I let my star striker go to Barcelona, did I do the right thing?

[Outsider23]

So, I had an excellent young striker, which was nice, but also annoying because there was constant drama regarding his future. Loads of big clubs were interested in him, including Real Madrid, but I managed to see them all off. 

Then, a year or two later, Barcelona became absolutely obsessed with him. It seemed like every week there was an article in which Barcelona expressed their desire to bring him in and he in turn talked about how desperate he was to join them. As soon as the January window opened up they pounced. The first bid was far too low and I rejected it with confidence, the second bid was much more generous, but I rejected that too, which caused the player to become unsettled. Almost all his teammates supported my decision and he continued to play well despite being pissed off, still I was a bit unnerved and when Barcelona kept spamming bids I decided to give them the "**** off number."

In earlier attempts to placate the player I had said that I would let him leave for $220m, but just to be extra safe I sent Barcelona a counter offer for $260m. In my save, prime Erling Haaland went to Man City for only $247m so I figured Barcelona would give up, but to my shock they shot back a non negotiable offer for $260m. I kind of felt I had to say yes, not only because I said I would let him go for a lesser sum, but also because that is a hell of a lot of money.

Of course, it threw my season into chaos. All the players who supported me before now became angry that I had backed down (they chilled out a bit when I promised to secure an excellent replacement) and the resulting mess basically got me knocked out of the FA cup and cost me an important Premier League home game against Tottenham.

His replacement has arrived and could end up being an excellent player, but I still feel like maybe I made the wrong decision. There was still a decent amount of time left on his contract, should I have gritted it out? What should I do the next time something like this happens?

 

EDIT: Now Barcelona is trying to sign Haaland for $226m WTF is going on?????

Edited May 23, 2021 by Outsider23

[Grifty]

I think you did the right thing to sell.

[kentonizking]

Always sell.

 

Scout South America, have a wonder kid ready to step in 

[XaW]

This is a tricky situation, because you kind of is in a position where your leadership will suffer no matter what you do. If you sell him, "you caved" according to your team, but if you don't, you've broken your word and thus the trust is gone. I think you did the right thing, the real answer will be when you find out if the replacement was good enough. Failure to bring in a player, not only as good, but also who works as good (or better) in your tactical setup. Both in FM and the real world, ability alone might not cut it.

I've often found myself using a poorer player since he just does better than the best one. Some time ago I had this striker who was not rated by the coaches, and his attributes were not great, but he often scored the winning goal whenever we struggled to win. I had several better strikers after a while, but no one could do it like Old Reliable. So I stuck with him until he was about 33 and his physicals had started to drop a bit too low. I was in the PL, and he was rated as a "decent league one" player still. I sold him to a Championship side for about a million pounds, and he didn't work there and drifted down the leagues from that point on. Still one of my favourite FM players of all time!

[Outsider23]

13 hours ago, XaW said:

This is a tricky situation, because you kind of is in a position where your leadership will suffer no matter what you do. If you sell him, "you caved" according to your team, but if you don't, you've broken your word and thus the trust is gone. I think you did the right thing, the real answer will be when you find out if the replacement was good enough. Failure to bring in a player, not only as good, but also who works as good (or better) in your tactical setup. Both in FM and the real world, ability alone might not cut it.

I've often found myself using a poorer player since he just does better than the best one. Some time ago I had this striker who was not rated by the coaches, and his attributes were not great, but he often scored the winning goal whenever we struggled to win. I had several better strikers after a while, but no one could do it like Old Reliable. So I stuck with him until he was about 33 and his physicals had started to drop a bit too low. I was in the PL, and he was rated as a "decent league one" player still. I sold him to a Championship side for about a million pounds, and he didn't work there and drifted down the leagues from that point on. Still one of my favourite FM players of all time!

In theory the new guy fits my system a lot better. He is also a much better finisher, but the trade off is that he has much less pace, which matters in the Premier League since everyone seems to play a high line. The old striker could get in on goal with any mildly decent ball over the top; sometimes he'd collect the ball in his own half and score an absurd solo goal, but with the new guy, as good as he is, I feel like there is a lot of pressure on my creative players to provide more chances.

[Puluzu]

22 hours ago, XaW said:

This is a tricky situation, because you kind of is in a position where your leadership will suffer no matter what you do. If you sell him, "you caved" according to your team, but if you don't, you've broken your word and thus the trust is gone. I think you did the right thing, the real answer will be when you find out if the replacement was good enough. Failure to bring in a player, not only as good, but also who works as good (or better) in your tactical setup. Both in FM and the real world, ability alone might not cut it.

I've often found myself using a poorer player since he just does better than the best one. Some time ago I had this striker who was not rated by the coaches, and his attributes were not great, but he often scored the winning goal whenever we struggled to win. I had several better strikers after a while, but no one could do it like Old Reliable. So I stuck with him until he was about 33 and his physicals had started to drop a bit too low. I was in the PL, and he was rated as a "decent league one" player still. I sold him to a Championship side for about a million pounds, and he didn't work there and drifted down the leagues from that point on. Still one of my favourite FM players of all time!

Just goes to show CA ain't all that. I remember Oscar Cardozo in FM 17 I think was a 3 star player for Serie A but he was leading the world scoring chart for many seasons as a DLF despite even me having much higher CA strikers.

[IbrahimAliMaher]

So you sold him for more than 10x what you paid for him three years later, and 3x his current value? No brainer really.

As good as he is, in order to fully realise that potential he has a way to go. His personality is not top drawer, so he would need mentoring/discipling to get the absolute most out of him which is not guaranteed. The money they paid for him is for a finished article player which he is not, just the desperation of the January transfer window.

Every player has their price at the end of the day. You didn't say how well your club is doing currently, though looks like you're in the CL so going reasonably well at least. I doubt you managed to improve the reputation of Norwich sufficiently so far to be on a par with the really big boys, so inevitable he would leave at some point. You just maximised his value and sold him to a non-rival team, so win-win.

[Outsider23]

On 24/05/2021 at 16:06, IbrahimAliMaher said:

So you sold him for more than 10x what you paid for him three years later, and 3x his current value? No brainer really.

As good as he is, in order to fully realise that potential he has a way to go. His personality is not top drawer, so he would need mentoring/discipling to get the absolute most out of him which is not guaranteed. The money they paid for him is for a finished article player which he is not, just the desperation of the January transfer window.

Every player has their price at the end of the day. You didn't say how well your club is doing currently, though looks like you're in the CL so going reasonably well at least. I doubt you managed to improve the reputation of Norwich sufficiently so far to be on a par with the really big boys, so inevitable he would leave at some point. You just maximised his value and sold him to a non-rival team, so win-win.

I'm in the Europa league semi final right now. I qualified for this competition initially by winning the Europa Conference league. I'm in 6th place right now and in a close battle with Tottenham. Basically, I am at the point of trying to break into the English elite, my main problem so far has been finding consistent form.

I'm feeling a little better about my decision to sell, but I really can't afford to let any more stars go.

[rafamaximo]

You did the right thing. I am the kind of manager that won't hold players. When an offer comes and they are interested, I'll try to negotiate a good fee and just let them go. It's much easier replacing a star player than dealing with unhappy players on squad.

Edited May 25, 2021 by rafamaximo

[YouReds]

Definitely done the right thing in selling, I would always look for a striker to have 15+ on finishing at that level. 

[Outsider23]

Sorry to bump this thread, but, oh my god, THEY LOAN LISTED HIM! I literally laughed out loud when I saw this.

They paid $260m for him in January and then loan listed him in July.

I wonder if the Barcelona AI is deliberately programmed to be incompetent to better reflect recent history. I'm joking of course, but the real explanation is just as funny. Barcelona must have assumed (as I did) that his potential was sky high, but when he hit age 22 a couple months after they signed him, it was revealed that he was at his full potential already, he isn't even a five star player for my team. To top it all off, his high wages mean that they will struggle even to loan him.

Edit: They are asking for 100% wage contributions, the delusional fools. I made an offer for 10% contribution and squad player minutes just out of spite.

Edited May 26, 2021 by Outsider23

[BuryBlade]

Do you feel better about selling him now then? 
The way I play the game is I always have plenty of players on my shortlist so that if a bid like this comes in, I already have a few options to consider to replace them with. 

[Geordieboy52]

24 minutes ago, BuryBlade said:

Do you feel better about selling him now then? 
The way I play the game is I always have plenty of players on my shortlist so that if a bid like this comes in, I already have a few options to consider to replace them with. 

Yep, got to run the Ajax model of recruitment and selling.

[IbrahimAliMaher]

2 hours ago, Outsider23 said:

Sorry to bump this thread, but, oh my god, THEY LOAN LISTED HIM! I literally laughed out loud when I saw this.

They paid $260m for him in January and then loan listed him in July.

I wonder if the Barcelona AI is deliberately programmed to be incompetent to better reflect recent history. I'm joking of course, but the real explanation is just as funny. Barcelona must have assumed (as I did) that his potential was sky high, but when he hit age 22 a couple months after they signed him, it was revealed that he was at his full potential already, he isn't even a five star player for my team. To top it all off, his high wages mean that they will struggle even to loan him.

Edit: They are asking for 100% wage contributions, the delusional fools. I made an offer for 10% contribution and squad player minutes just out of spite.

On my game it's Leicester and PSG who make these kind of crazy transfer dealings. Leicester in the first instance when they got relegated to the championship with all their parachute money, kept trying to sign my best players who were worth £4-5m for 4x/5x times what they were worth. I'd take them to the cleaners then reinvest in my squad. The players in question would then inevitably play a handful of games for Leicester before eventually leaving either for a pittance or for free a few transfer windows down the line.

With my new club, I keep getting gazumped by PSG for all the players I want in January. I've started to turn the tables on them now though by leaving the players in my shortlist, then 1-2 transfer windows down the line signing them from PSG at knockdown prices 

[Outsider23]

9 hours ago, BuryBlade said:

Do you feel better about selling him now then? 
The way I play the game is I always have plenty of players on my shortlist so that if a bid like this comes in, I already have a few options to consider to replace them with. 

Definitely, I assumed he was going to improve a lot more. I even chose not to give him the trait "likes to round keeper" because I assumed his finishing would improve significantly.

I had visions of him coming back to haunt me later in the Champion's League, but now I might wait for his absurd contract to run down and try to sign him as a squad player.

[Platinum]

On 26/05/2021 at 09:07, Outsider23 said:

Sorry to bump this thread, but, oh my god, THEY LOAN LISTED HIM! I literally laughed out loud when I saw this.

They paid $260m for him in January and then loan listed him in July.

I wonder if the Barcelona AI is deliberately programmed to be incompetent to better reflect recent history. I'm joking of course, but the real explanation is just as funny. Barcelona must have assumed (as I did) that his potential was sky high, but when he hit age 22 a couple months after they signed him, it was revealed that he was at his full potential already, he isn't even a five star player for my team. To top it all off, his high wages mean that they will struggle even to loan him.

Edit: They are asking for 100% wage contributions, the delusional fools. I made an offer for 10% contribution and squad player minutes just out of spite.

I really like that this happened as it makes the game more interesting and creates 'stories'. You both thought his potential was much higher than it really is and Barca having now had a better look at the player have realsied they made a big mistake. Reminds me of the Dembele situation 

Edited May 28, 2021 by francis#17

[BuryBlade]

20 hours ago, Outsider23 said:

Definitely, I assumed he was going to improve a lot more. I even chose not to give him the trait "likes to round keeper" because I assumed his finishing would improve significantly.

I had visions of him coming back to haunt me later in the Champion's League, but now I might wait for his absurd contract to run down and try to sign him as a squad player.

Creates a cool narrative in your save. I imagine he will be offloaded when his contract runs down.