactic I'm using is a very typical 4-5-1 where I chop and change depending on match situations (hence the other two tactics). Nothing too special really.

nico_france, he's honestly one of the best players I've signed early on in FM alongside Hakim Ziyech of Twente (whom I wish I could've also signed). He now has 25 in 26 and doesn't look like he's stopping any time soon.

I would also like to give a special mention to the unsung hero of the save; Bryan Dabo. I had my doubts about him at first, but he's playing more and more and looking like a great signing. I love all-rounders, they're the best, and he's a prime example of a budget version. He also decided to play for Burkina Faso, so good for him really.

[thomas166]

Just starting Season 5 with Marseille, signed Ruben Neves and Goncalo Guedes this summer Hopefully they will be the difference that allows us to finally overtake PSG!

If anyone fancies the read; http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php/456982-Marseille-Building-a-Dynasty

[bestbrother]

Not sure whether I fancy playing on with Reims in my save, its basically starting from scratch... ive 4 players left in the squad and a transfer budget that is over 220m, but I could adjust that upto 400m + and still have a healthy wage budget

My biggest problem when a game gets to a certain point is that I never use scouts, well tell a lie, the AI runs the scouting department but I havent a clue what they do or why. So picking players becomes a bit of a gamble for me. It was OK when I had players like Pogba, Varane, Greizmann etc as you know what you are getting. But now its the likes of Davy Di Lopez and Barry Biscotto on the transfer market and who knows what htey are like

[thomas166]

Yeah I think there comes a point where you end up spending money for the sake of spending money rather than out of necessity, which is why I decided to try and develop as many 'homegrown at club' players as possible. You could potentially go for something like that where you massively invest in youth and training facilities and go from there.

I've got one save going where I've holidayed 20/30 years and started from there and agree that when it's just random names it is so much more difficult.

Lucas or Kempf to play CB (D) ?

[bestbrother]

Yeah I think there comes a point where you end up spending money for the sake of spending money rather than out of necessity, which is why I decided to try and develop as many 'homegrown at club' players as possible. You could potentially go for something like that where you massively invest in youth and training facilities and go from there.

Yeah i dont mind spending money, but when the bulk of the players willing to join are regens, then I lose a bit of interest as you have to 'work' a bit harder to spend it. Its not been planned as a long term save and I achieved my aims at turning Reims into galacticos, based on a bunch of failed financial promises

[Sabine]

It's the main reason why I much prefer a developing youngsters approach to any save.

When it's a team like Reims or Sunderland (who I've been playing as for a while and made them into World Powerhouses), it's a good idea to spend quite a bit in the first couple of seasons and establish a network of young talent. This is done by developing the infrastructure of the club like facilities and youth recruitment, and more times than not, the scouting network.

Buying the best players in the world for an already rich team is pretty boring and the club loses its identity, which is why I've gone from loving PSG in the 2000s to pretty much loathing them.

As for regens, I only ever buy highly rated youngsters. Verdier, who I have a screenshot on my introductory post, has the potential to be a key member of the first team and already is good enough for Ligue 2 at 17. Prime example of the type of regens I like buying. They're young, raw and need a lot of work, not instant world beaters in the year 2030 or such.

[Sabine]

On the topic of developing youngsters, I've just gotten my youth intake;

Hmm, best of his generation, eh? Well there have been players in the past where they've had that label and turn out to be very average. But let's have a look anyway;

Oh my GOD!

A little tidbit on him as well, he's born in Charleville-Méziéres, a suburb in the Ardennes area. But is a Reims supporter. I can only imagine that Sedan sucking so bad made him turn to the promised land of this fine club.

I have tagged another two promising players as well;

Seydou Cissé, who is the media compare him to the next Maxime Bossis. Who was a full back. Okay then, media.

William Lefevre, who may not look much but looks like a fantastic future false 9. A role that I absolutely love using.

edit and correction: it appears that Charleville-Méziéres is not a mere suburb but is actually in fact, the capital of the Ardennes department. Oops!

[Sabine]

We just can't stop winning... This is surreal. PSG are rubbish. A grand total of TWO points are needed to win the league now.

Oh yeah, we have Angers at home for that game. Prepare for celebrations, boys!

[DKB]

On the topic of developing youngsters, I've just gotten my youth intake;

Hmm, best of his generation, eh? Well there have been players in the past where they've had that label and turn out to be very average. But let's have a look anyway;

Oh my GOD!

A little tidbit on him as well, he's born in Charleville-Méziéres, a suburb in the Ardennes area. But is a Reims supporter. I can only imagine that Sedan sucking so bad made him turn to the promised land of this fine club.

I have tagged another two promising players as well;

Seydou Cissé, who is the media compare him to the next Maxime Bossis. Who was a full back. Okay then, media.

William Lefevre, who may not look much but looks like a fantastic future false 9. A role that I absolutely love using.

edit and correction: it appears that Charleville-Méziéres is not a mere suburb but is actually in fact, the capital of the Ardennes department. Oops!

that is a brilliant youth intake - and very well done in the league

[thomas166]

Wish PSG were that bad in my save

[bestbrother]

Wish PSG were that bad in my save

Must admit that seeing PSG struggle like that, i had to double take. On mine, they lost like 1 game a season for 3 years, never more than 4 or 5 - kings of Europe and they won the Cups more often than not.

Outside of the couple of titles I stole, there was never really a race for top, just PSG motoring along and any bad patch I had would end all hopes even at Christmas time.

[Drew the Cookie Eater]

Started a game as Guingamp, mostly because they have little history so the potential is there to make something.

First season, finished 2nd in the league, 5 points behind PSG.

Transfer wise only Barkroth from Norrkoping came in for the first team and contributed with 16 assists and 6 goals, which is amazing when he only cost me £1m; we made £1.6m back from sales.

[Sabine]

Well, we did it. In some style as well. PSG were so rubbish, I expected them to have the record that I ended up having. Paul-Georges Ntep won so many awards that I lost count (what the hell is up with that anyway?)

The one thing that is bugging me the most is the prize money. We got £4 million for winning the league and not much sign of a lucrative TV deal.

On the plus side, we've already made out first signing, £35k/week for four seasons for this monstrosity. I'm so surprised we managed to get him and he's earning double the wage that my second highest player is earning, but it's very well deserved.

Will be doing a lot of restructuring in the summer. So many defensive midfielders, most of them being very average.

[Sabine]

My word, what a bargain. Bordeaux weren't even relegated or anything but are selling this promising star for £400k. £7.5k/week over four years.

[thomas166]

Ounas turns out to quite a nice little player on my save, been tempted to pick him up more than a few times

[Sabine]

I do however, have a massive dilemma now..

They initially bid £28 million with clauses but I negotiated it to this. It would be absolutely MASSIVE for the club, a free like that, but he's my favourite player in the team.

[DKB]

I do however, have a massive dilemma now..

They initially bid £28 million with clauses but I negotiated it to this. It would be absolutely MASSIVE for the club, a free like that, but he's my favourite player in the team.

how would your finances look afterwards? is it enough to get you into black and some?

[Sabine]

It would make a world of difference, as you can see. In dire need of a boost.

I was planning on thinning down the squad by selling a few players anyway, but Ntep was 100% not in those plans.

On another positive note, I have a potential massive sale in the making with this monster coming to the club on a free.

[Jogo Bonito]

Nice updates Sabine, and congratulations on your league title. I'm happy to see Ounas getting some appreciation, a cracking little player who hasn't really had the upgrade he deserved yet. He's available for a bargain sum early on too, but has been developed very well there under AI management!

[DKB]

It would make a world of difference, as you can see. In dire need of a boost.

I was planning on thinning down the squad by selling a few players anyway, but Ntep was 100% not in those plans.

On another positive note, I have a potential massive sale in the making with this monster coming to the club on a free.

Guess it depends on which players that are available to you for the money made. If you can get 4-5 star players for your side, it would be hard to turn the offer down. A fair bit of the players that have been loaned out for the first season, usually finds themselves on the transferlist when they returns to their owners

[Sabine]

Guess it depends on which players that are available to you for the money made. If you can get 4-5 star players for your side, it would be hard to turn the offer down. A fair bit of the players that have been loaned out for the first season, usually finds themselves on the transferlist when they returns to their owners

To be fair, I have retained a lot of money from transfers from the loaned out players (among others) this season.

so

The only player I'm reluctant on selling is Dabo because he is fantastic, but he wanted to leave so I had no choice.

I also just got the Champions League draw, and it honestly could've been way worse;

Only really afraid of facing Tottenham because Leverkusen always seem to get be easily beaten when I face them with any team really.

[DKB]

To be fair, I have retained a lot of money from transfers from the loaned out players (among others) this season.

so

The only player I'm reluctant on selling is Dabo because he is fantastic, but he wanted to leave so I had no choice.

I also just got the Champions League draw, and it honestly could've been way worse;

Only really afraid of facing Tottenham because Leverkusen always seem to get be easily beaten when I face them with any team really.

did you end up selling him? and who have you brought in?

[ronaldo1026]

I fancy taking over from Laurent Blanc and guiding PSG to the continental success they're shooting for (and going for a more youth-oriented setup as opposed to buying star after star). Is there any chance this would be a fun save or is this just a cop out? I'm a fairly casual player, and I'm not good enough to enjoy playing too far down the league ladder.

[Kamakazeee]

I fancy taking over from Laurent Blanc and guiding PSG to the continental success they're shooting for (and going for a more youth-oriented setup as opposed to buying star after star). Is there any chance this would be a fun save or is this just a cop out? I'm a fairly casual player, and I'm not good enough to enjoy playing too far down the league ladder.

Its not a cop out at all, I was actually thinking of doing a few seasons myself with them. Ibra being the draw as ive never managed him before

[thomas166]

I fancy taking over from Laurent Blanc and guiding PSG to the continental success they're shooting for (and going for a more youth-oriented setup as opposed to buying star after star). Is there any chance this would be a fun save or is this just a cop out? I'm a fairly casual player, and I'm not good enough to enjoy playing too far down the league ladder.

It could almost be more difficult than a youth orientated setup with a lower team because of the bar is set very high in terms of quality for players to break into the team. Managing the training for each individual is going to be quite important.

I'm doing a similar thing with Marseille at the moment, and I've been shocking this season because I think I've put in players who aren't quite ready to be in the first team yet so obviously that's something to watch out for.

[ronaldo1026]

It could almost be more difficult than a youth orientated setup with a lower team because of the bar is set very high in terms of quality for players to break into the team. Managing the training for each individual is going to be quite important.

I'm doing a similar thing with Marseille at the moment, and I've been shocking this season because I think I've put in players who aren't quite ready to be in the first team yet so obviously that's something to watch out for.

Okay folks, pick my team (starting at the current date with the SortitoutSI custom start date) - PSG, l'OM, Lyon, Monaco or....Nantes. Going to go full youth development with whichever one.

[thomas166]

Any of those teams have their pros

PSG + big money so can afford to buy lots of young players

- they don't have many top talents to be brought through as far as I'm aware

OM + some good youngsters at the club

-money takes a while to come

Lyon I imagine are similar to OM, although I'm not overly sure on them.

Monaco I believe do have a few good youngsters and their current 'buy small, sell big' transfer mentality could suit this challenge.

Nantes would probably be the toughest on the face of it because they don't have the money to buy lots of youngsters so would be relying on a bit of wheeling and dealing.

Although, the higher reputation team you pick, the higher the expectations and balancing expectations with blooding in youngsters can cause problems

[thomas166]

Think it's a bit harsh to say we underperformed considering we missed out on the last day by two points, and overachieved massively in the Champions Cup..