FM19 Athletic Club - Aupa!

[Otis]

LaLiga Santander

Very decent first season at Athletic. Champions League football will be great for boosting the reputation and the bank balance. Barcelona was unstoppable and got to the CL final, unfortunately, they were beaten by PSG. Real Madrid and Atletico also got to the semi-finals so it was a good performance from the Spanish sides.

Unfortunately, Aduriz retired at the end of the first season so it'll be hard to replace his goals. As a result, I have purchased quite a few young strikers for the long term. I also let Mikel Rico, Balenziaga and Raul Garcia leave at the end of their contracts.

 

Transfers

Rafa Álvarez - £10m from Barcelona

I'm really excited by this guy. Great to take a young prospect from Barcelona. He will be a key player in the midfield for many years to come I am sure.

 

Enrique Alfaro - £500,000 from Gijon.

Looks as though he could be a decent wing back. Love his physicals and he's nice and tall for a 16-year-old. I hope his technical attributes improve but I am sure he will become a first-team player in the coming years.

 

Iñaki Martínez - £400,000 from Osasuna.

I like the look of this guy. He has a couple of nice attributes in nice areas but is still a bit raw. I have plenty of young strikers on the conveyor belt so we'll see if he makes it to the first team. I'm sure he'll be a useful player for us.

 

Miguel - £500,000 from Getafe.

This guy looks okay. Not sure if he'll make it into the first team in all honesty. He has a lot of developing to do.

 

Pepe Aguirre - on loan initially, but will join permanently for £1.8m from Getafe.

I think this lad could be brilliant. He will be trained as a striker. He has some really nice attributes, I love his first touch, technique and his physicals. Improving his personality will be a priority, but a key player for the future hopefully.

 

Youth Intake

Eneko Calvillo

What an absolute gem. He is going to be world class. 6'5", 17 flair, 16 off the ball and a professional personality at the age of 16? Yes, please. He has the potential to be one of the best players of his generation.

Jon Garmendia

He is quite raw but I can see him having the potential to be a first team player for us. Very consistent performer which is always a bonus.

Eneko Dulce

I love his physicals. However, his technical and mental attributes need a lot of work.

 

Aims for next season

Losing Aduriz is a big blow, so top 4 and qualification for the Champions League is the target. I feel we have the quality to potentially get to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, let's hope we get an easy group.

 

[Pavi]

So, after almost 4 months of not playing FM I was drawn back to the game and started a save with Athletic.

Struggle to find a consistent tactic and nailed it down only around December. Nevertheless, we've displayed an impressive defensive performances and so we won a lot of games 1-0 and currently sitting 3rd only 2 points off the top place (a surprising Valencia).

As of now, just after the winter market, my squad is the following:

GK: Remiro, Simón

DR: De Marcos, Capa

DC: Yeray, I. Martinez, D. Garcia (released by Osasuna), Núñez

DL: Yuri, Ghanea (had to sell Balenziaga as he was moaning for first-team football)

DM: Iturraspe, San José

MC: Beñat, D. García, R. Garcia, Rico

AMR: Williams, Susaeta

AML: Muniain, Cordoba

ST: Aduriz, Bautista (transfer-listed and unhappy by Sociedad so I managed to sign him).

 

Raul García will be shipped off at the end of the season as he's asking outrageous wages and he doesn't really fit my system. Sociedad is having an awful season and they are currently 20th, pretty sure they'll go down. Hopefully this will allow me to make signings there regardless of the rivalry, Merino is my main target.

Aduriz is really struggling, so will have to invent something for next year. I use a PF so Villalibre could fit but I'm scared of facing the Liga and Champions with Bautista and Villalibre as my strikers.

 

I'm writing this from my phone, will post some screenshots at the end of the season.

Aúpa Athletic!!

[Pavi]

On 06/02/2019 at 17:00, Otis said:

LaLiga Santander

Very decent first season at Athletic. Champions League football will be great for boosting the reputation and the bank balance. Barcelona was unstoppable and got to the CL final, unfortunately, they were beaten by PSG. Real Madrid and Atletico also got to the semi-finals so it was a good performance from the Spanish sides.

Unfortunately, Aduriz retired at the end of the first season so it'll be hard to replace his goals. As a result, I have purchased quite a few young strikers for the long term. I also let Mikel Rico, Balenziaga and Raul Garcia leave at the end of their contracts.

 

 

Hey there. One question, which system did you use. I have seen the screen with Aduriz scoring more than 20 goals for you. I am really struggling to make him score regularly.

Thanks!

[dothestrand]

When my last game corrupted, I knew I'd come back to Athletic Club eventually. I finished 3rd in my first season, selling Garcia, Rico and Balenziaga to fund the signing of Merino.

One promising wonderkid emerged. Reckon he could be my back up AMR already (bad news for Susaeta!). 

[Pavi]

2019/20 recap

A slightly dissapointing end of season, missed out the Champions League qualification by goal avarage. But, it's right at the end, we performed at our standards because we lack consinstency, due mainly to my failure to find a working system. Things have improved, I am already in December of the 2nd season and am sitting 2nd with the best defensive record of the league.

The missing out of the UCL was compensate by Réal Sociedad going down!!! That is great news, hoping our differential in reputation grows wider so it'll be easier to sign their players regardless of the rivalry.

Players wise, of the starting big names, I sold Balenziaga, left Rico's and R. Garcia's  contracts expire, and Aduriz retired.  

In the 2020 youth intake there were two gems

Iñigo Ramírez - Striker : The new Aduriz, or so I hope! 

Ander Rodríguez - Defender: Probably the best DC newgen I've had in a long while. We'll have to work on his Heading abilities, and he's not the tallest. But those attributes and that Determination are impressive.

 

Aupa Athletic!

Edited February 10, 2019 by Pavi

[dothestrand]

I don't think I've ever seen Valencia qualify for the CL in my games. Good news about Real Sociedad going down, but I bet it's still difficult to sign Oyarzabal et al. It bugs me that Pardo is immediately transfer listed for way more than his value and still won't leave. Gorosabel is decent in my game too, not that I need a RB (although I will probably move Capa on and De Marcos also gets offers from China).

[Otis]

@Pavi 

I used Aduriz in this system as a poacher, next to Williams as an AF. Aduriz was horrible at the start of the season, I think he got half of his goals in the last 15 or so league games. His stats definitely flatter him, he was a very frustrating player.

 

[Pavi]

8 hours ago, dothestrand said:

I don't think I've ever seen Valencia qualify for the CL in my games. Good news about Real Sociedad going down, but I bet it's still difficult to sign Oyarzabal et al. It bugs me that Pardo is immediately transfer listed for way more than his value and still won't leave. Gorosabel is decent in my game too, not that I need a RB (although I will probably move Capa on and De Marcos also gets offers from China).

Actually I managed to sign Pardo for € 5M as he requested to be transfer-listed. Was so happy! I tried Merino too but Sociedad wouldn't budge. If the board makes more funds available I will try again in the winter transfers window.

[dothestrand]

2 hours ago, Pavi said:

Actually I managed to sign Pardo for € 5M as he requested to be transfer-listed. Was so happy! I tried Merino too but Sociedad wouldn't budge. If the board makes more funds available I will try again in the winter transfers window.

Merino is available for 25m unless they extended his minimum release fee. He'll go too - I guess because he isn't a Sociedad youth graduate he doesn't feel quite so loyal.

[Pavi]

@dothestrand

He's ours!!!! € 22.5M but mainly in instalments and had to ship off both Beñat and Susaeta to free up wages - but I thought they are both 32, so woldn't have lasted much longer. He was really unhappy playing in Segunda and I declared my interest and scout him to unsettle him further.

Edited February 11, 2019 by Pavi

[Pavi]

12 hours ago, Otis said:

@Pavi 

I used Aduriz in this system as a poacher, next to Williams as an AF. Aduriz was horrible at the start of the season, I think he got half of his goals in the last 15 or so league games. His stats definitely flatter him, he was a very frustrating player.

Thanks @Otis! In my save he retired as well after the first season, but yeah he was really disappointing. I couldn't find a way to fit him in my system. I rotate between Bautista and Villalibre now and are both performing, in January and they scored 12 and 7 goals. Pretty happy with my tactic now, am sitting top of the league. If I survive the hectic scheduling of Liga's winter, those returns legs in Copa del Rey are really tiring, I have good chances. 

Edited February 11, 2019 by Pavi

[dothestrand]

9 hours ago, Pavi said:

@dothestrand

He's ours!!!! € 22.5M but mainly in instalments and had to ship off both Beñat and Susaeta to free up wages - but I thought they are both 32, so woldn't have lasted much longer. He was really unhappy playing in Segunda and I declared my interest and scout him to unsettle him further.

Excellent. Getting Merino really is a no brainer, no matter how much he costs. Your CMs are all past their best in this game and he's the only top quality option. Herrera is great but he's 29 and Man Utd never transfer list him cheaply. 

[Pavi]

First title of the save, Copa del Rey is coming home!

 

And Llorente is back, as a U19 coach. Attributes are quite terrible, but I couldn't resist the nostalgia.

[zlatanera]

@Pavi Rubén Pardo is probably my favourite player on FM, glad to see him getting MOTM for you! 

[dothestrand]

Just finished my third season and that's three CL places on the bounce (Valencia finished 2nd this season, so Barca missed out! )

Luckily I've been able to bring some good youngsters in from the other Basque clubs so am able to transition out the likes of De Marcos and Iturraspe sooner rather than later. 

Found this cracking lad at Racing Satander and came in for 475k. First team quality already!

Herrera has been here a couple of seasons now but is rotating the AMR position with Unai Lopez.

Still having problems with the striker position as Williams is playing there by and large and he's hardly prolific. 

[Jean0987654321]

 

Season 2
This season is just another example of what happens when you don't have a good striker or good tactics/ME. Leaked a ton of goals and barely scored f*ck all.

I slowly looked to phase out the senoir players. They are on a sharp decline and taking in too many wages. Susaeta was sold and De Marcos will go to Betis at the end of the season for 10M + 50% each. I brought back Amorbrieta and Torqueo just for the EL/La Copa and to be tutors
And the results

And I really struggled to fine a good tactic again. The ME has long been an issue in this game. Just keep getting killed on crosses and through balls. And our strikers don't score enough goals to make up for that

Some players

San Iker was the top goalscorer this year

Was misfiring from all clinders throughout the year along with Bautigol

See: Villalibre

Rock solid wherever he played. CB, DM, CM, wherever.

Needs to be moved on

Did not have the best season, IMO. Conceeded a lot of stupid goals due to his mistakes. I hope Ramiro is available or that the GKs I stole from Osasuna comes good

Also did well at the back

Did well as a DLP in the earlier part of the season and as a RPM in the later part

Did well as LB

Now take a look at this guy. He came from America. I hope we can develop an American Basque player. Maybe take advantage of potential shirt sales and I don't lie as I am one so it would be cool to have a player that is one too

 

Edited February 20, 2019 by Jean0987654321

[dothestrand]

Second season is hoping Williams gets ten goals up front and that your wide/attacking midfielders chip in. I'd be interested in knowing whether Nico Williams/Ruben Azcona come good for anyone. Usually I've had regens/other Basque regens who've taken 2-3 seasons to become the main striker. 

[Jean0987654321]

47 minutes ago, dothestrand said:

Second season is hoping Williams gets ten goals up front and that your wide/attacking midfielders chip in. I'd be interested in knowing whether Nico Williams/Ruben Azcona come good for anyone. Usually I've had regens/other Basque regens who've taken 2-3 seasons to become the main striker. 

Both Nico and Azcona are too green for me. I sent Nico to the B team and Azcona will go out on loan. I hope they develop well...

[dothestrand]

5 hours ago, Jean0987654321 said:

Both Nico and Azcona are too green for me. I sent Nico to the B team and Azcona will go out on loan. I hope they develop well...

I think Azcona did well in my last game, but Nico never developed - has a 5* rating though.

[Eug04]

Has anyone tried Muniain as a striker on this game?

I had great success with him playing there a few versions ago.

[Jean0987654321]

5 hours ago, Eug04 said:

Has anyone tried Muniain as a striker on this game?

I had great success with him playing there a few versions ago.

A few times yes but he did not score much from there...

[dothestrand]

16 hours ago, Eug04 said:

Has anyone tried Muniain as a striker on this game?

I had great success with him playing there a few versions ago.

He doesn't have it as one of his preferred positions. In my game he has finishing 11 so I don't think it's worth trying to convert him.

[Eug04]

12 hours ago, Jean0987654321 said:

A few times yes but he did not score much from there...

 

1 hour ago, dothestrand said:

He doesn't have it as one of his preferred positions. In my game he has finishing 11 so I don't think it's worth trying to convert him.

I was just curious since in FM17 I think it was I converted him into a lethal finer in the Premier League.

Cheers guys

[Jean0987654321]

9 hours ago, Eug04 said:

 

I was just curious since in FM17 I think it was I converted him into a lethal finer in the Premier League.

Cheers guys

If you want him as DLF playing the others, hes ok. Finishing is the least of the attributes I care about when playing a DLF (s)...

[dothestrand]

And at the end of the 21-22 season, we've finally done it! We had a 10pt lead at one stage but had games in the run in against Real Madrid (twice!), Athletico Madrid and Barcelona. When we drew the last game of the season (Legranes equalised in the last minute with a 40 yarder when Simon fluffed a clearance!!!!) I feared the worst but Real Madrid (our closest rivals) lost at home to their city rivals!

Defence were superb but some hit and miss performances further up the pitch.

Wonderkids? We've a couple. 

We also have the new Raul and the new Canizares.

We've loads in the bank but it's hard to sign any first teamers so raiding the youth squads of other Basque clubs is the only way to go.

[Rustler]

Just some quick advice really - top of the league in January by a point - Barca have come in for San Jose for £30 million - all up front - take it or leave it? Only thing which I am worried is that Yeray won't sign a new contract because clubs are interested and I am worried that someone will take him for his release clause (£27 million as start of the game). Does this change after the transfer window? Thanks for any advice!

 

Edit: Dortmund has just bid £27 million for Yeray! Aahhh! Guessing no to the Barca bid for San Jose - unless anyone else has advice? It would just leave me with Nunez and Martinez

Edited February 28, 2019 by Rustler

[zlatanera]

@Rustler I would always insist on the release clause if I don't have ample cover. And I don't mean negotiate to San Jose's release clause, I just mean reject every bid. 

[Ricotero_uy]

That's why the first thing that I do when I create the game is try to rise the release clause.
The image is from my squad at 2021.

[dothestrand]

I lock down the release fee in all negotiations. Anyone who's already first team quality/wonderkid potential doesn't get below 40m. I'll throw more wages at them if need be. For someone like a Dani Garcia, who's more of a rotation option, I'll go for 20m or so. If someone wants to pay that - go for it!!!

[LukasZ_VCF]

12 hours ago, Ricotero_uy said:

That's why the first thing that I do when I create the game is try to rise the release clause.
The image is from my squad at 2021.

Your wages are per month / year ?

[Ricotero_uy]

4 hours ago, LukasZ_VCF said:

Your wages are per month / year ?

Year.

Sometimes I promise them that we're going to win the Champions League, and even if we fail they feel we did great reaching QF or SF.

[dothestrand]

Anyone seen Roberto Lopez at Real Sociedad? Think he's played a few first team games IRL - just 18 I think.

By 2022, he's quality, averaging over 7 over the previous two seasons and gets a decent number of goals from an AMC position.

36m (release fee) later and he's ours. It took a hell of a lot of convincing to sign him - 90k per week!!!!

I'm going to try to drop him back into CM alongside Merino and Pardo (making a trio of midfielders from our rivals!) Oyarzabal was never going to sign (his release fee is well over 60m) so Lopez seems a perfect alternative.   

[zlatanera]

@dothestrand my scouts on both my athletic and sociedad saves last year didn’t reckon much to him. I haven’t seen him in the hidden gems either, so I’m guessing he’s had an upgrade and is random potential and you lucked out on having one of the better ones. 

 

Edited March 1, 2019 by zlatanera

[Jean0987654321]

7 hours ago, dothestrand said:

Anyone seen Roberto Lopez at Real Sociedad? Think he's played a few first team games IRL - just 18 I think.

By 2022, he's quality, averaging over 7 over the previous two seasons and gets a decent number of goals from an AMC position.

36m (release fee) later and he's ours. It took a hell of a lot of convincing to sign him - 90k per week!!!!

I'm going to try to drop him back into CM alongside Merino and Pardo (making a trio of midfielders from our rivals!) Oyarzabal was never going to sign (his release fee is well over 60m) so Lopez seems a perfect alternative.   

I brought him in from Sociedad in the first season and loaned him out in the next. Now, in the third season, he is scoring like crazy in the IF (a) position on the right

[dothestrand]

Crap that's two long term Athletic Club saves gone! When the saved game could not be loaded message comes up is there anything you can do?

[bowieinspace]

1 hour ago, dothestrand said:

Crap that's two long term Athletic Club saves gone! When the saved game could not be loaded message comes up is there anything you can do?

Sorry to hear that I always run a three file rolling auto save to avoid major consequences like that, if you don't do that I'd definitely recommend it

 

[bowieinspace]

On 02/03/2019 at 16:08, Jean0987654321 said:

I brought him in from Sociedad in the first season and loaned him out in the next. Now, in the third season, he is scoring like crazy in the IF (a) position on the right

He had no significant change in the 19.3 update, so what we're seeing there is a reflection of his variable PA range  

Edited March 3, 2019 by bowieinspace

[dothestrand]

11 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

Sorry to hear that I always run a three file rolling auto save to avoid major consequences like that, if you don't do that I'd definitely recommend it

 

I only have a single rolling save, so my bad on that one. Ah well, I'll start another save soon.

[Pavi]

After two weeks of absence from FM, I've managed to finally get back to my Athletic save. Finished second season and managed to qualify to the UCL by getting 3rd place. I was dissapointed because we battle the first spot with until the last three games, we lost and drew one so the title was again Barça's. We still nicked them at the Super Cup though, after securing the first silverware of the save by winning Copa del Rey.

 

 

In terms of transfers, after stealing both Merino and Pardo to Sociedad, I activated the realese clause of Gorosabel who in my save have turned into a very nice fullback - any of you have him?

 

Hope I will get through faster but family and work takes time

 

Aupa Athletic!!!

 

 

[dothestrand]

2 hours ago, Pavi said:

After two weeks of absence from FM, I've managed to finally get back to my Athletic save. Finished second season and managed to qualify to the UCL by getting 3rd place. I was dissapointed because we battle the first spot with until the last three games, we lost and drew one so the title was again Barça's. We still nicked them at the Super Cup though, after securing the first silverware of the save by winning Copa del Rey.

 

 

In terms of transfers, after stealing both Merino and Pardo to Sociedad, I activated the realese clause of Gorosabel who in my save have turned into a very nice fullback - any of you have him?

 

Hope I will get through faster but family and work takes time

 

Aupa Athletic!!!

 

 

Yeah I signed Gorosabel - in my game, he's a definite upgrade on Lekue and Capa. Always waiting for Madrid to transfer list Odriozola though  

[dothestrand]

In the new update, Real Sociedad eventually transfer list Ander Barrenetxea. He is 18 and his technical stats are amazing. He can play either on the left wing or up front. His strength is low but that can be trained. Crazy. He has wonderkid potential.

[dothestrand]

Probably the best Basque wonderkid I've seen....and he was at Barcelona! But I kept unsettling him through the media (he was desperate to sign) and so Barcelona only made 20m for him (his release fee was 43m so that's a bonus tbh).

 

[zlatanera]

@dothestrand yeah Barcelona are always good for a few Basque regions. I remember on my FM18 Real Sociedad save Espanyol had a Basque goal machine getting starts for Spain at 19 too. 

[dothestrand]

So I've been catching up pretty quickly and racked up five seasons recently. One 5th place, two 4th places, a 3rd and finally a La Liga title in 22-23. 

Remiro, Yuri, Yeray, Martinez, Nunez, Sancet, Munain and Williams are the only original players in my first team - Unai Lopez is on the edge of the first team.

Mix of my own regens and those poached from other Basque clubs make up the rest of the first team squad...and of course our B and u19 sides look decent.

Ivan Martin at Villareal is a reasonable option too if you need a squad midfielder. 

[Matt_G]

Haven’t picked up a good Bilbao save for a while, anybody had any success purely relying on the youth system with no signings? 

[dothestrand]

4 hours ago, Matt_G said:

Haven’t picked up a good Bilbao save for a while, anybody had any success purely relying on the youth system with no signings? 

Without good regens you'll find it difficult once the thirtysomethings decline. Sancet and Nolaskoian are the only young players who're good enough in the next season or two at the moment. 

[Jean0987654321]

6 hours ago, Matt_G said:

Haven’t picked up a good Bilbao save for a while, anybody had any success purely relying on the youth system with no signings? 

Not really. The regens that pops out of my academy aren't all ready for primetime and most of the senior players are already at the peak and will tend to decline as the save move forward. I recommend against it. It would be a tough save to do

 

Not even Cleon can win anything with that handicap, right @Cleon

[Jean0987654321]

Season 3
We played better this year but Real Madrid was just too good for us. We were runners up in both domestic competitions. I had to say tho Roberto Lopez had a MONSTER season. The transfers anyways. Just cleaning up the deadwood a bit.

Here is the tactic

And the results


And here are some players

Breakout year for Peru. As San Jose is getting old, he'll have to lock down that DM position for now on

San Iker is still good

Won CL GK of the Season for a reason

Basque Lampard on the rise?

Basque Hulk on the rise

Bit dissappointed at the Williams brothers. Both of them were underwhelming this year.

The man fit enough to fit San Iker's shoes

Don't know what to say about this guy. He has been immense at that CM spot.

See: Nico

Good Plan B. Good in the air also have decent pace but I'll need to replace him down the line

Got the LB spot held down for now

Got the RB spot held down

Nunez and Yeray got the CB spots held down for the forseeable future

See: Nunez

He's getting old and is someone I may consider moving on soon.

See: Inigo

Reliable backup. Is the engine of the team

And other notes

 

Edited March 19, 2019 by Jean0987654321

[bowieinspace]

You can get by quite well with only Athletic regens, but to have the squad depth and quality to really compete you need to sign players, at least those already with Basque nationality/from other basque club academies. If you open it up to signing any Spanish under 16 it becomes a much easier save. Generally I find relying on Basque only youngsters means you can be one of the best teams in Europe but rarely are good enough to dominate for multiple years....I've definitely had that on previous FM's where it's a bit easier or I've been fortunate with regens or both, however to really be dominant I think it is a bit tougher now

[Cleon]

10 hours ago, Jean0987654321 said:

Not really. The regens that pops out of my academy aren't all ready for primetime and most of the senior players are already at the peak and will tend to decline as the save move forward. I recommend against it. It would be a tough save to do

 

Not even Cleon can win anything with that handicap, right @Cleon

I've done it with Santos on previous versions, it's a good fun challenge.