FM20: Leeds Utd - On the way up!!!

[Davidcc]

Welcome to all Leeds fans playing FM20 and facing the annual challenge of getting them out of the Championship. Welcome also to fans of other clubs looking to experience the thrills and spills of a Leeds save

This thread is intended to be for the exchange of information, views and issues involved in managing Leeds to glory. Here are a few thoughts to kick things off:-

Squad at game commencement

Best rated players  - Casilla, Dallas (Mr versatile), Phillips (Star player), Hernandez and Costa. Most other players rated good

Main worries - GK backup as Meslier not that good. Central Defence needs strengthening somewhat to cover for Cooper and White. Fairly long term injuries to Ayling and Roberts

Players that could have good breakthrough season in 1st team - Shackleton, Bogusz. both have good ratings and stats

Players on loan - Harrison very expensive (£20k pw plus £91k per month fee), cancelled loan at first opportunity to seek better value elsewhere. White, Costa, NKetiah and Clarke look value

A couple of very highly rated youngsters. Nohan Kenneh 16, DMC/DC/MC in U18 squad. Rafa Mujica 17 ST on loan at Extramadura, recalled him as soon as could do for back up and development

Difficulty in moving on O'Kane at any price

Finances

Transfer budget very tight at c. £1.2m and only a small amount of wage budget left. Look to cash in the transfer clause on Charlie Taylor, which brings in around £700k

Transfers in so far in my save

I am essentially looking to get promoted with most of the original squad in place and a few additions in key places. Have signed:-

Carles Alena ( MC/AMC) on loan from Barcelona, £20k pw but no fee and very highly rated. I had this player in FM19 on loan (For free!!) and he did very well for me.

Carles Perez (AMR/AML) on loan from Barcelona, £4.3k pw but no fee. Intended as the value replacement for Harrison

Lukas Mai (DC) on loan from Bayern, £825 pw. Young player intended as cover only

Fredrik Andre Bjorkan (Natural at DL/WBL/ML/AML), bought for £1.7m. 

Looking for backup up GK

I realise that I will have some juggling to do with match day squads, with the 5 loan player limit in place

Generally I found it very difficult to find suitable players with limited resources available and without carrying out mass sales of existing players

Tactics

Squad seem suited to 4 2 3 1 and I am using Vertical Tiki-Taka at present. Currently still going through pre-season with one friendly to go. Has been successful, winning all friendlies but I realise that is no guide to the real league games

 

I look forward to reading of your Leeds game experiences and hope that this thread can be a success

 

 

[Angus Osborne]

I'm in season two with Leeds. Shackleton is my best player - Costa, Phillips, and Bogusz all good in the EPL. Kennah, McCalmont, Cooper, Dallas, Ayling are all still useful. I bought a fractionally better SKa (Venezualan international Farinez) for about £2m and sold Casilla (mainly to reduce wages).

The squad at the start is overloaded with AML/AMR - I agree with cutting Harrison when possible, but one more needs to go also I think: which was Pablo in my case, just to cash in the old player

[CalumF]

Harrison has been great for me. Costa on the right. Bought Eze from QPR to go through the middle, or left. 

I think my best buy of season 1 has been Luke Matheson from Rochdale for 1.5m. And just bought Bella-Kotchap from Germany in January. 

Currently in the playofffs after 27 games. Still tinkering with tactics, but mostly been playing the 4231. 

[gholliday87]

Just started my first ever save with Leeds, I'll update everyone shortly. Did a fairly big pre-season...highlight was drawing 1-1 with a fairly strong Liverpool & beating Celtic 2-0

[Mardy]

Followed!

 

My transfers from season one below, highly reccomend Trincao, Ferreira and Badiashile.

 

Pellegri has an optional fee of £16.75m in case we get promoted. Experimenting with a 3-5-2 with him and Nketiah at the moment

 

[gholliday87]

8 minutes ago, Mardy said:

Followed!

 

My transfers from season one below, highly reccomend Trincao, Ferreira and Badiashile.

 

Pellegri has an optional fee of £16.75m in case we get promoted. Experimenting with a 3-5-2 with him and Nketiah at the moment

 

You've done well...how you got so much money? Who you sold?

[Mardy]

13 minutes ago, gholliday87 said:

You've done well...how you got so much money? Who you sold?

Ended up selling Bamford £9.5m, Alioski £8.75m and Berardi £4.4m

Still have a fair amount of funds left over from sales too

[gholliday87]

19 hours ago, Mardy said:

Ended up selling Bamford £9.5m, Alioski £8.75m and Berardi £4.4m

Still have a fair amount of funds left over from sales too

Who'd they sell to? I'm finding it difficult to sell!

[Mardy]

2 hours ago, gholliday87 said:

Who'd they sell to? I'm finding it difficult to sell!

Bamford to Bournemouth, Alioski to Sheffield United and Berardi went to Huddersfield mate, I set my staff to offer players out at 100% value if that makes any difference 🤷‍♂️

[tyro]

Harrison and Bamford are doing great in my save. Using Will Huffer as back up as I prefer his stats to Meslier.

[gholliday87]

Lots of talk of a takeover on my game...Fingers crossed as I'm already on the charm offensive for Erling Haaland, and he is open to joining!

[prienaiball]

Just finished the first season and all I got to say is that this team just broke me.  At the start of April we were in around 3rd - 4th places with a chance to still finish 2nd or even 1st. Sadly it wasn't meant to be because we drew 5 games in April. We were dominating these games in terms of shots and possession but  Bamford, Nketiah and Roberts all couldn't score to save their lives. Bamford especially deserves a mention as his goal drought lasted some 11 hours. So at the end of the season we were in 4th and on to the playoffs where we faced Wigan and got smashed 4-0 out of nowhere in away leg. The home leg we managed to win 2-0 despite being down one man in the 60th minute. All in all, I feel crushed.

Edited November 28, 2019 by prienaiball

[sherifelgendy87]

After a lot of struggling with tactics, I think I finally found the best tactic that suits my players.

Currently 5 games in with all wins. Won in Carbao cup first round and just hoping the first slip doesn't come soon

Sold Berardi, Hernandez, Bamford and Allioski for a total of about $35M and terminated all loans

My incoming transfers are as follows:

All incoming loans have option to buy

Best performances so far are Phillips, Ferreira, Trincao, Pellegri and Hadzic

 

[Mardy]

14 hours ago, sherifelgendy87 said:

After a lot of struggling with tactics, I think I finally found the best tactic that suits my players.

Currently 5 games in with all wins. Won in Carbao cup first round and just hoping the first slip doesn't come soon

Sold Berardi, Hernandez, Bamford and Allioski for a total of about $35M and terminated all loans

My incoming transfers are as follows:

All incoming loans have option to buy

Best performances so far are Phillips, Ferreira, Trincao, Pellegri and Hadzic

 

What tactics are you using mate? Struggling with mine!

[tyro]

Using a 4231 Gegenpress with some altered player roles.

After 10 games top/2nd in the league and just won the next round of the EFL cup against Liverpool.

 

[sherifelgendy87]

9 hours ago, Mardy said:

What tactics are you using mate? Struggling with mine!

It's a custom tactic based on 41221

433.fmf

[da_melonuk]

Started a new save with the mighty Leeds as always...bit sad to see my FM19 save go as I'd had a decent 8th final season and won the Quintuple (Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and European Super Cup) but a new version means a new save to start again.

Found we started with just under a million pound to spend and very little in wage budget, so decided to follow Biesla in real life and not really bring in any players at all and work with what we've got.

Transfers in

Reece Oxford - Loan (Cover for CB)

Francisco Trincao - Loan (Share the Left wing role with Harrison)

Transfers Out -

Bouy - £160k

Miazek - £75k

Various u23 players sent out on season long loans for experience

Tactics - Went for a tiki-taka formation that worked well for me in previous game but just moved Klich into a more central midfield role

So far going great guns in the league, played 16, won 13, drawn 3, lost 0...scored 39 goals and only conceded 6 and have built up a decent 10 point gap over 2nd/3rd.

Nketiah is going great guns as my main goal scorer with 10 goals in 16 game, followed by Costa 6 in 17, Hernandez 5 in 18 and surprisingly Ben White has chipped in with 5 in 14 too.

Might send Clarke back to Spurs in Jan as i'm not using him at all and maybe sell Forshaw/Bamford to bring in new faces but not sure yet, a few of the youth players look like they might be very good in a years times. Currently giving 1st team run outs when needed to Davis, Shackleton, McCalmont.

Not counting my chickens yet but 10 points clear after 16 games is looking very promising indeed

 

Edited January 5, 2020 by da_melonuk

[gholliday87]

In one of the most audacious coups ever...Elland Road is the new home of the enigma known as Zlatan!!

Saw he was on a free, put in a cheeky player/coach contract. Boom...He's willing to come!

 

On a side note, I enquired about signing Eddie as he's doing the business, Arsenal want £159mil plus 30% sell on clause!

[Mardy]

On 03/12/2019 at 08:49, gholliday87 said:

In one of the most audacious coups ever...Elland Road is the new home of the enigma known as Zlatan!!

Saw he was on a free, put in a cheeky player/coach contract. Boom...He's willing to come!

 

On a side note, I enquired about signing Eddie as he's doing the business, Arsenal want £159mil plus 30% sell on clause!

Insane! I tried but he joined Malmo 

 

On the other hand, I just managed to blag loan moves for Harry Winks and Juan Foyth on January deadline day!

 

Currently 14 points clear too, absolutely smashing the championship

[brad71]

Started my Leeds save early this year, I normally wait till winter update. Started quite well sold Berardi £4.2m Hernandez £2.8m Bought Francisco Trincao £1.5m (seems to be one of the go to players) Amine Gouiri (loan) plan was to sell Bamford, decided not to in the end(turned down £10m for him) and Joe Gelhardt £5m from Wigan (loaned him backed to them for season) tactics wise playing 4-2-3-1 and a 4-5-1 (with a dmc) Eddie Nketiah on fire at the moment

[Mardy]

So I signed Haaland during my second season (first in the prem) and he has just won European golden boy!

 

[Goose_Beaumont]

On 25/11/2019 at 20:29, Davidcc said:

I look forward to reading of your Leeds game experiences and hope that this thread can be a success

I´ve just started my 3rd season (so sorry for the multiple screenshots). 1st season won the championship on the last day after a dip in form and had to battle it out with Brentford & Bristol City. 2nd season finished 9th after sitting in 6th (or around there) for most of the season but hit some bad form towards the end of the season.

Tactics

I´ve been using the below with a tweaked gegenpress style. It´s worked really well for me even though the leeds fans wonder why I stick with it if I don´t win a few in a row.

Transfers

First season I sold Ayling to Nice (4.5M), Berardi to Bologna (2.1M), Bamford to Ulsan (7M) & Forshaw to West Brom (3M). I picked up Daramy for the future and Diego Poyet as a backup player and to hopefully sell on in the future for a profit. In the January window, bolstered the backline with Foyth on loan fro,m Spurs and brought Lemos in too.

Season two I worked on clearing the deadwood from the reserves and unfortunately had to sell Kalvin for 30.5M which made me unhappy, although it paved the way for Kenneh to start getting more game time along with new signing Adam Smith. I also got rid of Cassilas and Douglas for 5m each and brought in Butland and Wöber as replacements. Othe key signings were Arezo, Morilla, Juan Komar and Scott Mckenna.

This past transfer window I dispatched with more squad/fringe players and started to focus on bringing in more quality players with plenty of years ahead of them. Ben White returned to Elland Road followed by Max Aarons and Reiss Nelson (loan). Key outgoings were Roberts (Uddersfield), Dallas, Cooper & Lemos (sheff Weds) and gjiani (SPAL). Very sad to let Dallas & Gjiani go but they were starting to get older and taking starting spots from younger, still improving players.

This past window also saw the retirement of Hernandez who has now started a role as an under 18s coach. 

Current Squad

Below is the squad for this season, and I´m pretty happy with the cover for each position. Shackleton did seem to be a mainstay in the CM position, but was out injured for a few weeks and Bogusz stepped in and hasn´t looked likely to give it back. Dylan Rouse is the only notable player to come throught he previous intakes.

Edited December 16, 2019 by Goose_Beaumont
tidying up

[brad71]

Ten games in now, And somehow I have won them all, playing some decent football as well. Only defeat was against Burnley in the Carabaro cup on penalties I also had three kids in my team( Meslier, Kenneh and Struijk) Tactics still playing with a 4-2-3-1 as my main tactic (have rode my luck a bit in a couple of games)

Edited December 16, 2019 by brad71

[gholliday87]

By george, it's tight at the top!

Somehow, in my first season in the Prem, I'm top after 28(I think) games! Closely followed by Liverpool & then Everton! It's a weird season, think United are languishing around midtable, Arsenal have just hit a patch of form and are in the top 6, City are up there as well. Not bad to say my 5 year plan was to 'be the best of rest'

One will do a more indepth review at some point today.

- Not sure if this is a bug, or if the board are mega chill, but they've granted about 90% of my requests, bought Son for me, set the wheels in motion for a new stadium (approx 51,000 capacity), increased staff levels several times over and are constantly improving my training/youth facilities.

[Goose_Beaumont]

11 hours ago, gholliday87 said:

- Not sure if this is a bug, or if the board are mega chill, but they've granted about 90% of my requests, bought Son for me, set the wheels in motion for a new stadium (approx 51,000 capacity), increased staff levels several times over and are constantly improving my training/youth facilities.

I just think the board are mega chill, especially if you seem to be doing well. I recall being turned down for help buying a player during a run of bad form, but have also had them accept everything (even buzing a plazer for me) when form is good #inradrizzaniwetrust

[Welshace]

1 hour ago, Goose_Beaumont said:

I just think the board are mega chill, especially if you seem to be doing well. I recall being turned down for help buying a player during a run of bad form, but have also had them accept everything (even buzing a plazer for me) when form is good #inradrizzaniwetrust

struggled with how his name was spelt did we? 

[Goose_Beaumont]

11 hours ago, Welshace said:

struggled with how his name was spelt did we? 

Ha, I attempted it on my own a few times

2021/22 Mid-season

After a really poor start to the season (Almost got sacked) I'm sitting in 12th. Wober, Mckenna and 2 youth players have left the club with Haaland (finally!), G Taylor and Harwood-Bellis coming in. 

Edited December 18, 2019 by Goose_Beaumont

[Goose_Beaumont]

2021/22 summary

 

It was a tough second half of the season. I was constantly bettering teams outside of the top 6, but possession and shots didn't amount to much in some games.

 

Final Position:12th

Player of the Season: Helder Costa

Young Player of the Season: Matias Arezo

Signing of the Season: Erling Haaland

 

Youth intake only gave me one decent prospect.

 

 

2022/23 pre-season

 

I Bolstered the defence by bringing in Itter, Vanheusden & Pongracic whilst trying to keep hold of the defensive players I already had. The big clubs came knocking for Butland, Komar & White and ended up losing Butland for 45m to Spurs.

 

Big clubs also came hunting for all the main midfielders and strikers, but luckily (and sadly) I only lost Arezo to Liverpool for 62m upfront with another 13.5m in installments (only bought him for 2.7m). Harrison came back in to fill the hole left by Arezo, Gasparini came in for Butland and Hutvagner was brought in as a 3rd place keeper.

 

 

Friendlies went well, beating Leicester (4-2), Valencia (2-0) & AC Milan (2-1).

Edited December 19, 2019 by Goose_Beaumont

[JJSaxton]

3rd season in and Ansu Fati requested to leave Barcelona as they signed a high profile LW. There was only Tottenham insterested and after scouting said he would be available for 9-16mill.

Immediately offered 16mill and offered him everything he wanted 90k wages lots of bonuses and sign ons etc. (Had to include buy out clause of £105 mill for clubs in champions cup)

This kid is something else. Hopefully he progresses as his potential shows.

[evertonmarc]

On 01/12/2019 at 23:08, da_melonuk said:

Started a new save with the mighty Leeds as always...bit sad to see my FM19 save go as I'd had a decent 8th final season and won the Quintuple (Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and European Super Cup) but a new version means a new save to start again.

Found we started with just under a million pound to spend and very little in wage budget, so decided to follow Biesla in real life and not really bring in any players at all and work with what we've got.

Transfers in

Reece Oxford - Loan (Cover for CB)

Francisco Trincao - Loan (Share the Left wing role with Harrison)

Transfers Out -

Bouy - £160k

Miazek - £75k

Various u23 players sent out on season long loans for experience

Tactics - Went for a tiki-taka formation that worked well for me in previous game but just moved Klich into a more central midfield role

So far going great guns in the league, played 16, won 13, drawn 3, lost 0...scored 39 goals and only conceded 6 and have built up a decent 10 point gap over 2nd/3rd.

Nketiah is going great guns as my main goal scorer with 10 goals in 16 game, followed by Costa 6 in 17, Hernandez 5 in 18 and surprisingly Ben White has chipped in with 5 in 14 too.

Might send Clarke back to Spurs in Jan as i'm not using him at all and maybe sell Forshaw/Bamford to bring in new faces but not sure yet, a few of the youth players look like they might be very good in a years times. Currently giving 1st team run outs when needed to Davis, Shackleton, McCalmont.

Not counting my chickens yet but 10 points clear after 16 games is looking very promising indeed

 

"Tactics - Went for a tiki-taka formation that worked well for me in previous game but just moved Klich into a more central midfield role"

Playing the general tika-taka presets? 

[Mardy]

Second season and first in the premiership, I managed to qualify for Europe! Haaland and Almada unreal for me, most premiership goals (by far) and assists from both, just missed out on the Champions league on the last day of the season

 

 

By first 11-

 

 

[Welshace]

On 23/12/2019 at 13:15, Mardy said:

Second season and first in the premiership, I managed to qualify for Europe! Haaland and Almada unreal for me, most premiership goals (by far) and assists from both, just missed out on the Champions league on the last day of the season

 

 

By first 11-

 

 

haha are you telling me in your second season, first in the prem that you managed to afford  Tonali, Haaland, Almada, Zeca, Radu, Lodi, Badiashile, Bellingham and Trincao??? come on sonnnnn

[Goose_Beaumont]

2022/23 recap

Season didn't start off too well, but once I hit some form I never really looked back. Ended up 7th and won the FA cup beating Sheff Weds in the final, which gave me Uefa Cup group stage football. I had to tweak the tactic when facing the big 6, dropping the CM to CB (libero) and turning my half back to a DLP. Also changed my ST to pressing forward which helped Haaland dominate in scoring (Euro golden boy, prem & FA cup top scorer).

Final transfers are below, key signings were Odegard (contract was up at end of season but paid a small fee to get him earlier) and Bellingham in Jan.

Youth intake gave me sweet FA this year.

 

Pre season 2023/24

 

Pongracic was the only player I was sad to lose. Pongracic's regen replacement comes in Jan so white & Harwood-Bellis will be getting more game time in the first half of the season. Strengthened the AMR position with Kang-In who impressed in pre-season and will hopefully improve our profile in S. Korea, and Gaitan the wonderkid. All other signings were youth players to hopefully develop and sell on for profit.

[Mardy]

On 24/12/2019 at 15:15, Welshace said:

haha are you telling me in your second season, first in the prem that you managed to afford  Tonali, Haaland, Almada, Zeca, Radu, Lodi, Badiashile, Bellingham and Trincao??? come on sonnnnn

Yea mate why not? 😂 all purchased with minimum fees up front and payments spread over 3 years.

 

Just signed Tamori and Fati too, end of the second season into the third

[da_melonuk]

On 22/12/2019 at 11:39, evertonmarc said:

"Tactics - Went for a tiki-taka formation that worked well for me in previous game but just moved Klich into a more central midfield role"

Playing the general tika-taka presets? 

Mainly the presets but with a few adjustments, but it didn't work well in the 1st part of my return season in the Premier League, so scrapped it. lol

will update with end of season info when i get chance

Edited January 5, 2020 by da_melonuk

[macca72]

Quiet on here this year.

Just about to have promotion confirmed in the first season, won it at a canter really but now need some help for first season in Prem.

Signed Trincao and Kana in the first window, selling Bamford, Klich, Dallas and Forshaw.

Most of the academy looks very good, so have been focussing on developing McCalmont, Bogusz, Kenneh, Gotts and Edmondson.

Main challenge I now have is that my two best players - Nketiah and Hernandez - are gone at the end of the season and I would suspect my tactic relies heavily on them. 

@Welshace any ideas on good players for Prem mate?

I don’t think I’ll get Haaland, he’s flat out refusing to even discuss terms. He would be a perfect replacement (pacey, beats offside trap), but impossible.

Bellingham is an option to retrain as MR and replace Pablo.

Also need a CB to cover for White going back and probably a new left back and right back.

Edited January 14, 2020 by macca72

[Welshace]

Hey @macca72, I haven't started my main Leeds save yet, i think mostly because of how quiet this thread has been tbh! 

 

Having said that, i've messed around with leeds and got promotion...  guys i signed or looked at were the likes of:

 

Evander da Silva Ferreira

Marco Richter

Talles Magno 

Jose juan Macias ( My current obsession)

David Strelec

 

Jules Kounde

Edmond Tapsoba

Rick van Drongelen

Jordan Torunarigha

 

Greg Taylor

Marc Cucurella

Luka Lakvekheliani

Fredrik Andre Bjorkan

Robert Gumny

 

Agustin Sant'Anna

Julian Ryerson

Karol Fila

 

 

What have you done with Kun Temenuzhkov, Leif Davis and Shackleton?  I retrained Shacks and Robbie Gotts at RWB to play in my system.. both did a job

[macca72]

Cheers @Welshace

Kun and Davis went out on loan, Shackleton was rotating the CM spots with Bogusz and McCalmont. Bogusz is the stand out of the 3 to be honest.

May look at shifting Ayling on and retraining Shackleton, but would worry that they won't be enough for Prem.

Kun is an interesting one, may promote him but Nketiah was insane, and can't go into Prem with just him and Edmondson.  Need a marquee striker signing in the Nketiah mould.

I'll check the others out 

I long for the days of Cahais at the back...

[Welshace]

1 minute ago, macca72 said:

Cheers @Welshace

Kun and Davis went out on loan, Shackleton was rotating the CM spots with Bogusz and McCalmont. Bogusz is the stand out of the 3 to be honest.

May look at shifting Ayling on and retraining Shackleton, but would worry that they won't be enough for Prem.

Kun is an interesting one, may promote him but Nketiah was insane, and can't go into Prem with just him and Edmondson.  Need a marquee striker signing in the Nketiah mould.

I'll check the others out 

I long for the days of Cahais at the back...

haha yeah, it's not as easy to pick up those bargains anymore... there are still a few, but these researchers are tightening up their game for sure..

[macca72]

They are, the more I look the more I think Nketiah is going to be impossible to replace.  Pace, Off the ball and Finishing all above 15.  I would've gone Cutrone, but Wolves snapped him up for £18m.

I'm going all guns for Haaland in season 3 - No idea how people got him in Season 2 unless his PA was on the low side.

@Welshace Drongelen and Taylor I like a lot. All else fails they are excellent squad players and both a good age.  Awesome.

Edited January 14, 2020 by macca72

[Welshace]

Hows Jean-Philippe Mateta looking in your save?

Long shot but is Josef Martinez in your budget or interested?

Gorka Guruzeta? Jon Bautista? Mark Uth? David Okereke? 

My old go to cheapy from the past Raul Ruidiaz is still beastly.. might do you until Haaland comes in...

Sporar has been decent for me as a backup emergency choice too..

 

 

 

[macca72]

Mateta looks good, few less than attractive mentals but ticks the Nketiah boxes.

Martinez is circa £20m, which is in budget but feels like a lot for a Haaland makeweight.  Ruidiaz is also good, but is 29 and against my philosophy.

Morelos is a possible, aggression worries me a bit but if i'm spending £20m, has to be someone with something a bit special as if Haaland was to become available in Jan, I'd probably have no budget left to do the deal.

Arp is also a loan possibility I reckon, he's played zero games for Bayern all season, I could get him for peanuts but no way will I meet his wage demands, he's already on 83k a week...

 

 

[Welshace]

46 minutes ago, macca72 said:

Mateta looks good, few less than attractive mentals but ticks the Nketiah boxes.

Martinez is circa £20m, which is in budget but feels like a lot for a Haaland makeweight.  Ruidiaz is also good, but is 29 and against my philosophy.

Morelos is a possible, aggression worries me a bit but if i'm spending £20m, has to be someone with something a bit special as if Haaland was to become available in Jan, I'd probably have no budget left to do the deal.

Arp is also a loan possibility I reckon, he's played zero games for Bayern all season, I could get him for peanuts but no way will I meet his wage demands, he's already on 83k a week...

 

 

Loan might be the way to go... Arp, Zirkzee, Brewster, Abel Ruiz,  Aaron Connolly

[Mardy]

@macca72

Some of my transfers below for the second season. WIth Tonali, Bellingham, Lodi joining in January. I assure you they can be convinced to join (despite suggestions I cheated )

All players bought were with minimum upfront payments, almost all sales included a % of profit on next sale. I also raised £40m in transfers during the first season.

A couple of other forward recommendations, should you be unable to get Haaland, I grabbed Josh King on loan who fits your tactics, and possibly Amine Gouiri (who I have out on loan)

A full Brazilian back 4 in Lodi, Ibanez, Lyanco and Zeca, also

Edited January 15, 2020 by Mardy

[MBJ96]

Just finished first season. Won the league with 102 point. Was just way better than the rest. 

The standout players were Eddie Nketiah, who hit 32 league goals, and my back four with Ayling, White, Cooper and Douglas. 

Also gave a lot of playing time to Nohan Kenneh, and he did quite well. Man City tried to buy him in january, but I have very big hopes for him. 

Now I'm fearing that it will be hard to replace Ben White, Pablo Hernandez and Eddie Nketiah. Also had Carlos Aleña and Curtis Jones, who did well.

Preferred lineup:

GK: Casilla
RB: Ayling
CB: White
CB: Cooper
LB: Douglas
CM: Shackleton/Klich
CM: Phillips
RW: Jones/Bamford
AM: Hernandez/Aleña
LW: Costa
SS: Nketiah

[macca72]

Pre-season just about done for 1st season in Prem

Outs

Casilla - £7.5m

Ayling - £6.5m

Pablo - Free

Cibicki - £4.5m

Grot - £4.5m

Alioski - £12.5m

Plus a few others released / nominal fees

Ins

Rasmus Kristensen - £7m - Replacement for Ayling, bit bonkers but I like him, well rounded.

Dani Martin - £5.5m - Replacement for Casilla, looks good, one on ones and determination a particular bonus and only 21

Van Drongelen - £3m - White replacement, probably not as good but good value, cheers @Welshace 

Greg Taylor - £7m - Replacement for Alioski and will be first choise LB, another from @Welshace

Bellingham - £22.5m - Spread the cost over 3 windows with £10m up front, long term replacement for Pablo and will re-train to RM. Will be a star

Ampadu - Loan - Backup if V Drongelen doesn't work out

Valverde - Loan with £4m buy - Stats are very very well rounded so couldn't say no really, will make big money on him in the next few years

Still have no striker with a week of the window to go....Going to the wire this one...

[Coolio5]

First post for me this season. I am having to play via Stadia so was a bit late to the party!

Season 1- like others won the league easily. Pablo was player of the year!

Season 2 is a tough one and i changed formation to a narrow 4312 and did well. Finished 9, which I was happy with.

Season 3- won league cup and finished 6th.

Season 4- currently joint top after 8 games and flying in UEFA cup.

Haaling is a beast, but better on his own up front. I played him for a season as part of a 2 in the 4312 formation and he was wasted to be honest. Start of season 4 I have changed to play wide players to get the best out of him and he is on fire. My front three of Haaland, Sane and Kluivert are awesome!

Leeds players still playing for me; Davies (back up LB that I need to move on really), Phillips, Shack (found him to be excellent as a MEZ in midfield due to his dribbling in central areas and he is quick), Bogusz (back up CM now, but still good), Kennah (back up CB)- still trying to break through properly.

Signings below if they help anyone. Sane is a madatory purchase, but he is in excellent form, so I am very hapy about that! I too, in years 2 and 3 spread a lot of payments over 3 years. 

[macca72]

So....

I got Haaland, he didn’t really want to come but a frankly reckless disregard of finances got him over the line.

He has a release clause which I had no option to accept, but at £87m if someone wants him that softens the blow.

I’d like to qualify for the Europa League, either through top 7 or a cup, so we’ll see.

Edited January 16, 2020 by macca72

[Goose_Beaumont]

It's great to see some activity on here again. Below are the purchases that have performed well for me in my first few seasons (plus the sum that they moved on for) and that I recommend to buy if available. I've put the season bought so other managers may be able to pick these up earlier for less if interested.

 

2020

Max wober 15.5m (sold for 44.5)

Matt smith 6.25m (sold for 18)

Pelayo Morilla 6.75M

Mafias Arezo 2.7m (sold for 62)

 

2021

Ben white 35m (wouldn't join after loan spell, had to buy him my second season in the prem

Max aarons  47.5m

Erling haaland 32m 

 

2022

Gian-luca Itter 4.4m

Marin Pongracic 15.75m (sold for 47)

Zinho vanheusden 21m

Jude bellingham 32m

Martin odegaard 3.1m (transfer listed) (sold for 103)

Bryan gil 9.75m (sold for 40)

 

2023

Hudson-odoi 67m

Lee kang-in 50m

 

2025 

Reiss Nelson 17m (transfer listed)

Luca connell 7.5m (transfer listed)

[Goose_Beaumont]

On 16/01/2020 at 18:43, macca72 said:

So....

I got Haaland, he didn’t really want to come but a frankly reckless disregard of finances got him over the line.

He has a release clause which I had no option to accept, but at £87m if someone wants him that softens the blow.

I’d like to qualify for the Europa League, either through top 7 or a cup, so we’ll see.

He is a phenom! Offer a new contract when possible to get rid of that release clause. 87m is too cheap to let him go imo