FM 2009: Official Cardiff City Thread

[gaz da man 2004]

Club Information

Full name: Cardiff City

Nickame: The Bluebirds

Homeground: Ninian Park

Capacity; 20592 (14000 seated)

League: Championship

Media Predicition 11th

Finances

transfers 750k

wages 110k

Cardiff City were founded in 1899 and are the only non-English side to have won any of the three major English competitions. They won the FA Cup in 1927, during a decade when they were one of the strongest sides in the English league, finishing runners-up in 1923/4 and also losing 1-0 to Sheffield United in the FA Cup Final of 1925. They have also been regular winners of the Welsh Cup, and as the winner of the Cup in 1966-67 gained entry to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, reaching the semi-finals in 1967-68. They played in old Football League First Division periods of 1921-1929, 1952-1957 and 1960-1962.

Their history in recent years has been less successful but they have made some improvement in the last few seasons. In 1986, they were relegated to the Fourth Division, and over the next 14 years slipped into the league's basement division three times. In 1996 they were the league's third lowest placed team. However; a Football League Second Division playoff triumph in 2003 lifted them into the Football League First Division; and they are now just one promotion away from reaching the Premiership which would make them the first non-English team to do so. In 2008, they reached the final of the FA Cup for the third time before losing 1-0 to Portsmouth.

(source wikipedia)

Staff

Chairman: Peter Risdale

Manager: Dave Jones

Assistant: Terry Burton

Squad

Gk Enkleman

Gk Heaton

D L/R McNaughton

DL/MC Blake

DL Capaldi

DC Gyeps

DC Purse

DC Johnson

DR Comminges

DM/MC Scimeca

MCL Whittingham

MCL Ledley

MC McPhail

MC Rae

AMLC Parry

AMLC Kennedy

AMRC/FC McCormack

SC Bothroyd

SC Johnson

Good enough squad defence could use strengthening interesting challange

[dexta200]

Mate add some information like history and Finances also add a badge make it look good

[Purefun]

I'll only add this if its more like the other clubthreads mate. Have a look around.

[Rossini]

Thanks for making a Cardiff thread! Currently 2nd at start of March playing standard 4-4-2. My dealings so far are:

Out:

McPhail - Coventry (1.1m)

Roger Johnson - Wolves (3.4m)

Whittingham - Hull (2.5m)

McNaughton - C.Palace (2m)

In:

Seyfo Soley (free)

Gravesen (free)

Sebastian Abreu (free)

Helguson (loan)

Chopra (loan)

Bobo Balde (65k)

Moises Antonio Caldelario (120k)

Fernando Ricksen (300k)

Mariusz Lewandowski (875k)

Don Cowie (1m)

Razvan Rat (2.7m)

My current team is:

GK Heaton

LB Rat

CB Lewandowski

CB Balde

RB Ricksen

LM Ledley/Parry

CM Cowie

CM Soley/Gravesen

RM Caldelario

ST Abreu

ST Chopra/Helguson

My best performers so far are Rat, Candelario and Cowie, who has been a brilliant signing!

[gaz da man 2004]

i agree with selling Johnson and Whittingham as you can get good money for them is Rat any good at championship lvel?

[Rossini]

Rat is brilliant at Championship level and good enough for Premiership I have been told. With Capaldi injured at start of season you need a left back. Other options are Joe Mattock, but Leicester will want a bigger fee than what you will have to pay for Rat, and Insua on loan for a season, but he turned me down for Southampton. If you have the money which you should have from selling Johnson and Whittingham, Rat is a top signing!

[WelshDragonZ]

What tactics do you use? I am struggling?

[gaz da man 2004]

i'm tried knaps they aint doing to bat at the moment http://community.sigames.com/showthread.php?t=70621

[Rossini]

I just beat Chelsea away 4-2! Bogdan Stancu who I signed for 6.5 million scored a hat-trick in his first start for me! Was 2-0 down as well so i'm obviously delighted! This season Bradley Orr is playing very well for me at right back but signing of the season for me has to be Leonardo who I got on a free from Ajax, his technical stats are awesome! Will post more info when I have some time!

[Rossini]

Well after finishing 12th in my 2nd season, the debts cleared and suddenly I now have money to spend in the 3rd season! My target was an optimistic top half finish and Ridsdale gave me 33.5 million to spend! I have spent just over 20 million of this and am lying in 3rd place after 8 games, winning 6 and drawing 2! I have already beaten Man Utd away 2-0 and my 2 draws were against Arsenal and Chelsea! My team right now is:

GK Agliardi (free)

LB Mattock (2.4 million)

CB Ignashevich (750k)

CB Diamoutene (6 million)

RB Diogo (free)

LM Jankovic (free)

CM Borysiuk (1.7 million)

CM Radoi (4.7 million)

RM Edu (450k)

ST Milevskyi (11 million)

ST Marquinhos (14.4 million)

[gaz da man 2004]

is that the prem?

[Rossini]

is that the prem?

Yes mate it is the prem, as I said I have played Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea etc, I finished 2nd in my first season behind Reading to get promotion, signed a load of frees in my 2nd season (1st season in the prem) finishing 12th. Jankovic has been an incredible signing for me on a free transfer, Arsenal offered over 20 million for him which I rejected. In my 3rd season I was given some money to spend which I spent on a new strikeforce and Mirel Radoi. I just signed Belletti for 575k during January too! My team right now is:

GK Dudu Aouate

LB Mattock

CB Diamoutene

CB Radoi

RB Diogo

LM Jankovic

CM Borysiuk (recently scored a hat-trick, a superb signing for 1.7 million)

CM Belletti (sitting back allowing Borysiuk freedom to push on)

RM Edu

ST Marquinhos

ST Milevskyi

[Ohmyhovel]

Just got to my second season as cardiff, I won the play-offs, I don't have much to spend and it seems there isn't many frees on my game, any suggestions?

[Keyrun]

Just got to my second season as cardiff, I won the play-offs, I don't have much to spend and it seems there isn't many frees on my game, any suggestions?

I can't remember exactly who I bought at the moment as I'm in work but if you're stuck for a 'keeper (I was as I only had Heaton and Enckelman the season before) I bought Ruben Perez (Spanish) for around 1.2m I think. I also had Izquierdo at right back, yet again Spanish. I found a load of good Prem players for cheap down in Spain.

I'm now in my second season in the Prem after finishing 15th I think. Currently in December and I'm 12th overall.

Biggest signing was Zarate for 7.5m, he's a bit of a flop, struggling to score and Lewandowski is doing much better. Best signing was a regen called Sergey Kovalev, bought him for around 1.7m when I got promoted I think and he is the first name on the team sheet. Got Scott Carson in goal on a freebie, bought N'Koloulu as my cover for right/centre back, Jonas Jacobsen (another regen) as my up and coming star at centre back, a top, top talent that could go on to becoming one of the best players in the team.

I'll put up my transfers when I get home.

[GavinLP1987]

Started my yearly Cardiff save a couple of days ago.

Signings:

In - Jordan Hibbert (free)

Out - Erwin Sak (Loan)

I'v also got Roger to sign until 2013

Fixtures:

Sheff Utd (A) - 2-1 (McCormack, Purse (p))

Hereford (H) - 2-1 (Parry, E. Johnson)

Ipswich (A) - 4-1 (Bothroyd(2), Parry, Rae)

Birmingham (H) - 2-3 (McCormack, Whittingham)

Currently 6th in the Championship. I'll update every half season

[Manxie_Ash]

My best result so far was well chuffed

[gronoboy]

Any ideas on best tactics for city? Two signings for city that i've made that are awesome are Appiah (free) and Nengomasha (around 300k). Get them in the first season-they make a massive difference.

[gaz da man 2004]

struggling myself again

[gronoboy]

Get masilela in as well hes a amazing left bk mucg better than capaldi anyways

[kopfan1977]

Get masilela in as well hes a amazing left bk mucg better than capaldi anyways

I agree.. i have masilela and insua ( loan ) both fighting it out to be number 1 for me and both are doing amazing... Right back is where im struggling to find a decent player altho i have just found a south american talent for £2.2 mil who can play wb r/l and am/r

[gronoboy]

With this new update get Johnson (Roger) on the keepr off corners-first season for me he scored 16!! On third season now-1st i finished 2nd to reading,2nd season i managed to finish 10th in prem just about to start 3rd season moneys gr8 but players hard to keep. Blinking Risdale keeps accepting offers against my wishes.

[wakko jakko]

Anyone else find that Chopra is absolutely awful on this game. His stats so far:

In the first season (when he was on loan), his stats:

-Apps: 27 -Goals: 7 -Avg Rating:6.54

Second Season (just signed for 3M!):

-Apps:26 -Goals: 1 -Avg Rating: 6.33

I cant work out how to play him and cant get rid of him at all. Any suggestions?

[kopfan1977]

Anyone else find that Chopra is absolutely awful on this game. His stats so far:

In the first season (when he was on loan), his stats:

-Apps: 27 -Goals: 7 -Avg Rating:6.54

Second Season (just signed for 3M!):

-Apps:26 -Goals: 1 -Avg Rating: 6.33

I cant work out how to play him and cant get rid of him at all. Any suggestions?

nah he is just truly awful and you wont sell him that easy !! have u tried listing him for 0??

on another note buy ariza makukula - bought for 325k and sold one season later for 8.5mil

what a cool profit

[gronoboy]

Will makukula sign for u first season?

[kopfan1977]

Will makukula sign for u first season?

yes mate he will and he also scores quite a few goals too. He virtually carried me through my season, only downside to him was he got injured before christmas period for 8 weeks and my auto promotion challenge went down drain as didnt have anyone else capable of banging em in... tho i did get to playoffs and win v ipswich in final

[SouthgatesRedWhiteArmy]

Just started a game with Cardiff, going to see how things go! Will let everyone know....At the moment, Appiah is my first signing. Nengomashe and Masilela have been offered contracts.

[SouthgatesRedWhiteArmy]

Didnt manage to get Mengomashe in the end, as his work permit was turned down. Won and drawn my first 2 games! Currently 6th, but i think a few around me have played an extra game.

[Keyrun]

I'm currently in my seventh season with City, top of the Premiership currently as defending Champions.

My biggest signing was a regen from WBA for £25m. A 22 year old striker who scored 36 goals in his first two seasons in the Prem, so I thought he was worth a punt. He's now battling it out with Alex Teixeira and Henri Saivet for one of the two striker spots.

Brought in alot of class regens, or at least I think they're class. There seems to be a load of good Scottish regens, I also have an abundance of full back regens.

Its nice to see that Cardiff's academy has been recognised, I regularly have one or two good youngsters coming through. None have broken into the first team yet though, all still a tad too young at the moment.

[gronoboy]

I'm trying a season with 1 signing only-kind of a challenge to me-that signing in the end was Lewin Nyatanga-he is class-i usually go nuts and but all sorts but after going to watch the derby game at ninian a week ago i felt horrible getting rid of all the proper team-anyone else tried this?Mind u i might get a bit bored by Jan and try n sign some players.

[foomonkey]

started a game as Cardiff aswell yesterday with my mate going Reading.

i signed;

Insua - Liverpool LB (loan)

Smith - Newcastle ST (loan)

Flores - Cordoba AMRC (£575k over 24 months)

Nafti - Birmingham DM (£525k over 24 months)

Pierre Doumbe - Celtic DRL (£0)

Leemans - VVV DC/DM (£300k over 24 months)

i also got Newcastle as a parent club. West Ham came up also but i opted for Newcastle since they have alot of Prem duds who would likely play well on loan in the Championship. too bad i was only able to laon 1 player since Cardiff already start out with 3 loan signings.

after a shakey start whereby i didnt win my 1st 4x games, i've found myself in 5th spot with 32points and 5points behind 1st after 16 or so games.

my team arent exactly that exciting and fail to hit the target alot which i find pretty annoying. i end up winning "ALOT" of my games 1-0.

all my signings have proven to be fairly useful so far. thankfully they have contributed a good amount of squad depth to my team as i find myself swapping out 4~6 players per game since my team cant hack it playing consistantly.

Smith is so far my top goalscorer with Insua and Flores being tipped as really good buys from my board + fans.

one problem i'm finding is that i cant get my strikers to preform. Chopra, Bothroyde and Johnson have all been rubbish and have only got a goal a piece so far this season. i'm really disappointed in how bad they are. Chopra especially since i'm having to pay out on £3million on him at the end of the season due to it already being agreed for him to move to Cardiff after his loan expires. i ****ing hope i can then sell him off straight away when he completes the move as i don't want him in my team at all unless i discover how to make him (and the other 2) preform.

have any of you guys got any advice on getting my strikers to preform?

i've set myself a target of a minimum of 74 points to rival how well Cardiff have done in real life. hopefully if i get more than that it will be enough to atleast get me into the playoffs.

if i somehow do manage to get into the Prem i don't see the club surviving as i'm pretty shocked at the difference in quality between my team and teams like Birmingham or Wolves who are tipped to go up.

how are the rest of you going?

[Keyrun]

I started another Cardiff game a while back, just as a little aside when I used my laptop, never meant as a serious game. Unfortunately my desktop is out of action at the moment so I'm playing this game consistently.

Coming up now to my fourth season in charge (11/12), our third in the Prem. Finished second in the Championship, just about. Needed a win to secure second, or I could have ended up in the play-offs, not where I wanted to be seen as we'd been hovering around third and second all season.

I found Chopra and McCormack struck up a decent partnership, got shot of Johnson (Despite him being the best player in the world irl ). Can't remember much else about it. I did bring in Appiah though, who was a fantastic signing. Lucky for me Man City came in with a bid of £5.5m for Ledley, which I accepted. Bargain of the season (along with Appiah on a freebie) was Danny Grainger for £300k, turns into a decent Prem LB too.

First season in the Prem was a bit of a struggle, but I was confident that we'd avoid relegation. Brought in Feghouli for £5.5m along with Yohan Mollo for £6m. Bought a young Norwegian defender called Tore Reiginnussen (or something like that) for £1.5m to partner Johnson in the middle. As I've always found with City, its difficult to find a decent keeper, so when I saw Ben Foster had a release fee of £4.5m, I snapped him up. We ended up finishing 14th, we had a spell in the relegation zone but main;y we were around 17th or so. A good run in our last few games took us up to 14th.

For our second season in the Prem I promised myself that I would bring in Alex Teixeira no matter the price (well, as long as it was sub £10m). Luckily Vasco wanted £8.5m and I duly obliged, making him our most expensive signing ever. Along with Teixeira I brought in his compatriots Guillhereme for a similar fee and Rafael Carioca for £5.5m. Feghouli was beginning to get on my nerves, saying he wanted to move onto a bigger club, with Liverpool interested, but I stood firm and kept him in. I brought in Cesar Ibanez, a young, Mexican left back. Agreed to sign him the previous season but as he was only 17 he couldn't come until now. Brought in Bocaly as well to compete for the CB spot and in the January transfer window I brought in Willians in preparation of Feghouli leaving.

We ended up finishing ninth, with lots of interest in all of my Brazilians. I sold Feghouli for £10m plus £2.5m for apps. He was getting on my nerves and wasn't worth the effort. I'm now looking to bring in someone to cover for Willians. Wanted Fleck but he wanted £80,000 in wages. I don't care how promising he is, that is astronomical. A week away from the first game of the season and my squad is far too small.

[D-Wight]

Just started at Cardiff and immediately set into action changing the whole backroom staff:

Dan Ashworth- Assistant Manager- I always get him his motivation and judging player potential is good.

Tony Whelan- Coach- Paid a lot to get him from Manchester United worth it though

Scott Shinnie- Coach- Young coach with good defending stats

Steve Foley- Coach- Signed from Ipswich and has good technique stats

Scott Cole- Coach- Another young coach with high tactical abilities.

Martyn Margetson- GK Coach- Decided to keep him on at the club he is good enough

Tom Ritchie- Fitness Coach- Signed from Hearts and i always bring him in

Physios- two new frenchman Bruno Klein and Michel Brohan very good pair

TRANSFERS IN (So Far):

Koki Mizuno- £22,000- Celtic- Attacking Right Sided Midfielder

Carl Medjani- £650,000- AC Ajaccio Football- Sweeper And Central Defender

[Swafe]

Just Started a new game as Cardiff after a few tries at other clubs im back to my home team

My usual signings first season for Cardiff are:

Shane Steffanutto (will cost a bit and you may have to load Australia)(If not i try Insua on loan)

Ariel Borysiuk (Great player can get him for around £400k at start and develops into a smashing player)

Dejan Skolnik (Again a great ML for Championship and only young, usually pay about £210)

Jose Antonio Dorado (£190 for him, a commanding centreback)

[Sloppyderek]

I started with a database update for the most recent one. with Chris Burke in, Johnson gone, ect.

Let's go with Transfers in and Transfers Out -

IN:

Jack Cork (loan, Chelsea)

Alexey Smertin (free)

Emiliano Insua (loan, Liverpool)

Nuno Valente (free)

Rufete (free)

Edu (free)

Maniche (free)

Dennis Gentenaar (375k, Ajax)

Out:

Roger Johnson (5m, Birmingham)

Gabor gyepes ( 500k, Plymouth)

Darren Purse (free, Shef. Wed.)

Peter Whittingham (1m, Everton)

Now, my team -

GK - Dennis Gentennaar.

DL - Nuno Valente.

DR - Kevin McNaughton.

DC - Jack Cork.

DC - Emiliano Insua.

MR - Rufete.

ML - Joe Ledley.

MC - Edu (30 yr old Brazilian one).

MC - Maniche.

FC - Ross McCormack.

FC - Michael Chopra.

Thoughts?

[Keyrun]

Now, my team -

GK - Dennis Gentennaar.

DL - Nuno Valente.

DR - Kevin McNaughton.

DC - Jack Cork.

DC - Emiliano Insua.

MR - Rufete.

ML - Joe Ledley.

MC - Edu (30 yr old Brazilian one).

MC - Maniche.

FC - Ross McCormack.

FC - Michael Chopra.

Thoughts?

Pretty good team Sloppyderek, surprised you sold Whits, he generally does well with me.

I've finished my fourth season now (I think, might be fifth, in work at the moment so can't check) and we finished third for the second year running. Since my last update I've sold Teixera, Man City were interested and I managed to get £20m for him. Bit dissappointed with that, but no one would go over £20m, so I had no choice but to sell as he was unsettled. In his place I brought in Alexis Sanchez, coming from Man City for a fee of £17.5m. Along with him I brought in Davide Lanzafame for £13m as cover for the wing and striker positions.

In midfield I managed to snap up Mahamadou Diarra on a freebie to compete with Carioca, with my midfield being a bit small I also splashed £10m on Xabi Alonso to add a bit of class. At the back I signed Adam Warner, a regen who can play all across the back four and has the potential to be one of the best players at the club. I also brought in Carvalho on a freebie, who asked for a modest £10kp/w in wages on a one year contract, he would go on to make 25 or so apps for the club.

In the Jan window the season before I brought in Asenjo as Foster was getting greedy and wanted £17k app and clean sheet bonuses. No big loss, sold him on for £5m and Asenjo is easily better.

With the demise of Liverpool, going into administration and being docked 9 points resulting in their relegation, I managed to secure the signings of Gerrard and Torres. Gerrard was a snip at £500k and Torres a measly £5m, both are still considered as top players and as such I don't see any need to strengthen the attack further. Carvalho is now 36 and as such I've not renewed his contract. Two new centre backs are required, with maybe another GK as Delle is getting fed up of playing backup.

Next year we've got to push on and try and secure second, or at least challenge. Not going to be easy with Arsenal seemingly invincible and having won the Prem for the last few seasons. Citeh finished ahead in second by five points, but they have the money, so will undoubtedly strengthen, but they are beatable as shown by our penultimate game where we won 3 - 1.

Edit - Also got offered the job at Chelsea after Mancini was sacked for finishing sixth, but turned it down.

[bluebirds4life]

Hi

Never found success with City or in fact any team in the championship in 09 yet, just wondering what tactics you use.

I've got a big online game league thing coming on so need to win badly. Already set transfer targets as:

Sergey Krivets

Andy Dorman

Brian Stock

Marcin Wasilewski

Lamine Diatta

Ryan McGowan

James Mcarthur

James McCarthy

Jan Blazek(16 in finishing a composure 18 pace)

This means of course I'd need to sell:

Tony Capaldi

Jay Bothroyd

Gabor Gyepes

Miguel Comminges

Darren Purse

Gavin Rae

Paul Parry?

Please any advice would be grateful.

[Welshace]

always mean to start a proper career with cardiff but never got round to it... not yet anyway

you'll get half decent money for the players you've listed for sale there... and your targets arent too shabby either tbh...

my only tip would be not to expect miracles in the first season or two... if you do get promoted i dont think you'll have the funds or team to build a prem standard team ... build slowly i would say

also consider Appiah, Pujol, Jon Cristaldo, Ochirisii, lewandowski, binya

[bluebirds4life]

Thanks.

Lots of people, Comminges Bothroyd and Gyepes are unlikely to leave because they're new to the club.

Binya never gets work permit for me, I'll have to wait for Appiah as he's injured.

I'll check out your other players thanks, I'm not really expecting a lot really just thinking maybe a different approach might help.

EDIT: Sorry what's Pujol's first name, one of them Gregory looks very expensive.

EDIT 2: Is it Razvan Ochirosii

[Welshace]

take appiah on trial if possible until he's uninjured.. usually stops others buying him...

yeah its gregory... can be cheap.. or can be expensive... shame... usually get him for around 500k

and yes.. thats the ochirosii... he looks ok at the start but i promise you.. he's world class by start of second season pretty much....

I sold him to Inter at the end of my first season for 12 million in my fulham game

leandro gioda - top quality cb for 300k

igor camargo - top targetman 100k

mauro cejas - rw -100k

k.kotev- 100k

abel - rb from sporting 70k

chris benitez -st -1million

willo flood maybe? 200k

youssef rabeh cb/rb 200k

ahmed el mohammady rb -100k

walter garcia cb - free on 9.3

sandaza -st

peter masilela

phillip evans - s.african /welsh rb for 80 k

[bluebirds4life]

Hehe Flood's just left us shame I'm on 9.3.

Thanks a lot very helpful, can't wait for Jon Cristaldo, 210k.

Ochirissi didn't want to join I offered him a lot he still rejected us?

[bluebirds4life]

Unfortunately everyone on your latest list exept Benitez, Flood a Sandaza, oh and Abel(he costs 1.7m ) are not there. Thanks very much though.

[Welshace]

ahh yeah... i play on large database with the ultimate retain players .edt

[Sloppyderek]

Any of you guys know if Razvan Rat is actually very good? Nuno Valente is in superb form currently.

I also laugh at other clubs offering me jobs. I never accept. Ever.

Jan. Transfer Window. Signed; Sapara. Sold; Smertin (100k), Ledley (4.5m, Everton)

Smertin was a massive let down, tbh. Especially as Ledley was playing so well. I have no LM though. One word -- #*@"!.

[Welshace]

rat is great.. if less then 2million... but theres much better tbh..

mattock would be my target

[bluebirds4life]

Razvan Rat is very consistent and solid for me, was vey reliable.

[Sobriquet.]

Just started a new City game on the 9.0.3 patch and buy things are different.

Went to get Makukula who is awesome in the Championship, on loan at Bolton.

Mikuzono, had to pay £140k for him and then he had obsurd contract demands. Same with Dillon.

Board went over my head and sold Ledley for 5m. Can't find any replacements as my scouts don't seem to be doing the job they did on my last game.

And worst of all, Sergey Krivets signed for someone else. It's gonna be a hard season haha.

[ProLagJoe]

rat is great.. if less then 2million... but theres much better tbh..

mattock would be my target

Agreed about Mattock being better, but isn't Mattock still expensive. Last time I tried to buy him it cost me £2.5m and a 20% Next-Sale Clause & Danny Mills.

[Rossini]

I started a new league on the recent patch. Now in my fourth season, got promoted as runners up first season, came 10th second season, then came 3rd in my 3rd season. Only signed a few players in my first season to get me up. I "did a Birmingham" by bringing in experienced players who have done it at a higher level like Smertin and Fiore. However, these 2 turned out to be squad players and apart from selling Roger Johnson and replacing him with Forsund, a Norweigan centre back from HamKam for 325k, my squad remained the same. McCormack, Bothroyd and Chopra collectively fired me to promotion.

Second season was very up and down. I hammered West Brom 5-0, then lost to Portsmouth 4-0 the following game. Story of my season really. I hammered teams at home and got hammered away, I played very attacking using my strike force of Artem Milevskyi and Henok Goitom. Also, Javi Garcia was a superb signing as well as Jiranek, who is a dream as when retraining him to left back he can then cover exery position in the back for and he consistantly averages over a 7. He is currently keeping Heinze out of my team.

Third season was when my team started to take shape, I sold Goitom and replaced him with Seleznyov, also brought in Hirigoyen, a regen who is now France number 1 keeper, Diakhate and Leo to form my formidable centre back partnership, Diogo on a free, a solid right back, Alex from Internacional, an attacking midfielder with awesome technical stats and Buonanette and Marquinhos who both caused havoc down the wings.

Current season and my squad is now near complete. I sold Alex for 14.5 million as he is 29 and replaced him with Matias Fernandez for a bargain 8 million. Also sold Diogo for 7.5 million and replaced him with Rafinha on a free. Also signed Vidal for 8.5, Torbinskyi for 3.5 plus Hulk and Oscar Cardozo to now give me 4 awesome strikers. I also have Federico Laurito who is developing along nicely and will be pushing for a place in the next season or two. I am now currently top of the Premiership and my team looks like this:

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/5027/squadh.jpg

Up the Bluebirds!