[FM20][FM21][FM22][FM23] Calcio

[Raymond85]

Il 8/7/2021 in 00:48 , john1 ha scritto:

Another decent start with Udinese @Raymond85  Will be tough against Chelsea.

What is the club finances are like now?

 

Finances are squeaky clean as i like them to be: 75 mln€ from De Paul first season, spent a big transfer budget the second season, but with the club on the stock market now things are looking healthy and i'll try and keep a big profit with sales, while bringing in class players for cheap when they get transfered listed from big clubs, or go out of contract, with the odd wonderkid signing, as i always like to do.

Edited July 9, 2021 by Raymond85

[Raymond85]

We did it! An almost perfect season gave us a fantastic double win in Scudetto and Coppa Italia! The team really worked hard, and managed to push through difficult times never giving up when behind. I love the resilience that is in this squad.

 

Chelsea was too much, too soon, as expected, but we fought bravely and will do better in future. Champions League will go to Manchester this season.

 

What a final... it was tense, and we were perffect from the spot. Juventus was also great in this match, but we wanted our first trophy ever so much that we got it

 

Players are developing nicely, and a lot of interest is starting to show. I've been working through my shortlist andfiltering out players not up to the level because we might see some movement this summer

 

Depending on what happens on the transfer market, i might be doing something different tactic wise, i am tempted to work with 2 strikers, or at least get them more involved.

[Dirkdiggler77]

Anyone Play with Lazio? 

I used to always pick them they are my Italian team but looking at them this year there squad looks amazing, i am worried it could be too easy

the only weak link i can spot is maybe Right wing the whole team looks ready made.

Part of me would like to do Roma as they look to be bit harder with ageing squad on big wages but it seems disloyal 

Also Roma look like the plastic franchise club set up to be the popular team of Rome and Lazio seem the more authentic 

[Raymond85]

Well, i've been put off my Udinese save for the moment. I loaned Tuanzebe as a second non EU, and it bugged, not asking me who i wanted to register first after i freed up space for him loaning a young non eu out of italy: it defaulted to another youngster on the under 20's squad, so i'm stuck with a 2.7 mln wage loan i cannot play.

Hope this gets fixed next year, it's just stupid not being able to choose who to register all the time, but only sometimes.

[Dirkdiggler77]

                     

 

I have chosen to take up AFC Fiorentina because they are such an iconic club who definitely need a bit of love right now. I think when most people think of this team they remember the 90's, that kit and Batistuta.

However if you read up a little this is a club that have gone through a hell of a lot of bad times both on and off the pitch and have been **** on quite a bit most notably in the form of Juventus

Most clubs and fans in Italy probably don't like Juve because they win every year but with Fiorentina it goes a bit deeper that that and there is genuine corrosive animosity towards them

The timeline of being on the wrong end of the powerhouse kickstarted in the 82 season when Fiorentina went into the final day of the season needing a win to secure the title, several decisions that day went against them with a late contentious equalizer going against them coinciding with Juve winning a very soft last minute pen snatching the title away to Turin. This sparked accusations of corruption and bribery toward Juve a charge that has followed them around even to this day.

Fast forward five years and before the legend that was Gabrielle Batistuta Fiorentina actually had another iconic idol in the form of a young Roberto Baggio, flying all the way to the Uefa Cup final where they would once again meet Juventus.

On the morning of the final in one of the most classless moves Juventus anounced they had a new signing, none other than Roberto Baggio

Fiorentina lose the final and Florence kicked off, rioting in the streets for three days and causing the owner to hastily sell up an get the hell out of town.

Then we had the 90's which were a great period in the clubs history with Batigol and Rui Costa running the show, but even this is tinged in slight sadness as ultimately they had to watch Batistuta go off and win the league with Roma as he was unable to accomplishment this in Florence

fast forward to modern times and after being relegated and having to start again from the bottom they were back in Serie A with a brand new local wonderkid in the form of Federico Bernadeschi, weeks after throwing a Juve scarf to the floor and declaring he would never join their hated rivals he pulled a sickie pre season and engineered a transfer behind their backs

And just to put the cherry on top the cake they are still at it in 2020 with Chiesa the latest to join them, needless to say the fans are not happy and they aren't the type to just write a few harshly written posts in the comments section, they want blood.

But their saddest moment of all came in 2018 when their captain Davide Astori died suddenly of a heart attack, the city was and to an extent is still in mourning. 

The current situation is a little bit toxic as the new owner is on a moral crusade against the press and engaged in a slanging match but the fans are more concerned with the expensive duds he has been buying during his tenure

I will post an update once if had a look at the current squad

Edited July 12, 2021 by Dirkdiggler77

[Dirkdiggler77]

Initial thoughts on the squad are we have an abundance of senior players on relatively high wages who in my opinion aren't good enough. Unfortunately the owner has installed a policy of signing high profile players, this is all well and good if you are a top club with pilling power and wages to burn, but we are Fiorentina so the 'Big Name' stars that we are lumbered with are 

 Frank Ribery 38 (105k pw)    Jose Callejon 33 (72k pw)  Aleksander Kokerin 29 (53k p/w) Injured,   Giacomo Bonaventura 30 (50k p/w)  Martin Caceres 34 (40k p/w

apart from Ribery who is surprisingly still class despite his age the rest are dead weights dragging this club down so i will be going against the policy and try to offload these ASAP and go for younger cheaper players

An extra kicker is that the ****** who is responsible for signing these chumps is sat on a juicy 23k p/w as Director of Football, i think i might just have to take the hit and terminate him anyway out of general principle 

On the plus side we have some really decent young talent to build around 

 

AKA the Hobo, not too sure about that beard but he looks sound enough for me ill back him as the number 1 unless he proves otherwise

 

 

 

Unfortunately in real life it looks like he might be off as he is too good for this team currently and he's now coming into a prime age, only 2 years left on his contract so have to try and tie this guy down, absolute rock of a man

 

He's listed as a playmaker no10 type but to me he's got inside left written all over him, our Grealish, bags of flair loves to dribble 

 

 

This lad is destined for the top without a doubt, 20 goals last year and the Premier League sharks are already starting to circle

By all accounts he's really taken to life  in Florence (Shock) and is in no hurry to move on yet, could be our Batigol

 

Final note Chiesa is not completely gone, he has a 2 year loan deal with a clause if he plays 46 games for Juve, which given the amount of players they have is not a certainty, so their is a glimmer of hope for a reunion in the summer of 2022

Hopefully by then we have a good enough team to challenge and he can come in to a hero's return and be the final piece 

 

Edited July 12, 2021 by Dirkdiggler77

[smplfc123]

For anyone that's interested, I've started a career thread with Chievo Verona 

[oze07]

23 hours ago, Dirkdiggler77 said:

Initial thoughts on the squad are we have an abundance of senior players on relatively high wages who in my opinion aren't good enough. Unfortunately the owner has installed a policy of signing high profile players, this is all well and good if you are a top club with pilling power and wages to burn, but we are Fiorentina so the 'Big Name' stars that we are lumbered with are 

 Frank Ribery 38 (105k pw)    Jose Callejon 33 (72k pw)  Aleksander Kokerin 29 (53k p/w) Injured,   Giacomo Bonaventura 30 (50k p/w)  Martin Caceres 34 (40k p/w

apart from Ribery who is surprisingly still class despite his age the rest are dead weights dragging this club down so i will be going against the policy and try to offload these ASAP and go for younger cheaper players

An extra kicker is that the ****** who is responsible for signing these chumps is sat on a juicy 23k p/w as Director of Football, i think i might just have to take the hit and terminate him anyway out of general principle 

On the plus side we have some really decent young talent to build around 

 

AKA the Hobo, not too sure about that beard but he looks sound enough for me ill back him as the number 1 unless he proves otherwise

 

 

 

Unfortunately in real life it looks like he might be off as he is too good for this team currently and he's now coming into a prime age, only 2 years left on his contract so have to try and tie this guy down, absolute rock of a man

 

He's listed as a playmaker no10 type but to me he's got inside left written all over him, our Grealish, bags of flair loves to dribble 

 

 

This lad is destined for the top without a doubt, 20 goals last year and the Premier League sharks are already starting to circle

By all accounts he's really taken to life  in Florence (Shock) and is in no hurry to move on yet, could be our Batigol

 

Final note Chiesa is not completely gone, he has a 2 year loan deal with a clause if he plays 46 games for Juve, which given the amount of players they have is not a certainty, so their is a glimmer of hope for a reunion in the summer of 2022

Hopefully by then we have a good enough team to challenge and he can come in to a hero's return and be the final piece 

 

im tempted with a la viola save. have you settled on a tactic yet? im not sure if my management skills are enough to get them to the top, but i can try!

[Dirkdiggler77]

18 minutes ago, oze07 said:

im tempted with a la viola save. have you settled on a tactic yet? im not sure if my management skills are enough to get them to the top, but i can try!

I have my usual ready made saved tactics loaded up that i take everywhere with me, 

I use a standard 4231 for home games, a 4231 with a Shadow Striker Deep Forward for packed and deep defences and some away games, and i use a 352 when playing other 352's

Nothing too complicated i dont use many of the team instructions accept the D line and tempo and i usually stay on Balanced

 

This Fiorentina team is not that bad at all but for me personally the high earners and main first teamers are just ok there's no wow factor

Thankfully on this years it seem you can offload players that have just arrived rather than have to wait for January to offload them, which does feel a little bit of a cheat because i can just tear everything up cash in a create your own team from scratch rather than be forced to play with players you don't want, it makes finally getting rid and bringing your own in much better, but hey ho

Edited July 13, 2021 by Dirkdiggler77

[Dirkdiggler77]

Transfers out-     Caceres £1.8m)  Germain Pezzella £8m)  Valentin Eysseric £2.5m) Cristian Kouame £5.5m)  Eric Pulgar £6.5m)  Lucas Martinez Quarta £5.25m)  Giacomo Bonaventura £5.75 

Total £32m

Ins-  Roman Eremenko free)  Franco Vasquez £4.7m)  Alberto Cerri £800k)  Wallace £3m) Marc-Oliver Kempf £1.9m

 

Good business i have fond memories of Cerri from previous years i know he has not gone on to be the world beater he was touted as in 2014 but he's still only 24 and will be usefull back up to Vlahovic

I needed a center back to spray the passes and Kempf is another who i remember being really good but he was so cheap i did have second thoughts about him, his positioning isn't great and he's 25 so this is as good as he gets but he's super composed and strong, i've also brought in Papetti on loan so if he flops i have a gd back up.

Eremenko was banned for 2 year for taking Class A's so he should fit right in with Russias most wanted Kokerin, we love a rougue though and heis an amazing passer plus he only want 6k per week my fitness coach is on more than that

Erik Pulgar was a jack of all trades center mid good at everything but not exellent at anything, so his 40k pw is off the wage bill and in came Wallace, yet another i remember really well from Hamburg 3 years ago but now a squad player for Udinese, but he's quick, strong and can tackle and that's all he needs for us

 

My favourite move though was shipping out Bonavuntura to Arsenal and bringing in transfer listed Franco Vazquez from Sevilla- what a dream of a playmaker absolute gorgeous quality this man has, and at 31 in Serie A terms he's just coming into his prime

 

His arrival has completely changed my mindset now from mid table lets find our feet to challenge for top 4, he's a game changer

 

I banked the rest so we have £25m in the bank if i need but i did splash a few quid on a triple raid on Dinamo Zagreb following scout reports

They will have one season in the primavera before going out to Serie B

 

Couldn't ship Callejon so decided to stick with him turns out he might make a good poacher

Season starts in 1 week Atalanta away should be a good marker of where we are at

[oze07]

1 hour ago, Dirkdiggler77 said:

Transfers out-     Caceres £1.8m)  Germain Pezzella £8m)  Valentin Eysseric £2.5m) Cristian Kouame £5.5m)  Eric Pulgar £6.5m)  Lucas Martinez Quarta £5.25m)  Giacomo Bonaventura £5.75 

Total £32m

Ins-  Roman Eremenko free)  Franco Vasquez £4.7m)  Alberto Cerri £800k)  Wallace £3m) Marc-Oliver Kempf £1.9m

 

Good business i have fond memories of Cerri from previous years i know he has not gone on to be the world beater he was touted as in 2014 but he's still only 24 and will be usefull back up to Vlahovic

I needed a center back to spray the passes and Kempf is another who i remember being really good but he was so cheap i did have second thoughts about him, his positioning isn't great and he's 25 so this is as good as he gets but he's super composed and strong, i've also brought in Papetti on loan so if he flops i have a gd back up.

Eremenko was banned for 2 year for taking Class A's so he should fit right in with Russias most wanted Kokerin, we love a rougue though and heis an amazing passer plus he only want 6k per week my fitness coach is on more than that

Erik Pulgar was a jack of all trades center mid good at everything but not exellent at anything, so his 40k pw is off the wage bill and in came Wallace, yet another i remember really well from Hamburg 3 years ago but now a squad player for Udinese, but he's quick, strong and can tackle and that's all he needs for us

 

My favourite move though was shipping out Bonavuntura to Arsenal and bringing in transfer listed Franco Vazquez from Sevilla- what a dream of a playmaker absolute gorgeous quality this man has, and at 31 in Serie A terms he's just coming into his prime

 

His arrival has completely changed my mindset now from mid table lets find our feet to challenge for top 4, he's a game changer

 

I banked the rest so we have £25m in the bank if i need but i did splash a few quid on a triple raid on Dinamo Zagreb following scout reports

They will have one season in the primavera before going out to Serie B

 

Couldn't ship Callejon so decided to stick with him turns out he might make a good poacher

Season starts in 1 week Atalanta away should be a good marker of where we are at

may i ask what your 1st eleven is please? ive just fired up my viola save tonight,trying to find a decent tactic to incorporate 3 defenders and wingbacks.

[Dirkdiggler77]

3 minutes ago, oze07 said:

may i ask what your 1st eleven is please? ive just fired up my viola save tonight,trying to find a decent tactic to incorporate 3 defenders and wingbacks.

Funny you ask i was just about to post this

 

To be honest i haven't 100 percent mastered the 352 i always think we give up too many chances and my strikers don't seem to do that much- having said that we managed to beat the current hotshots Atalanta and there famous all attacking 352. They absolutely battered us i have to admit but we snuck a pen on half time and it was just one of those days we got away with it

This is my 352 line up but bear in mind ive made couple of transfers

 

That's how it looks for now but ive only played 1 match

[john1]

Good to see you have joined us in Italy @Dirkdiggler77 Good win over Atlanta  

[WilsonJuve]

20 hours ago, Dirkdiggler77 said:

To be honest i haven't 100 percent mastered the 352 i always think we give up too many chances and my strikers don't seem to do that much- having said that we managed to beat the current hotshots Atalanta and there famous all attacking 352. They absolutely battered us i have to admit but we snuck a pen on half time and it was just one of those days we got away with it

This is my 352 line up but bear in mind ive made couple of transfers

 

That's how it looks for now but ive only played 1 match

Been enjoying your start at Fiorentina and its gave me the new save itch! After back to back Serie A titles with Udinese I think its time to move that save on (will still play it away from here) and start a new save which is gonna be Rebulding Rome with AS Roma.  As the capital city of Italy it should be at the forefront of the Italian Game. Theres a lot of old high salary players at the club which I hope to move on whilst also eventually turning the team completely Italian.

Can start with a quick update straight away.......We start with a transfer budget of £15m. First off we had a massive clearout OVER £650kp/w saved in wages aswell as arounf £38m in player sales. Before signing some very important Italian players who will be the core of the squad for years to come. And Vincicius Junior on loan who  will cover as we sold some key wide players.

PLAYERS OUT
Antonio Mirante £425k
Henrikh Mkhitaryan £14m
Davide Santon £6m
Federico Fazio £1m
Edin Dzeko £3.4m
Bruno Peres £3.2m
Pedro £7m (£9.5m)

PLAYERS IN
Andrea Papetti FREE
Manuel Locatelli £15m (£32m)
Andrea Belotti £10m (£18m)
Manuel Gasparini £4.8m
Matteo Lovato £8m (£22m)
Riccardo Orsolini £5m (£17m)
Vinicius Junior LOAN £1.5m Season

Could not be happier with the window we have had so far. SIX new Italian players who most will be straight into the first team squad. The fee in brackets is the total transfer fee which will all be payed over the next 3 seasons for example another £17m to pay for Locatelli.

[Dirkdiggler77]

3 hours ago, WilsonJuve said:

Been enjoying your start at Fiorentina and its gave me the new save itch! After back to back Serie A titles with Udinese I think its time to move that save on (will still play it away from here) and start a new save which is gonna be Rebulding Rome with AS Roma.  As the capital city of Italy it should be at the forefront of the Italian Game. Theres a lot of old high salary players at the club which I hope to move on whilst also eventually turning the team completely Italian.

Can start with a quick update straight away.......We start with a transfer budget of £15m. First off we had a massive clearout OVER £650kp/w saved in wages aswell as arounf £38m in player sales. Before signing some very important Italian players who will be the core of the squad for years to come. And Vincicius Junior on loan who  will cover as we sold some key wide players.

PLAYERS OUT
Antonio Mirante £425k
Henrikh Mkhitaryan £14m
Davide Santon £6m
Federico Fazio £1m
Edin Dzeko £3.4m
Bruno Peres £3.2m
Pedro £7m (£9.5m)

PLAYERS IN
Andrea Papetti FREE
Manuel Locatelli £15m (£32m)
Andrea Belotti £10m (£18m)
Manuel Gasparini £4.8m
Matteo Lovato £8m (£22m)
Riccardo Orsolini £5m (£17m)
Vinicius Junior LOAN £1.5m Season

Could not be happier with the window we have had so far. SIX new Italian players who most will be straight into the first team squad. The fee in brackets is the total transfer fee which will all be payed over the next 3 seasons for example another £17m to pay for Locatelli.

 

How Strange, when i went into Roma for a couple of days just to have a look at the squad ect i sold the exact same players as you and i bought in Belotti as well as he looks like a Roma striker- 

I've Started in Fiorentina now and i have to stay loyal but AS Roma are definitely next on my hit list

Does Zanniolo start game injured on yours?

[Dirkdiggler77]

     

 

A bit of an odd final day of the transfer window, Roma came in with with an 8m bid for my back up  left back Brigaghi so i thought i would see what i could squeeze out of them an got them up to 10 which was a pleasant surprise

Brought in Borna Sosa from Stuttgart for 4.5m he is 22 and really quick

After doing a bit of real life research i also bought Nicholas Gonzalez again from Stuttgart, he is their record signing in real life and i actually needed an inside right who is left footed, he demanded Star status and 60k p/w but i like his confidence

 

In a strange turn of events though i was reminded of a promise i apparently made to Franco Vazquez to strengthen the defence so with time running down i rushed to find an upgrade of a center back. 

I managed to get Duje Calata- Car from Marseille for 4.8M and 40k p/w and thought he would be made up.

I was wrong and now he has the right hump, which has thrown a spanner in the works going forward because i am going to need to bench my star player until he hopefully forgives me, got to watch out for these promises they never forget, they are worse than my kids

I made a lovely triple swoop in the back room department though

 

 

Primo Can run the Primavera and in particular the three Croatian lads, Milito is empowered to buy young South Americans and Club icon Mutu needs to keep well away from Eremenko and Kokorin

 

Edited July 14, 2021 by Dirkdiggler77

[Dirkdiggler77]

 

Even though the results are good we have had a relatively easy opening month, and despite the wins our performances haven't been great, After the smash and grab at Atalanta we followed it up with a drab 0-0  at the Franchi to Udinese in an unremarkable game

We beat parma 2-1 away but it was two set pieces that decided it and we didn't create much in open play, i would like to give a nod though to Sofyan Amrabat, one of the few who survived the summer cull, we was brought in for a big fee and he is one of those players who doesn't really suit a position, i am playing him as the ball winner but he loves to dribble and go on mazy runs so he's a bit of a wild card but i think i like him, he's different to what i would normally buy and he is capable of producing something out of nothing, as was the case against Parma.

Then in the last match at home to Bologna who play 4231 this should have been taylor made for Franco but as he's sulking i had to play Castrovelli instead, we raced into a 2-0 lead after 20 min but then i sat off them and they pulled one back and they rest of the game we hung on a little bit and were lucky

Lazio, Genoa and then Milan Juve back to back next, this will be the tester

They still aren't used to me or my tactics yet as i start on the lowest reputation they despise me so its hard getting them going at the minute, i have to walk on eggshells

[Dirkdiggler77]

We faced an in form Lazio team at the Olympico and were dispatched 2-0, i decided to play Franco and he actually looked quite decent, no bad body language at all and some nice touches, Milinkovic Savic was carrying a knock from the start and i wondered if it might give us  a sniff but he scored a 20 yarder to blow that out of the water

After that we played Genoa at home and i tweaked the right striker Vlahovic's role  from advanced Stiker to a target man support and i noticed an immediate improvement in the cohesion of the side, we completely outplayed them but in spite of that still conceded before half time, we upped our attacking mentality and created so many chances in the second half before being rewarded with a pen on 73 min which was converted by Franco Vazquez, although we continued to put pressure on we couldn't score the winner so a frustrating 1-1

Away to Milan next and similar to Atalanta they peppered our goal but an inspired Dragovic kept them out, Vlahovic picked up a knock so i subbed him out but just as his number went up he managed to do this

Another Smash and grab? 

Not really as they equalized 8 minutes later

Second half was end to end and they had several players running on fumes so i was starting to see the finish line when just before the whistle this happened

 

OUCH!!

that really hurt.

[Dirkdiggler77]

We didn't have too long to sulk though because next up Juventus were coming to town

I stuck with the 352 deep against their 442 and we contained them well for the first half, they had more shots but nothing clear cut, second half and we started to gain more momentum the fans were fantastic viciously booing every Juve touch, then on 72 mins i made what would prove to be an inspired double sub, off came Franco and Vlahovic and on came Castrovilli and Nicholas Gonzalez, immediately they were playing with intensity and a point to prove and then this happened 

 

Penalty!

I haven't set a taker so it was up for whomever fancied it,

Nicholas Gonzalez

 

Pandemonium in the Stands

 

Just 8 minutes to hold on 

And then the best sight in football

 

We held on seal the win, a monumental boost for our season

That's for Chiesa, Bernedeschi and Baggio

 

Gonzalez and Castrovilli have just become  cult figures

[WilsonJuve]

16 hours ago, Dirkdiggler77 said:

 

How Strange, when i went into Roma for a couple of days just to have a look at the squad ect i sold the exact same players as you and i bought in Belotti as well as he looks like a Roma striker- 

I've Started in Fiorentina now and i have to stay loyal but AS Roma are definitely next on my hit list

Does Zanniolo start game injured on yours?

That is strange. Im glad to be rid of them there Age and wage just didn't match up for what the club needs. Slightly worried even though all the players I signed are Italian it will take them a little while to settle which could impact results early on. And yes sadly he starts with a long term injury. I also forget to mention I got rid of the ridiculously low release clause in Lorenzo Pellegrini's contract too. You have made a bright start with Fiorentina massive win against Juve too. Look forward to seeing how your season unfolds.

[Mr_Demus]

Has anyone played with Sampdoria, and have a good tactic for them?

Or has anyone played a succesful 532/352 with wing backs in Italy that they want to share?

[Dirkdiggler77]

10 hours ago, WilsonJuve said:

That is strange. Im glad to be rid of them there Age and wage just didn't match up for what the club needs. Slightly worried even though all the players I signed are Italian it will take them a little while to settle which could impact results early on. And yes sadly he starts with a long term injury. I also forget to mention I got rid of the ridiculously low release clause in Lorenzo Pellegrini's contract too. You have made a bright start with Fiorentina massive win against Juve too. Look forward to seeing how your season unfolds.

I thinks it's worth writing the first season off while they bed in knowing that in a year they will blossom, plus you are without Zanniolo for most of the season, i am interested to see if there is much of a physical decline with him

Side note i am watching the Totti documentary and i googled his kid Christian Totti, he's 15 and scoring bags of goals in the Roma youth teams, FM22 will be interesting 

[Dirkdiggler77]

4 hours ago, Mr_Demus said:

Has anyone played with Sampdoria, and have a good tactic for them?

Or has anyone played a succesful 532/352 with wing backs in Italy that they want to share?

352 Trequartista.fmf

I not doing bad with this at the moment, you might want to make a couple of tweaks but it's a solid foundation

[Mr_Demus]

5 hours ago, Dirkdiggler77 said:

352 Trequartista.fmf 43.34 kB · 0 downloads

I not doing bad with this at the moment, you might want to make a couple of tweaks but it's a solid foundation

Cool, thanks. Will have a look at it

[WilsonJuve]

On 14/07/2021 at 20:25, WilsonJuve said:

PLAYERS OUT
Antonio Mirante £425k
Henrikh Mkhitaryan £14m
Davide Santon £6m
Federico Fazio £1m
Edin Dzeko £3.4m
Bruno Peres £3.2m
Pedro £7m (£9.5m)

PLAYERS IN
Andrea Papetti FREE
Manuel Locatelli £15m (£32m)
Andrea Belotti £10m (£18m)
Manuel Gasparini £4.8m
Matteo Lovato £8m (£22m)
Riccardo Orsolini £5m (£17m)
Vinicius Junior LOAN £1.5m Season
 

Well we finished the transfer window with a couple more deals. Spanish Goalkeeper Pau Lopez left the club in a £5.75m deal to Real Madrid and wa replaced with the Italian Alessio Cragno from Cagliari for £8.5m and another Italian arrived in the form of Alessio Piazza from Leece who we managed to snag for a measly £750k.

The team had a fantastic pre-season overall with 6 wins from 7 including a 3-1 away win against Genoa and an amazing 4-0 away win against Juventus. There was however cause for concern when playing Fiorentina in a neutral ground we got absolutely battered 5-1.
The season opener was away to Udinese and a debut goal from Andrea Belotti got us off to the perfect start. Leonardo Spinazolla added a second before Fernando Llorente gave the home side a glimmer of hope, however in the 84th minute another new boy Ricardo Orsolini sealed the victory. Next up was our first home game of the season and what a spectacle it was, goals from Andrea Belotti and Ricardo Orsolini again were combined with a Locatelli, Mancini x2 and Mayoral strike as we dominated Benvento to win 6-1. However Andrea Belotti came off with sprained ankle ligaments and would miss the next 3 weeks.
We played Parma at home and really missed his instinct up top and were held to a 1-1 draw but 7 points from 9 was more than I expected with such drastic changes to the squad.


In the Europa League we have been handed a very favourable draw. Lille should be the only team that cause us any problems. Im really happy with this as it should offer the oppurtunity for us to rotate the squad and give some of the developing talent some game time.

[WilsonJuve]

We arrive at the winter break and the league couldn't be tighter. Juventus have a 3 point advantage and Inter/Atalanta still have a game to play but 4 teams sit on 29 points and 2nd-7th is only separated by 3 points. As for Roma we look in a lot better position than we deserve. Only a few games ago we sat in 10th place as some silly results have cost us our points.

As far as our Europa League group goes I predicted Lille would be our toughest opponents. We topped the group and Sparta Praha followed us into the next round as Lille could only manage 3rd in the group. In the next round we have been drew against Porto which is a lot harder than I would have liked.



As the January transfer window approaches I have been able to assess the squad in more depth and there may be a few players leaving the club. As far as editions go that will depend on the money we can generate as the pre-season window depleted both our transfer and wage budgets. I have to keep in mind that we have a lot of talent out on loan that could be potentially used or sold next season in particular Florenzi who is at PSG, Kluivert at RB Leipzig and Under who is at Leicester.

[WilsonJuve]

So we have just finished the January transfer window and once again there was some movement at the club, but lets first look at how the club is doing. The league is going pretty well for our first season considering the turnover of players we have had. Inter have a game in hand and could leapfrog us into the final Champions League place. Napoli have 2 games in hand where winning both would put them on the same points as us. As for Juventus they sit one point clear at the top with 2 games in hand and are in a very dominating position. The Europa League tie vs Porto isnt until mid february but we do have a second leg to play in the Coppa Italia semi final. We go into it level with Juventus after a 0-0 draw away from home.



So lets look at the transfers another two non Italian players left the club Chris Smalling moved to Ajax for a fee of £7.5m and Jordan Veretout sealed a £20m move to Chelsea after being used as a bit part player during my reign.

Now to the new arrivals as usual with my saves Gianluigi Buffon will be joining at the end of the season on a free transfer. He will mainly cover, play cup games and mentor the young goalkeepers coming through. Next up is Nicolo Rovella who again will join at the end of the season from Juventus after his loan deal with Genoa expires he cost the club £17m. And finally Pietro Pellegri returns to Italy after 4 seasons away from the league in a very cheap £8m deal from A.S Monaco. So thats another 3 Italian players added meaning upto now I have signed 11 Italian's so far with another 11 non Italian's leaving the club.

Some more good news is Nicolo Zaniolo is only 2/5weeks away from returning to action after his pre game injury. Thankfully his stats dont seem to have been effected too badly. We have decent depth in the middle of the field so we wont rush him back into the first team.



And im not sure if i mentioned it in another post but our youth intake isnt looking the best.......




Apart from the central midfielder everyone else looks like a flop. And im sure I havent mentioned my Assistant manager since the start of the save has been none other than AS Roma legend Daniele De Rossi
Lets hope we can end this season on a high and continue to rebuild into next season.

[quee]

 

So, FM21 any good? Or should I just wait for FM22?

[WilsonJuve]

25 minutes ago, quee said:

 

So, FM21 any good? Or should I just wait for FM22?

if you can get it on offer now i would say get it massive upgrade from fm20 IMO and with this game being delayed because of covid theres a chance FM21 will be too. Its Currently only £19.99 on amazon and will probably cheaper from key websites. At that price its a steal if you only play 100 hours before FM21 releases its like £0.20p per hour or €0.23 per hour

[john1]

On 20/07/2021 at 19:12, quee said:

 

So, FM21 any good? Or should I just wait for FM22?

Bloody hell!!  Hope you are okay?

[Ronaldo Beckham]

Hiya I am looking at starting a new Italian league save. I am looking at picking a team I can copy Brentford/Barnsley's data approach and also I don't want a team with Developing Youth in their Club DNA.

Here a few teams I am looking at and was just curious what other people think and if they can give me some pro's and con's to help me decide.

Salernitana
Spezia 
Venezia
Ascoli 
Benevento 
Crotone 
Frosinone
Parma
Ternana 
Livorno 
Piacenza 
Mantova 
Padova 
Suditirol 
Triestina 
Catanzaro 
Cosenza 

[hickmanrocks]

Completed my 1st season with Atlanta yesterday finishing 2nd in the league behind Juventus. We finished level on points, but they had a superior goal difference. I’m amazed we finished 2nd but we put together an brilliant sequence from March 2021 onwards. Lost in first knockout round of Champions League to Man Utd (reward for finishing top of my group, I get Man Utd in the knockout). Also lost Coppa Italia final to Inter. Not too disappointed with these as I want this save to be a long one (for me 10 years plus would be a long save)

 

2021/2022 Major Transfers In –

Manuel Locatelli – Sassuolo - £28 mil (£15 mil now £13 mil in 3 instalments)

  

I’ve noticed that Atlanta don’t have that many home-grown players. I’ve shifted out some (more on this below) so I put in a cheeky bid for Locatelli and shockingly Sassuolo accepted, and he accepted a contract (70k a week for 5 years, £80 mil release clause foreign cubs only). A well as being a great player he helps with my home-grown quota.

 

Rodrigo Bentancur – Juventus - £26 mil (£10 mil now £13 mil in 3 instalments)

  

So I was using the player search for those classified as ‘Unhappy’ and I came across Bentancur. Juventus weren’t giving him a contract, so I put in a bid and they accepted. They are even paying £40k a week towards his wages (£60k a week for 5 years, £90 mil release clause foreign clubs only). Frankly I’m amazed that Juventus sold him to me. I’ve seen him go on other saves for £60 mil +.

 

Thomas Strakosha – Lazio - £2.5 mil (£1 mil now, £1.5 mil in 3 installments)

So I needed a new goalkeeper (see below for why) and Strakosha seemed like a bargain buy. Only £2.5 mil, counts as home-grown, only on £20k a week wages, good handling and reflexes.  

 

2021/2022 Major Transfers Out –

 

Alexey Miranchuk – Shakhtar - £11.25 mil (£9 mil now, £2.25 mil in 3 instalments)

 

With Locatelli & Bentancur I needed to make space in midfield. Miranchuk takes up a non-EU player slot and he only made 20 appearances for me in 2020/21. I’ve made a slight loss (he cost £13.25 mil so only £2 mil but still).

 

Victor Kovalenko – Stadde Rennais - £4 mil

 

Made 11 appearances in 2020/21 and was being paid £65k a week. I didn’t care what fee I got as long as he left.

 

Pierliugi Gollini – Tottenham - £20 mil

 

Was 1st choice keeper and I offered him a new contract but Tottenham started showing interest. I withdrew the contract and they bid £11 mil. I managed to get them up to £20 mil. Now he’s at Spurs his value has shot up to £29 mil (eye roll). He was decent keeper for me, but his eccentricity was too high for my liking (16). I think Strakosha is an okay replacement (also counts as home-grown so I’m swapping like for like in this sense). Also got my eye on Andre Onana at Ajax who is listed for £26 mil but can be offered a pre-contract on 31st December so I might see what his demands are. Banned until 05/02/2022 anyway. Onana’s eccentricity is 15 but his overall stats look much better than Gollini’s so I think he might be worth trying for.

 

Duvan Zapata – Tottenham - £50 mil (£0 now, £50 mil in 6 months)

 

I wasn’t planning on selling Zapata but £50 mil for a 30 year old striker looked like okay business. Plus I knew he would kick off if I didn’t accept the bid. I’ve brought in Sebastiano Esposito from Inter as a replacement. He’s home-grown so will help with my quota. I had him on my Leeds save for 2 seasons where he scored 50+ goals across his loan spell so I’m hoping for more of the same here.

 

Misc –

 

Inter sacked Conte after finishing 5th and have sold Barella (Man Urd - £71 mil rising to £101 mil), Lukaku (Real Madrid - £65 mil rising to £106 mil) and Martinez (Man City - £68). As such I’m not expecting them to be a ‘rival’ for several years now. Napoli finished 9th and sacked Gattuso.

 

I’m light at CB and I’m struggling to find good Italian defenders under 23 (Favoured club vision). I’ve had a bid for Andrea Papetti accepted (£13.75 mil) and he’s accepted my contract but I’m wavering. My scouts have only given him a rating of 60. I’ve had loan bids accepted for Jean-Clair Todibo (Barcelona – Total loan cost of £925k), Juan Foyth (Tottenham – Total loan cost of £2.5 mil) and Ethan Ampadu (Chelsea – Total Loan cost of £3.7 mil). 3 defenders for just over £7 mil for a season I don’t think is too bad, so I might bring them all in to provide cover/competition. I can then re-evaluate in January and see if anyone is available/wants a transfer.

 

This Atlanta save is one of the most enjoyable I've had on any Football Manager for quite a while, and I've only just finished 1 season! I have one AMC wonderkid that I got in my first youth intake so if/when I post a future update I'll try and remember to include a screenshot of him.

Edited July 28, 2021 by hickmanrocks
Removing Pictures

[Captain Funk]

Hi everyone!

Been thinking about doing an AC Milan save after the Winter Update. Anyone had some experiences with them. My main concerns are:

1) Can you get Donnarumma to extend?

2) How are the finances? Do you get some money to play with at transfer windows?

[interesti88]

Just picked up FM21 and starting an Inter save!

[interesti88]

On 25/07/2021 at 11:57, Ronaldo Beckham said:

Hiya I am looking at starting a new Italian league save. I am looking at picking a team I can copy Brentford/Barnsley's data approach and also I don't want a team with Developing Youth in their Club DNA.

Here a few teams I am looking at and was just curious what other people think and if they can give me some pro's and con's to help me decide.

Salernitana
Spezia 
Venezia
Ascoli 
Benevento 
Crotone 
Frosinone
Parma
Ternana 
Livorno 
Piacenza 
Mantova 
Padova 
Suditirol 
Triestina 
Catanzaro 
Cosenza 

 

Try giving Sassoulo a run, they are a club looking to develop domestic players and players from their own academy.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

6 hours ago, interesti88 said:

 

Try giving Sassoulo a run, they are a club looking to develop domestic players and players from their own academy.

I don't think you read my post properly as I am not looking for a team who develops youth.

[WilsonJuve]

4 hours ago, Ronaldo Beckham said:

I don't think you read my post properly as I am not looking for a team who develops youth.

I would like to suggest Arezzo. No trophies of interest, average age is only 25, in the lowest league, big squad to help you stamp your own style into them and Inter Milan and Fiorentina as affiliates which could help with moving through the divisions.

[Ronaldo Beckham]

4 hours ago, WilsonJuve said:

I would like to suggest Arezzo. No trophies of interest, average age is only 25, in the lowest league, big squad to help you stamp your own style into them and Inter Milan and Fiorentina as affiliates which could help with moving through the divisions.

Cheers mate. I might give them a go at some point. 

[Mr_Demus]

I have reached the Qatar World Cup break with Parma.

 

1st season we struggled mightily, but a late season form surge lifted us into 13th place. We had one the worst defenses, and I had serious problems with getting my 532 to work.

2nd season we started great, fell off, ended well and jumped into 11th place. We conceded 20 less goals, so our defense was greatly improved. We tinkered and changed tactics a lot.

3rd season started off poorly, so I tossed everything up in the air, and drastically changed our 532 setup. It has improved our goalscoring, so we go into christmas in 9th. 

[smplfc123]

In to my third season now with Chievo Verona. Currently working our way up the Serie A table for anyone that's interested in a longer read.

[quee]

On 24/07/2021 at 06:09, john1 said:

Bloody hell!!  Hope you are okay?

Life, you know?

So, against my better judgement, I bought FM21 despite FM22 not being far away haha

I'm not going to do a Parma save this time though, going to save it for FM22 and Serie B and Buffon!

I'm doing Valencia save now, my Spanish team

[Ronaldo Beckham]

I will definitely be doing a Venezia save soon simply cos of their awesome kits and cos they have just signed Gianluca Busio who I rate. 

It should be a good save.

[Mr_Demus]

I am a bit unclear on the foreign transfer rules. 

Can I sign as many as I want, but only register one or two? 

Or can I only sign the one or two I want to register? 

Does it matter in which order I sign them? Will I use a limited slot on a talent and not be able to register foreign signing two/three? 

[WilsonJuve]

On 07/08/2021 at 18:08, quee said:

Life, you know?

So, against my better judgement, I bought FM21 despite FM22 not being far away haha

I'm not going to do a Parma save this time though, going to save it for FM22 and Serie B and Buffon!

I'm doing Valencia save now, my Spanish team

Are you putting the updates anywhere?

[quee]

10 hours ago, WilsonJuve said:

Are you putting the updates anywhere?

Might do some in the La Liga topic but I won’t do anything major.

I’m breezing through my season quicker than my usual style, so not many opportunities to take screenshots and write an update.

[Gilberto Silva]

Been struggling with sticking with a save this year. My newest idea was to take the reigns at Inter Milan and stick with Conte’s 5-3-2 formation for good whilst adjusting the style of play when necessary. 

I am already into the January transfer window of season two. Will post a season one review tomorrow.

[LucasBR]

Anyone playing in Italy managed to have nice players coming from the youth intake? I'm on my 5th season at Roma and so far only got average players, I have state of the art structure and a very nice HoYD, that's killing me.

[Gilberto Silva]

So, season one at Inter Milan. Obviously we are fighting on three fronts - league, domestic cup and the European cup. 

I will start with our Serie A campaign. Unfotunately, I was not able to mirror Antonio Conte's heroics of this past season and we ended up finishing 3rd on 73 points, just 2 behind runners-up Juventus but a whopping nine points adrift of arch-rivals and winners AC Milan. Our season did not start particularly well as we only picked up two wins in our opening six games and throughout the season we simply drew too many, ending with 13 draws - most being 1-1's. The main highlights of the league season were a 2-1 away win at Juventus with Martinez bagging a brace, a 4-1 home win against Lazio and a 4-0 drabbing of eventual winners AC Milan at home - not that it made much difference to their end position. Romelu Lukaka and Lautaro Martinez were predictably lethal, Lukaku grabbing 20 goals in 37 games whilst notching 8 assists and meanwhile Martinez had a healthy return of 14 goals and 12 assists from 33. Elsewhere, Nicolo Barella had a fine season from midfield, chipping in with 7 goals and 9 assists from 32 games and Achraf Hakimi assisted 8 times in 34 from the right wing-back position. All in all, I was happy enough with my first league campaign, even if I did not win the league. I created a foundation on which to build. 

Our journey in the Coppa Italia did not last long, we scraped past Torino 4-3 after extra-time before losing our quarter-final tie at home to Lazio. 

I would say we were a surprise package in the Champion's League, reaching the quarter-final stage. We drew Borussia Monchengladbach, Zenit and Atletico in the group stage and we ended up topping the group losing only once in the final game away at Atletico. A mad stat from the group stage was that Romelu Lukaku scored 9 of our 11 goals, the other two were provided by Martinez. Our prize was a knockout tie against Krasnodar and we dispatched of them with relative ease 3-1 on aggregate. At the quarter-final stage, we met PSG and we managed to beat them 2-0 on home soil thanks to a Lautaro Martinez brace but we were absolutely dismantled in the second leg, losing 5-0. Not the best way to go out but I still believe we can go one step further next season. 

I started the game with transfers off, so had to wait until January to do any sort of business. In terms of signing, we went very big on one - signing Manuel Locatelli from Serie A rivals Sassuolo for a fee rising to £64m. I felt like we needed a backup option up front as Alexis Sanchez suffered a long-term injury and I chose to loan out Pinamonti to get some first-team experience so in came Diego Costa on a free transfer. He managed 3 goals in the league from 13 appearances in total, only 3 as a starter - not a terrible return. We took up our option to re-sign Zinho Vanheudsen from Standard Liege to offer more cover in defense and lastly brought in Kostas Tsimikas from Liverpool on loan with an option to buy for £13m, cover for Ivan Perisic was required. The only main outgoings were the previously mentioned Pinamonti and Ashley Young who was sold to RB Salzburg for £200,000.

Now, summer-time and re-enforcements were needed. It all kicked off almost straight away with Manchester United following through with their firm interest in Lautaro Martinez and I had to option but to eventually accept a £90m bid which will end up bringing in £104m total after bonuses. We let Aleksander Kolarov depart on a free where he joined Aston Villa. Roberto Gagliardini was sold to AS Monaco for £10.5m, Ivan Perisic to Tottenham for £5.5m and Stefan de Vrij also joined Tottenham on deadline day for a fee that will eventually cost them £53m.

This left us needing replacements. In the striking department, I decided that we needed two players to replace Martinez so Andrea Belotti was swiftly signed from Torino for a fee approaching £24.5m and Alexander Isak's £64m release clause was activated and he was brought in. We took up our option to sign Tsimikas from Liverpool as well as splashing out £42m on Dortmund's Raphael Guerreiro. Our defence was bolstered with the free transfer signing of Eric Garcia and £21m for his Manchester City team-mate Nathan Ake. Lastly, Loris Karius joined us on a free transfer. 

Now season two and we have started like a house on fire, unbeaten in our first 19 matches. Currently sitting top of the league with a six point cushion above Juventus. January hit and PSG came knocking on the door for Achraf Hakimi and I had to let him leave for £85m meaning we desperately needed a replacement who was going to provide a similar attacking output. I ended up spending most of the fee received on Joao Cancelo from Manchester City for a fee totaling £75m. I then splashed out even more cash on Gianluca Mancini from AS Roma for £45m as Ake and Garcia were not really doing the job of filling de Vrij's boots. 

So far, top of Serie A and we're into the KO round of the European Cup after finishing second behind Manchester United and above RB Leipzig and Slavia Praha. We have a tie against Dortmund to look forward to - onwards and upwards! 

My team / depth currently looks like this:

GK: Handanovic, Karius, Radu
DCR: Skriniar, Vanheudsen
DC: Mancini, Garcia
DCL: Bastoni, Ake
WBR: Cancelo, Darmian
WBL: Guerreiro. Tsimikas
MCR: Barella, Sensi
MC: Locatelli, Brozovic, Vidal
MCL: Eriksen, Calhanoglu
STR: Lukaku
STL: Isak, Belotti

[Mr_Demus]

15 hours ago, LucasBR said:

Anyone playing in Italy managed to have nice players coming from the youth intake? I'm on my 5th season at Roma and so far only got average players, I have state of the art structure and a very nice HoYD, that's killing me.

I play with Parma, and I have had some quite good players come through.

[john1]

20 hours ago, LucasBR said:

Anyone playing in Italy managed to have nice players coming from the youth intake? I'm on my 5th season at Roma and so far only got average players, I have state of the art structure and a very nice HoYD, that's killing me.

I am in the same boat as you  I am in my 10th season with OB(Denmark), everything maxed out and decent HOYD (Dick Mack) and yet get really average intakes, when other clubs gets decent ones.