FM18: Athletic Club (Bilbao) - Los Leones

[SmileFaceGamer]

8 hours ago, Olivierlandman said:

I need to see the full tactic , send me a picture of your formation .

The screenshot button on the PC isn’t working, so sorry for the bad quality. 

[SmileFaceGamer]

On 18/12/2017 at 10:30, bowieinspace said:

January 2019:

Going well so far this season, managed to get through a tough Champions League group in 2nd to set up a first round tie against United. Would love to get further but that'll be a tough fixture!

In the league things are going well, certainly looking good for top 3 but Real look unstoppable at present.

New Signing!

The board increased my budget just before the transfer window so I had some cash to spend. I was looking at:

Odriozola - Still at Barca with a super high release clause. Not playing much but has been injured a fair bit and the club don't want to sell

Herrera - Man Utd want 100million

Mikel Merino - At 22 years old with room to grow, Merino both offers a good first team option off the rip but also can provide a good option for a number of years. Newcastle didn't want to sell, but I got him after he became unhappy my bid was rejected. In the end I picked him up for 16million in initial payments/12 month instalments, plus a further 2.5 million after 50 games. Definitely not a super cheap signing, but he's the right kind of player for my system and will be good value over a number of years.

Eneko Pena - Sevilla have an excellent basque regen right back, he looks like he's going to be class...but he has a 25million release clause and don't want to negotiate. Will keep trying there!

 

Hot talent!

From last years youth intake, this guy looks tidy...starting to get some first team games now

Jon Kartínez would slot straight into my Totaal Voetbal tactic. Oh if only

[OlivierL]

Almost money time in my second season.

after the winter break 42 out of 48 point in la liga. after 32 games, i'll finish in the top three, but barcalone and real madrid are winning everything( barcelona has 4 points more).

Won against Leipzig in first knockout rond in CL (quarter finale against Arsenal) and i'll play Atletico in the cup final, after beating Barcelona and Real madrid.

So after a great first season, it could be a very good second.

Update . 1-1 away against arsenal, won 3-0 home against Arsenal with 2 goals from Aduriz, comeback after a long injury and playing his last games before he retires.

[OlivierL]

Second season :

Finished third:

Won the cup final after beating Madrid and Barcelona :

And won the champions league !! after beating Leipzig,Arsenal and chelsea on my road to the final..

Had to find a solution for the injured iturraspe , suspended vesga (backup iturraspe) and herrera(unable to play cl) . So i put San Jose in my DMC spot and gave Yeray a chance next to Laporte.

Aduriz played his last minutes in extra time and missed a penalty .. goodbye legend !

[Chappy2509]

Good job with that I’m not fairing so good with my save 1 st season finished 7 th then Aduriz retired 2nd season I finished 6 th only signing so far has been Yuri from PSG and Cepa pre arranged a couple of young Regens hoping for a big war chest soon but a enjoying this save 

[OlivierL]

Thanks !

It's going to be a big challenge for more cups .. Bought Herrera for 27milj.  And i'll promote two youngsters (don't know who yet  2 from this list: Santamaria(newgen) , Sancet, Javi Martinez , Otegui , Oscar Gil or two newgens from the first youth intake) . Laporte wants 950k wage per month.. because PSG is calling for him..

World cup for clubs and spanish supercup are the only trophies left for me, but off course i want to win more and more.

It won't be easy with a few important players getting older . That is the BIlbao challenge off course !

[Chappy2509]

That is one good thing I find with this save the academy always produces good young players  and mix that with a few signing s only drama is the striker spot with Aduriz retiring , villalibre needing more time to develop I d

signed kenan Ködro but he is not cutting it

 

 

[moroccan_fan]

A striker that no one considers but who saved my first season : Jon Bautista

Seems like Aduriz gets a long jnjury on every save

 

[OlivierL]

After the first season, the board agreed to upgrade the stadium with 6k for 40milj.. expensive. But after the second season and before the expansion was completed they dediced to expand to 66k for 102milj. Also had elections, the fans elected a new president, nothing important changed.

[Chappy2509]

They did that to me on my stadium expansion whilst playing fm17  luckily money was you am issue 

[Chappy2509]

Just had a 21 million pound bid for a 31 Mikel San Jose thinking this is to goood to turn down with yeray,Gill, Nunez  all waiting to get in the starting 11.

[OlivierL]

My squad for the third season :

GK : Kepa, Herrerin, Remiro

DCL : Laporte , Unai Bilbao(promoted him after two good seasons at Numancia and Las Palmas. )

DCR: Yeray , Etxeita (Yeray will start because i'll move San Jose to the DMC spot, he did a great job in the CL final ).

WBL : Balenziaga, Saborit (and Lekue)

WBR : De Marcos, Capa (and Lekue)

MCL(S.volante) : Garcia, Rico (in the future Herrera will play here)

MC (anchor) : San Jose, Iturraspe

MCR(playmaker) : Benat, Vesga

AMCL/R (shadowstrikers): Muniain, Ager Aketxe, Susaeta, Villalibre  ( Youssouf Diarra gets minutes in the pre season because he had a great season at bilbao, Xabier Santamaria(newgen) gets also minutes)

AMC (amc att) : Wiliams, Herrera

[moroccan_fan]

4 hours ago, Chappy2509 said:

Just had a 21 million pound bid for a 31 Mikel San Jose thinking this is to goood to turn down with yeray,Gill, Nunez  all waiting to get in the starting 11.

Just sold him on my second season for 28,5M€

[tummen89]

I started my save yesterday. Bought Isma Lopez, Antonio Otegui and young Javi Martinez. Sent Saborit and Lekue out on loan. Playing Real Madrid away now and have Aduriz, Garcia, Muniain, Susaeta and Cordoba injured. Not hoping for much in this game.

[OlivierL]

7 hours ago, moroccan_fan said:

Just sold him on my second season for 28,5M€

i'm not going to sell any of my important players.. like to have them till they retire (like rico,aduriz,garcia)

Laporte wants to leave for PSG.. he wanted a bigger contract (almost 1milj / month) but he rejected... he has a release clause for 132milj.. so he is going to stay .

[OlivierL]

3 hours ago, tummen89 said:

I started my save yesterday. Bought Isma Lopez, Antonio Otegui and young Javi Martinez. Sent Saborit and Lekue out on loan. Playing Real Madrid away now and have Aduriz, Garcia, Muniain, Susaeta and Cordoba injured. Not hoping for much in this game.

good luck !

[Chappy2509]

How’s everyone getting on 3 seasons in and I’ve finished 7th 6th and 5th Barcelona or Madrid just romo the league ,have to play Williams up,front as goals are a reall Problem at the moment Villalibre not cutting it ,

enjoying the save got a few good Regens through on the intake and a so called golden generation looking foward to them developing 

 

[moroccan_fan]

On 02/01/2018 at 16:49, Chappy2509 said:

How’s everyone getting on 3 seasons in and I’ve finished 7th 6th and 5th Barcelona or Madrid just romo the league ,have to play Williams up,front as goals are a reall Problem at the moment Villalibre not cutting it ,

enjoying the save got a few good Regens through on the intake and a so called golden generation looking foward to them developing 

 

I finished 6th too, buy Jon Bautista upfront he is not that bad he scores around a goal every two matches.

[OlivierL]

I'm thinking about making a new tactic and play in a different formation after my two first great seasons..

Don't know what i'm going to create yet..

[OlivierL]

 

Changed my tax. one DMC became a DC . one wingback plays more attacking and i'm using two Volante's , i really love that role.

Won five or six in la liga and i had 7 clear cut chances against Valencia, that was something i wanted to improve with my adapted tactic.

[TOMetz]

Just joining in here. Have been following Athletic for some years now, finally visited a game (vs Ostersunds in November) in the home stands (I'm a Racing Genk fan and my first visit to San Mamés was as an away fan in 2016) and been playing FM for two years now. Ready for the challenge with Athletic and great to get some inspiration here. Thank you bowieinspace for the thorough guide. 

[bowieinspace]

7 hours ago, TOMetz said:

Just joining in here. Have been following Athletic for some years now, finally visited a game (vs Ostersunds in November) in the home stands (I'm a Racing Genk fan and my first visit to San Mamés was as an away fan in 2016) and been playing FM for two years now. Ready for the challenge with Athletic and great to get some inspiration here. Thank you bowieinspace for the thorough guide. 

No worries, good luck!

[OlivierL]

In my third season, 27 out of 30 point in la liga and a CL group win 0-1 against Man City. Going good but facing a tactic crisis.. after my second strikerless tactic (3-4-3) i was tired of playing like that.. now i'm creating a pure possession tactic , 4-2-3-1 . hope to see some good football, slowly looking for the right opening AND with wingers.. my first time since Fm14

[OlivierL]

Won all the competitions now after 2.5 seasons , proud !

[bowieinspace]

On 1/14/2018 at 03:37, Olivierlandman said:

 

Won all the competitions now after 2.5 seasons , proud !

 

Amazing effort Olivier...wow!

I've just started playing again after a long break over the Christmas/New Year period, going ok but nothing exceptional in 19/20. After some great initial success in my first season I think we're likely to be battling with Real and Barca for at least the next few years, and if they perform to their potential, likely coming out 2nd or 3rd. We need a few years to bring through some decent young players to supplement our squad, and until then we're likely to only be able to take advantage of Real/Barca having bad seasons like in season 1. 

We're currently at the end of December in 2019, so half a season on from my last update. We're 3rd in the league (Real streaking ahead in 1st and we're tight with Barca for 2nd/3rd), and we got through a tricky Champions League group in 2nd place. Jon Martinez and Eneko Pena (my two young stars) are gradually becoming more involving in 1st team games after playing some B team fixtures initially this season, and especially with Copa Del Rey coming up they should get decent game time in January.

I'm currently deciding what to do with Susaeta and Balenziaga who's contracts are up at the end of the season. Susaeta has been superb for us and I'd like to keep him around for another year, but he wants a two year extension on bigger wages (he wants 71k p/w GBP). He's about to turn 32 I think, so I don't really want to extend for two years. I'm sure I'll figure it out with him but I may let him go as I've got youngsters I can bed in if he's declining. Balenziaga I'm likely to let go, he's 31, and we have Yuri holding down the starting spot, with the two footed Eneko Pena able to play left back well. With Lekue and De Marcos on the right (plus a 16 year old right back who looks good in the youth team) I may utilise Pena as a left back in the long term. Raul Garcia will also leave at the end of the season as he's on the decline now - but he'll do a job in the first team this season coming into my front 2 on occasion to give Villalibre or Williams a rest. 

I have plenty of decent young talent that need games, including an incredible looking GK who is 2.5 stars at 16 years old who is a real stand out. I have a lot of 3-4 star potential players, so hoping a few of them come good in the long run! The second half of the season will be about securing a top 2/3 finish, hopefully a Champions League run (we have Liverpool in the first KO round) and then bringing the youngsters through. 

On a separate note - I've been super impressed with everyone's results this year with Athletic. From my experience it felt like the first season was a bit easier this year than in previous iterations of FM, perhaps Athletic's squad just suit the tactical side of FM18 a little better than previous years (certainly it was easier to get Aduriz performing this year!). Looking forward to trying to sustain success over the long term, but it seems like the patch updates have helped the strong AI teams to perform better? At least on my save it seemed to turn Real/Barca into the teams they should be, but it might be coincidence? Interested to hear everyone's experience with Real/Barca on their saves!

[OlivierL]

Nice update! I would keep all the experienced players till they are retiring. I have 150 million to spend in season 3, signed Herrera in season 2 and all the good bask newgens.. so enough money left to keep all the old players. I had a really good intake in the third season, still no good young defenders. So I'll have a problem if balenziage starts declining..

Playing a Strikerless 4 3 3 now and Williams is top scorer in every competition. Won the cup against Villarreal and semi final against Barcelona in the cl. Very exciting la liga race against real.. i have a chance to win everything this season.

First team when everyone is fit this season :

This are my best youngsters at the moment (a few from my own youth intake, some bought)

 

Otegui, Javi Martinez, Sancet, Oscar Gil are also getting close to the first team.

 

[bowieinspace]

2019/2020 Season Review: The Capitulation

Well I have to say, this season was one of the most interesting I'd played on FM. With 12 games to go Real Madrid were 12 points clear of us in 1st, we were level on points with Barcelona in 2nd/3rd and Atletico Madrid were in 9th place. Real Madrid had, at that stage, played 26, won 22, drawn 2, lost 2, with a goal difference of +67. 

It would be fair to say, things then went crazy:

Real Madrid's final run of games:

 

Absolute disbelief. They were unstoppable all season, and then went on a run like this. Meanwhile ourselves and Atletico turned the tables, we went on very good runs (dropped a few points but overall very strong), and we overhauled Madrid for 1st, while Atletico pulled in Barca to astonishingly, finish 4th. Their turnaround to finish 3rd was as good as Madrid's downfall. To rub salt in the wounds, Madrid lost the Champions League final too. Ouch.

This summer should be a transition for us, I'm trying to shift a few of the old guard to promote youngsters through. This summer, Benat, Balenziaga, San Jose (maybe) and Raul Garcia are all on their way out, alongside Herrerin. 

Transfer target wise, I'd like to bring in Oyarzabal and Odriozola but neither look promising. Likely to be a quiet summer for incomings!

[OlivierL]

Wow crazy end of the season , bowie ! great job !

I lost the semi finals (cl) against Barcelona (1-1 and 0-0) but won la liga for the second time in three season.

 

I won't renew the contract from Rico and Herrerin wants to leave so i'll sign Olazabal for 2.7milj as backup GK.

I'll promote two or three newgens to the squad , won't do anything else (Merin is always a target , but still not possible).

[OlivierL]

Promoted three newgens into the A squad. Managed to sign Merino in season 4.. last season they asked +- 60milj. Signed him for 23milj now.

And got a chance to sign Inigo Martinez (barcelona signed him in the second season for +- 28milj, i'm signing him for +-24.5) .

My squad in season 4 :

 

GK : Kepa , Olazabal , remiro

DL: Balanziaga , Saborit

DC: Laporte , Inigo Martinez(probably play him on the DCR position)

DC: Yeray - Nunez

DR: De Marcos, Capa , Lekue

DMCL(playmaker) : Benat, Merino

DMCR(def mid) : San José , Vesga

MC (btb) : Herrera, Oscar Gil

AMCL(ss): Iker Muniain , Ager Aketxe

AMC(att m): Garcia , Villalibre

AMCR(ss): Williams, Susaeta

Youngsters training with A , playing for bilbao : Eneko Alonso, Santamaria(newgen) and Dominguez , the first and the third one came from my first youth intake.

[bowieinspace]

Some crazy stuff happening IRL right now! Laporte gone to Man City and strong reports this morning we're signing Inigo Martinez for his 32mil euros release clause. Signing Martinez from Sociedad would be huge after losing Laporte!

In FM terms though, for comparison here is my squad in season 4:

GK: Kepa, Inaki Gonzalez (Lezama regen - going to be better than Kepa)

RB: De Marcos, Lekue

LB: Yuri, Pena (can play LB or RB, Basque regen who came from Sevilla strangely, born near Pamplona, potential to be world class)

CB: Laporte, Yeray, San Jose, Nunez

CM: Martinez (Lezama regen - future Captain), Mikel Merino, Iturraspe, Vesga, Isusko Alonso (Lezama regen, going to be a good first team player)

RW: Williams, Susaeta

LW: Muniain, Cordoba/Aketxe

CF: Villalibre, Azcona (n.b. I adjusted him in the DB, his PA on my save is roughly mid 140s making him a good La Liga player, Dominguez (Basque regen signed from Burgos).

 

Azcona is breaking all kinds of records in real life and I thought he deserved a decent variable potential from what I've seen of him. He's going to be a good striker who will be replaced at some stage when a better regen comes through so happy I didn't over do his PA in the database edit by making him too strong. He's a bit behind Villalibre for sure.

I've got some good regens coming through as well...pics below of a few of the highlights (including some mentioned above).

 

Igor Esparza - Coming through at RB, decent attribute spread and the coaches feel he has potential. Playing for the B team at the moment

 

Eneko Pena - My big signing from Sevilla. Basque regen surprising at Sevilla. Training him on a CWB schedule to improve his technical attributes, but will be an excellent defensively orientated full back.

 

Ignacio Rodriguez - Through our last intake, looks like he will be very good indeed!

 

Jon Martinez - Now our first choice central midfielder alongside Mikel Merino. Will improve a lot more but looks like he'll be our future Captain

 

Inaki Gonzalez - Amazing young keeper...Kepa will have a hard time staying in front of him in the pecking order before too long.

 

Ander Ruiz - Signed from Alaves, looks like he will be a future 1st choice CB

[Guest El Payaso]

Hopefully Nunez will get a considerable boost within the database after the new update is released as he has been convincing this season. Same probably with Cordoba and Vesga who have been within the first team this season. 

Is Villalibre actually showing anything in real life to award that potential? He has had great potential for years in the game but I think he still hasn't shown any signs of breaking into the first team even though there would be space for a backup of Aduriz. 

[bowieinspace]

5 hours ago, El Payaso said:

Hopefully Nunez will get a considerable boost within the database after the new update is released as he has been convincing this season. Same probably with Cordoba and Vesga who have been within the first team this season. 

Is Villalibre actually showing anything in real life to award that potential? He has had great potential for years in the game but I think he still hasn't shown any signs of breaking into the first team even though there would be space for a backup of Aduriz. 

As we know, player improvements are not always that big 

Villalibre has had a bit of an unsuccessful loan spell but I’d say the potential ability is still there

[Ricotero_uy]

I'm devastated about the transfer of Laporte. Don't know how we are going to manage without him at FM19?

[Jean0987654321]

3 hours ago, Ricotero_uy said:

I'm devastated about the transfer of Laporte. Don't know how we are going to manage without him at FM19?

Inigo is coming so that'll be a like-for-like replacement

[bowieinspace]

2 hours ago, Jean0987654321 said:

Inigo is coming so that'll be a like-for-like replacement

All done and official, what a superb signing!

Also some strong rumours floating around that Mikel Merino is a done deal near enough and will happen before the deadline. I'll believe it when I see it, but if we've sold Laporte and brought in Martinez/Merino, that's a great effort. Laporte deserved his move and we got a good fee for him in the end - we move on. 

Athletic after the DB update/next year with Martinez, potentially Merino and Ganea should be quite cool, although really not sure if Ganea will be any good I've seen nothing of him.

[OlivierL]

It is funny that i bought merino and martinez last night.. I have +- 170milj on the balance after those transfers and San Memes expanded to 76535 seats.

Sold Etxeita (900k - cordoba) and Iturraspe (last contractyear - wasn't going to extend - 14.5m middlesbrough) and Susaeta (4.5milj - fiorentina)

Bowie it seems u have a lot of good young defenders.. i cant find a lot of good newgens for the defence.. 

how are u scouting ?

i scout the u19 , spain, scouting range, world , segunda div.. all for basqua and fairly good potential. my scouts find newgens but most of the time i discover them when i'm looking into the b or u19 squads from teams with a lot of basque players.. or i find them in the spain u19/20 national teams(with a custom view for second nationalites)

don't know how to improve my search ..

[bowieinspace]

1 hour ago, Olivierlandman said:

It is funny that i bought merino and martinez last night.. I have +- 170milj on the balance after those transfers and San Memes expanded to 76535 seats.

Sold Etxeita (900k - cordoba) and Iturraspe (last contractyear - wasn't going to extend - 14.5m middlesbrough)

Bowie it seems u have a lot of good young defenders.. i cant find a lot of good newgens for the defence.. 

how are u scouting ?

i scout the u19 , spain, scouting range, world , segunda div.. all for basqua and fairly good potential. my scouts find newgens but most of the time i discover them when i'm looking into the b or u19 squads from teams with a lot of basque players.. or i find them in the spain u19/20 national teams(with a custom view for second nationalites)

don't know how to improve my search ..

Honestly no trick, it's just the way it's worked out. Last year for example I ended up with like 4 world class goalkeepers coming through my academy over 10 years. My scouting set up is all detailed in the opening posts somewhere, I just do a fairly thorough job in particular scouting other Basque clubs on the youth intake days. I then look at star ratings and attributes. I trust my thoughts on attribute spread over star ratings, but usually they align anyway. Usually I keep scouting until the end of the season and do my business then, unless I'm confident and they're available straight away.

[Guest El Payaso]

Nunez has already shown that he can easily be the new Laporte. This thing with Aymeric has been going on for years and I think that he deserves a chance to work with the best manager in the world. Under Guardiola he has all the chances to jump into world class. 

I think Kepa signed a new deal lately in real life which is excellent after the almost done deal with Real Madrid. 

[bowieinspace]

3 hours ago, El Payaso said:

Nunez has already shown that he can easily be the new Laporte. This thing with Aymeric has been going on for years and I think that he deserves a chance to work with the best manager in the world. Under Guardiola he has all the chances to jump into world class. 

I think Kepa signed a new deal lately in real life which is excellent after the almost done deal with Real Madrid. 

Yep Kepa signed a new long term deal. I really thought he was gone!

[bowieinspace]

Sadly no Mikel Merino for Athletic this window by the looks of it. I'd say it could be likely in the summer though. 

Overall good effort by the club...losing Laporte is a blow, but 60million is decent. Inigo Martinez a great replacement, new deals for Williams and Kepa were massive, plus the signings of Ganea and Capa for the summer too...all bodes well. Also rumours Dani Garcia might join on a free in the summer.

[Purple Frog]

Newbie here . . .don't you think it's sad that games can't be recruited in game?

Saborits unhappy in my save (season 1 February) and need a left back replacement.  .

[bowieinspace]

32 minutes ago, Purple Frog said:

Newbie here . . .don't you think it's sad that games can't be recruited in game?

Saborits unhappy in my save (season 1 February) and need a left back replacement.  .

Welcome! What do you mean sorry?

[Purple Frog]

57 minutes ago, bowieinspace said:

Welcome! What do you mean sorry?

Oh I meant cristian ganea 

Stupid autocorrect

 

Games->ganea 

Basically was asking for help at left back!

Should I save money onto azpilicueta?like previous posts suggest?

[OlivierL]

On my game Ganea is not in the database , he could have been my solution on the left back for season 5 :-)

after each season , i'm facing the same problems.. i want to change my formation/tactics(strikerless 2-5-3 / 3-4-3 and 4-3-3) to a formation with wingers / striker.

I have a great newgen winger - santamaria for the right wing and left i still have Iker, Ager(or Inaki). I want to play with inaki up front.. most of the time is go back to one of my strikerless formations.. now i want a new challenge.

[Purple Frog]

3 hours ago, Olivierlandman said:

On my game Ganea is not in the database , he could have been my solution on the left back for season 5 :-)

after each season , i'm facing the same problems.. i want to change my formation/tactics(strikerless 2-5-3 / 3-4-3 and 4-3-3) to a formation with wingers / striker.

I have a great newgen winger - santamaria for the right wing and left i still have Iker, Ager(or Inaki). I want to play with inaki up front.. most of the time is go back to one of my strikerless formations.. now i want a new challenge.

Inakiㆍㆍㆍstill in my first season but he did prove a great striker in my save . . With aduriz injured scored a hattrick against sociedad:)

[OlivierL]

1 hour ago, Purple Frog said:

Inakiㆍㆍㆍstill in my first season but he did prove a great striker in my save . . With aduriz injured scored a hattrick against sociedad:)

I changed my 4-3-3 strikerless to 4-3-3 with striker and wings.

Inaki(or Villalibre) as complete forward (support) . Iker(injured) or Ager as AML - inside forward (attack) and Santamaria(newgen) or De Marcos als AMR (winger - sup).

The rest of the tactic stays the same.. Garcia was my pivot AMC in the strikerless tax.. now he will be backup to herrera als MC box to box.

First game against(away) Villareal (first leg) 0-4 win with goals from Inaki and 3 assits from Santamaria.

I'm going to sign odriozola (so i spended a lot in my fourth season..) from chelsea for +- 20milj. They signed him from Sociedad in the second season for 40milj.

He will be my first choice wingback with Capa (or Lekue) as backup. De Marcos will be the backup from Santamaria (amr).

[bowieinspace]

8 hours ago, Purple Frog said:

Oh I meant cristian ganea 

Stupid autocorrect

 

Games->ganea 

Basically was asking for help at left back!

Should I save money onto azpilicueta?like previous posts suggest?

Ahh yeah Ganea isn’t on my DB so not someone I paid much attention to.

lekue and de Marcos can both do a job at left back, but no real long term solutions out there on the transfer market...Azpilicueta is by far the best player if you can get him. Odriozola is also a good option at RB (world class long term option) meaning someone like Lekue can move to the other side.

[dothestrand]

Hi all, I'm another FM player whose first game in every new version is to manage Atletic Club. I'm not a 100% purist as I will sign Spanish u16s. The game is too tough otherwise! I also tend to generate the first season effectively. Fortunately the club hadn't sold any of its big names over the first season. Atletic finished 7th, just about squeezing an Europa League spot.

Over the 17-18 Summer a lot of the squad had contracts expiring. We'd vastly exceeded our wage budget and this was significantly eating into the potential transfer budget. The likes of Oscar Gil were retained, but unless anyone was going to make the match day squad, they were released. The big disappointment was that Xabi Etxeita, who'd had a strong season, wouldn't extend his contract. But the likes of Saborit, Sola, Boveda, Rico, Aketxe and Exteberria all moved to pastures new, releasing fresh funds for wages.

The big clubs came knocking for Laporte, Williams, Iturraspe and San Jose. Luckily we were able to knock back their advances but the players all complained and promises of CL football were made. Unless we make significant progress next season, expect these guys to be asking to leave.

The Capa deal was already arranged giving us a strong RB option. Short of options at LB, PSG transfer listed Yuri, and although his 70k wages were more than we'd like to pay, we signed him for a bargain £3.5m. He'll provide completion for Balenziaga. Signing players for the first XI at this stage is tough, so signing decent backups was the priority. Jon Bautista and Igor Zubeldia signed from our rivals Real Sociedad, although we were knocked back by Elustondo when Sociedad transfer listed him. Our business was wrapped up through some youth prospects; Angel Chacon (a Vallecano winger) and Abraham Arana (a Seville attacking midfielder), and Mikel Jauregi was a 17yo midfield prodigy from Tarragona. 

On the sales front, Mikel Vesga moved to Alaves for £750k as he was well down the list for a central midfield role. Quanjian came in for San Jose and Oscar De Marcos a number of times, and whilst all San Jose bids were rebuffed, once they were willing to pay £20m for De Marcos, the club finally acceded to the player's wishes; specially as Capa was likely to take the RB berth. De Marcos's versatility will be missed but given the opportunities it provides for building the squad, it was impossible to turn down.

Europa League qualifying ties against Red Star and Teplice were comfortably dealt with, and the full competition is one we'll aim high in. La Liga is about to commence. A top six spot is a minimum. With luck and hard work, we're aiming for the top four.

[Jean0987654321]

3 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

Ahh yeah Ganea isn’t on my DB so not someone I paid much attention to.

lekue and de Marcos can both do a job at left back, but no real long term solutions out there on the transfer market...Azpilicueta is by far the best player if you can get him. Odriozola is also a good option at RB (world class long term option) meaning someone like Lekue can move to the other side.

Ganea is available but you would need to load the Romanian league. Unfortunately, you can't sign him

[bowieinspace]

Oh Yuri at LB as well! Can’t believe I forgot him. He seems to become available quickly but the wages are high