[FM23] Prickling the top

[KlaaZ]

An almost end of season league update. With five games to go, for us at least since we have to catch one up (presumably PSG at home), it looks like European football is a given. The main question is whether we can secure the Champions League entry. We just come off a 5-0 pounding by Lazio and a 2-0 defeat by Rennes, so I'm a bit worried about morale crashing right before the finish line. The good new is that four out of the five games we still need to play are home games, the bad news is that we still have to play PSG, Lyon, Nice and Lens. On the bright side, beating Nice would probably mean we're safe. 

Either way, next up is Toulouse at home, a must win game at this point!

[KlaaZ]

First hurdle taken, four points clear of Nice with a game in hand.

[karanhsingh]

10 hours ago, KlaaZ said:

Should've kept my mouth shut, we're out after an absolute horror show where we were second best from the first minute until the last. Hugely disappointing. Nothing to say really, I made five substitutions after 40 minutes but even that didn't impact anything.

 

Ouch! But no shame in that, Lazio are a top team. 

[KlaaZ]

Controlled it from start to finish, but two stupid individual errors and a completely unncessary penalty foul threw three points in the bin. Really, really not happy with this, as it means we'll probably have to beat Nice in order to stay in third. 

[KlaaZ]

Did not see that coming.

[KlaaZ]

A home game against PSG is always one where you expect nothing and hope for a miracle. The plus side is that the circumstances were a bit in our favour. PSG just came off the back of the French Cup final only three days ago, a game which they somehow lost against Brest. Nontheless, they lined up with their strongest eleven, We on the other hand had a full eleven days of rest, very welcome as we had a lot of tired legs, and no injuries, with Mukiele returning from a six week sideline spell.

In an uneventful first half, nothing happened. Quite literally. I think we both had less than 0.2 xG at the break. This changed right at the start of the second period though, when a beautiful combination ended at the feet of Theo. His shot from a tight angle was parried by Donnarumma but luckily, Tissier was there to tap it into an empty net to put us ahead. Ten minutes later, Marquinhos fouled Vardanyan in the box, penalty! Theo took his responsibility and smashed it low into the left side netting. Perfectly placed, luckily, because Donnarumma chose the correct side and got chillingly close. This was the sign for the Parisians to storm forward, and only a minute later they pulled one back when young regen wonderboy Mamer, who joined them on a free from Melbourne during the summer (shame that I missed that one), got one on one with Valido and didn't miss. We fought for every inch of the pitch and were lucky on two occasions when that same Mamer put a clear cut chance past the far post. On the other end, we probably should have played the counter a little better to put the game beyond doubt but our nerves got the better of us. But we held on and recorded our first victory over le PSG. 

This also means that with two games to go, we've secured Champions League football next season, and a draw in our next game against Nice could guarantee that we finish third.

[KlaaZ]

Three days later, we play Nice, at home. We have some tired legs but I decide not to rotate too much. Kayembe replaces Matazo, and Santos takes the place on the right wing instead of Boussouf. Camara returns from suspension which means Abadia returns to the bench.

We start off well and have a few chances right off the bat but fail to find the target. Halfway through the first half, Kayembe picks up a niggle after a strong challenge which turns the game around. We are now on the backfoot, but two excellent saves from Valido keep us in the game until the break. It's a quiet second half from Tissier, but he scores in the 74th minute when Boussouf is sent into space on the right, cuts back and pulls it back to the edge of the area. A placed shot into the bottom right corner puts us ahead, undeservedly but who cares at this stage? Nice lose their cool and only three minutes later, substitution player Thorsteinsson is the one who moves into space on the left. From the edge of the area, he doesn't think twice but just smashes it with his weaker left foot into the near corner. 

Nice finally wake up and start pushing, with Laborde pulling one back only three minutes later. We get one more scare when a strike from distance hits the bar, but in the 90th minute Boussouf puts the icing on the cake, making it 3-1 on corner.

This means third place with one game to go, and a record high for Nancy! One more home game, against Lyon, will decide if we break our previous season's point total, which was 68. 

[KlaaZ]

2026-2027: Season recap

Going to keep this short as most of it has been told already in previous update and I have a very busy day at work. Here we go!

Ligue 1

We finish the season with a clean and deserved 2-0 victory. Jung comes off the bench in the final ten minutes of the game in what may very well be his last game for Nancy, scoring the second goal. Meant to be. 

This leaves us in third place on 70 points, a record high for the club. It's been a strange season in the Ligue 1, with Nantes going down, Brest narrowly escaping relegation but winning the Cup and thus going to Europe, and PSG only just edging the title one point ahead of Rennes. We're also not that far out, only seven points behind. A surprisingly good defensive season, second best backline, thanks to an excellent Valido. Surprising considering my central defenders are mediocre at best. 

Up front, Tissier scored 23 goals, coming in second best in the ranking after a ferocious Giovanni Simeone, who scored 34 (!) goals, almost  twice as much as his xG. 

French Cup

An ok run ends in the 11th round against Lille, with a narrow 2-1 loss.

Conference League

Finished top of the regular format, knocked out Fehérvar, then got knocked out by Lazio. They surprisingly lost against Rennes despite winning their home game 4-0, the French club going on to win the tournament.

I'll post more about squad, finances and facilities later.

[KlaaZ]

Finances and facilities

We ended the season with a healthy 18M in the bank, and looking stable for the foreseeable future. Apart from the Conference League money (about 10M prize and tv combined), we also raked in 20M in league tv money, a substantial 6M increase, possibly due to our league standing. Sponsorship also went up to little over 11M, which means we're now no longer one of the poorest clubs in the Ligue 1 in that regard. Part of the money is reinvested in the training facilities. We do still have the lowest wage bill in the league at 300k per week, or almost 13M on a yearly basis. PSG are on the other end of the table, spending 30 times as much. 

We also set up three new affiliate clubs during the season. We're in the process of building a network in Africa, and with that in mind we'll be working with ASEC Mimosas (Ivory Coast), Asante Kotoko (Ghana) and TP Mazembe (Congo) to see if we can get some young talent from those regions through the youth setup.

The squad

I'm very happy with the final result this season, especially since we're far from the better team in the Ligue 1. The biggest surprise was perhaps Rassoul Ndiaye, who was signed as a backup but played Kayembe out of the defensive midfield position when the latter made a few mistakes too many. 

On right back, there is a lot of interest for Cruz. I have no intention of letting him go (yet), but we have an academy prospect who has been doing well as a rotation player and who will be getting more game time. 

In midfield, Theo and Matazo have a very good partnership now, one as an infiltrating midfielder with excellent statistics, the other coming from deeper to be more of a provider. We will be in the market for opportunities to improve these positions though, if possible with future stars.

Up front, one can't ignore Tissier who had an excellent season and showed great improvement. But he's not the only one, as Boussouf also got markedly better and  Vardanyan is breaking into the first team on the left. With Apaza joining, we'll see if he may be better off being retrained to the right or as a central midfielder.

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

Spoiler

 

[KlaaZ]

On tactics

We started the season in a 4231, which was working surprisingly well thanks to an amazing goalscoring record from Tissier. However, we were playing quite erraticly and often edging game due to his quality rather than through team performance. This resulted in quite a few disappointing results, such as draws against low flying Valenciennes and Havre, and home losses against Monaco, Saint-Etienne and Lens. On top of that, Tissier's form started bouncing up and down and when he wasn't scoring, his match rating was often bad or even downright problematic. We also couldn't get Theo going in the ACM slot.

Luckily, I came across @13th Man's excellent journal where he broke down how he decided on his Austin setup and this got me thinking. I played inverted roles on both wings, but not only did that channel everything into the center of the pitch, it also took away space from both Theo and Tissier. This often resulted in long balls to the latter, who lost almost all of his headers, ceding possession and resulting in the bad ratings I talked about. 

So I started looking at my team's strengths and weaknesses. Obviously, our greatest quality lied up front with Tissier being a forward with very little weakness. Not only a great finisher but good passing, vision and dribbling. As we're rather shallow in the striker department, a single striker formation was obvious. In the 4231 he played as an AF but with his well rounded profile, I felt he would be better suited to both linking the play as a sole striker and getting in the box when possible to finish the moves. So we started with a CF(S) role. 

Next came the wings. As stated, we pretty much only have players who are naturals against their foot. So the inverted roles would stay. Vardanyan would be the exception, being left footed on the left flank, but he has a trait to cut inside so even he would benefit from this. In the end, we played either an IW(S), Thorsteinsson, or an AP(S), Vardanyan on the left. On the right, I wanted more penetration so I chose an IF(A). Boussouf was our main man, a skillful dribbler with lots of pace and flair. 

Because of the trident up front and the inverted roles, I dropped the AM and went for a trio with a DM in the middle. In the left CM slot, Theo turned into an excellent mezzala on attack, scoring 11 goals in the league and getting his first caps for Algeria for his good form. He was supported by a BBM, Matazo, who was a bit more conservative but still provided support both up front and at the back on the side of the IF(A). Behind them, Ndiaye would clean up as a BWM(D). 

Because we already had a few runners with the mezalla, the BBM and the IF(A), we kept it simple at the back with an FB(S) with dribble less on the left, and a slightly more adventurous WB(S) on the right which suited Cruz. In the center, Camara and Ehlers are both very comfortable on the ball, so I combined a CD(D) with a BPD(D). 

Finally, we needed to set some team instructions. I wanted to play slightly possession based, but keep the opportunity to break when we could. So we went with the selection from the screenshot, and never looked back, losing only two games in 2027.

[karanhsingh]

Congratulations on a great season, well done 

[KlaaZ]

15 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

Congratulations on a great season, well done 

Cheers! Here's to hoping we can build on this, but due to a limited transfer kitty it'll once again be a fight for every victory.

[KlaaZ]

On youth

It's time to take a look at what is brewing in our future talent factory. Let's go top to bottom, starting with the ones that are either already breaking into the first team or very close, and then go into the youth team to look at the highest potentials.

First team squad

The first player to mention has been talked about in this journal for quite some time. Vardanyan has been part of the Nancy youth squad since 2024 and is gradually getting more and more game time in the first team. A natural winger and attacking midfielder, he's an excellent playmaker option on the flank. He came from the academy with excellent mentals, highlighted in his flair, determination and decisionmaking.

He's since then worked hard to increase his physical ability and it's starting to show. At only 18 years of age, I'm sure there is still plenty to come. And I'm not the only one, as Liverpool alrady came sniffing twice.

Next to Vardanyan, Pierre-Louis Herrmann is the player closest to a first team spot. Only sixteen, Herrmann gradually took Henry's place as a backup for Cruz on the right back position. And due to his twofootedness, he can also cover on the left. With his professional attitude and high determination, he has all the necessary building blocks to become a very important member of the team.

Finally, there is Louis Mukiele. A player who has been showing promise despite his lack of determination. he did quite well at Niort last season in the Ligue 2 and was recalled halfway through the season to provide cover for Camara and Ehlers, with Abadia not living up to expectations. If we can find an extra central defender, he'll be going back out on loan but otherwise, I'll try to provide him regular gametime to not slow his development.

Almost there

Two players from the first youth intake are getting closer to a chance as a squad rotation player but will go at least one more season on loan. Anthony Besse is a speedy gonzalez with lots of flair but needs to improve technically to get a chance, while Exauce N'Ganga (what a first name!) is very well developed physically, but has the same weakness. The latter will probably join Nîmes and Besse could join recently relegated Nantes, both as first team regulars.

The high potentials

There's a lot of maybe's in the youth teams, but four players stand out in my opinion. Clement Arbogast is nineteen already but has been making steady progress and could  turn into a natural successor for Boussouf on the right wing. Originally a central player, I feel his skillset is more suited to the flank. 

Lyes Amara will hopefully be the defensive rock in midfield that I can't find on the transfer market (well, I can but I can't afford the one I found). Great bravery and aggression, and a very well rounded defensive set of attributes at sixteen already. May get his debut this season in the cup if the draw is kind.

Thirdly, I have high hopes for young striker Bonaventure Moahé. Twofooted, resilient and my personal favourite, high flair. I'm hoping he can go far because I'm assuming Tissier will be impossible to keep indefinitely.

Finally, last but not least, a young Eastern European kid from Gancani who somehow ended up in French youth football. Left footed, spirited and with high mental scores in all the right places, he's destined for greatness.

[karanhsingh]

That's some very solid development on the youth prospects. Your training schedules seen to be doing the business. 

[KlaaZ]

2 hours ago, karanhsingh said:

That's some very solid development on the youth prospects. Your training schedules seen to be doing the business. 

Thanks! I've reverted back to the FM22 schedules from BustTheNet, felt my own were yielding too erratic results.

Edited June 8, 2023 by KlaaZ

[KlaaZ]

Transfer news and preseason

Quite a bit of transfer news this time, although our budget is still modest. We'll start with the outgoings, as we need to make some room both financially in transfer and wage budget, and in the squad to make sure it doesn't get bloated. Nathan Kaninda, who came up with us through the divisions, was currently no more than a fringe player after the arrival of Boussouf. He wanted a new deal for unreasonable money (20k per week or something similar), so we let him go. He'll be representing Lorient in the Ligue 2, who buy him for 3.2M. Not the money we got offered last year, but he's in his final year of contract.

Youngster Anthony Mendy is also out, for 1.8M to recently relegated Nantes. His personality was causing issues, disputing fines and the like, so I'm happy to have shipped him off. Finally, Djamel Haddouche, another academy player, moves to Brest for 1.5M. 

Apart from fives other players leaving on a free, all youngsters, there are also loan deals for Besse (Nantes), Nganga (Nîmes), Vetter (QRM), Arbogast (Deportivo) and Mukiele (Auxerre). 

On the incoming side, we already talked about the deal of Rodrigo Apaza from Colo Colo, involving 4.6M. Apart from that, we bring in four more players. 

Adil Aouchiche comes over on a free from Lorient to act as a cover for Theo. No transfer fee and low wages make this one a good deal in my opinion. Tomas Araujo was signed from Auxerre for 1.7M, with Mukiele making the reverse move on loan. We pick up a solid defensive midfielder, Kaba, in Lens for 800k. If all goes to plan, he'll replace Ndiaye as a ball winning midfielder. And finally, we shop again at FCSM and pick up an 18-year old midfielder, who will spend the next season at his old club to get some game time. Hefty price tag at 4.5M but I'm hoping he'll be worth it in a year or two.

Preseason was solid, with a tour in the US to gain some publicity perhaps. Not entirely happy with the LA Galaxy result but apart from that some very strong showings, although it's always against minor opposition. 

We'll start the season tonight, away at Lille. Tricky start.

[KlaaZ]

Liverpool came back for Vardanyan again on deadline day, with an offer that could run up to 14M or something. I flat out refused, obviously, but he was unhappy. I managed to persuade him to stay until I sign a replacement in the next window but I have no intention of doing so. Either way, he's here until 2031, with an optional one year extension.

[KlaaZ]

Tissier made his debut for the French national team, scoring twice in a 5-1 thumping of Moldova. Monaco and Juve are sniffing right now, but deadline day has passed and no matter who wants him, they'll have to pay big money.

[KlaaZ]

Four games in August, with a tricky double at the start in Lille and against Saint-Etienne. The former ended in a 0-0 draw after a boring affair from both teams (which suits me just fine), the home win against ASSE was deserved. We then drove over Strasbourg and were 5-0 up against Angers after only half an hour. 

Very happy with Tissier's contributions, scoring and assisting two in four games. Boussouf has also been excellent, just like Theo. Apaza is ok so far, nothing exceptional but he's still adapting so that's fine. He's doing great in training though, so I'm pleased with that.

Not going to talk about the league standing until the winter break, as right now it doesn't really tell much.

[john1]

Wow, what an incredible season last season!

Decent start to the season, and some excellent youth prospects you have got

[KlaaZ]

16 minutes ago, john1 said:

Wow, what an incredible season last season!

Decent start to the season, and some excellent youth prospects you have got

Cheers mate!

[KlaaZ]

An almost perfect month of September was marred by a completely unnecessary home loss against Reims. We played a semi rotation squad because I had the idea that this would be enough to see them off but I was very wrong. 

Very confident showing in the CL as well, with two away wins in Brugge and Alkmaar. In the latter game we had a very difficult start because they play a strange 4-1-2-2-1 narrow formation but after going narrower ourselves and focusing on the flanks, we tore them apart. 

[KlaaZ]

Five games played and an unbeaten month of October. Although that does sound good on paper, three of those games were draws.

The thumping of rivals Metz in their own grounds was particularly pleasing, but I'm not happy with the 1-1 draw against Inter, who were down to ten men for over an hour. We had everything under control but the equalizer came from a silly marking error at the back and Valido missing the subsequent interception.

We were the better team in Lens but hit the post, twice. I'm ok with the draw though as this is usually a very difficult game for us for some reason. The win against Montpellier should have been bigger. On top of that, we conceded another goal after Araujo played a sloppy pass that was intercepted. Vardanyan came on as a striker and scored the winner, there might be some future for him as a rotation for Tissier as well as for Apaza on the left.

[KlaaZ]

Oh, and I'm not really looking forward to November.

[KlaaZ]

We really need to start finishing these games if we want to make any progress. We lost in Renners in a similar fashion, the better team and the better chances but just can't find the back of the net. Tissier is having a horrid time right now, having scored only once in the last eight games. 

[KlaaZ]

Well, this could have been better. Fun fact, we could defo have snatched a point in Madrid and we should just have won in Rennes and Paris based on the chances. But finishing is hard nowadays, except when you play the dead last team in the CL with a B team. 

This also means we have a very important December coming up, as Monaco and OL are fourth and fifth in the league right now. And we need a win against Kobenhavn to keep sight of a top eight spot in the CL. Oh, and we have another draw against Reims in our first cup game. Because why would we draw a lower league team?

[KlaaZ]

We're halfway through December and everyone can go on a well deserved winter break. Excellent timing too, as we have a lot of tired legs. We played four games this month and won them all, so I'm a very happy coach. The wins in the league against Monaco and Lyon were very well deserved too. We had a very hard time against Kobenhavn, not giving away any chances but also not creating anything until Theo popped up in the 87th to put our only real opportunity in the back of the net.

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

This results in two very good league standings. 36 points in the league halfway through the Ligue 1 is a new record for us and the results in the Champions League group phase have been quite satisfying as well. We have two more games there in January, in Münich and at home against Villareal. A win in either one will probably be enough to see us through directly to the round of 16. ASSE on top of the Ligue 1 is quite the surprise.

 

[KlaaZ]

Transfer rumours

I'm hoping to keep the squad together but there's a lot of interest now. Some of it doesn't worry me, like Valido who's scouted by Racing Genk and Reims, but there are others who may be harder to keep around. Boussouf has developed very well since his arrival on a free from ASSE and there has already been a 20M (rejected) offer from a club in Qatar. He wasn't happy because he could sense the big money opportunity but I've talked him out of that. Right now, Atletico Madrid and Benfica are sniffing. The Portuguese are also looking at Tissier, together with Juventus. Almeria wants Abadia, and there was some interest in Theo but that seems to have died down since he signed a new, improved deal keeping him around until the summer of 2032. 

On the loan front, Phanouvong (signed during the summer from FCSM and loaned back to them) has been recalled as he only got seven sub appearances. We reloaned him to Nantes, currently sitting in third in the Ligue 2. Mukiele is making great progress at Auxerre and will permanently join the first team once his loan spell is over. Besse is also getting very good ratings in the Ligue 2 and will be considered as a rotation option next year. We also have some good news if Vardanyan would be to leave in a big money move, as his successor, Olivier Fevre, is already coming through the youth ranks.

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

Spoiler

 

[KlaaZ]

Interesting.

[KlaaZ]

Escaped by a thread against a fourth division team reduced to ten men after 65 minutes..

[KlaaZ]

A very busy January, with some very mixed results. 

We almost paid the penalty against the semi pros from Marignane. To be fair, we played well but chance conversion is sometimes really hit and miss for us. Luckily, we kept our cool during the penalties. The loss against ASSE was deserved but could have gone very differently as we actually opened the score through Cruz but it was disallowed because of Tissier 'obstruction the goalkeeper view from an offside position'. A load of waddle if you ask me. But to be fair, we were very weak on both ends of the pitch.

The two other competition wins were quite solid, although it was more through efficiency than anything else as we had 1.36 and 1.24 xG respectively. Chance creation remains an issue and I may have to start reconsidering the position of Tissier as a CF(S) since he's not getting in scoring positions too often.

In our defense, we missed Apaza who was called up to the Bolivian U23's for the oly qualifiers. In Europe, we narrowly lost to Bayern through a penalty. The result against Villareal was disappointing but they play that very annoying 3-4-1-2 formation, which I'm still struggling against.

This unfortunately means that we dropped down the CL table and out of the round of 16 places on the final day, instead we'll have to contest the knockouts where we'll face a lot of big teams unless we get lucky and pick Galatasary.

[KlaaZ]

Juve it is, currently in fifth place in the Serie A.

[KlaaZ]

Well, he picked the right time to start again, with an 89th minute equalizer against Lyon in the semi final of the Cup.

[KlaaZ]

No. Go away.

[KlaaZ]

Not bad. Fevre is one of ours, currently on loan in Portugal and the successor of Vardanyan once he leaves. Hermann came in 13th.

[KlaaZ]

Six games to go and we're looking good for a repeat of last season. A very interesting fight at the top too, I might not be the first one to dislodge PSG. We have one hell of a final run though, with games against nothing but clubs that compete for Europe or more.

It's unlikely that we'll drop past fourth, but third place means direct qualification for the group phase of the CL.

Edited June 11, 2023 by KlaaZ

[KlaaZ]

On y va!

[KlaaZ]

No silverware yet. It's close, just like in the league, but it's very hard to score goals against the Parisians for some reason. 

[13th Man]

Good stuff here in France! That final hurdle of PSG is just so hard to overcome.

Your 4-3-3 looks really nice and I’m glad my save helped you work some things out in this one. Funnily enough, I’ve gone more towards a 4-2-3-1 right now, even with the inverted players on both flanks. The key though is creating the space in other ways as it can get congested in the middle of the pitch. Against top sides, though, like PSG, it might be worth considering?

 I like variations you added as well, CF(s) + MEZ(a). I imagine the MEZ combines well with the IW and the CF(s) is great in build up, creating space for the IF(a) and making late runs.

[KlaaZ]

9 minutes ago, 13th Man said:

Good stuff here in France! That final hurdle of PSG is just so hard to overcome.

Your 4-3-3 looks really nice and I’m glad my save helped you work some things out in this one. Funnily enough, I’ve gone more towards a 4-2-3-1 right now, even with the inverted players on both flanks. The key though is creating the space in other ways as it can get congested in the middle of the pitch. Against top sides, though, like PSG, it might be worth considering?

 I like variations you added as well, CF(s) + MEZ(a). I imagine the MEZ combines well with the IW and the CF(s) is great in build up, creating space for the IF(a) and making late runs.

Yeah, the only downside is that if the CF(S) is not really turning up, it will affect the entire performance as we're very dependent on him to progress the ball. Tissier has that problem sometimes, he's got great technique, passing, vision, off the ball and anticipation but with only 12 strength and limited jumping reach he regularly loses the physical battle against central defenders. In that case, I swap to an AF(A) and change the MEZ to an AP to try to set him up behind the defenders instead.

[KlaaZ]

2027-2028: Season recap

Ligue 1

Another third place, with one goal more scored and three less conceded. We're not ready to challenge for the title yet, as I feel we need more quality both at the back and in midfield. ASSE almost pulled off the impossible, leading the table until the third last day of the season when they lost in Marseille and PSG jumped over them. They had a chance to redeem themselves the next game at home against the Parisians but despite being the better team, only managed a 1-1 draw. Tough luck!

French Cup

An excellent French Cup run saw us reach the final, despite almost stumbling over a bunch of semi pros in the tenth round.

In the final, we narrowly lost against PSG in a game where we lacked just a little bit of luck.

Champions League

Our debut in the Champions League went well, finishing 14th in the league phase, one win short of direct qualifcation to the round of sixteen. We faced Juve in the knockouts but failed to capitalize on a very interesting 0-0 draw in Turin by losing to some very efficient Italians in the return.

Finances an facilities

We're currently sitting on a big pile of money, 52M to be exact. This gets translated into a 26M (!) transfer budget, now I just need to find the high potentials and covince them to move to Nancy. Our training facilities are now state of the art but I still don't have the option to request to do the same for the youth facilities. That said, I can have no complaints about the board as they set up another affiliation, this time with Paris FC. 

We're also getting the stadium (owned by the local council and rented to us for 150k p/a) expanded with about 9k seats, which will come in handy as we had a 100% attendance rating and have about 14k season ticket holders. I'm still hoping that the board will agree to build our own some day. On the plus side, as the expansion is financed through a grant, it will apparently cost us absolutely nothing.

 

[KlaaZ]

Transfer news

Well, it's official. Tissier came to me to say that he wants to play with better players and wants to win the CL. I told him he can go if a club meets his valuation and we agreed on a price of 123M. Let's see what happens!

No idea what Brighton and Frankfurt are doing in that list, the only ones who can realistically afford him are Barcelona, Chelsea, Juve (maybe) and PSG. But I don't want to sell to the latter if I can avoid it.

[KlaaZ]

Transfer news

Well, it's official, unless Chelsea (which is his preferred destination) comes with an offer, Tissier will go to PSG in an insane deal that I really can't refuse. 

121M up front, 10M in installments over three years, 20M after 10 caps (which is only a matter of time) and 20M after 30 league goals. And the icing on the cake, 20% on a future sale. On the entire amount. So if he ever moves to the Premier League for 100M+, we'll cash again.

[KlaaZ]

And now I'll go be sad for a little while.

[karanhsingh]

Good season and that's an absolutely insane fee for Tissier. Hate that he's going to the evil parisians though. Do you have an updated screenshot? Guessing he must be on a high CA by now

[KlaaZ]

21 minutes ago, karanhsingh said:

Good season and that's an absolutely insane fee for Tissier. Hate that he's going to the evil parisians though. Do you have an updated screenshot? Guessing he must be on a high CA by now

I'll do so tomorrow after work. He's not gone yet, probably stalling for Chelsea but I don't think they can match this.

It's unfortunate, but with that kind of money I can probably bring in three to four highly rated youngsters, up my wage bill and still end up with a load of extra cash.

I'm very tempted to get something like Genie Scout to look under the hood now. I think he's almost maxxed out, my ballpark guess would be somewhere between 160 and 180.

[Hootieleece]

3 hours ago, KlaaZ said:

And now I'll go be sad for a little while.

It is always hard when you watch young talents leave after they have grown under your tutelage.

[KlaaZ]

@karanhsingh

[john1]

Absolutely huge money to get for Tissier! Will be hard to replace him!

[KlaaZ]

11 hours ago, Hootieleece said:

It is always hard when you watch young talents leave after they have grown under your tutelage.

Especially when you need to topple one of the biggest clubs in the world!

21 minutes ago, john1 said:

Absolutely huge money to get for Tissier! Will be hard to replace him!

I know! We've already found a replacement, a young Italian kid who was available for his relegation clause at Cagliari. He's not quite the same level yet and has some different qualities (more of a target man/DLF, not as much of a finisher) but it's a good start. Will talk more about him and other signing when I get home from work.