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FM20 All-European (Less England) Small Club to Big Club Challenge


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Hey guys - since I've been struggling to take any save beyond 4-5 seasons I thought of joining you all on this challenge. Also I have been wanting to manage in Italy, so the choice became clear.

1583330818_cittadi.thumb.jpg.c837c93ee786659475689980e65f91b8.jpg

Of course this is a definitely an easier challenge than most of the other clubs that start off non-playable, however it should keep me busy for anywhere between 5-10 seasons :D.

I also need to now figure out how the Italian Serie C works with 3 leagues and what seems like a million clubs making the play-offs every year :lol:

Here are the transfers that we have made going into the new season.

57275875_transferscitta.thumb.jpg.97711d5ab761e5ea2163309065e9ba50.jpg

And the squad which I believe should be in good shape for this level especially with the loans coming in to strengthen.

1403724182_squadcitta.thumb.jpg.0d5340a9f0d11e7847c914894c582f0f.jpg

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@Thebaker I was surprised too. Especially as he is missed alot of easy chances even this season. However, from his 23 goals 9 were from the cup. And from those 9, 4 were in the first round against a very very bad team, they are not even in 3.Liga.

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 image.png.64de362fd471bee6aa52e41c8dec37f5.png

 

League - we did not look good at the start of the year, and my job was actually at risk. In the end we turned it round and began to play much better and had some really good games and wins. We ended up finishing in our highest ever league finish so I was really pleased by the end of the year.

Cup- we did really well and beat a few teams out of Bundesliga. We got to the semis and lost to our local rivals which was a shame but they smashed the league

Finances - once again saved by the prize money, we need to do better with commercial revenue and stuff

Transfers - players came in who fit my tactic rather than just quality

Stars of Season

Xavi Simons - what an absolute beast of a player. Came in this year and made the spot his own, I really like him in the DLP spot he is amazing. 

Manuel Rivas - I like him, he is getting better, 15 goals this year was very good. I am a big fan of his I am hoping he keeps improving he could be very special


Next Year - I think there may not be too many changes this summer. I will be looking to maybe bring in someone in the middle of the park and a left winger but other than that I am fairly happy. I think next year if these youngsters continue to improve we could get top 10. We have a very young squad so improvements year on year is hopefully something we can achieve. 

 

Year       Division        Finish        Cup           Europe
-----------------------------------------------------------
2020/21   3. LIga           1st          N/A            N/A
2021/22   Bundesliga 2      11th         Rnd 3          N/A
2022/23   Bundesliga 2      2nd          Rnd 2          N/A
2023/24   Bundesliga        15th         Rnd 2          N/A
2024/25   Bundesliga        16th         Rnd 2          N/A
2025/26   Bundesliga        12th         Semi           N/A

 

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Just going through everyone's games...

@ashton430 - nice work getting Xavi Simons in for such a small fee! Seems like you are making solid progress & finances also in good shape.

@Andy Sava - some of those new-gens look excellent. In the case of Holband I believe his two-footedness is also helping him to outperform his attributes for you.

@Muggert - great save, I must admit I had never heard of this club below! Winning Europa already is commendable!

@Biscotti - mad respect for doing this with a tiny Croatian club! KUTGW.

Guys is Imgur the best solution for posting screenshots, I notice most of you are using it? I usually tend to upload them straight into the posts.

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43 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Cheers. Just got knocked out of the Serie C cup in the group stage to rivals Catania - as far as I can see based on alphabetical order :lol:

As both teams had 4 points, 3 scored & 1 conceded. Amazing - first time that's happened for me!

That's tough going!  Was it head to head results?  How did you do against Catania?

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Seeing all of the recent progress and people taking on the challenge is making me wish i'd had a more successful and enjoyable save on this years' game.  Possibly too late to take it on now, plus have a semi-successful save as the Owls i'm in at the moment.  

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45 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Cheers. Just got knocked out of the Serie C cup in the group stage to rivals Catania - as far as I can see based on alphabetical order :lol:

As both teams had 4 points, 3 scored & 1 conceded. Amazing - first time that's happened for me!

Shouldn't it be based on head-to-head?

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25 minutes ago, rlipscombe said:

That's tough going!  Was it head to head results?  How did you do against Catania?

 

22 minutes ago, Andy Sava said:

Shouldn't it be based on head-to-head?

Head to head was 1-1. It's only a group of 3 and both of us had a 1-1 draw with each other followed by a 2-0 win against the third side in the group. Strange! Anyway not really a competition the board or I was bothered about. 

It's all about the league as Serie C has 3 separate leagues with only the Champions of each getting automatic promotion, while a whole bunch of teams then enter the playoffs. 

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Manisaspor.png

Manisaspor - Season 20/21

League - Playoff - Cup - Finances - Squad

 

Bottled it. Was a pretty excellent season for the most part with me and Pendikspor matching each other all the way down to the wire. I was even ahead by a point going into the final matchday, but we got hammered 3-0 and had to navigate the playoffs instead. The bottling continued in the next playoff game where we got put out to a team who finished 20 points behind us in the league. At least the cup run was nice, knocking out two higher league teams before putting on a decent show against eventual winners Beşiktaş.

Transfers - There is no foreign players allowed in Turkish third tier, which is a shame. Thankfully the domestic market is vibrant and I was able to snag some very good players and get rid of the initial dead weight.

In spite of his shocking tackling, strength, work rate and speed, I had to play Cafercan Aksu due to his set piece delivery. Didn't fail on that part although I feel my switch to a two striker formation at the end of the season left us exposed in the middle. He retired at the end of the season after picking up the league player of the year. Top goalscorer for my team was Ozan Papaker with 12.

Next season goals - Should be winning the title with ease. Had a few old players for this campaign that'll need replacing but I think it should be easy enough to do so. 

 

Year       Division        Finish        Cup           Europe
-----------------------------------------------------------
2020/21    TFF 2.Lig        2nd         5th Round           N/A

 

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6 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Guys is Imgur the best solution for posting screenshots, I notice most of you are using it? I usually tend to upload them straight into the posts.

Personally, I've been using the internet long enough to remember when bandwidth was a problem for many people, so loading images in-line on a forum thread was a big no-no. The habit has just stuck with me. I don't think there's any real issue with just loading them into your posts, but if you have loads of them then it might make your posts appear huge and discourage people from reading.

There are a plethora of different hosting sites which can do a decent job for these purposes, it comes down to personal preference. I used to use Dropbox, because it meant I didn't need to upload anything to anywhere, but I found there were space and presentation limitations that I didn't entirely get along with. I use imgur now because uploading and sharing is made really quite simple and I am most definitely a simple man.

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Have reached the winter break of my first season at Palermo, here is the league table.

halfway.thumb.jpg.275d71a6381768801398e481c33f20e5.jpg

We have been almost perfect, and yet we have only just reached the top. 1 point ahead of Crotone who have been absolutely imperious. 

With our current points tally we would have a 22 point lead if we were in Serie C/A and a 16 point lead if we were in Serie C/B. But we had to be stuck with Crotone.

Our only defeat of the season? Yes, you guessed it. Crotone. At home. Scarcely deserved. Which probably means we will have to get a result when we visit them later on in the season.

As a reminder only top team gets promotion, teams from 2nd to 10th (!!) enter into some massive play-off tournament which I have no clue how it works as of yet.

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  image.png.64de362fd471bee6aa52e41c8dec37f5.png

 

League - errrr what, I did not expect this at all. We started off really well and just did not seem to stop we beat Red Bull twice this year to which was fantastic. I honestly have no idea how or why we have managed to do this, I am honestly amazed about it. I am lost for words, I do think its a fluke though

Cup- disappointed really but we did have a tough draw

Finances - massive hope that I will maybe get some more cash on the transfer budget though as that seems a little small

Transfers - all but two came into my first team but absolute quality. 

Stars of Season

Manuel Rivas - he was excellent and is coming along nicely. Turned down a deal for 23mil for him this year, I am not sure if it was the right decision but it was in January and I did not want to upset the form by loosing him

Murat Aras - came in for big money (well big for me) and was excellent he does so well on the left, I really like him


Next Year - I honestly have no idea, we will be in the Champions League so that should be fun. I am not sure what the league will hold I will be happy with Europe again maybe, I dont think we are title challengers yet. 

 

Year       Division        Finish        Cup           Europe
-----------------------------------------------------------
2020/21   3. LIga           1st          N/A            N/A
2021/22   Bundesliga 2      11th         Rnd 3          N/A
2022/23   Bundesliga 2      2nd          Rnd 2          N/A
2023/24   Bundesliga        15th         Rnd 2          N/A
2024/25   Bundesliga        16th         Rnd 2          N/A
2025/26   Bundesliga        12th         Semi           N/A
2026/27   BUndesliga        2nd          Rnd 2          N/A

 

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6 hours ago, ashton430 said:

Is that F12 shortcut? 

How do you upload from your screenshot folder?

Yes, the F12 shortcut to take the screenshot. Then you go to Steam -> View -> Screenshots. This opens another window from which you can upload the screenshots and then you have a "view online" button from where you can copy the link. It may sound complicated but in practice it's really not. It also saves the screenshots in sessions, so if you close and open the game it will create a new session and you will only see the screenshots from this one in the screenshots window, you will have to go to the screenshots folder to see the other. You have like 20GB for storage for screenshots i think, i still have almost 18GB available and i use this feature since FM2016.

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So I thought I would introduce you to my first 11

 

Tudorel Pop- good keeper who has been here for a few years

Wilmar Solano- comes in to be right back this summer I think he will do a job

Christian Salas- been here for a while this maybe his last year as first choice

Seth Brown- came in from Spurs last year and was superb

Carlos Costa- joined from Man U on a free in the summer looks good

Xavi Simons- absolute beast now been here for a few years and is quality

Pedro Velez- been here for a year plays in the BBM role

Murat Aras- youve seen him, he has just signed a big money new deal

Martin Kandem- my right winger, I beat Man U for his signature a couple of years ago, I need to get rid of his 7mil release fee

Manuel Rivas- the man the myth the legend

Juan David Mendez- came in this year and he looks excellent

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Manisaspor.png

Manisaspor - Season 21/22

League - Playoff - Finances - Cup - Squad - Transfers

Ten points worse off than last season but this time I navigated my way through the playoffs. Came down to the final day again with me one point behind but the leaders got their win. In the playoffs we got our sweet revenge against the club who knocked us out last year. Kinda fortunate that the playoffs games were so tightly scheduled as AI has difficulty rotating and the opposition players were in dreadful condition. Calmed the nerves and made for an easy victory in final.

Same again in the cup in meeting elite competition in the 5th round. Didn't do too badly against the eventual Süper Lig champions Fenerbahçe.

Top goalscorer for the league was Kaan and player of the season went to Atalay Babacan. Altay had Samet Turhan transfer listed for nothing and I snapped him up. He has improved drastically since getting some first team games and is the one player I'm expecting big things from in the next few seasons.

I finally get access to the foreign market with my move up to 1.Lig. 5 foreigners in first 11 and 6 in matchday squad. Hoping to uncover some gems as the board expect a top half finish next year.

 

Year       Division        Finish        Cup           Europe
-----------------------------------------------------------
2020/21    TFF 2.Lig        2nd         5th Round      N/A
2021/21    TFF 2.Lig        2nd(p)      5th Round      N/A

 

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7 hours ago, ashton430 said:

Cheers guys

I have about 80 mil in the bank but they will only give me 3mil to spend but i have a few deals already lined up that will go through soon

Stupid question, but did you try asking them to increase the budget? If your confidence is high and lot of money in the bank, they often do that.

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2 hours ago, ashton430 said:

@Balahara great season there pal, I like the look of Samet he is decent at that level. Did you get good money in the cup?

Better than Denmark was that's for sure. Around £20k appearance fee and another £15k for getting a draw. So many other teams in second tier with insecure finances, so I'm probably doing alright just being -140k in the red. Riches won't come until Süper Lig I guess.

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   image.png.64de362fd471bee6aa52e41c8dec37f5.png

 

League - unbelieveable we dominated from pretty much the outset and it was left with us and our local rivals as challengers. A win over them with 4 games left pretty much sealed our first ever title, but it gets better. 

Europe- what a journey we have gone on. In the group stage we managed to sneak through a tough group as we got used to European football. I thought that was all we would do. But then a good win against PSG where we were solid in both games. A tough game against Real Madrid followed where our home form saw us through. We then beat Liverpool after a lucky draw away from home. Then the final and Chelsea, it was a very close game and in fairness neither side deserved to loose but winning on pens was unreal I dont think my heart rate has recovered. 

 

Stars of Season

 

Tudorel Pop- longest serving player and I love him

Leonardo Reina- what a beast excellent RB

Mattias Gonzalez- joined in Jan and made one hell of a difference to us

Seth Brown- solid

Carlos Costa- maybe our weakest spot but still quality

Xavi Simons- just dominates everything we do when he doesnt play we know about it

John Carlos Higaldo- my more adventurous centre midfielder and again was excellent  

Murat Aras- quality again

Martin Kandem- classy right winger who I nearly lost in the summer

Manuel Rivas- another great year from maybe my favourite player in a long time

Juan David Mendez- turned out to be our best striker and was excellent all year

 

We absolutley have no right to have done this this year and honestly I am amazed but I love it. My favourtie team ever

 

Year       Division        Finish        Cup           Europe
-----------------------------------------------------------
2020/21   3. LIga           1st          N/A            N/A
2021/22   Bundesliga 2      11th         Rnd 3          N/A
2022/23   Bundesliga 2      2nd          Rnd 2          N/A
2023/24   Bundesliga        15th         Rnd 2          N/A
2024/25   Bundesliga        16th         Rnd 2          N/A
2025/26   Bundesliga        12th         Semi           N/A
2026/27   BUndesliga        2nd          Rnd 2          N/A
2027/28   Bundesliga        1st          Rnd 2          Champions Cup Winners

 

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That's incredible @ashton430! Great work. I'd be very curious to know what sort of tactics you've been playing (I'm not the sort to copy, just genuinely curious)

(Also, I see you're still experimenting with your attribute colours. I don't think anybody can tell you what's "best" because it's all down to personal preference, find a combination which makes the good stats sand out to you and I think you'll be good)

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For the first time in 27 and a half seasons, I just got proper pissed off with this game.

I tend to keep my squad relatively lean - 2 full 11s of players available in my first team with a handful of promising youngsters hanging around the youth team instead of being loaned out. Going into my last CL group stage game today we were in such a hole with injuries that I had zero left-backs, only one striker and my only right-winger available was a youth player. Then on top of this we picked up 2 more injuries during the first half. I nearly threw my PC across the room.

I'm livid.

Edited by Biscotti
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2 hours ago, ashton430 said:

   

Europe- what a journey we have gone on. In the group stage we managed to sneak through a tough group as we got used to European football. I thought that was all we would do. But then a good win against PSG where we were solid in both games. A tough game against Real Madrid followed where our home form saw us through. We then beat Liverpool after a lucky draw away from home. Then the final and Chelsea, it was a very close game and in fairness neither side deserved to loose but winning on pens was unreal I dont think my heart rate has recovered. 

Phenomenal stuff well done!! You've built a very good team there. 

1 hour ago, Biscotti said:

For the first time in 27 and a half seasons, I just got proper pissed off with this game.

I tend to keep my squad relatively lean - 2 full 11s of players available in my first team with a handful of promising youngsters hanging around the youth team instead of being loaned out. Going into my last CL group stage game today we were in such a hole with injuries that I had zero left-backs, only one striker and my only right-winger available was a youth player. Then on top of this we picked up 2 more injuries during the first half. I nearly threw my PC across the room.

I'm livid.

FM tends to do this to you! This too shall pass :)

8 hours ago, Balahara said:

Manisaspor - Season 21/22

League - Playoff - Finances - Cup - Squad - Transfers

Congratulations on the promotion, Turkish top division is a lot of fun I had a save with Fenerbahce last year. Lot of old stars floating around.

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2034/2035 - CD El Ejido

Before the season we splashed the cash on AML/ST Bruneau and he did not deliver. Hopefully he just needed that one season to adjust to the league.

We managed to squeeze through the ChL group and won against PSG in the 1st knockout round. In the QF Bayern was too much to handle.

We're still struggling in the league when challenging on two fronts. A late season surge saw us rise to 5th and a solid continental qulification.

In the cup we lost in the SF to Real and we lost the European super cup. No silverware for us this year.

Next year we should be able to focus more on the league and play our development players in the Euro League. Hopefully book another place in the Champions League

League: 5th - Cup: SF - ChL: QF - ESC: Loss

Squad - Competitions - Transfers - Finances

Players of the season:

DL Pascual - DMC Moreira - AMR Izo

Youngster of the season:

AMR Pellegrin

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        SC Fortuna Koeln Logo since 2019.svg

Season 10 - 2029/2030 - End of season report

 

The Season

The Domestic Season

2.Bundesliga | Past Positions | Fixtures 1 - 2 | Season Records

DFP-Pokal | Fixtures

It was a great seson, we managed to improve on last season's success and we managed to qualify for Europa league for the 2nd year in a row. 5th place in our 3rd year is really good, especially since we managed to save our finances so we can try and build a dinasty in Bundesliga. The highlight was a 11 games unbeatun run in all competions, 9 of which we managed to not concede. This run was ended by Dortmund and we got a wake up call when we lost 6-0 against them. We had a pretty consistent season after the start (it was terrible) and i am happy with our performance. We were 6th in goals scored (50), 4th in chances create (100), 3rd in shutouts (14, first was 15) and we had 15 stadium sellouts.

The Pokal was the same as last year, we got to quarter-finales and we lost. This time to Stuttgart.

The European Season

Europa League | Groups | Fixtures

For the first season in Europe we had a pretty strong showing. We finished 2nd in our group and Lyon eliminated us on away goals. With a bit more work we would have gotten past Lyon. Only lost 2 games, one to Valencia and one to Lyone, and drew one against Valencia. The rest were wins and we even managed a win against Lyon, at home.

The squad

Transfers | Squad | Season Best Eleven 

We spent around 20M Euros this season, most of it on two players.

Transfers In

Coling BurbidgeJoined for free from Liverpool. He came on as a sub in a few games but he didn't impress

Hugo MorgadoFree transfer from Porto, he was a regular this season.

Damian JaroszekA good GK prospect, he joined from Dortmund for 3M Euros. Maybe it was too much, at the time of his signing he was 16 and he had 4 start from our scouts, with potential for 5.

Thiago - Ok, i'm not sure if i overspent on him. After the first or second game he got injured and was out for about 4 month. Despite this, i think he had a decent season with 7 goals and 3 assists.

Marcos Panzardo - Marcos Panzardo, 19 years old, payed 10.5M Euros for him. He is my start player, already has 3 caps and 3 goals for Uruguay and he got called up for the World Cup. I just hope i get to hold on to him, he does have an 89M Euros release clause. Atleast if he leaves i will make bank on him.

Season's Best Eleven

GK - Alfa Ricciulli<37 Apps, 41 Goals Allowed, 19 Shutouts, 1 PoM, 6.91 Avg Rat>

DR - Iulian Stoica<41 Apps, 4 Assists, 6.91 Avg Rat>

DC - Nemanja Propadalo<44 Apps, 5 Goals, 4 PoM, 7.17 Avg Rat>

DC - Vincenzo Longobardi<39 Apps, 2 Goals,7.06 Avg Rat >

DL - Niklas Daum<33(1) Apps, 5 Assists, 3 PoM, 7.04 Avg Rat>

MC - Philipp Reith<28(6) Apps, 1 Goal, 4 Assists, 3 PoM, 7.21 Avg Rat>

MC - Steven Lucas<33(1) Apps, 5 Goals, 2 Assists, 2 PoM, 7.06 Avg Rat>

AMR - Andrija Radulovic<38(4) Apps, 9 Goals, 13 Assists, 3 PoM, 7.07 Avg Rat>

AMC - Domink Kowalczyk<42 Apps, 2 Goals, 5 Assists, 1 PoM, 7.01 Avg Rat>

AML - Thiago - <26 Apps, 7 Goals, 3 Assists, 3 PoM, 6.95 Avg Rat>

STC - Marcos Panzardo - <41(2) Apps, 22 Goals, 5 Assists, 3 PoM, 7.14 Avg Rat>

Best Eleven Substitutes

Rhuan

Ahmet Gürleyen

Angelo Ndrecka

Hugo Morgado

Mike Bitzer

Wim Holband

Ben Dixon

Season Awards

Fortuna Koln Fans Player of the Seson - Philipp Reith

Fortuna Koln Top Goalscorer - Marcos Panzardo - 22

Fortuna Koln Most PoM Awards - Nemanja Propadalo - 4

Fortuna Kolm Most Assists - Andrija Radulovic - 3

The Club

Club ProfileClub Info | Facilities | Club Vision | Finances | Andy Sava

So things are going well and my stupid board started a new stadium which will cost 45.5M Euros. I wouldn't be upset if they would have built a bigger stadium but we already had a close to 20k seats one, the new one will only be 22.933 seats. Such a stupid board, we had a 93M Euros balance before the plans were announced which could have been used to strengthen the team but noooooooo. It's a good thing my wadges are not that high, i'm still 7 million under our budget. It says that they secured a 23M Euros sponsorhip for the stadium, i'm guessing this will come at the end of the season with the other sponsorships. If this is on top of the 45M Euros we payed for the stadium...

 The History

Club Achievements

  Season    |    League    |    Position    |    DFB-Pokal    |    Champions League    |    Europa League    |     Europe Conference League
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
  20/21          3.Liga           8th              N/A	                  N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  21/22          3.Liga           1st              N/A	                  N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  22/23       2.Bundesliga        10th          1st Round                 N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  23/24       2.Bundesliga        3rd           2nd Round                 N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  24/25       2.Bundesliga        12th          2nd Round                 N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  25/26       2.Bundesliga        8th           2nd Round                 N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  26/27       2.Bundesliga     2nd (Promo)      1st Round                 N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  27/28         Bundesliga        16th          2nd Round                 N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  28/29         Bundesliga        7th               QF                    N/A                     N/A                         N/A
  29/30         Bundesliga        5th               QF                    N/A                 1st KO Round                    N/A

 

Edited by Andy Sava
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23 minutes ago, Balahara said:

Panzardo everything you want in a player. Who knew a 6'6 monster could dribble with such grace.

2-meter-Peter (Crouch) was known to be more capable with the ball at his feet than anyone would expect, too

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1 hour ago, Balahara said:

Panzardo everything you want in a player. Who knew a 6'6 monster could dribble with such grace.

If he gets better speed he will be one of my best strikers in FM, if not the best. He is only 19! 

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