Is anybody else overly cautious with transfer funds?

[MarchinOn2Getha]

With the majority of teams that I manage I struggle to spend a huge amount of money on players. Take for example my current Leeds United team. I have a bunch of british players with the odd foreign import and we have been steadily starting to win trophies over the past few seasons (Premier league champions last season). Now my team/squad is good but by no means the best and there are a couple of positions that I am short in backup but I just won't spend the money that some teams want. I do occasionally spend on a big player but my current record spend is £25million on a defender who has really improved my back line. I now have gone 2 full seasons without signing a player and instead finding myself bulking up my bench with youth prospects, some work and some don't.

Now, I just want to clarify that in no way is this a rant about the game and I actually enjoy the fact that I am very tight with the purse strings even if I have a huge transfer budget to spend, I just wonder if anyone is like me in this case or do you all just go out and sign the best players given that you have the budget to do it?

[Plachy]

Totally - I turned down signing a CM who is now the best player in the world on my save (valued at 63 mil, would cost double that) because his club in Belgium wanted 28 mil. By the time I decided I wanted him he'd already moved on for just over 20 mil. I knew he was a star, and he wanted to join, but for that money, not a chance.

Still, I spent that money on two CMs, one for around 17 mil and another for about 12 mil. Those deals were right for me and they partnered up when I won the Champions League final and in every big game leading up to that moment. Neither is as good as the guy I rejected but I felt as a pair they would be better and they fit right into my BBM/DLP combo perfectly.

It's something I like about the newer FMs, being held to ransom by clubs is realistic and you are well within your rights to tell teams to stick it.

Hunting for bargains is the way to go for backups. First team players I will only ever overspend on defenders and goalies - they are damn near impossible to find at a level I require and I will often shell out massive bucks for a young CB or a promising keeper. Strikers, wingers, midfielders who teams will push the premium up more so are much easier to find in bulk, I'm not willing to pay anything more than 10-15m for a player in these positions (if I feel guaranteed started within 5 years), and I always have a surplus of them even with that requirement. Players being brought in as backup I have a strict 5 mil cap.

At it's core FM is about making key transfer decisions above all else imo, you need tactics of course but I've always felt good players come first in FM and the tactics make them flourish. Being liberal with money is fine when you lose 3-4 key men but generally speaking waiting for the right player is far better than simply buying the best guy you've found up until that point, even if you'll be ripped off.

[Torminator]

I never spend big on non regens in FM. I only buy them when they are transferlisted. In my atletico save i managed to buy Wilshere, Witsel, Zouma, Marquinhos, Holjberg and Lukaku for peanuts because they were transferlisted.

I really like my club to be in good financial health and will sell key players to stay out of the red.

[oneronaldo]

I only get cautious for those players who need to apply for a work permit, no way I'm blowing millions on a player who can't play for me. Or those where the players not allowed to leave their country until they turn 18, again no way I'm paying a king's ransom for a player I have to wait to get my hands on and furthermore I have no influence over his development until he arrives. He might have had both legs amputated by then

[Fired]

I spend with no problem when i need, i always have a good financial heath in my clubs but i don't care about signing players for a huge value. For example, when i coached AC Milan i bought Bernardo Silva in the 3rd season for 115M, Lucas Ocampos in the 5th season for 90M. In Arsenal i bought Pogba in the 2nd season for 99M, Laporte 50M and in the 3rd season De Gea for 112M. With Wolves in the 2nd season Renato Sanches for 21M. Villarreal in the 2nd season Felipe Anderson for 40M. I never had any regret, in my opinion is better to give 100M for a class player than 100M for 3 good players.

[Joe.]

I struggle to spend a lot on wages, I can't stand seeing someone earning £100k+ per week.. In turn, I rarely splash on big money signings as they're often the ones that want the most money.

I'm currently at Real Madrid and not one of my players earns over £100k.. If they want to renew their contract, they'd have to stay under that mark or I'll look to replace them.

[bestbrother]

Nope, spend it, spend more than you can afford and do it all over again. Same with wages, my highest paid player in my recent save was Paul Pogba, 700k per week, 110k per appearance and a load of other bonuses. With 2 years left on his deal and a 50% wage wise included. I believe he would have been on just over 1.5m per week at the end of it (Pogbas transfer fee im sure was in excess of 200m... but ive definitely paid 200m for various players down the saves ive had)

I had a similar deal for Marcus Rojo, but as I couldnt register him for being an extra non EU, he sat in the stiffs for 4 years and left earning I believe 600k per week. As a team we were spending 6.1m per week on wages at the end. Given that our annual gate receipts were at just 6m.... it was a bit of a hole in the budget! No sugar daddy either.

[podunkboy]

I always bargain shop, to the point that 15 years into the game, when the board gives me $10 million, I spend about $1 million and leave the rest on the books. My salary budget's always got about $150k/week in reserve for contract renewals. The board loves my frugality, and so long as I win the league and do well in the cups, my job's rock solid secure.

[louissiscool]

I tend to buy players with great potential and good attributes and sell them on for huge profit rather then buy the current world stars especially managing in italy where there seems to be no money to be made domestically.

[smp20]

I am normally the same but actually in my current save I am doing the opposite! I am managing St Etienne and in the second season I have pulled out all the stops to bring HG at club players back to the club, including Kurt Zouma & Faouzi Ghoulam. They've cost me £54m, though less than half of this is up front, and they are on very high wages for the club. Zouma is on a base of £72k per week (max I could offer) but has a £20k appearance fee and £30k clean sheet bonus, while Ghoulam is earning £60k a week.

[chestermike]

I dont spend a penny on tranfers until I reach the championship, then I will only pay peanuts. A lot of the time I am filtering my searches for players valued under 100k. However once in the prem, with all the cash flowing in, I spend whatever, on whomever I can get. End of the day its virtual money in a virtual world.

[SideLineBiscuit]

As in real life I seldom buy anything if it`s not at a 50% discount or more. I guess they call it OCD. In FM particular I woill almost never buy a player (only free transfer) if it`s not a major talent, or if I just sold a player, and am buying a player for less money than I sold for. Even the game it self I wont buy if it`s not at a 50% discount

[ssoup]

It depends what kind of save i'm doing if I'm honest

I'm currently doing a Forest green save got them promoted from conference and survived one season in league 2 got 8th place 1 point off playoffs.

I didn't get alot of money spend so Free players are pretty much all I will buy I have brought in 7-8 new players this season to strength what I was lacking last season some good players were released

Although this season I had a bit of money to spend because just before I started my first league 2 season Man city released a player called "Rodney Kongolo" decent player for most championships sides he didn't want to join me at first but I talked to him and persuaded him to join. I knew he would not stick around for long he was my rock infront of the defense anyway he had a release clause of 525k Derby swooped in and matched it and he was gone got a good season out of him though.

[Harryseaess]

I don't mind spending the money on transfers, what I do hate is paying loads on wages/signing on bonus.

I HATE paying signing on fees, if I've got a new player coming in I always offer a bit less wages than they want and put the signing bonus to £0. After a few negotiations they accept a wage I'm offering (normally in the middle of what they wanted and what I first offered. Then I'll persist with paying £0 signing on bonus. After two or three offers of £0 and them coming back with lower signing on bonuses each time they tend to accept it.

It saves a huge amount, on a big player transfer the bonus can be £10m+, but most will accept £0 from what I've found.

[mrdanbartlett]

I used to be like this, as I always tended to be saving for a new stadium....

Also I love the idea that as a manager over my career I'd taken in more money than I'd spent AND brought the club up the leagues/some silverware.

However now I'm softening as I find I just get utterly hammered on tax if I make big profits each year.

On my Salford save (top prem side now) i've spent £60m twice on 2 big players, I got beat to the Prem by City and lost the CL & FA cup finals so wanted to try and improve the XI. I generally prefer to buy them young and develop them though. Just sometimes you have to pay the money to get a World class player who is the best in his position.

[Fired]

Also I love the idea that as a manager over my career I'd taken in more money than I'd spent AND brought the club up the leagues/some silverware.

However now I'm softening as I find I just get utterly hammered on tax if I make big profits each year.

Yeah, better spend the money than give it to the tax feature.

[burdinho]

I'm at Oxford in my 8th season, it's been an arduous trek from L2 to the championship. The most I've spent on a player is 400k, and I've generated a fair bit from transfers.

Hoping to make the Prem soon, but I like the fact that I have to wheel and deal, certainly adds a different edge to the game