[FM24] THE NANTES WAY

[SteinkelssonFM]

@Jogo Bonito thanks for taking the time to comment, I would have to agree that Nantes are such a great fit for my preferred style of playing FM. I'm not sure if you'd have noticed, but they released their kit for 2024/25 the other day, it is a simple yet effective replication of an older styled kit. 

If you want to look at some of the finer detailing on the kit, go and check out their IG site. 

[SixPointer]

On 02/06/2024 at 19:25, SteinkelssonFM said:

@Jogo Bonito thanks for taking the time to comment, I would have to agree that Nantes are such a great fit for my preferred style of playing FM. I'm not sure if you'd have noticed, but they released their kit for 2024/25 the other day, it is a simple yet effective replication of an older styled kit. 

If you want to look at some of the finer detailing on the kit, go and check out their IG site. 

That’s a beautiful kit! It’s very much like my old school team kit 

[SteinkelssonFM]

I have been a little busier than usual with regards to both work and family life, therefore todays update is a little more shorthand, bringing you up to speed with the goings on in Nantes.

The last two months (in game) have been full of both highs (victory over Borussia Dortmund in the UCL, and drawing against PSG in Ligue 1), and lows (largest defeat in Ligue 1 vs Marseille 0-3, and our UEFA Champions League exit in the round of 16 to Milan).

We closed off the month with a Coupe de France Quarter Final victory over Lille, with Mostafa Mohamed again ending a large run of games without scoring, a trend which we have now become well accustomed to. The Egyptian has now scored 19 times this campaign, albeit his ten in Ligue 1 is half his 20 from last campaign.

Taking a closer look at the leagues form table, should we be a little concerned? OGC Nice could well be in with a shout for securing the Ligue 1 title, Francesco Farioli's side are on a 23 game unbeaten streak, with this sort of form they should continue to push PSG very, very close. Whilst both Marseille, and Monaco both are impressing, which could well see us close the campaign in fifth place, our form away from home, not quite matching our performances at Stade de la Beaujoire.

YOUTH INTAKE

Angelo Carbone may well have been in post for less than a year. However, the Nantes Head of Youth Development has delivered, with four players in the elite category.

JULIEN MALANDAIN

The first of the bunch is Julien, who is a highly determined individual who possesses great handling, reflexes, and agility. Some core attributes already ticked off for him becoming a future number 1 at the club.

XAVIER CLAVAUD

Xavier has a strong physical profile for his age, yet despite having excellent technique, and flair, he technically doesn't appear to offer too much at this early stage. After studying his profile, I think the best option is to initially consider Xavier as an inside forward, utilising his speed off the mark, agility, and technical skills.

PAPE SECK

It isn't very often when your youth intake includes a 15 year old, who holds a two star current ability, let alone three attributes which are 16 or above. Pape Seck is that guy, with elite flair, he is a footballing magician, who is technically adept, good at finishing chances, and can accurately pick out teammates when on the ball.

The fact that Pape is Nantes, born and bred, really excites me! He could well become the future of the club!

ALBAN MIRANDE

Unlike Xavier, Albine holds a more well rounded profile, he is an accurate passer of the ball, who is technically adept. His mixture of bravery, teamwork, and natural fitness, could see him deployed as an advanced playmaker due to him not being strong enough, or mentally astute with regards to his positioning.

RECRUITMENT

Looking at the above minutes played to-date, it is clear to see that we don't have a rotation option available for Nicolas Cozza, the 26 year old has played 22% more minutes than second place Alban Lafont.

Considering he has played nearly every game this season, his outputs are still impressive, with Nicolas producing a high number of key passes per 90, creating a high number of open play expected assists. His numbers have dropped off a little compared to last season, particularly dribbles which have decreased from 3.22 to 2.91, most likely due to not having the energy reserves, opting to progress the ball by the pass. His average rating has also dropped a little from 7.21 to 7.12.

The above highlighted the need to recruit, when searching for wing-backs there really is only one true starting point, Brazil. The country has a rich history in producing top class defenders, including the likes of Marcelo, Dani Alves, Roberto Carlos, and Cafu.

My scouting team, well Pedro Alves brought a 22 year old from Palmeiras to my attention. Vanderlan is capped at U23 level, and his top speed enabled him to outpace players, he is a consistent performer, with the love of big matches. He already has traits of hugging the touchline, and tries long range passes, you'd have to agree, he has potential.

I am hopeful that the deal for the Brazilian will potentially be the last one we have to make at the club for a while, as we now have significant depth, with a good spread of players in the youth sides which are capable of helping out if needed.

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INFRASTRUCTURE

There have also been some more positive changes in relation to the infrastructure, the board agreeing to invest heavily in the improvement of youth facilities. Most importantly, a deal has been arranged with Grenoble in Ligue 2, they will become our new affiliate club, and will absolutely be utilised next season with regards to providing our young talent a platform to showcase their ability in the second tier of the French pyramid.

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FORWARD LOOK

With only Ligue 1 to focus on, each and every point will be hard-fought from here on in, to secure passage to the UEFA Champions League again would be immense, and help to ensure we can continue to secure the talent we have at the club, through offering improved contracts.

I leave you today with the below, just a flavour of things to come here in Nantes. FYI this was from an U19 game. However, it's not very often you see three perfect scores handed out!

[Dogfacedgremlin]

It looks like it's going to be tight race for the third place.

What a nice intake, certainly that Pape Seck seems realy amazing.

[CameronFM]

The decision to bring in Grenoble is a fantastic idea - the historical places graphic on TransferMarkt suggests they are a Ligue 2 side (granted anything can change on FM) so it should give you a good few years of developing talent at a good enough level!

Race for the UCL is getting exciting, a big 5 games coming up!

[SixPointer]

4 wonderful graduates there. Seck looks a bag of tricks with that flair. Could prove to be something very special.

Things should only get better as well with the new facilities. Interesting that already you’re starting to hope that you don’t need to dip into the market again. Strength in depth nice and early. 

[_Ben_]

On 06/06/2024 at 11:01, SteinkelssonFM said:

PAPE SECK

 

 

It isn't very often when your youth intake includes a 15 year old, who holds a two star current ability, let alone three attributes which are 16 or above. Pape Seck is that guy, with elite flair, he is a footballing magician, who is technically adept, good at finishing chances, and can accurately pick out teammates when on the ball.

 

The fact that Pape is Nantes, born and bred, really excites me! He could well become the future of the club!

Wow! This is why you put the hours into youth development, isn't it!

It's really good to see that this save is sticking for you and you're performing really well. You've talked about not necessarily needing much more in the way of recruitment - with that in mind, what are your short and longer term goals here?

[Jogo Bonito]

On 02/06/2024 at 20:25, SteinkelssonFM said:

@Jogo Bonito thanks for taking the time to comment, I would have to agree that Nantes are such a great fit for my preferred style of playing FM. I'm not sure if you'd have noticed, but they released their kit for 2024/25 the other day, it is a simple yet effective replication of an older styled kit. 

If you want to look at some of the finer detailing on the kit, go and check out their IG site. 

Really great kits. Had a look at the launch video on their website and saw them mention its was a legacy affair, looks fabulous.

Enjoying your journey so far, always a good read when I get time!

[SteinkelssonFM]

Time to reflect on another season at the helm of Nantes, Brittany's most reputable club! Yes, after a slight uplift to our reputation (4 stars), we now find ourselves the highest ranked club from the regions, as Rennes are on a decline (3.5 stars).

My initial fears of finishing in fifth place were unnecessary, we ended up closing the 2024/25 season in fourth place, missing out on UEFA Champions League qualification by the single point.

The outcome could have been different if we were able to secure a victory against Monaco in the Ligue 1 penultimate fixture. However, after drawing the fixture, our fate would be in the hands of FC Metz on the last day of the season.

We did our part, dismantling Montpellier by five goals, a result which meant they would have to navigate the Ligue 1/ Ligue 2 Playoff, which they failed to do, seeing Havre AC return back to the top tier.

Unfortunately, Monaco matched our result, securing Adi Hütter's team a well deserved place in Europe's best club competition.

OGC Nice have provided us all with the faith that the impossible can be achieved, Francesco Farioli's side have managed to score in 30 consecutive games, outperforming their expected points tally by 19 points to secure the title.

As you can see from the above, our final position is fair and justified. PSG opted to part company with their manager Luis Enrique and have decided to call upon the services of José Mourinho.

The standout individual performances in Ligue 1 were dominated by PSG, Kylian Mbappé scoring 35 goals in 34 games is his highest league scoring total in his career.

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COUPE DE FRANCE

And it was all yellow! A victory over Ligue 2 side Angers in the Coupe de France Final meant that we lifted our second trophy in as many seasons. Angers completed the unthinkable in the Quarter Final defeating PSG on penalties, followed by a Semi-Final 2-0 victory over Toulouse.

Our route to the Final could have been stopped short in the Quarter Finals, fortunately we navigated the luck of the penalty shoot-out against LOSC Lille, the result was followed up with an easy victory over Marseille (3-1).

Looking at the above, you will see that the outcome was never in doubt with Nantes securing the vast amount of attacking momentum. Moses Simon had a day to remember, scoring a brace, whilst Nicolas Cozza was the stand out player, playing eight progressive passes, aiding our fast transitions.

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TEAM PERFORMANCE DATA

Time to compare some of the standout metrics from this campaign, against those from 2023/24.

Attacking stats to note

• Goals 69 (2nd) plays 67
• Expected Goals 61.49 (3rd) plays 59.45
• Shots 461 (3rd) plays 432
• Chances created 125 (5th) plays 147
• Shots on target 45.34 plays 42.36
• Dribbles completed 18.85 (2nd) plays 16.71
• Conversion rate 14% (4th) plays 15%

The attacking statistics are very much, a much of a muchness when comparing our outputs across the two campaigns. We created a higher expected goals value in 2024/25, scoring more goals, taking 30 more shots. However, when looking at the expected goals per shot, the value only dips by 0.01, which shows we weren't compromising the shot quality in those additional strikes.

This is highlighted in the above image, showing that 82% of our goals stem from inside the opponents area, all which has been achieved without 'Work Ball Into Box' being selected.

defending stats to note

• Conceded 23 (3rd) plays 24
• Expected goals against 33.81 (4th) plays 30.65
• Clean sheets 16 (4th) plays 15
• Fouls made 412 (3rd) plays 462
• Shots against 276 (3rd) - Exactly the same as 2023/24
• Opposition PPDA 4.66 (3rd) plays 4.66
• Final third passes against per game 45 (3rd) plays 44

All of this was achieved with 47% possession, three percent higher than the last campaign.

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BREAKTHROUGH SEASONS

Time to look at a few players who made their breakthrough season into the first team, all have stemmed from within the Nantes Académie.

Stredair Appuah Owusu

The 20 year old winger secured 1,400 minutes of first team football across the campaign, contributing with four goals and three assists. His creative statistics are the ones which stand out the most, Stredair has demonstrated his ability to create a high number of expected assists (0.33 per 90). The winger is racking up 4.63 dribbles per game, using his pace and close control of the ball to progress play and create chances.

With Moses Simon approaching his 30's, Stredair is the natural successor to hold Nantes width down the right-flank.

Junior Diaz

The introduction of the 21 year old into the first team only arose due to Eray Cömert suffering a pulled calf muscle and Jean-Charles Castelletto having to sit out a game due to a ban. Diaz snatched the opportunity with both hands, and to be frank, I have never looked back. At 6'4 Diaz has a high jumping reach (16) and is physically imposing (strength 15), which ensures he is successful in the majority of his aerial duels (75%). This presence has led to him scoring three goals in 11 games (our highest scoring central defender), lets hope he continues to impress across 2025/26.

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THE SQUAD PROFILE

The usual visualisation showing the spread of minutes played vs age for the 2024/25 season.

This time I have tweaked the squad profile, making some improvements to the visualisation, including the 'Peak' band which easily highlights the bulk of my squad are in the peak stage of their career. The segments either side are youth, and experienced, whilst on the topi of youth, I have changed the colour of players which have stemmed from the Académie.

I am extremely hopeful, that as we progress through another season there will be a few more Académie players included in this visual, ideally with the yellow dots becoming the minority. In 2024/25 it is pleasing to see that both Bastien Meupiyou and Nathan Zeze have progressed from their breakthrough season, firmly establishing themselves as first team regulars, both securing over the average minutes for the campaign.

The above is the Nantes All Time XI, wouldn't it be impressive if I can populate this fully with Académie players. Now that would be something, although given where we are in the game cycle, I think it would be some kind of miracle.

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FORWARD LOOK

First starting point, the transfer market, you will see that we moved on seven players from the club, all securing transfer fees below £10 million, the clubs record fee received £12.8 million for Diego Carlos, is safe for now.

Samuel Moutoussamy's deal to Ipswich for £8.5 million was the most significant, despite Samuel playing less than average minutes, he was the club vice-captain, and an influence off the park. Secondly, with FC Copenhagen securing the services of our back-up goal keeper, there was a need to delve into the transfer market again.

PLAYERS IN

Owusu-Oduro was signed from AZ for a package deal totalling £9 million (£4.5 million upfront and the rest in two instalments over the year). The 21 year old was happy to sign, knowing he will play back-up to Lafont, he is capped by the Dutch national side (2) and could develop nicely into a Ligue 1 standard player.

The second signing is that of Ryan Francisco (£3.7 million) who was identified by our scout in Brazil, the 18 year old has a bucket load of strengths, which he demonstrated for Sao Paulo's youth side, scoring 38 goals in 47 appearances. Ryan will play his first campaign with the reserves, we will use this to establish his pathway compared to others at this level.

The above provides you a flavour of what is potentially to come, first choice players, their back-up/rotation, along with the best youth player available in third place.

Another affiliate has been added to our ranks, this time Bastia, who find themselves in the National league. This provides us with another outlet to send promising youth to gain experience a league above our reserves side, whilst the previous arrangement with Grenoble, enables us to send players to the second tier, ideally their final stage of development, prior to being involved with the first team.

---

@_Ben_ asked what my short, and long-term aims were for the save, I have previously covered what I want to achieve in the long-term in my review of season one, with three key objectives.

Become the leading French Académie 

Given such an emphasis on the development of youth, it I want Nantes to become the leading pipeline for French talent. Now within this aim there are two foci, the first being that I would love to play a Ligue 1 game with a starting XI which have been harvested from the Académie. Secondly, it want my youth side to become the dominant force in youth football, not only in France, but on the continent.

We want to become multiple UEFA Youth League Champions, winning the domestic title is simply not enough ( a feat we have achieved in both seasons).

The above result was from the 2024/25 UEFA Youth League Semi-Final, we were in touching distance of the Final. Bayern ran out eventual winners, defeating FK Crvena zvezda Beograd Under 19s 1-0 in the Final.

*note to self send scouts to Serbia

Improve 'the League of Talents' coefficient

After last seasons drop in coefficients, France have moved themselves back into fifth place, picking up a total of 16.857 points (4th). We managed to fly the flag for France after our successful run in the Champions League, whilst Lens progressed all the way to the Semi-Final of the UEFA Europa League, suffering to a defat to Bayer Leverkusen.

This progress will provide French sides with a additional place in the UEFA Champions League from 2026/27.

Recruit talent from Africa

As previously covered, as we are drawing down more revenue, and in turn profit. We can look to expand our scouting team, ensuring we have extensive experience from different continents.

Currently we have 12 scouts out on assignments, two of which are on set to Africa. Unfortunately, the early signs haven't been too promising with the recruitment focuses providing minimal returns. Therefore, I will next manually set scouts to view players from some of the key nations U20, and U19 teams.

Au revoir!

[El Payaso]

You're doing extremely well both in terms of performances as well as long-term aims. It's going to be interesting to see whether José is capable of ruining PSG. Might well be the case even when PSFG really should be a dominant force domestically. 

Are you finding the save interesting personally? 

[keeper#1]

I signed Owusu-Oduro in my Birmingham save.  He's a quality keeper for me in the Championship.  Hopefully, he can lead us over the hump and into the Premier League.

[SteinkelssonFM]

@El Payaso thanks for commenting, the save is perfect, being able to play without going into too much detail is pretty refreshing. Whilst some people opt to avoid any of the big five leagues, I have to say that for me France is pretty unique.

Plenty of clubs have a significant pulling power with regards to recruitment. However, given the lower coefficient, and most likely lack of revenue IRL with regards to broadcasting, their is still an importance on both youth and player progressions into the likes of the Premier League, and La Liga. 

@keeper#1 he was a player which I had an eye on during my days with Ajax, the beauty of playing a save that goes more than three seasons deep, you get to have a feeling on how some of the players develop...that's not cheating right 😂

[CameronFM]

Yet another terrific season and that squad profiling chart is tremendous!

I'm intrigued to see how the expansion into Africa goes; some wonderful talents waiting to be unearthed there, be interesting to see if your scouts can find them!

[SteinkelssonFM]

Thanks for joining me as we enter the third season in charge of Nantes, in our quest to lift the Ligue 1 trophy.

In todays update I cover July and August of 2025, looking at pre-season, the UEFA Europe League draw, along with a little more on our Nantes born and bred newgen.

PRE SEASON

Five games were scheduled before we faced OGC Nice in the Trophée des Champions, the French equivalent of the FA Community Shield.

You will be able to see from the above, we managed to win all five games, scoring 20 goals in the process, whilst only conceding two. However, this wasn't the main headline from pre-season, looking at the granularity you will note that Pape Seck managed to score in every friendly. In fact, he scored seven goals in five games, which provided me with a problem, a good one at that.

As you can see from the above comparison Seck (Green) is lacking the presence which the Egyptian brings, making up with vision, and technical ability. Despite his goalscoring form, ideally I want to keep both on the pitch.

However, when comparing Seck to our current Attacking Midfielder, Enzo Le Fée, the youngster is much more closely aligned. Making me believe he should be looking to operate more as a 'creator' than a 'finisher'. So I will opt to change his player role from 'Advanced Forward' to a 'False 9' or 'Trequartista' when playing as the spearhead moving forward.

AUGUST 2025

Continuing with the theme of Pape Seck, the striker/attacking midfielder (can't for the life of me figure out where he will play) ensured the media attention was all about him. Despite losing the Trophée des Champions on penalties to OGC Nice, Seck ensured his senior debut ended up with him on the scoresheet.

This goal seen the youngster become the youngest ever goal scorer for the club, wiping Billel Amara out of the history books, being 133 days younger than the promising inside forward (now loaned out to Ligue 1 AC Ajaccio).

However, it didn't stop there! Three games later Seck wrote himself into Ligue 1 history, becoming the leagues youngest ever goal scorer with his goal against Lorient. Again, he cleared the previous holder Federico Fernandez by 30 days.

If breaking those two records wasn't enough, the youngsters performance against Rennes was enough to continue to build the noise surrounding his hype. To score a brace in your first fixture against your local rivals is surely enough to send France's northernmost region into a frenzy. Looking at his accompanying chalkboard, you will see how central the advanced forward operates, again similarly to Mostafa Mohamed the two touches in the box (six yard) result in goals.

Four games in, not too much to report on with regards to the league table, other than look at OGC Nice, not what you'd call the perfect start for the side which are looking to retain their crown.

Above a flavour of our best performers, Moses Simon well on his way to beat his highest assists (8) after the opening four games. Whilst Kylian Mbappé continues to do what he does best.

UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE

The draw for the UEFA Europa League has been made, we are presented with some spicy opponents, Manchester United, and Juventus the highest ranked. However, I am looking forward to the fixture in Slovenia, to play SK Slovan Bratislava, as the Tehelné pole stadium is one which has always caught my eye.

FYI I have a little bit of an obsession with Stadia, and architecture.

FORWARD LOOK

Five from five surely!

au revoir!

[Lestri]

In a FM world where most people like to hold back the youngens until they are 18 to give them first team minutes, it is refreshing to see the other approach of "if they are good enough, then they are good enough" for Pape Seck!

[SteinkelssonFM]

@Lestri I am fully aware that I will need to manage his playing time, with a focus on ensuring he has enough fuel left in the tank to perform highly off the pitch. This is where the training performance data comes in handy, along with the player progress tab, which can be found within the development section. 

As you can see from the above, Pape's development took a hit initially after moving him to the first team, likely due to him only being two star current ability (I normally only move players into the first team with two and a half stars). I expect the intensity of the training, along with the challenge of training with players at a higher level than him was initially challenging. However, it appears he has started to find his feet and his development is moving along the right trajectory. 

This is reflected in his training rating of 8.85. 

[SteinkelssonFM]

SEPTEMBER 2025

My tongue in cheek predictions for September weren't too far off the mark. We had an excellent month on the pitch, the highlight for me being the fact that we only conceded the single goal, scoring 11 in return, a +10 goal difference swing.

The early form guide is enough to see us perched delicately on top of Ligue 1, the only side after eight games to remain without defeat. PSG are the leagues most clinical in front of goal, whilst Marseille are the toughest to break down. Strasbourg could well be in for a very long campaign, the only team yet to secure a victory.

A FOCUS ON ENZO LE FÉE

One player has stood out from the rest across the month, the little maestro Enzo, contributing four goals and one assist across the calendar month. It is worthwhile noting Enzo is also slightly underperforming his expected assists metric, along with racking up 2.33 key passes per match.

The below shows how much of an outlier he is compared to other midfielders in Ligue 1, which is why he is already only one goal shy of his career best in the league (5). If he can continue this form, Rennes must surely be kicking themselves for agreeing to sale the 25 year old for such a diminutive fee.

October is going to be a tricky month to navigate, with trips to the Allianz Stadium in Turin to play Vincent Kompany's Juventus. Along with the journey to the south of France to face Jean-Pierre Papin's Marseille, who beat us 3-0 in our last run out against them in Ligue 1.

[Jogo Bonito]

Lovely updates as usual and good to see you are making a strong challenge this season. Enzo Le Fee was a star in my Lorient save of a few years back, so good to see him feature well for you.

[CameronFM]

2 hours ago, SteinkelssonFM said:

 

The early form guide is enough to see us perched delicately on top of Ligue 1, the only side after eight games to remain without defeat. PSG are the leagues most clinical in front of goal, whilst Marseille are the toughest to break down. Strasbourg could well be in for a very long campaign, the only team yet to secure a victory.

Something oddly satisfying with you being the second most clinical side, and the second most sturdiest side, whilst being top!

Le Fée is an absolute dream in this side; has any teams come sniffing around him yet?

[_Ben_]

On 11/06/2024 at 07:35, SteinkelssonFM said:

@Lestri I am fully aware that I will need to manage his playing time, with a focus on ensuring he has enough fuel left in the tank to perform highly off the pitch. This is where the training performance data comes in handy, along with the player progress tab, which can be found within the development section. 

As you can see from the above, Pape's development took a hit initially after moving him to the first team, likely due to him only being two star current ability (I normally only move players into the first team with two and a half stars). I expect the intensity of the training, along with the challenge of training with players at a higher level than him was initially challenging. However, it appears he has started to find his feet and his development is moving along the right trajectory. 

This is reflected in his training rating of 8.85. 

I love digging into this stuff. Are you doing anything outside of the box with him in terms of development? He’s obviously going to be great - and is already good enough to be playing in Ligue 1 at 16 but just wondered about your level of micromanagement?

[danyates8]

The level of quality shown in this blog is seriously something. Really impressive.