[FM23] Everton: It's the hope that kills you

[GrayMatter]

Confirmation of European Football - Europa Conference League

City beat West Ham in the FA Cup final to secure our passage into the Europa Conference League, they also won the Champions League which resulted in a £1.5m fee paid to us as a clause in the John Stones deal. We've also been enjoying sporadic payments from Spurs and Newcastle respectively for Richarlison and Anthony Gordon. This money did all seem to be tot up and given I'm an installment merchant on the transfers, we were only given £49m transfer budget. It was a bit disappointing given that I'd arranged sales of two players prior to the budget announcement.

Outgoings - 2023/24

I previously mentioned about my intentions of selling Pickford and despite a massive improvement in the latter half of the season, my mind was already made up. Norwich paying us £25m up-front was a bit of a masterstroke given he'd already told us that he was considering his options at the end of his deal. We managed to squeeze £16m up-front from Fulham for Tarkowski with the rest paid in December which was good business for a player we brought in on a free - I really like him in real life but he is chronically held back by his low professionalism on the game. Maupay and Townsend were the aforementioned pre-arranged deals, I'd resigned the latter to another year extension earlier in the season to maximise what fee we could get for him. Maupay was £11m up-front and £5m in December. Previously I'd talked about rejecting a £10m bid for Gray from Lens and I was left with some regret here given that they only offered us a non-negotiable £6m but as interest was low, I thought it was best to swiftly shift him on. I was also pleased to get money up-front for Dobbin and Virginia who although both progressed while out on loan, still fell short of being in with a chance of making the match-day squad. In an alternate universe, I did consider keeping hold of Virginia as his attributes were coming along quite nicely but he's opted to play second fiddle at Hertha instead.

I was flabbergasted to see Virginia's countryman Gomes actually had any loan interest to which we instantly accepted as Gomes is usually very difficult to move on with his £120k p/w wages. He'll leave on a free in the summer. The other loans are all very much developmental loans with a view to make some money in the future. Onana hadn't really progressed at Brighton which is quite a common theme so we've dropped him down a tier to start every week at Wolves. Ben Godfrey has also joined him but I've cut his name off the image as Wolves aren't paying any of his wages (yikes).

Incomings - 2023/24

It was a busy summer! I had a plan in motion though, just like in the first season where I focused on a mixture of youth and experience, I had the same mantra this summer. The trusty installment payments were also capitalised on in order to actually get all of these players in. Stansfield was an interesting coup, the scouts managed to pick him up just after the first round of intakes and he had quite a nice attribute spread, since his arrival I discovered that as a centre-half, he only has 6 jumping reach. I've started to retrain him to play central-midfield as a result. He has a lot of work to do so chances are he'll be loaned out frequently once he hits 18. Tobiasz will be my keeper for cups and Europe, a very solid acquisition and now has a work-permit. Kilman, Ahmedhodzic and Pavlovic have all come in with good quality already and can actively still improve. I particularly like Kilman and Pavlovic given that they are left-footers. My options at CB are now reliably solid and won't be outdone by through balls over the top constantly like the now retired Dante. Ekdal came in to somewhat fill in that backup/rotational gap left by Dante.

My biggest transfers were Neto, Fornals, Swedberg and Livramento. Neto is amazing on the game given his versatile coming off-of both flanks, while Fornals is a model citizen with the ability to play virtually anywhere in midfield. Swedberg is a personal favourite of mine and will likely be Fornals' long-term successor. Livramento came in as a deadline-day signing, we paid £20m up-front and the rest in installments. I may well have overpaid here as I've seen him go for cheaper in a second season but usually when Southampton have been relegated - it was a toss-up between him and Zabarnyi but Bournemouth priced us out of a move for the Ukrainian. I think with Livramento though we've arguably got ourselves one of the best young RBs in world football and that's a transfer fee you only need to pay once in a bluemoon, think Kyle Walker for Man City, we are set for years with him and Patterson now. 

Livakovic came in as our new number 1, found it quite amusing that he was happy to sign with us labelled as a 'cup goalkeeper' too. Cooper and Ruddy both arrived as further backup and to fulfill squad registration rules should we need to call upon them. Le Fee I see as a better alternative to Iwobi long-term while Thorsby essentially arrives as my Gueye replacement as the ball-winning midfielder. Pinyaev and Veloso are ones for the future but I'd imagine the former will play a lot in Europe. Galvez was already pre-arranged given his loan agreement and this was an absolute steal, I actually feel as though he'll be my starting left-back in the third season, all going well. Ait-Nouri was loaned as a bit of a reaction to Wolves taking Godfrey from us, I really like him but potentially with Garcia, Mykolenko and himself, it might be tricky to give him enough game-time. Long-term I'd like to see Galvez and Ait-Nouri as my options.

You may notice that Doucoure, Iwobi and Gueye are still knocking around the club but we will be looking to shift these on - I'm in the process of re-signing Gueye onto a year extension worth half of his current weekly wage while Doucoure already agreed to that in season one. Iwobi's demands are still enormous so he may have to be moved on in January.

Friendlies

Not much to be said about these fixtures, we tried to just bed in our usual starting eleven that will look something like this:

Fixtures - August

A last gasp Fran Garcia free-kick to equalise against Brighton (gave me Leighton Baines nostalgia) and holding onto a draw against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge following an Ekdal red-card was lovely to see. Joao Pedro was really building on his first season with us by netting three goals across the month.

Fixtures - September

With all transfer business done, we entered the month full of optimism at the Etihad, our optimism paid off as Sutalo and DCL netted headers in what was a game of set piece goals. Despite the latter and Pedro proving to be our penetrating forces in front of goal, we slumped against Spurs as Yves Bissouma netted a brace to end our unbeaten run.

Fixtures - October

Two braces for DCL against Servette and Anderlecht respectively showed how much the injury-prone forward was rekindling his form. Sutalo again proved potent from set-plays with a headed winner against Man Utd in the 90th minute, gone are the days of Fergie time. Though we lost graciously against Newcastle, the way we are responding to losses is much more positive than last season.

Fixtures - November

I must start with the Southampton win - Patterson was sent-off in the 83rd minute but our very own super-sub Pedro snatched victory in the 88th.

The glaring fixture in November was the drubbing at Anfield; I was devastated, the fans were devastated, extremely poor day at the office. Though most of our goals were coming from DCL or Pedro throughout the season, youngster Hayden Towey netted the second against Servette in his substitute appearance. I am however quite sad to see that his personality has dropped from 'perfectionist' to 'fairly determined' after signing his first professional contract. He is young enough to turn that around though.

Fixtures - December

Sensational form throughout the month has led us into 2024 in 2nd place behind the cyborg-led Man City. I really enjoyed how we've become such a defensively solid side this season, the 1-0s are pleasing to see. Livakovic's strength in one-on-ones is really not to be sniffed at, he's stopping so many breakaways where we'd have conceded last season.

Star Man - 17 goals in 14 (17)

He's really stepped up when I've needed him most and hopefully long may this continue. I do need to get him to sign a new deal though or else I may have to cash in on him in the summer.

Outgoings

A very quiet month for us overall for those leaving the club. I was pleased to see McAllister, Cannon and Nagalo go out for some game time. Ronning and Whitaker took early holidays in preparation for their inevitable summer selfie with Wayne Lineker. Wayne must have secured Ronning a work permit while over there though so happy days. Meanwhile, Gbamin's move was the interesting of all; earning £75k p/w, I decided to offer him out, showing a willingness to pay £37.5k p/w until the end of his deal (end of the season) and MK Dons came in for him. Low and behold, he earns £350 p/w at MK Dons and has an injury release clause, genius. So, I managed to get rid of £37.5k off the wage bill and League 1 MK Dons gained a quality played for that level.

Incomings

Curtis and Perea finally arrived after being arranged for a year. Both will become homegrown at the club so I'd imagine both will be pivotal for improving the fortunes of our u21 setup which for a change, I am looking at maximising our success there too. Oliver Arblaster came in to aid that endeavour, nothing to do with his fantastic surname. If anything, he'll be a player we can develop, loan out and sell on for a bit of profit later down the line. Pergelov arrived in a similar vein, we have a wealth of left-backs to choose from and he's very much at the bottom of the pile but he's determined and has room to improve. Paylor was someone the scouts found while out in Scotland, a 15-year old starting doesn't go unnnoticed. Again, very young, raw and will take years to get anywhere near the first-team setup.

The two most exciting signings were Roony and Mudryk, the former has everything in his game to one day becoming a Premier League star although he has had a few injury issues while at Copenhagen. I had every intention of signing him as soon as he turned 18 so I kept just enough money in the transfer budget to complete this after the summer window closed. Mudryk was a deadline day loan and the deal we managed to secure was outrageous, we're only paying £30k p/w of his wages with no monthly fee. Chelsea stipulated a £125m optional purchase fee which we were happy to agree to, with absolutely no intention of activating. Considering I'd been switching McNeil with Pinyaev for the vast majority of the season, Mudryk was a significant upgrade from the left-wing.

Fixtures - January

Liverpool proved yet again just how difficult they are to get anything against at Anfield, we've won at the Etihad, we've won at Old Trafford and we've won at The Emirates but by lord, we do not turn up there. It was pleasing to bounce back swiftly from that defeat and Calvert-Lewin's brace in the return leg was exquisite but we still fell short.

Fixtures - February

February provided us with some pitfalls while on our travels, we have developed a more defensively-solid system to play away from home but it also sometimes struggles to create enough in front of goal. As the team continues to improve, we will tinker with the prospect of implementing our more offensive setup away against teams that on paper we 'should' be able to defeat. 

Youth Intake - 2023/24

Alex Barkley

Brother of Ross by any chance?!

Johnson Jimoh

This lad looks as though he's completely ambidextrous, in the same ilk as Ousmane Dembele.

Fixtures - March

I was licking my lips at the Astana draw, arguably the worst side to make the round of 16 and 10 goals scored without conceding was exactly what I envisaged. DCL scored 5 of those across both legs as we cruised to the quarter-finals. We limped to defeats against Arsenal and Liverpool with the fixture congestion getting the better of us. In fairness, I did rotate almost entirely between the fixtures but this may well have created these disjointed performances. We had our chances in both games but couldn't bypass Ramsdale and Kelleher respectively. The absolutely comedy was that was one of only two league appearances for Kelleher. 

Fixtures - April

Mudryk opened his account for us against Southampton, putting on a dazzling display at St Mary's. Pavlovic obliged similarly against AZ with his first of the season but then misplaced a pass for AZ's equaliser in Amsterdam. DCL's double ensured AZ's opener at Goodison was fruitless. We rounded out the month with a friendly against PSG due to fair while without a fixture, I wanted to keep my European eleven as match fit as possible. Hakon Arnar Haraldsson royally showed Messi how it was done playing as a number 10.

Fixtures - May

Though Sporting proved to be much tougher opposition to face man-to-man, Joao Pedro proved to be the hungriest on the field across both of the semi-final legs, netting in both. Disappointingly, the Brentford fixture cost us a 2nd place finish as victory in that game would have taken us above Liverpool. Champions elect Man City gave us a good game to say goodbye to Goodison Park as we embark on life at Bramley-Moore Dock for the 2024/25 season.

League Table - 2023/24

Four titles in a row for Man City, Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland (only 45 league goals this time... perhaps he's on the decline?!) are the men to topple on this save as they also won back-to-back Champions League trophies. They've only actually added Grimaldo, Rodrygo, Kimmich and De Paul, it is going to be extremely interesting to see how they recruit over the course of this summer as they are getting a bit out of hand. I was extremely proud of getting a top four finish, although 2nd was within touching distance, a jump from 7th to 3rd is massive progress. 

UEFA Europa Conference League Final

Joao Pedro continued to be the man built for big moments...

And there we have it, our first trophy, ending the barren run of 29 years without one. Comfortable throughout as it never seemed to be in doubt that we'd walk away from Bilbao (San Mames stadium) as winners. Capped off by DCL who returned from injury after a month on the sidelines. His untouchable starting berth in Europe may well transition to the Premier League as Falcao's ageing legs are catching up with him. However, that hinges on whether the Sheffield-born forward will commit his future to the club...

UEFA Europa Conference League Player of the Season

What does the future hold?

I don't anticipate that it'll be a massive summer of spending as I am quite content with my squad, however I will be looking at freeing up the wage bill somewhat and recruiting more frugally for younger players. Gueye, Doucoure and Iwobi all may find themselves shifted on to make room for new blood for the Champions League.

[Swills417]

So, a quick update on our second season, as we go into the final run-in. The season initially started really well, with a 4-3-3 vertical tika-taka (with inverted wingback) absolutely devastating Tottenham Hotspur 6-1 at Goodison.

Soon after, results dipped and by the January window we were back in the familiar relegation fight. I had tried to garner a response from the players, with numerous tactical variations tried including a 4-4-2 wing-play as our strength was clearly with our wide players supplying DCL and Gomez regular service. However, this failed experiment was abandoned after a few games. 

We had struggled with the core of our side and taking inspiration from this thread, our recruitment was Scandinavian themed. Morten Thorsby signing from Union Berlin and Sivert Mannsverk joining from Molde. These two signings complemented our tactical switch to a 4-2-3-1 Gegen-press with two ball winning midfielders and we have not looked back results or performance wise. 

GK: Pickford / Todd* 
LB: Mykolenko/Livramento
CB: Guehi / Braitwaithe
CB: Holding / Godfrey
RB: Pattersin /Livramento
LDM: Onana / Stach
RDM: Mannsverk / Thorsby
LW: Calvert-Lewin / Mudruk
CAM: Gordon / Stach / Daniel Ruiz
RW: McNeil / Tsygankov
ST: Maxi Gomez / Ibrihimovic
*Regen

We have also introduced some of the standout players from our golden generation youth sides from the first intake.  We are also into the FA Cup final against Brentford with a real chance to end the trophy drought and qualify for Europe for our first season. Speaking of next season, we’ve made a superstar signing. Jack Grealish will join the summer, for an initial £30m deal to shine under the lights at Bramley Moore Dock in 2024/25. He had been frozen out at Manchester City under Diego Simeone and was initially reluctant to make the move to Merseyside. However, £8.5m p/a  and promising him the vice-captaincy changed that! 

Finances

The elephant in the room. We are over our wage budget by a few million and have a £56m sized hole in our budget that is only projected to get worse. I’m hoping with a strong finish and some prize money this problem goes away. I’m using the realism editor data, which I believe turns off the automatic renewal of sponsorship deals so we can’t rely on that either. Important player sales will have to be a big contributing factor to rectify this as simply removing the high earners from the wage bill (Yerry Mina, Holgate, Iwobi and all the other usual suspects). A sale of either Anthony Gordon, Mykolenko or Calvert Lewin may have to be sanctioned to generate the big revenue. 

 Calvert-Lewin has now decided to explore his options going into the last 18 months of his deal. I hope a strong finish and silverware will bring him to the negotiating table. We’re happy to make him our highest earner, even with a release clause for champions league clubs. We just can’t work under the uncertainty of our talisman checking out early.  A lot of squad players will be moved in to rebalance the books Garner, Godfrey, Holgate, Iwobi, Coleman and others have barely featured and been replaced by our golden generation youth prospects. 

I hope to get this down to around £100m p/a although it realise to expect as we improve developing players will want bigger salaries.

The bloat is with the middling talent in the squad. Pickford, Mina and Iwobi are on the wages that do not match their footballing abilities. While Holgate and Godfrey have barely features this season unless in a injury crisis. 

Below is run in for the end of the season. May 2024 will see us host Leicester City and Liverpool, while having to visit Tottenham and Brighton (not the same side as real like thankfully!)  Before a big curtain closer FA Cup final against Brentford. 

 

[GrayMatter]

21 hours ago, Swills417 said:

We had struggled with the core of our side and taking inspiration from this thread, our recruitment was Scandinavian themed. Morten Thorsby signing from Union Berlin and Sivert Mannsverk joining from Molde. These two signings complemented our tactical switch to a 4-2-3-1 Gegen-press with two ball winning midfielders and we have not looked back results or performance wise. 

These two have been really good squad players on my save, Thorsby is technically a bit off but I've managed to get his key playmaking attributes to a respectable Premier League level. The pair of them have really good personalities too which helps a lot for influencing the wider squad.

[Swills417]

Just a brief roundup from my previous post.

We were formidable in our run in and pushed up the table to eventually finish 8th. Narrowly missing out on european football next season. However, the pinnacle of the season was yet to come. We contested the FA Cup final with Brentford and won it the hard way! Conceding to two set pieces and being taken all the way to Penalties, with Marc Guehi stroking home the decisive kick! 

The trophy drought is over! Dust the shelves down in the cabinet! There will also be European football under the lights at Bramley-Moore Dock!

And look who will be performing under those lights and across the backwaters of  Europe! Setting us back about £29.5m (potentially rising to £60m if certain bonuses and installments are paid). He also was granted the vice-captaincy. Pickford initially kicked off about this, until he found out he was to be the future captain himself!

 

Super Jack!

Performance wise , DCL was the obvious standout with 24 goals in all competitions and miraculously only missing 4% of the season through injury! 

Another positive note is the amount of minutes we gave to our golden generation youth intake, with 3 of our academy players featuring in the top 10 in terms of minutes played  for players under 19. Across Europe, players like Gavi and Moukouko top this list. 

 

We have already ticked over into the next season, and will have  a shortened pre-season as the team is settled and we only need a few additions to build.

We have raided Atalanta who were relegated to Serie B for Demiral and their young Scandinavian striker who will remain in Italy on loan this season. We will also attempt to bring in Duval Zapata on a free to add depth to our striking line. 

The only cloud hanging over this season is Calvert-Lewin's contract situation. He has decided to consider his options and will not come to the negotiating table. I have made the decision to hang on to him and not sell. Gambling that if we have another successful season, he will commit to a new long term deal.

Edited May 12, 2023 by Swills417

[Swills417]

Another brief update on my save. 

We are currently into February 2025, we lost both Calvert Lewin and Maxi Gomez in January. DCL departed early January as he refused to open discussions into a new contract. He moved to Napoli, who are flush with Osimhem money for £37.5m. I snuck in a £60m buy back just in case the opportunity to bring him home came back. In typical Calvert Lewin fashion, he broke his leg in his 3rd game for them and will miss the rest of the season . All save I have had him wrapped in cotton wall and 2 weeks into Pizza, Culture and Calcio he is ruined. 

Furthermore, Maxi Gomez had picked up the goalscoring burden from DCL and was performing really well! Atletico Madrid signed him on in late January for his £29.5m release clause which left me scrambling for a replacement. On deadline day, while searching painstakingly for a replacement I stumbled upon Maxi Gomez in the Chelsea squad on loan with Nkuku transfer listed. I figured out that Atletico had signed for for the release clause and loaned him next day to Chelsea for a loan fee and future fee of £39m 

I was well and truly swindled. I attempted to convince Nkuku to join, but he had no interest. We go into the final few months of the season, two key strikers light with a a 33 Duval Zapata leading the line. 

Our 4-2-3-1 with two deep DMs had seemed to have stopped working as we went on a 8 game winless run in the league. We reinforced with the Gomez and DCL money with a loan for Gravenberch and structured deal for Arda Guler from Turkey. 

We are currently drifting around 8-9th in the league, struggling to put momentum together. Luckily we are still in the Europa League and FA Cup so we have 3 all three avenues into Europe still open for us!