[FM19] Melilla - Conquering Europe from Africa

[profii]

UD Melilla 

I was inspired by the cup draw in real football this year where Melilla, a club based in a Spanish enclave of Morocco drew Real Madrid. In real life they got trounced but I thought I've never managed abroad before so I'd give it a go...

 

Season 1

It's difficult to remember - but we were in the red for about £100k - the wage budget was maxed out so I was just going to have to work with what I had. I recall having practically no wingers or anyone who looked like they would be useful so the seasons hopes hinged on 2 strikers - target man, Yancine Qasmi and on loan poacher Brian Martin - as it so happened, I adopted a 5-3-2 hoof it style of play, which seemed to inadvertently work very well with the ME at the time with Martin able to bag 16 goals that season.

Highlights of the season were going undefeated until the end of January in the league and also drawing Barcelona in  Copa Del Rey 4th round - we kept things respectable, 0-2 and somehow managing a 1-1 draw at the Nou Camp - if I recall correctly this put the bank balance at about £0 which was good.

I did find a centre half to join in January, I must have needed 1 with 3 at the back, Ramiro Mayor came in and made 21 appearances for the season getting a 6.80 rating.

Overall we managed to keep a good run of results and finished the season top  W19 D14 L5 - although i dont recall it being so tight as 2nd and 3rd both finished 1 point behind...

This put us through to the playoff thingy and we got Santander - we drew twice, but went through on away goals, we then lost twice to Alcoyano but this was somehow enough to get us promoted (dont ask me why - I've no idea :D) 




- I've never done one of these threads before and to be fair it's been ages since I was back in 18/19 in this save, so if there is any interesting stuff people want me to look up, sure but I am recalling a lot of this from memory - I'll try and do a post per season ish recalling the highlights as i look back...

[profii]

Season 2

I dont really remember the financial status but I dont think I had much money - I brought in 13 players on frees that summer to bolster the squad for a Segunda challenge, namely:

JuanJo Mateos - a backup right back, i took a chance and he only made 8 appearances before being released. He hadn't played at this level before and it showed
Miki - a backup striker, scored 1 in 10, again didnt quite make it really
Xiscu - I remember this dude which is a good sign and it looks like he got 10 assists from the wing on his debut season, must have been ok!
Miguel Gandara - made 41 appearances at centre back, i dont remember him, but sometimes thats a good thing for a centre half, right?
Giorgos Aresti - another player I remember, a cypriot DLP - I thought he was quite good but he is the only player in my transfer list that has already retired (At 30) was released from non league in the UK but happy to come to segunda.
Bobby Adekanye - the winger of liverpool reserves fame - i was really pleased to get him but I just couldnt get him producing the goods given his stats look great - more about him later.
Alejandro Marques - I think i tried to sign him on a free, he then went to my parent club (Rayo Vallenco) and i got him on loan, saving a bit of wage budget and he wasnt as good as he looked for me so that probably was a blessing in disguise despite my annoyance at the time
Ferran Sarsanedas - released from Barca and brought in to be a BWM - did a decent job, i remember him quite well.
Jurgi Oteo - an attack mid that didnt really make an impact
Dani Fernandez - a handy full back that could play either flank, handy guy to have


I also signed 3 unattached regens that my scouts recommended later in the year



looking at my best 11, I think this was the time i embraced Qasmi who was already at the club and managed to change the club to use wingers a bit more - particularly Xiscu.
Also worth noting my keeper - Dani Barrio, he was already at the club before me and did quite well stepping up a division

Looking at the fixtures we started on an ok path probably winning as much as we were losing - we then managed to draw Real Madrid in the Copa Del Rey 4th round, we lost both legs 0-2, 0-3 and we had a terrible patch in Dec/Jan where we didnt win a single game.

despite that sounding pretty bad we finished a respectable 12, W13 D15, L 14  on 54 points which wasn't too bad i think.

 

 

 

[profii]

Season 3

Now this start to change -  I sold 2 players - finally the club has some money!! 
Jurgi Oteo can't have been that bad as he fetched £750k
also, Qasmi was a bit old and went for £150k

I brought in a few more guys and now i start to see players i recognise

Jaime Seoane - a DLP released from Madrid, he was a massive step up in quality from the club and is still with us
Agus Medina - a quality right back, still with me now albeit at the twilight of his career
Miquel Parera - the opportunity to upgrade the goalie presented itself
Alvaro Bustos - a decent enough winger for Segunda
Pol Roige - another winger, i think i really wanted to focus on attack this season
Oscar Valentin an all rounder in midfield, i like a fairly robust player but if they can pass as well then great.
Carlton Morris - took a bit of a chance bringing in a striker from Britain but managed to pull off the signing
Luis Rioja - yet another winger
Ander Guevara - quite similar to Valentin, an all round midfielder

Those guys were all freebies - we also used the income to spend our first bit of money on Juan Berrocal, a sturdy centre half to sure things up at the back.


Morris was great and had a 20 goal season,
Seoane was also good chipping in with 10 from midfield
Bustos was a superstar getting 16 assists from the wing.
Roige scored 8 and got 6 assists 

so a much better showing all round

I dont know the way the sorting works but we finished 2nd this season earning promotion ( W26 D12 L4) - we were tied on 90 points with 1st and 10 points ahead of 3rd which was great!
We also got our furthest in the cup (partially by merit of an easy 4th round draw) and ended up going out to Sevilla in the 5th round this time.

La Liga here we come!

[OspreyJ]

How many seasons did you go before starting this? Just three?

[profii]

I’m up to 2026 - more updates when I get time :)

[profii]

Season 4
 

Ok so I managed to spend £4.5mil this transfer window, a club record seemingly. Here is how that went:

Lola Pla - free, a decent enough winger
Nacho - A spanish defender who is playing in Holland 2nd division and seemed way to good to be there, got him on a free
Mak Varesanovic - an AMC from Milan, broke the wage structure to make sure he came as he is one of those players you need when jumping up to the top div.
Alek Svonja - £750k - a young regen from red star belgrade who has better ability than anyone we currently have.
Kristof Szucs - £210k another regen, looked like a up and coming full back but never performed as good as his stats suggested he might which was a shame.
Ivan Zabalza - free- literally dont remember this dude at all and he just fell down to my B team apparently
Miguel Angel Herrera - £875k - a decent looking striker regen but only scored 5 in 25
Lluis - 1.6mil - a solid centre half still at the club
Sergio Akieme - 1.1mil a decent left back, also still with me.

we sold Giorgio Aresti for a token £45k and also sent a number of players out on loan to reduce the wage budget, not limited to:
Xiscu
Adekanye
Juan Carlos Menudo (starts with melilla, one of those players who looks rubbish but over performs to his stats, however Varesanovic is going to take over so he's outta here)

We also let a few big names go on frees, such as:
Dani Barrio, a loyal goalkeeper, left after 6 seasons with us and around 150 appearances.
Pepe Romero, a solid wing back who served for the club a similar amount of time but was never la liga quality
Ramiro Mayor - starting to get rid of people I'd actually bought in which is a nice sign of progress



It was a tough season but we finished in a respectable 12th, having W11 D12 L15 
we went out in the 4th round of the cup to Getafe 

It was otherwise an unspectacular season but we cemented a place in la liga which was quite fine.

Most of the signings above appear in team of the year with one person i am yet to mention - a major part of this save has been asking the board for youth upgrades which they have mainly been ok with - I think in the current day I've maxed one of things out but not quite the other, (junior coaching etc) and it is notable that a club grown striker made it into my team of the year  - i think I will do a regen spotlight once I've done all the season updates so more on that later

[profii]

Season 5

Transfers in:

Yago Gandoy, a tough all round midfielder - free
Manu Appeh, poacher, £2.7mil - interestingly i got him from Rayo Vallecano who used to be my parent club but got relegated.
Juan Hernandez, decent winger but found his way to Bristol so I think the lure of going back to Spain helped here 1.1mil
Amador - Regen - solid young centre back, still a first team choice £4.1 mil
Nezar S'rifi - a creative midfielder from Belgium £1.7mil
Guilie Donoso - yet another winger -£1.5mil
Roberto - a poacher regen, 1.1mil
 

I also signed 5 regens that looked ok and were free.

Outs:
Carlton Morris - he was struggling a bit and i thought Appeh might take over so cashed in for £700k
Luis Rioja - £25k - just wanted rid of some of the players to make space for the new signings in the squad
Manuel Marques - £1.2 mil - this was a regen the scouts found that we brought in for free so the money is starting to be made
Alek Svonja - i got diddled by my naivety when it comes to min. fee release clauses here - PSG nicked him for £2,1 mil
Miguel Angel Herrera also went to PSG for £4mil


I also sent out 10 players on loan, just to clear the books mainly and free up wage money.



This season I finished 5th so  I broke into the Europa league which is great. Overall: W17 D12 L9 so slightly starting to turn a few losses into wins which makes a big difference.
Getafe knocked me out the cup again so nothing exciting to report on that front

I think beating Valencia towards the end of the season was the main highlight of the year in this season :o
 

[profii]

Season 6

Ins

Michael Olivera -  a great looking left back from Uraguay available on a free - couldnt believe my luck as he just was such an upgrade on Akieme
Diego Pampin - a winger that I managed to pinch away from PSG on a free - still playing for the club
Elias Kalbermatten - a great looking striker that had all the attributes of a winger so i got him in to try and retrain him for £9.5mil - i think probably a club record at the time. 
Jose Manuel Quintero - bit of a gamble, scouts say 5 star potential and only 2.5mil stats all look great but he is injury prone - bit of limited defensive midfielder but worth a punt for £2mil
Jairo Gonzalo, a lower potential but more established centre midfielder with a tasty release clause of £1.5mil
Rodrigo Menedez - another player the scouts are going mental for and at £675k i think it's worth trying this AMC
Milorad Simic - a great looking winger from Partizan available to european clubs at £1.5mil
Mikel Barosain - I spent £7.25mil on a goalie, i think just to help us in europe basically

As ever a bit more of a clearout , leaving the club was:

Bobby Adekanye - frustrating as his stats always looked great but he just never produced - 2 goals in 33 games for the club then 4 loan spells before getting a free
Lola Pla - never really made it , only made 7 appearances before going elsewhere
Ander Guevara - I liked this guy but he just wasn't ever Euro quality, left us after 84 games and 8 goals from centre mid and a tasty £600k profit - although with the EU money coming in, seemingly less relevant.


So a slight improvement in the league - we finished 4th - W22 D6 L10 - the team is certainly establishing themselves in la liga now. The other good news is despite me thinking only 3 teams went into the CL last seasons, this year 4th was good enough so we have got ourselves into the Champions League, hurrah!

Copa Del Rey - we did really well this year getting as far as the semi final before going out to R Madrid  4-6 on agg.

Europa League - We surprisingly walked the group, beating Milan, Fenerbache and Apollon but went out in the first knockout round to Basel 3-3 on agg. losing on away goals