FM24 - Athletic Club (Bilbao) - Loyalty and Long Term Saves!

[KristianT]

Maybe we can make a player exchange - Luaces to you and Lasarte to me?

Eneko Blasco is not able to produce as many goals as last year (although he is providing more assists), so I still haven't found THAT striker. Although Iñaki Simon is absolutely nuts - 32 games, 19 goals, 18 assists and 7.61 avg.rating so far! Hmm.. maybe I shouldn't complain. Per March 3 I have five players with 11 goals or more.

[Batkan]

Season 26/27 

Champions!

What a amazing season, we were killing it. Played so good but end season was so dramatic. Last 2 months was hell.  One week had 3 games!! All others 2.

Last 2 months we were Cupa del Rey finalists vs Valencia who never defeated us in 4 season, CL semifinals with Arsenal who we destroyed in league phase earlier, and first in league with no more matches with Real or Barca and we were in great form. Needless to say i was very excited and hoping for at least 2 trophies! But it started like throw.  Lost first place in league with shocking defeat vs Alaves despite xG 3,5- 0,5 in our favor.  Then loose in cup finale, i screwed here team meeting with overpressure  players, and then destroyed by Arsenal 4-0 and lucky it was not even more. 

But we show determination and killed league until the end. Last match was title decider, Valencia who won cup vs us almost destroyed our dreams but we beat them. Last 10 min so dramatic they were attacking all the time and had 4 corners in a row in 92 min etc but we managed to win and with that win the league!

[KristianT]

Congrats on the league title!

[KristianT]

Season 34/35

La Liga - winners again. 6th in 7 years now. Sealed it in the penultimate match, ended up 2p ahead of Real, and only 6p ahead of Barcelona who are coming back

Copa del Rey - winners v Barcelona

Supercopa - semifinal v Barcelona

Champions League - another semifinal exit, this time vs Arsenal. On xG we should gone to the final, but a bad away game cost us. I sold a LB in January and suspensions and injuries hit hard towards the end of the season and that might have contributed to the loss. Will look to buy back 2-3 defenders that have improved away from Bilbao.

Player of the year is once again Inaki Simon. I mentioned him in the last post, and this season he did even better. 28 goals and 26 assists in 53 games. No one scored or assisted more than him. Last three seasons: 108 games, 77 goals and 67 assists. That is 1,3 goal or assist per game over three years.

Sancet overtook Unai Simon for the record appearances. He now has 501 and won't retire for at least one more year. Not as dominant, but still good enough and a good leader.

 

[Batkan]

Congrats! You doing great! 

I have major problem suddenly with salary cap rules! Dunno if this is bug or what? Main team is doing fine and i never had issues with limit, but suddenly B team have 3,5 million per year salary cap! Dunno how is it possible since last year no rules existed!? They finished mid table last season. Majority of players have 300-400k per year salary and few have million.,, I can literaly register only 20-30% team. How on earth this happened i dont know. Last year no rules and i could register anyone and no problems. Also Basconia promoted last year from 4 division to third and they have no rules whatsoever same like last year and B team last year. 

Dunno what to do. Need to loan out or sell  or demote to Basconia majority of B team players and only u18 can play since they dont have to be registred.

Edited June 30 by Batkan

[Batkan]

Disaster

[bowieinspace]

There's a salary cap for the B team - certainly in the 2nd tier, it won't have come in suddenly in 2027 I don't think. I get around this by:

1) Using under 19 players who don't need registration

2) Not renewing contracts for B team players who won't ever make the first team - they default to month to month deals (I've had players stay until their late twenties on youth deals also haha) and it reduces their impact on the cap, as wages in the B team go crazy after a few seasons

[KristianT]

Experienced the same thing and solved it like bowie describes. A third solution is to not do the registration yourself. On deadline days I just register for the first team and then don't do it for B and C team. You get past that by pressing "continue".

[Batkan]

Ye but it sounds like a bug. So i decided remove from loan list and register best non first team players in Basconia, younger then 19 ofc , since Basconia dont have rules, at least for now. Seems weird. Most of them unhappy now because of move.

Keeping up B team in second tier with only u19 players will be tough this season. Maybe B team relegate and Basconia promote to second league haha

Dont understand why rules didnt exist last season but do now.

For main team i signed Laporte! He is still very good. He realised his mistake by not signing for us last season but for PSG suckers. He still looks fantastic. Best DC in team by far, especially since Yeray started deteriorate but i am getting really worried for DC future.

This is are best and only decent DC in youth teams. He even weirdly started as DL but i training him as DC. Dont have much potential according to staff (all scouts and analysts have 20 judging player potential) but should improve to decent player.

Not much luck finding decent DC newgens in other teams too.  Hopefully more luck this year with newgens. Maybe i should hire new Head of Youth who prefer tactics with 3 DC, that could increase likehood of DC spawning i think. Also Guerrero looks better and better. I will give him more playtime this season

Edited July 1 by Batkan

[KristianT]

This last season I actually had mainly 18-19 yos in the B team and they went and won La Liga 2. Earlier years with some 20+ yo players I kept just to have some players there that doesn't change every year, but then they have always ended up around 4th-8th. Now they won with what should be a weaker and more inexperienced squad.

[bowieinspace]

On 01/07/2024 at 21:42, KristianT said:

This last season I actually had mainly 18-19 yos in the B team and they went and won La Liga 2. Earlier years with some 20+ yo players I kept just to have some players there that doesn't change every year, but then they have always ended up around 4th-8th. Now they won with what should be a weaker and more inexperienced squad.

Yeah I've generally found my B team becomes a consistent top 6 team with mostly 18-19 year olds after a few years in the division, and the wage cap does gradually increase to provide a bit more room for manouver. 

[KristianT]

Do you play now, @bowieinspace, or have you finished for FM24?

[bowieinspace]

On 03/07/2024 at 21:31, KristianT said:

Do you play now, @bowieinspace, or have you finished for FM24?

I've not played for a while. I put a lot of time into the save when I was off work and then when I went back to work and my rhythm changed I lost the motivation to play. To be fair I'd gone very deep in the save so not a big surprise I ran out of steam. I had the new stadium approved so wanted to play through to a resolution for that, but it felt a bit too far away. Still a few months before FM25 so I might get back into it still  

[KristianT]

So the stadium is being built? Which year? I ask my board all the time, because the average attendance is about 97%, 200 000 on waiting list for season tickets, and we have loads of money, but they always reject claiming they don't want to risk there being empty seats.

[bowieinspace]

10 hours ago, KristianT said:

So the stadium is being built? Which year? I ask my board all the time, because the average attendance is about 97%, 200 000 on waiting list for season tickets, and we have loads of money, but they always reject claiming they don't want to risk there being empty seats.

Yeah it took a LONG time. It's still in the planning process I think from memory, but I am due an update at the end of the current season - from getting it approved there was going to be a 2 year planning period. It must've been around 2040 it got approved? I was in the same boat... huge bank balance, attendances etc but board never wanted to go ahead with it no matter how I went about asking. Eventually I thought I'd gamble and leak it to the press when they rejected it again, and it worked (to my surprise)... fully expected to get fired.

[KristianT]

Will try leaking it, but will save first. Not worth losing the save for. Also looking forward to the update. You must've made at least a partial turnover with all the important players leaving in a short time.

[bowieinspace]

2 hours ago, KristianT said:

Will try leaking it, but will save first. Not worth losing the save for. Also looking forward to the update. You must've made at least a partial turnover with all the important players leaving in a short time.

Yeah I played a bit beyond my last update certainly and have gone through some squad turnover etc. I might hop back on and do an update here for anyone interested.

Yeah I was happy to accept getting fired at that stage as I knew I was reaching the end of the save anyway, but I did back up the save just in case because I knew I might regret it later.

Edited July 9 by bowieinspace

[KristianT]

Just got this guy through the intake. Must be one of my absolute best newgens in my entire CM/FM career. Straight into the team for a CL quarter final vs PSG due to injuries and as you can see he scored.

[bowieinspace]

4 hours ago, KristianT said:

Just got this guy through the intake. Must be one of my absolute best newgens in my entire CM/FM career. Straight into the team for a CL quarter final vs PSG due to injuries and as you can see he scored.

 

Wow what a wonderful prospect! Hopefully you get to see him develop to full potential I'd love to see how he turns out.

[KristianT]

Will look to develop him, but it is really hard for new players to break into the first team, especially in the attacking positions. I have the Fantastic four (Inaki Simon on the right, Mikel Dominguez on the left, Aritz Badiola AMC and Eneko Blasco as striker) who have started the 36/37 with absolute fireworks. We have scored 22 league goals in the first four rounds. But he is still 15 and will get his chances this season.

If people are interested I can post an update with the current squad. Atm the main part of the 15-16 most important outfield players are all about 25-27 years old. Kind of looking forward to when I have to replace all of them more or less at the same time, that will require planning and will be challenging, but that is perhaps the most entertaining and intruiging with this game as well. For now I just have to enjoy them. One of them is approaching 500 games played and he is still only 26.

As for original players, Sancet is still with us. He is a rotation option at DM, but played 40-45 games last season. He is 36, will turn 37, and will get the contract extended one more year due to an appearance clause. Physically of course not the same player, but in no way a liability. Maybe it will be time to call it a day after next season, at 38.

Also Aimar Vicandi is still hanging around at 31. Was on the brink of leaving this summer, but in the end both me and him wanted him to stay. Last season he played part in 51 games, but only 7 from the first minute. Valuable squad player.

The last non-newgen is backup gk Iker Alvarez. He is 35 now and has been 2nd choice gk for 10 years. Had his testimonial this summer. Don't have the game at hand now, but I think he has played maybe 20 games for me in ten years. Never complaining and actually keeping several clean sheets when called upon. I find the backup gk one of the most difficult roles to fill, as many will complain about playing time, but he hasn't and because of that I love him.

Edit: I checked and Iker Alvarez has played exactly 20 games for me in 10 years. In his career he has played 121 league games everything included and he has 122 caps for Andorra

Edited July 14 by KristianT

[DavutOzkan]

I finally won the league for the first time in my Athletic save. It took until the 2034/35 season. It could have happened in the 32/33 season where we top on the final day of the season by a point only to lose to Osasuna,  but at least we avenged it this year. It was pretty poetic for it to happen in captain Dani Vivian's final season as well. 

Real Madrid have been extremely dominant, as they won ten La Liga titles in a row prior to us winning it this season. They finally had a slip up of a season and we clinched it with three games to go. 

My entire first XI save for one player are all Lezama grads as well, which I love to see. It hasn't been purely Lezama-only in this save, but we have just so many great players come through that it hasn't really been all that necessary to sign outside players. My transfer budget is over 200 million at this point. I decided to splurge 100 million on a CB at one point just because I had the money to burn. 

I'd love to show some of the players that I have now, but I really don't have the patience or desire to screenshot them all and upload them here, but we have three world-class attackers including a French-Basque winger that came through in the first or second intake who is one of the best players in the world, although he has curiously yet to get a cap for France at age 24. 

With Vivian retiring, I'm left with only Sancet and GK Julien as the only first-teamers from the start of the save. Although Huestamendia and Eneke Ellakuria are still here as well as backups.

I am definitely not going to stop this save now that we've won the league though. This has been the most enjoyable game I've ever played of FM, and now it is when it really gets good, I think, so I want to at least see it out for a bit longer. I am also planning on going to Bilbao later this year just because playing this save has really deepened my love for this club and I want to see their lovely city and surrounding areas as well. 

Aupa Athletic!  

Edited July 18 by DavutOzkan

[KristianT]

Congrats! You have been really patient! Also interesting that Huestamendia and especially Ellakuria have been so good for you. I never really even considered giving them a chance.

I am approaching the end of the 36/37 season now and will go on to win my 7th title in 8 seasons. Last year I won with a great margin, but I think it will be even greater this year. I will probably win it with 3-4 games to spare. Normally Barca or Real are much closer and many titles have been decided at the last or penultimate jornada. Really enjoying this. Apart from one player all have come from Lezama. Sancet will retire now, at 37, and that leaves only Aimar Vicandi.

Update:
Sancet retires at 37. He has played 722 games for me, scoring 261 goals and 123 assists. He has signed a contract that will make him coach for U19s next season. Absolute hero for us for so many seasons. He stops at 570 league games with 192 goals.

Meanwhile, my super wonderkid from the youth intake (see post above) played as a rotational option all season and played 40 games, 11 goals and 12 assists. We won the CL final 1-0 vs Dortmund and it was him who scored the goal - at 16 years old.

Also new records for number of goals in one season from Eneko Blasco with 41 and a new avg.rating record of 7.65 for Aritz Badiola.

Loving this save!

Edited July 18 by KristianT

[amathews3416]

Anybody else get Bilbao withdrawals when you start another save?  Started a save with Roma after long term Bilbao save and find myself more interested in peaking at Bilbao than my Roma team.  I have my eye out for Basque talents (Sociedad has a world class potential CB in first intake).  
 

I must say, the computer absolutely butchers the squad.  Already sold Vivian and Simon after first year.  Made me think it might be good exercise to try and get Bilbao job 10-15 years into save after being mismanaged for a long time and best players sold off.  Might make it a bit more challenging.

[DavutOzkan]

2 hours ago, amathews3416 said:

Anybody else get Bilbao withdrawals when you start another save?  Started a save with Roma after long term Bilbao save and find myself more interested in peaking at Bilbao than my Roma team.  I have my eye out for Basque talents (Sociedad has a world class potential CB in first intake).  
 

I must say, the computer absolutely butchers the squad.  Already sold Vivian and Simon after first year.  Made me think it might be good exercise to try and get Bilbao job 10-15 years into save after being mismanaged for a long time and best players sold off.  Might make it a bit more challenging.

Yeah, it's always hard to see the AI do so poorly with them when you are not managing them. 

[KristianT]

5 hours ago, amathews3416 said:

Anybody else get Bilbao withdrawals when you start another save?  Started a save with Roma after long term Bilbao save and find myself more interested in peaking at Bilbao than my Roma team.  I have my eye out for Basque talents (Sociedad has a world class potential CB in first intake).  
 

I must say, the computer absolutely butchers the squad.  Already sold Vivian and Simon after first year.  Made me think it might be good exercise to try and get Bilbao job 10-15 years into save after being mismanaged for a long time and best players sold off.  Might make it a bit more challenging.

I have done that on a couple of occasions and it is a nice challenge.

[jcpclr]

Any tips on how to improve the chances of good quality regens spawing at Lezama? There are some interesting guides on how to maximize the quality of your youth intakes, was wondering if someone had success in applying those to Athletic

[KristianT]

I have just maximised the youth facilities, youth coaches etc, gotten good coaches for the U19 team and then trying to ensure they get playing time at a level suited to their current quality.

[bowieinspace]

On 23/07/2024 at 21:23, jcpclr said:

Any tips on how to improve the chances of good quality regens spawing at Lezama? There are some interesting guides on how to maximize the quality of your youth intakes, was wondering if someone had success in applying those to Athletic

Yeah all you can do is max out everything facilities/coaching wise, and then make sure your HOD development is really good with a strong personality. It just gives you more tickets to the raffle, but it's still down to chance.

[jcpclr]

Just finished my first season with a highly unexpected league title. Wanted to use a tactic that could mask the squad's weaknesses as well as some of the chronic issues with Basque players spawning. Ended up striking a chord with a 5-2-2-1 with a high line. My rationale was:

- Short centrebacks but with good pace and able to play from the back and with a high line. Additionally there are other more defensive minded DMs that can be converted to right and left centrebacks in this backline;
- ⁠Lack of talent in fullback position, saw what bowieinspace did with Nico Williams and he actually has pretty good stats for an attacking wingback so I deployed him as a quasi-winger utilising his pace, workrate and 1x1. I wanted someone to do a similar job on the left and bought alvaro djalo who had a great season
- No real solid 9 so I could not play an advanced forward like practically every tactic I used in this year's game. Iñaki Williams can play there but after the first games where he was completely absent I decided to shift gears. I looked at Sancet's attribute spread closely and concluded he had the ability to play the DLF role and hold up the ball up for the 2 shadow strikers behind. Iñaki making deep runs from SS has been a true game changer and Aimar Vinacandi rotated with Iker Muniain for the other SS spot during the season

 

I want to do a more detailed post with transfers, individual stats, league table, tactics, etc... I am new to the forum so still don't know how to post screenshots, can anyone help?

I have been playing this game since CM 2005 and this is by far the most unexpected season I had and one of the best saves in terms of getting me pumped to play and thinking about it constantly. The basque limitations avoid the usual move of buying wonderkids and then regen farming which makes the game too repetitive

[bowieinspace]

On 26/07/2024 at 20:07, jcpclr said:

Just finished my first season with a highly unexpected league title. Wanted to use a tactic that could mask the squad's weaknesses as well as some of the chronic issues with Basque players spawning. Ended up striking a chord with a 5-2-2-1 with a high line. My rationale was:

- Short centrebacks but with good pace and able to play from the back and with a high line. Additionally there are other more defensive minded DMs that can be converted to right and left centrebacks in this backline;
- ⁠Lack of talent in fullback position, saw what bowieinspace did with Nico Williams and he actually has pretty good stats for an attacking wingback so I deployed him as a quasi-winger utilising his pace, workrate and 1x1. I wanted someone to do a similar job on the left and bought alvaro djalo who had a great season
- No real solid 9 so I could not play an advanced forward like practically every tactic I used in this year's game. Iñaki Williams can play there but after the first games where he was completely absent I decided to shift gears. I looked at Sancet's attribute spread closely and concluded he had the ability to play the DLF role and hold up the ball up for the 2 shadow strikers behind. Iñaki making deep runs from SS has been a true game changer and Aimar Vinacandi rotated with Iker Muniain for the other SS spot during the season

 

I want to do a more detailed post with transfers, individual stats, league table, tactics, etc... I am new to the forum so still don't know how to post screenshots, can anyone help?

I have been playing this game since CM 2005 and this is by far the most unexpected season I had and one of the best saves in terms of getting me pumped to play and thinking about it constantly. The basque limitations avoid the usual move of buying wonderkids and then regen farming which makes the game too repetitive

Hey mate, welcome - super cool success story for your first season there!

For screenshots what I do is upload them to imgur (other image hosting sites are probably good options too), and then use the 'other media' button on the bottom right of the post, select insert from URL and then off you go. The URL from imgur is a bit fiddly, you need to find the link that has the extra i in it, e.g. http://i.imgur.com, otherwise it doesn't pull through properly. Someone might have another option which works better though.

Yeah Nico is a pretty capable attacking wingback... i reckon he'll get a fairly decent attribute shift for next year to accommodate his development, so the wing back option might not be feasible next year   Also who knows if he'll still be at Athletic... I hope so

[DavutOzkan]

Went back-to-back with La Liga titles in my game. Oihan Sancet retires afterwards as well which is a pretty good way to go out.

I am probably at that point now where we will start to snowball. Made the semis of the CL a couple of times, and it is probably only a matter of time before we win it. That's always the point where these FM saves get a little stale, but there are still so many regens I want to see make it to the first team and see how their careers go. A benefit to playing as Athletic, I suppose, is that you get really attached to your academy players. 

[SK]

Do people usually try buy the stadium? I’m on FM23 but thinking about it.

How much does it usually cost and what are the main financial benefits ie does it take long to make it worthwhile?

[bowieinspace]

On 10/08/2024 at 18:29, SK said:

Do people usually try buy the stadium? I’m on FM23 but thinking about it.

How much does it usually cost and what are the main financial benefits ie does it take long to make it worthwhile?

I've done it a handful of times when I've had tonnes of spare cash, honestly it's not a big deal. It's the kind of thing that's worth doing if you're wondering what to do with a big bank balance

[SK]

6 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

I've done it a handful of times when I've had tonnes of spare cash, honestly it's not a big deal. It's the kind of thing that's worth doing if you're wondering what to do with a big bank balance

Ah yeah nice that makes sense. Do you remember what it usually cost you to do? I’ve got about 200 mil in the bank and the board keep giving me bugger all to spend which is annoying 

[bowieinspace]

On 14/08/2024 at 15:19, SK said:

Ah yeah nice that makes sense. Do you remember what it usually cost you to do? I’ve got about 200 mil in the bank and the board keep giving me bugger all to spend which is annoying 

Yeah they can be a bit stingy

Sorry I don't remember the cost!

[Darius1998]

On 07/04/2024 at 16:22, Darius1998 said:

2027-28: Season Review

La Liga: 3rd, 84 points (no position change, +6 points
Copa del Rey: Quarter-finalists, lost to Barcelona
Champions League: Quarter-finalists, lost to Porto
Supercopa: Semi-finalists, lost to Atletico

Very good season overall as we blitzed a few goal records along the way, notching up 104 in the league itself. Barcelona ran away with it and it was a battle for 2nd between us and the two Madrid clubs. Real Madrid edged us out towards the end but it was still incredibly fun nevertheless. At home, we were imperious, even beating Barcelona and Real Madrid and rallying from 2 down to draw against Atletico. 65 of those 104 goals came at home, giving us 16 wins and 3 draws.

A bad injury crisis from December to February saw us lose 4 of our 6 defenders at one point, needing to promote Diego Martin from the U19s to fill in at RB as I didn't want to recall those out on loan. He did well and then got injured himself as we got dumped out of the cup by Barca while we lost the Supercup semi 4-3 to Mourinho's tycoon-owned Atletico.

The CL campaign was wild. We have often had luck going against us in Europe but none of that happened in the League Phase as we finished inside the top 8, even beating Man City 2-1 despite conceding over 4 xG to them at the Etihad. A 2-2 draw at Lille was followed by nearly getting knocked out in the 2nd leg, only for Josu Romero to make it 2-2 on the night in stoppage time before Adu Ares scored the winner in ET. Porto were the best draw possible but we fluffed it, going down 2-0 and then immediately conceding an equaliser after going in front at home.

 

Transfers

Just one transfer in - An 18 year old LB Pedro Agirre joined from Real Sociedad for €7.5m, which may some day rise by another 1m. He spent the season on loan at 3rd tier Cordoba. No major outgoings either after Inaki Williams and Berenguer left. A bunch of players went out on loan and some of them look good enough to get first team games next season.

 

Youth Candidates

Decent intake with two standout prospects.

Jon Garrido (MC/R, AMC):

  Reveal hidden contents

Talented two-way midfielder.

Inigo Rodriguez (AML/R):

  Reveal hidden contents

Another wide player. We have loads of them but with a small talent pool, I'm hardly going to be annoyed about that.

 

Squad

GK: Agirrezabala, Ayesa, Hugo Palacios*, Francisco Hernandez*
RB: Areso, Inigo Albisu*, Diego Martin*
CB: Yeray, Unai Nunez, Paredes, Josu Romero*, Jon Martin, Sergio Aguirre*
LB: Munoz, Imanol, Pedro Agirre*
DM: Moncayola, Guillamon
CM: Sancet, Unai Gomez, Vencedor, Julen Jon Guerrero, Asier Alberdi*, Alex Rubio*
RW: Nico Williams, Nico Serrano, Javier Gabilondo*
LW: Adu Ares, Victor Villanueva*, Asier Albisu*
ST: Guruzeta, Villalibre

* - Newgen

Yeray's contract is up and I will be letting him go. Sergio Aguirre will return from his loan spell at Las Palmas to take his place. Inigo Albisu had a good spell at West Brom, even though they finished 23rd in the Championship and can compete with Areso on the right. Guerrero spent a season at 2nd tier Numancia will take Gomez's place in midfield while Villanueva is ready to play more regularly. The other newgens all spent a season out on loan and will hopefully do so again next season.

Also here are the newgens who are good enough to be squad players/regular starters now:

  Reveal hidden contents

 

 

 

 

Slightly off-topic but it was great to see Athletic win the Copa del Rey IRL yesterday. The 40 year wait is finally over!

Been a while since I last played this save but I got back into it somewhat over the past week or so.

2028-29: Season Review

La Liga: 3rd, 76 points (no position change, -8 points)
Copa del Rey: Winners!
Champions League: Quarter-finalists, lost to Inter
Supercopa: Semi-finalists, lost to Barcelona

Decent season in the league, in spite of our points tally reducing due to fixture congestion. Barcelona lost 5 of their first 13 in the league and then just never lost again. We spent most of the season in a battle for 3rd with Atletico and Valencia while Real Madrid were also with us for the first half of the season before pulling away. The big story though came in the cup.

After winning at Tudelano and Recreativo, we were drawn at home to Barca in the quarters and beat them in the 7th minute of stoppage time, Rayo were up next and after an away draw, we eased past them at home before thumping Real Madrid 3-0 in the final.

The Champions League was a rollercoaster. After ending up 21st with 11 points in the league stage (although we did beat RM 4-1), we played Man Utd  who beat us 3-0 in the league stage and thrashed them 6-0 at home, losing 1-0 away to go through. Milan had beaten us 2-1 as well in the league stage but we won 2-0 at home and drew 2-2 away to set up a tie against Inter. Unfortunately, they were really efficient and beat us 4-1 at their place and a 2-1 win at home wasn't enough for us.

Transfers

No one in. A bunch of people left on loan.

Youth Intake

A great intake gave us 4 elite talents.

Mikel Bengoetxea (GK):

Spoiler

We already have 2 excellent GK prospects but this guy might be even better.

Martin Quintanilla (DM/MC):

Spoiler

A controlling defensive midfielder.

Asier Gurrtuxaga (DC/MC):

Spoiler

Good player in a position where we do need some future reinforcements.

Alberto Guerrero (AML/DL/ST):

Spoiler

Yet another wide player, we have like 5 or 6 very talented ones at this point.

Squad

GK: Agirrezabala, Ayesa, Hugo Palacios*, Francisco Hernandez*
RB: Areso, Inigo Albisu*, Diego Martin*
CB: Unai Nunez, Paredes, Josu Romero*, Jon Martin, Sergio Aguirre*
LB: Munoz, Imanol, Pedro Agirre*
DM: Moncayola, Guillamon
CM: Sancet, Unai Gomez, Vencedor, Julen Jon Guerrero, Asier Alberdi*, Alex Rubio*
RW: Nico Williams, Nico Serrano, Javier Gabilondo*, Fran*
LW: Adu Ares, Victor Villanueva*, Asier Albisu*
ST: Guruzeta, Villalibre, Inaki Rubio*

* - Newgen

The squad is in good shape and we now have some of the youngsters taking over too. Albisu is now first choice at RB while Aguirre and Romero are the first choice CB partnership. Unai Nunez and Gorka Guruzeta will be leaving this summer as they want new challenges.

Two guys made the NXGN 50 list! Albisu, Aguirre and Javier Gabilondo miss out as they are already 20. Fran is already valued at €63-76m at 17.

One thing that was grating was players getting annoyed for no reason. Aguirre wanted to be promised a CB spot with a central defender role when he signed his deal, played there in that very role but is now angry about not playing in his preferred role. Fran was playing for the B team and in one game, ended up playing in goal because the keeper got injured, so now he's annoyed about being played in a weak position. 

Edited August 17 by Darius1998

[bowieinspace]

Yeah @Darius1998 player interactions/promises are really farcical this year sadly. Hopefully improved for the release later this year

[Ryilson10]

Absolutely have loved reading all the updates on Athletic Club, and coinciding with reading the new book by Christopher Evans about Los Leones decided to start up FM for a long term Athletic save.

Usually do an Athletic save on FM but its been a few years so thought I'd give it a go with an updated database that represents the current date - so Muniain and Raul Garcia not there which is a big issue for the front line.

Didn't expect too much for the season as the squad depth is really poor, and the key players (in real life) are really not that great in the game, which has been noted loads of times on here. So decided to try a low intensity control possession 433 tactic for the first half of the season and was quite the disaster at the start - kicked out of the Europa League by Sparta Prague, Porto & Feyenoord and into the Conference League, lost in the 4th round of the Copa del Rey on penalties by rivals La Real!!!

After the European disaster changed to a more aggressive gegenpressing, high press, fast & short possession game which worked wonders as went from as low as 13th in the League (with a couple of 'must win or sacked' media reports to 4/5th with half the season in front of me. Ended up finishing 4th in the league but lost in the final of the Conference league to Hoffenheim after losing my front three of Inaki, Nico & Guruzeta for the last 5 games of the season, which I only won once, versus whipping boys Leganes. Disaster.

However, end of season has resulted in Nico wanting to leave for a bigger club and Sancet already having left to PSG for 88m inc add ons. Have brought in Julen Jon Guerrero to replace Sancet and Imanol to replace both Yuri & De Marcos at left back after leaving on Bosman transfers. Gave several debuts to 15 and 16 year olds this season and have an amazing array of 4.5-5* teens - 13 so far, which is incredible. These players are the ones keeping me positive for the future.

I did download the player search filters from @bowieinspace which are game-changing, instead of my usual 'scout everyone who is Basque'.

Would be interested to know if anyone has had the World Player of the Year, or Next Gen winner come through Lezama?? Got to be one of the long-term aims. 

[SK]

On 16/08/2024 at 08:48, bowieinspace said:

Yeah they can be a bit stingy

Sorry I don't remember the cost!

All good thanks mate. Yeah it’s very frustrating, not that there’s heaps to buy but would rather have it than not 😂

[dothestrand]

I've paused my save, and may not really play much until FM25.

Thanks to the Summer transfer window, I'm hoping it will be a better experience managing Athletic Club, at least at the start. Djalo, Gorosabel and Unai Nunez returning (on loan) should give some greater depth to the first team and make up for Raul Garcia, Dani Garcia and Muniain leaving. Villalibre, Imanol, Morcillo and Artola have also left, but none really remained beyond the first couple of seasons. Johaneko Louis-Jean signed as part of Bordeaux's winding up and was a handy RB/LB option. 

Paredes and Prados should definitely get huge bumps as they are established first teamers now. Padilla, Boiro, Unai Gomez and Jauregizar ought to be much stronger now as all have played in the first team. I still think Guruzeta has been underrated. If these guys have improved, then they'll more than make up for the players who've left. I always feel whoever leads on Spain for FM has little confidence in the current Lezama crop.

In terms of the broader Basque pool, Javi Lopez won't be a LB option now he's gone to Real Sociedad. Julen Jon Guerrero is now in Alaves' B side, so may be available after a season. Marvin De Lima was a Bordeaux midfielder who may be without a club, and if he had the same potential as before, could be useful. Hopefully, Ivan Martin gets a big bump now Girona have qualified for the CL, though it might take a lot to entice him to Bilbao. 

[bowieinspace]

On 31/08/2024 at 19:53, dothestrand said:

I've paused my save, and may not really play much until FM25.

Thanks to the Summer transfer window, I'm hoping it will be a better experience managing Athletic Club, at least at the start. Djalo, Gorosabel and Unai Nunez returning (on loan) should give some greater depth to the first team and make up for Raul Garcia, Dani Garcia and Muniain leaving. Villalibre, Imanol, Morcillo and Artola have also left, but none really remained beyond the first couple of seasons. Johaneko Louis-Jean signed as part of Bordeaux's winding up and was a handy RB/LB option. 

Paredes and Prados should definitely get huge bumps as they are established first teamers now. Padilla, Boiro, Unai Gomez and Jauregizar ought to be much stronger now as all have played in the first team. I still think Guruzeta has been underrated. If these guys have improved, then they'll more than make up for the players who've left. I always feel whoever leads on Spain for FM has little confidence in the current Lezama crop.

In terms of the broader Basque pool, Javi Lopez won't be a LB option now he's gone to Real Sociedad. Julen Jon Guerrero is now in Alaves' B side, so may be available after a season. Marvin De Lima was a Bordeaux midfielder who may be without a club, and if he had the same potential as before, could be useful. Hopefully, Ivan Martin gets a big bump now Girona have qualified for the CL, though it might take a lot to entice him to Bilbao. 

Yeah to be honest I tend to find player ratings for Athletic for those who have made their first real splash in the first team are usually underwhelming. None the less the squad is probably better set up for a save now with the summer transfer window turnover. Prados, Paredes and Guruzeta are the ones I am really interested to see in Fm25 given their first team involvement being pretty substantial. A lot of classic transfer targets also may be tricky now with Mikel Merino at Arsenal, Le Normond at Atleti and Javi Lopez at Real Sociedad. I will admit I don't know much about Louis-Jean.

I think Athletic Club lack a specific researcher although I may be wrong - it's tricky though because their ability to push academy players into the main team is quite unique. Sometimes also I think if you take some of those players like Unai Gomez, Jauregizar etc out of Athletic where would they likely go? I'm not convinced they'd be at a club of the same level to be honest.. I think there's a lot to be said for the team spirit and togetherness at Athletic due to the unique place that it is elevates players. I don't quite know how to word that, but the sum of the parts being greater than the individuals? I feel like to a certain extent it's one of the things that makes the Athletic save feel quite good in FM, because usually it's easy to overperform for an experienced FM player, but with Athletic you basically have to constantly overperform for the majority of the save to beat Real Madrid and Barca anyway, or even to compete with them, and similarly to go far in the Champions League. So perhaps the game accidently recreates this quite well  

Edited September 1 by bowieinspace

[dothestrand]

I think you're right @bowieinspace Athletic Club gives opportunities to players at a higher level than they otherwise might get elsewhere - it's unlikely those players would be breaking through at Atletico Madrid, Sevilla or Villareal, or any side where they can just sign any player.

With FM25 sounding like it's having teething problems, I downloaded the latest update (from literally a couple of days ago) to reflect the Summer transfer window and player bumps. Then, I started a new save. All the changes you'd normally make at the end of your first season have happened because Raul Garcia, Dani Garcia and Muniain have left. Djalo and Gorosabel are at the club. A few players have had nice bumps - Paredes now is a genuine La Liga quality CB. Benat Prados is better, though still a rotation option. De Galaretta has better physical stats, which was always what made him unviable before - nobody doubted his technical abilities. Unai Gomez has good technique, just needs to bulk up. Malcolm is on loan, but looks better? But all of those guys are better than in a regular save, which may give an indication of what they may be like in FM25. Interestly, I noticed that Nico Serrano has pretty decent mental stats, including 12 for positioning. I reckon you could retrain him as a LB and he'd probably be about as good as Berenguer there once he gets used to the position. 

 

[quee]

Was it an official new update?

[dothestrand]

On 07/09/2024 at 19:31, quee said:

Was it an official new update?

I got it from https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update

[bowieinspace]

5 hours ago, dothestrand said:

I got it from https://sortitoutsi.net/football-manager-data-update

I don't think any player attribute changes are included in this DB, just transfers. I may be wrong? I downloaded the DB and I'm pretty sure Prados, Paredes etc are basically the same as the last official SI update from early March which saw a few updates from the original DB. I've not checked player by player, but Nico Williams looks unchanged - you'd fancy he'd look different given the high profile emergence there if this DB had amended attributes, Nico's contract also isn't updated in this DB.

I've put in reasonable detail below what I'd do with the team on this DB so open at your own risk  

Spoiler

Interestingly though you could sign Moncayola and Guillamon immediately in this DB for a very reasonable figure, and it looks like you can recall Vencedor after 28 days also. I'd probably do a complete midfield overhaul off the rip - sell 3 of Herrera, Ruiz de Galaretta, Vesga and Prados (depending on who gets the best offers), then buy Moncayola and Guillamon, recall Vencedor. 

Serrano indeed could be a solid attacking wing back - I'd make him back up to Yuri immediately I reckon. Then I'd sell Lekue also. I'd be left with (based on a 4-2-4/4-2-3-1):

GK - Simon, Agirrezabala
RB - Gorosabel, De Marcos (view to promote a young player or sign a RB the following summer)
LB - Yuri, Serrano (view to sign Munoz or Lopez from Real Sociedad the following summer to replace Yuri)
CB - Vivian, Yeray, Paredes, Nunez (need to make an addition for year 2 when Nunez returns to Celta (pending availability of course, Nunez, Zubeldia etc for example)
DM x2 - Moncayola, Guillamon, Vencedor + one of the existing group
AM - Sancet, U. Gomez
RW/LW - Djalo, N. Williams, Berenguer
CF - I. Williams, Guruzeta

Conscious I'm potentially one short in the forward line there - I'd either retain Marton as a back up or buy Ivan Martin, which I'd definitely have the funds to do. I'd probably be fine going into the season one short though if I wasn't convinced on buying Ivan Martin, because with De Marcos and Serrano, plus Inaki Williams there's lots of versatility to cover injuries. 

Starting budget (all GBP) 21 million:

Sign Moncayola (8.5 million)
Sign Guillamon (I offered 7million straight up which they immediately accepted, crazy)
Total 15.5 million

Sell Vesga (12 million)
Sell 1 of Herrera/Galarreta, probably the latter... 2 million (honestly I reckon this is as much as you can get, at least quickly). I'd be inclined to retain Herrera as a mentor also.

After this you should have 20 odd million remaining in the budget, and the wages Guillamon and Moncayola want are low. Great way to set up the save long term  You'd want to use some of that budget to get a few contracts renewed on higher wages also and increased release clauses and leaves some money in the pot.

I played through a few days and selling players was a bit tricky but I reckon you'd be able to offload 3 of the 4 midfielders eventually, maybe loan Prados (or keep as a back up option) and sell 2 of the other 3. Vesga got a few offers immediately, so he'd go, and then just try to figure out a solution for Galarreta or Herrera. Could also use one of them as an AM back up and play Gomez as the 4th choice wide player, save money on Ivan Martin to keep funds in the account to try to get Aimar the following summer  

 

[dothestrand]

18 hours ago, bowieinspace said:

I don't think any player attribute changes are included in this DB, just transfers. I may be wrong? I downloaded the DB and I'm pretty sure Prados, Paredes etc are basically the same as the last official SI update from early March which saw a few updates from the original DB. I've not checked player by player, but Nico Williams looks unchanged - you'd fancy he'd look different given the high profile emergence there if this DB had amended attributes, Nico's contract also isn't updated in this DB.

I've put in reasonable detail below what I'd do with the team on this DB so open at your own risk  

  Reveal hidden contents

Interestingly though you could sign Moncayola and Guillamon immediately in this DB for a very reasonable figure, and it looks like you can recall Vencedor after 28 days also. I'd probably do a complete midfield overhaul off the rip - sell 3 of Herrera, Ruiz de Galaretta, Vesga and Prados (depending on who gets the best offers), then buy Moncayola and Guillamon, recall Vencedor. 

Serrano indeed could be a solid attacking wing back - I'd make him back up to Yuri immediately I reckon. Then I'd sell Lekue also. I'd be left with (based on a 4-2-4/4-2-3-1):

GK - Simon, Agirrezabala
RB - Gorosabel, De Marcos (view to promote a young player or sign a RB the following summer)
LB - Yuri, Serrano (view to sign Munoz or Lopez from Real Sociedad the following summer to replace Yuri)
CB - Vivian, Yeray, Paredes, Nunez (need to make an addition for year 2 when Nunez returns to Celta (pending availability of course, Nunez, Zubeldia etc for example)
DM x2 - Moncayola, Guillamon, Vencedor + one of the existing group
AM - Sancet, U. Gomez
RW/LW - Djalo, N. Williams, Berenguer
CF - I. Williams, Guruzeta

Conscious I'm potentially one short in the forward line there - I'd either retain Marton as a back up or buy Ivan Martin, which I'd definitely have the funds to do. I'd probably be fine going into the season one short though if I wasn't convinced on buying Ivan Martin, because with De Marcos and Serrano, plus Inaki Williams there's lots of versatility to cover injuries. 

Starting budget (all GBP) 21 million:

Sign Moncayola (8.5 million)
Sign Guillamon (I offered 7million straight up which they immediately accepted, crazy)
Total 15.5 million

Sell Vesga (12 million)
Sell 1 of Herrera/Galarreta, probably the latter... 2 million (honestly I reckon this is as much as you can get, at least quickly). I'd be inclined to retain Herrera as a mentor also.

After this you should have 20 odd million remaining in the budget, and the wages Guillamon and Moncayola want are low. Great way to set up the save long term  You'd want to use some of that budget to get a few contracts renewed on higher wages also and increased release clauses and leaves some money in the pot.

I played through a few days and selling players was a bit tricky but I reckon you'd be able to offload 3 of the 4 midfielders eventually, maybe loan Prados (or keep as a back up option) and sell 2 of the other 3. Vesga got a few offers immediately, so he'd go, and then just try to figure out a solution for Galarreta or Herrera. Could also use one of them as an AM back up and play Gomez as the 4th choice wide player, save money on Ivan Martin to keep funds in the account to try to get Aimar the following summer  

 

Aha, I never checked the March update. I played a season with this DB and won the league with 98 points (a +41 GD but Real were 4 points back with a +87 GD). We lost the Europa League final on penalties to Leipzig too, so a successful season. I don't think I did much out of the ordinary really. We signed Guillamon and Dani Rodriguez, that's it. The big changes to reduce the average age of the squad will come this Summer.

[Anglad47_FM]

On 30/06/2024 at 23:16, Batkan said:

Disaster

Thanks to Tebas

[DavutOzkan]

Laporte is an obvious addition for year two in the next game. He wanted to return this past summer, but the Saudis were asking too much. 

I doubt it will be as easy to do it in the game though, as I imagine he wouldn't want a pay cut like in real life. 

In my game, I did bring him back after he moved to Man United and had to spend 58 million, I think it was, for the privilege. It was absolutely ridiculous, but I had the money and wanted him back as he was always one of my favorite players.