[FM 23] Gunners via Italy & Germany

[vivu]

Transfer Window Update

Lots of wheeling and dealing before the window slammed shut.

Players Out

Spoiler

Zaniolo was on the transfer list on request as he wanted to return to Italy. Though a useful squad option and we were taking a loss, I was happy to sanction the move as he was on massive wages.

Spoiler

Antonio was a decent squad option, but I had 7 players who can occupy the center back options and my coaches did not rate him much. I wanted to focus on more English players and I have a terrific youngster coming in; so he moves on for a tidy profit.

Spoiler

Silly money for an ageing but good player and we have booked a profit.

Spoiler

He was on massive wages and wanted a new challenge. He was the best option we had on RB, but Tomiyasu is equally as good.

Spoiler

Was a surprise bid, I put in 50% sell on and they accepted. Might have been a useful back up option, but the money was too good in my opinion.

Spoiler

He was one I did not want to lose. Homegrown, highly rated (leading premiership potential as per my really good Assman) and a bid from a rival. But he had come in with a weird request to discuss the playing time on the eve of transfer deadline and was not convinced by my attempts. He goes for a pretty large transfer fee for a player who hadn't yet made the break at this level .

Players In:

My focus was to fill bring youngsters from UK, a decent GK and a quality DM/CM. Ticked pretty much all the boxes.

Strictly one for the future, but he is rated at 4.5* PA. Will be in my u21 squad for the foreseeable future.

Spoiler

Josh moves in from Chelsea where he was struggling to break in. Highly rated and English, he can be part of my long term CB option.

Spoiler

Cooper is a youngster with plenty of potential and plenty opf experience in English second tier. He was entering last year of his contract and I moved in. He stays back at Reading to continue his development.

He is a future prospect who will be playing in my reserve and providing cover in case of injuries.

Tiago was the most highly rated youngster I had at Napoli, but he never made the breakthrough there (mostly as I was not playing an AMC). Saw that he was available on a no fee loan with 70% wages and I made the move. Napoli was also happy to accept a 30 mill optional fee, which I triggered once Biggs moved on. He will be joining permanently at the end of the year.

Spoiler

I paid the premium as he was young and English. He was a player I was tracking while at Napoli, but I was not sure he copuld break into the first team there. He will slot in nicely as a rotation option for us in the AMC slot.

Saw that the youngster was listed at Napoli and I moved him quick. He will be a back up option (Napoli took a big hit). My coaches and scouts do not rate him much for potential, but he is way better than my current back up to Ramsdale. GK will be a focus area for us in the near future as Aaron is 34.

Another one I brought in on the recommendation of my scouts. He is highly rated, but no where near first team standard.

Spoiler

The one area I targeted as my squad was pretty weak at the DM/MC slots. He is probably the best in the role at the moment and I have spent big cash and blocked highest wages on a player in his prime.

[vivu]

 

[vivu]

Aug '32

A decent enough start as my team is getting used to my tactics. Started off slow and by the time we closed the month, the team was playing much better.

[vivu]

Decided to check the highest transfers and unsurprisingly City dominated

The biggest transfer in this save was surprising though. Not sure he is worth anywhere near the 180 million

[vivu]

[vivu]

And he is off to a fine start to his international career

[vivu]

Man U at less than half our commercial Income Glazers left after dragging them down the abyss

[vivu]

Sep '32

Newcastle is proving to be a difficult opponent and my decision to give Scott the start as striker over Osimhen and Jesus backfired spectacularly. The victory against Feyenoord regained some of our lost self belief and the team performance kept improving . The best performance till date with the Gunners came in the comfortable win at Real.

[vivu]

Have one more available testimonial to schedule, for Saka.

[vivu]

Kjaer lasted 120 days and left with a 7-3-5 record.

[vivu]

[vivu]

[vivu]

Oct, Nov & Dec '32

We breezed through the first half of the season to take a solid grip on the pole position; it helped that Man City had a pretty bad start to the season. Only scare we had during the period was the match against Napoli (we were lucky to escape with a point).

[vivu]

2032 was the year of Haaland's resurgence

[vivu]

Kvaradona is on the way here

Napoli legend is on the way at the end of his contract. Napoli team is having a bit of as turnover with Raspadori also listed (asking for a new challenge). They were the key players for me during my successful stint there.

[vivu]

We are losing one of our icons too

He was not interested in renewing contract here.

[vivu]

Jan '33

Plenty of matches this month as we are challenging on 4 fronts. We are through in the cups and Europe and solid results in the league to ensure we remain top.

Transfer updates

Out

Enzo was on transfer list when I had come in. He never made an appearance under me

Andreas was a useful squad option, bu the offer was too good to turn down for a player who had 18months left on his contract.

Alex was a youth player who my coaches were not sold on. He wanted more chances and the showdown talks led to him putting in a transfer request. Decent money for a player who would have struggled to make it

In

Carsten is a highly recommended youngster who would be eased into first team picture next year (Tomiyasu is out of contract at the end of season and I am not planning to renew as he will be 35).

Matthias was a player I had tracked in Italy (and Napoli had moved for him after I left). He is a dead ball specialist who has excellent stats. I was surprised to see him listed on the deadline day, that too for a 11 mill loss from what was paid for him 6 months back. I moved in quick as my front two are 34 and 35 respectively and I do no plan to renew Gabriel Jesus's contract at the end of the season.

Edited November 28, 2022 by vivu

[vivu]

Bayreuth's first European adventure comes to a spirited end.

[vivu]

And the outstanding match up of teh draw

[vivu]

Rosso is on the transfer list. He had complained when he was fined (it was as per the code of conduct)

[vivu]

Youth Intake almost always bad in this save so far

[vivu]

Feb & Mar '33

Chelsea ended our unbeaten run in the league, but we bounced back well in Feb. March saw heartbreak in both domestic cups (it was sort of expected as I was playing my youngsters in the cup games). We have chance for revenge against Newcastle in the UCL next month.

[vivu]

Pep era off to a great start at Naples with Napoli booking the crown with couple of months and 7 fixtures to go

[vivu]

Apr '33

Nearly the perfect month as the team completed the League win with a month and 3 fixtures to go. This title was a team effort unlike the ones in Germany as my strikers were out for large chunks of the season. In Germany I had Osimhen and Porras leading the line with 25+ goals in our league victories. Only Osimhen in the top 10 among league goal scorers.

[vivu]

Previous Clubs Watch

Bayreuth continue their impressive run and qulaify for Europe for consecutive years (Europa League this time).

Pep Guardiola guided Napoli to their highest points tally ever, bettering the 100 points we set during he last season I was in charge.

[vivu]

May '33

Missed out on the 100 point tally due to the loss at ManU, despite a hattrick from my new German frontman. Ended the season on a high by completing the double.

Cracker of a final where we stole it at the end after a really tense duel.

Camavinga made all the headlines

Ong is a beast who looks like a future Ballon D'Or prospect

Spoiler

Spoiler

Vieira would be on the move as he has requested a transfer (wants a new challenge).

 

[vivu]

We are becoming something of a UCL power house

Edited November 29, 2022 by vivu

[vivu]

c                        

[vivu]

Big jobs available at the end of the season

Valverde got the boot despite his successful decade of service,

& Vardy left manU to join West ham

Edited November 29, 2022 by vivu

[vivu]

ManU are sinking into mediocrity and the managerial merry go round is not helping

My predecessor had left the job to move back to Spain and he led Atletico Madrid to an impressive title

[vivu]

Year of rebuild for us with the following stalwarts slated to leave the club

Only bid for Vieira was from West Ham which I have accepted

Tomiyasu is out of contract and is set for release

Same with Jesus. Both Jesus and Tomiyasu can still perform at the EPL level, but the contract demands and the youngsters I have at my disposal means it makes no sense to renew

Teun is someone I was willing to offer an extension, but Barca swooped in at Jan and has entered into a pre--contract agreement

William is closing in on a 49.5 million move to PSG. He wanted more playing time (No idea how that's justified, given that he had started 26 of our 38 league games)

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by vivu

[vivu]

Pep's Napoli is a scary beast. We were absolutely thrashed while attempting to retain our Club world cup title.

 

[vivu]

Transfer

Players Out:

Apart from the ones I covered earlier, couple of youth players moved to Birmingham at end of contract. The other players trimmed from the squad:

Spoiler

Daniel was not performing to the level when called up on. So when Bayern came in with silly money offer, he moved on with my blessing

Marcelo was the villain from our abject League Cup final. He was given the odd chance to impress, but never came good and he was unhappy with the fine after sending off in the final. He was on the list from Feb and both Milan clubs came in with decent offers.

Players In

Tiago's agreed fees clause was triggered early last season and he joins us permanently. He is developing nicely and will be playing a big role this season

Romauld was suggested by my scouts and I moved in when his contract expired. He;s one for the future.

Moved for the Napoli Icon when his contract expired. He is a class act and still have couple of top division seasons left in him.

[vivu]

Missed out on my primary target to replace Osimhen. Had agreed on a 90m+13 mil in bonus deal with PSV when Napoli swooped in I had been tracking the player from my time at Napoli. Didn't feel the need to move for him as I had Porras and Bastos, who were slightly better than Anass in my opinion. Now Pep has 3 world class forwards at his disposal. Hopefully one of the 3 will get unhappy soon

[vivu]

Might have my Jesus replacement lined up finally. The boy is pure class and bonus is that I pry him off Spurs I had bid 120 million which they rejected and he has put in a request.

[vivu]

Biggest transfer for me till date (He is on a monster 275k per week wages also).

[vivu]

The previous record spend on English player was not pretty

Edited November 29, 2022 by vivu

[vivu]

Had good preseason and only worry before kick off was an injury suffered by Tiago Marujo with Portuguese u21s. He is out of action for 4 months with a broken leg

[vivu]

The Squad

Edited November 29, 2022 by vivu

[vivu]

Cracked the Global

But got a long way to go

Pep looks unbeatable at the moment

[vivu]

UCL Draw

Probably the easiest set of opponents I had in the championship since the new format

                                           

 

[vivu]

Aug '33

We started off the new season in terrible fashion, going down by 2 goals within first quarter against Newcastle. Team fought back and drew level, but lost out on penalties with Osimhen missing the key penalty. This was followed by a nervy win against Chelsea in the super cup and a scrappy win at Brentford. Then we went a goal down and man down within 30 mins against Chelsea in the league, but the team showed tremendous character to fight back for the win. That seemed to give us confidence and the team closed out the month with a dominant victory at West Ham. Only worrying aspect was my record signing drawing a blank and looking generally inept in front of the goal.

I was not planning to add any more first team players during the window, but an injury crisis made me reinforce my midfield just before the window slammed shut

Out

Moved on a bunch of youngsters on loan to gain experience

Chalk was a youth team player who was not going to make the cut

Weekes was the third choice keeper who was pushed to 5th choice when I picked up couple of youngsters

In

Couple of young Keepers were brought in as per the recommendations from my scouting team

Yegor has moved on loan to gain experience

Due to the injury crisis, I made a move on the young prodigy in the Dortmund reserve squad (even though he had no top level experience). I badly needed numbers and pretty much all other scouted players were costing in the 80 to 100 million range

Just as the window was closing, there was an agent contact regarding one of my Napoli day stalwarts. The old warhorse is a short term fix, with us committing huge wages on a 10 month contract with an auto renewal if he plays 20 matches. It helps that he knows the league well.

[vivu]

The ex Reading youngster scoring on his international debut. Not bad for a CB

[vivu]

[vivu]

Sep, Oct & Nov '33

A near perfect run over the 3 months with the only blip coming in the match at Villa. Thomas Frank had set up a defensive Villa who was impressive against us. However they were not able to maintain the form and he was sacked midway through November. Other highlight of the run was my record signing hitting form before getting injured in October (he is a bit of a blow hot/blow cold type of player; he has spells of high scoring games followed by spells of abjectly poor performances).

Edited December 2, 2022 by vivu

[vivu]

Finally a decent preview..... Will believe it once the youngsters are in

 

[vivu]

I sort of predicted this with them signing the big money Duthman. He has a fantastic scoring record off the bench fort me, but he wants crazy wages and a starring role. Not for me

 

[vivu]

Transfer Update

An end of an era for us as my captain fantastic decided to hand in a transfer request. I had renewed his contract at the end of last season and did not notice that the agent had inserted a promise that he would be played as AM in an AP(support) role. Unfortunately , with injuries in squad, he was mostly deployed in CM or DM role and he came in wanting to discuss the promise. I was unable to placate him and it ended up in him handing in the transfer request. Not how I wanted it to end, especially as he was a vital cog that could fill in at multiple positions for us (and perform despite his advancing age)

His replacement is on the way, with only WP pending. I had been tracking David for couple of seasons now and he is highly rated by my staff. It's a bonus that he can fill in at multiple positions and he had a 65 million release clause.

Another legend  might be leaving us at the end of the season

Napoli came in with a 38 million offer, I negotiated with a 48 million counter with sale at end of season and they accepted. Contract discussions are ongoing, though I wouldn't mind if he decides to stay.

[vivu]

Nice pay off to Ituano

[vivu]

Had one more outgoing, a nice transfer fee for an academy graduate

Duncan made decent appearances for us in the cup games, but would have struggled to make even a back up option for us in the long run.