[FM24] Les Rouges et Noirs, adventure in Britanny

[KlaaZ]

Done deal, Kalimuendo moves to West Ham in a deal that can go up to 118M, a club record. 

[KlaaZ]

It's August first and things are moving. Kalimuendo left for West Ham, an absolute transfer record pulverizing the previous one (Doku, Man City) by more than 50M. He'll be making 225k per week there, I don't want to spend that kind of money on a player. Finding a direct replacement was hard, so we instead went for Joao Rego from Benfica, who can actually play both wings and could even operate as a makeshift striker. The idea is to use him mainly on the right and to move either Terrier or Lambourde into the striker position. At 25M, he feels like a real bargain.

We lost Truffert with sprained knee ligaments for the remains of the summer and the search for a replacement is.. not going well. We have a few options, but they are either way too expensive and/or asking for ridiculous wages, and I'm not willing to sacrifice my wage structure. This also means that we'll play either Theate or Belocian on the left in a few days when we meet PSG in the super cup. 

Apart from that, we only brought in one additional goalkeeper for the future, Jean-Paul Cardinaux from Grasshoppers for 1.6M. Needs work, but lots of potential and a great personality.

We've also got a future deal lined up for another South African from Sundowns, 600k. He'll join during the winter break and will be loaned out right away.

On the outgoing side, Caprile threw a bit of a fit when we rejected Saudi money for him. We put a 63M price tag on his head which seems to have killed the interest. Good. Sardella's also under a transfer bid from the Middle East, we'll reject and hopefully be able to talk him out of wanting to leave. 

 

[Jogo Bonito]

Heartbreak at the end of your last season but you're still in a very strong position with this club. The sale price for Kalimuendo was incredible, I'd like to see Terrier make that central forward position his own, with a younger talent as secondary option.

[KlaaZ]

18 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Heartbreak at the end of your last season but you're still in a very strong position with this club. The sale price for Kalimuendo was incredible, I'd like to see Terrier make that central forward position his own, with a younger talent as secondary option.

Almost through August but I can already say that it's been one big uphill battle. No tactical changes from last year and apart from Kalimuendo no changes in the team, but we're playing like we want to go down. Can't create chances and absolutely leaking goals. Got one very important game against Saint-Etienne left, if we don't win that win the season's pretty much over already.

Edited July 20 by KlaaZ

[KlaaZ]

Well, that was a rough awakening. We beat PSG on penalties in the Trophée des Champions, but from there everything went downhill. We deservedly beat Reims but already looked vulnerable there, conceding three goals from three shots on target. And then we were completely outplayed by Marseille, who lead 3-0 at the break. The same goes for the game in Nice, where we went 2-0 behind after only 15 minutes of play and never recovered. The game against Bordeaux wasn't a good one from either team, we were just lucky to go ahead through an owngoal which lifted some of the pressure, and then saw Gouiri score a tap in for the only real chance of the game. Our final game in Saint-Etienne was better, but we still gave away a lead twice and almost bottled it, again. All of this means we already shipped half of the goals we conceded last season, and we're only five games in. 

Either way, we're already four points behind PSG, and only fifth in the league. We really need to up our game.

[KlaaZ]

Oh, and the RnG gods really hate us. Aston Villa and Atlético from pot 3..

[KlaaZ]

Well, the good news is that we had an unbeaten month of September. The mixed news is that while we are scoring plenty of goals now, it's more because of some ridiculous efficiency rather than actual quality play. We're on about 13 xG for, but have scored 23 goals. That's simply not sustainable in the long run, so I have to fix our chance creation before we turn off again. The bad news is that our xG against is not great, and to make matters worse we're still leaking more goals than we  should according to the data (12 conceded vs 9 expected against). We've only kept two clean sheets in ten games this season.

I'm also quite happy with the two draws against Inter and AC Milan, considering they were the better team in both games. Either way, we're now in third with Nice surprisingly leading the table, two points ahead of PSG.

In our search for young talent, we've agreed a 1M deal with IFK Göteborg to bring a young midfielder to the club. I have high expectations of this one. We also have our sights set on a very interesting left back prospect from Tromso, but we'll have to wait until he turns 18 because he doesn't want to move clubs for now.

 

 

[KlaaZ]

I finally abandoned the 433 before our first game of October, against PSG, and switched to a 4231. The result was instant. We blew them away in the first half, resulting in a very deserved 2-0 lead. The inevitable Mbappé pulled one back and we could have thrown it away, but held on to secure our first solid victory over the Parisians in the league. 

With that momentum in hand, we cruised through October, with four more wins. Lambourde came up very strong, scoring the opener against PSG and then three braces in the other league games. He's now got 12 roses out of ten appearances in the Ligue 1, lethal.

This also means that, thanks to PSG beating Nice, we are ahead in the league again. It's crazy how fast it can turn around sometimes.

[warlock]

If in doubt

The 4231

Will sort you out

[KlaaZ]

12 hours ago, warlock said:

If in doubt

The 4231

Will sort you out

Shame, I really like the 433. But this formation just plays better. 

[KlaaZ]

Some very good in November, and even almost a stunt in Bernabeu. We kicked off the month against that other big team from Madrid, Atlético, and did succeed in grabbing three points there. They were the better team, to be fair, but we were just clinical this time around.

We then went on to beat Metz and Lens, with Rego scoring his first goals against the latter. He's had a rough first few months but he's been gradually improving. We did really well away at Real, barely giving up chances and with ample opportunity to break away. It was only deep in the second half when a lapse of concentration allowed Vinicius to open the score, that we finally succumbed.

At the end of the month, we bounced back from the Madrid defeat with a clean 3-0 win over Lorient to go into December with a good feeling and leading the Ligue 1 table still. We're in 17th in the CL, but there's still plenty to play and as long as we qualify, it's ok.

There's also some news off the pitch where we secured another high potential, this time from Colombia. He'll join us in January and give us more options in the defensive midfield pivot. And Monamay has secured his first cap for Belgium. Much deserved, as the 20-year old has been in great form this season;

[KlaaZ]

Meanwhile, PSG's most recent results..

[KlaaZ]

Happy New Year! It's January first, the transfer market will open, we're over halfway in the league and the youth intake preview has arrived.

On the pitch, everything is going smoothly. We've had to work a bit harder to get the results, but the wins are still flowing in. We played very well in Lyon, just a shame that Theate gave up a silly penalty kick near the end to ruin the clean sheet. I'm very happy with the win in Benfica considering we played a rather rotated squad, the only sour note is again Theate, this time being sent off with two yellows in the 72th. Happy to have hun onto the result though. We almost stumbled over Havre who gave a very good account of themselves, it was Blas the saviour with a screamer in the dying seconds of added time. And the highlight of the Reims game was another brace for Lambourde, who takes his tally up to 17 in the league now.

Liverpool and Atlético are sniffing, here's to hoping we can hold onto him until the end of the season at least. He's won the European Golden Boy, too, and Kroupi is this year's revelation. If Lambourde goes, I may give him a shot at leading the line.

More good news is that PSG somehow forgot to score in Reims, so we are now three points clear. 

I'm not sure what to think of the youth intake. On paper, only the presented centre back would be interesting, but it's still listed as a potential golden generation. Then again, Claudio Vivas has a lot of qualities, but judging a player's potential isn't really one of them.

[Jogo Bonito]

Nice to be leading the pack still, and in Lambourde and Kroupi you have some really talented attackers at your disposal.

[KlaaZ]

19 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Nice to be leading the pack still, and in Lambourde and Kroupi you have some really talented attackers at your disposal.

Cheers! The quality up front at Rennes really is remarkable. The place is packed with high rated youngsters at the start, which makes for a really interesting save. 

[KlaaZ]

We made it through January without losing anyone important. The only name worth mentioning is Le Fée, who was unhappy with his playing time and leaves for Sociedad in a loan that can turn permanent at the end of the season. We also sent young Benvenuti, who recently scored his first professional goal in the cup, to Bastia to get some more experience. The same goes for Cardinaux, who was recalled from Caen as they didn't play him and is now with Angers. New signings Antonsson and Mkhwanazi are also loaned out.

One additional signing was made, a 4M deal for a young lad from Marseille. We're also looking for a loan deal for him.

On the pitch, it's been another good month. Only one clean sheet but still, six wins out of six: I'll take it. The Aston Villa game specifically was something really special. We went 0-1 down, lost Colpani through a red after 22 minutes, but then fought back amazingly in the second half, with Lambourde equalizing and Kroupi blasting in the winner from outside the box in added time. The win also sets us up directly for the round of sixteen, hurray!

No changes in the league table, we're still three points ahead of PSG for now. We'll play in Paris at the beginning of March, unfortunately right between our two European games. The good news is that they will be playing in Europe as well.

[KlaaZ]

Would be nice if this were to stop..

[KlaaZ]

Another flawless month gone by. We've had a bit of an injury crisis as shown above, with at a certain point both of our right backs out. Sardella over a month, and then a few weeks later Assignon ran into a short term injury. In the end, we had to play a midfielder at right back (which works with an IWB(A), but the positional illiteracy might still be a problem). We also lost most of our right wing during the same period, which made us promote 17-year old Kabongo to the first team (thank god I didn't loan everyone out). He repaid the favour with a brace on his debut, a start in the cup against USBCO.

The good news is that everyone will be back within the next ten days at the latest. I'm also very happy with the result in Monaco and the trashing of Marseille, revenge for them keeping us from our first league win last season.

In the Champions League, we could have gone either way. As a seeded team, we had a chance at playing teams like surprise package Young Boys (who eliminated Barça!), Ajax or maybe Roma; On the other hand, we could also have come across Manchester City or Liverpool. We landed somewhere in the middle I think, with RB Leipzig a sturdy test. We'll have a very hectic beginning of March, playing the Germans on the 3rd, PSG away on the sixth, and going against Leipzig again on the 9th. If we manage to keep the Parisians from winning, we'll probably have skipped past the biggest hurdle to become champions. We still have difficult games remaining, but we play all of them at home. There's no pressure, but it would be nice to not botch it a second time.

 

[KlaaZ]

March is done, and the stars are aligning! We got a very good point in Paris and a week later, they ran into a surprise loss away at Nice, enabling us to extend our lead to six points. It could actually be happening. Still gotta be careful though because when it's a tie, goal difference is the first measure to decide and they're doing a lot better in that department. Still, I can only be happy with the league results as after our wonky start, we are now on a 24 (!) game unbeaten run, 21 of which were victories until the PSG draw.

Lambourde had a bit of a crisis but managed to break it against Nantes with a tap in. He also made his first goal for the national team, a very proud moment!

Our injury crisis worsened slightly, as Alemdar had a lower back stress fracture, and then Caprile pulled an abdominal muscle before the Nantes game. With Cardinaux out on loan, I had not choice but to play a one star goalie and pray, but luckily our rivals didn't get a kick all game. After that, there was the international break so Caprile's back to shine in April.

In the Champions League we were very much the equal of Leipzig but details decided the games in their favour. In Germany, we pulled back from 2-0 to equalize, had the chances to win, and then gave away a penalty in the final minutes. At home, we were 2-0 up but once again gave away a favourable position. The only positive is that we can now focus on the league.

The youth intake was maybe a bit less impressive as otherwise, but there is still a very good Congolese right back graduate in there. I've been setting up African affiliates for the past two years, and as he was born literally a few km's from TP Mazembe (one of those clubs), it's possible that these are starting to return on their investment.

Our youth focus is also starting to show in the NxGen lists, where we now have eight players, four of which are academy graduates, with Dembélé being the top pick.

[KlaaZ]

Oh, and Lyon kicked PSG out of the French Cup! We play them next, but it pretty much means another good shot at a trophy.

[KlaaZ]

It's May first, and the impossible has happened. We beat Lyon in a game where we struggled for fifteen minutes, went behind and then turned it completely around in eight crazy minutes. A day later, PSG played at Marseille and where L'OM was the team that kept us to a draw last season to see us lose the title, they this time ran all over the Parisians beating them 5-1 to make the gap nine points with two games to go. Champions of France!

I jinxed things in the cup by cheering the fact that Lyon beat PSG as they went on to kick us out as well in an even game.

[Jogo Bonito]

Congratulations on the Ligue 1 title, always a big achievement to eclipse PSG!

[warlock]

Excellent work on the title win. Dropping just 7pts all season is great consistency.

Shame about the cup defeat, especially given the result at the end of the month. Next time, eh?

[KlaaZ]

2 hours ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Congratulations on the Ligue 1 title, always a big achievement to eclipse PSG!

Thanks! I don't think it's going to be smooth sailing from here on out but it's nice to get that first one, certainly. 

2 hours ago, warlock said:

Excellent work on the title win. Dropping just 7pts all season is great consistency.

Shame about the cup defeat, especially given the result at the end of the month. Next time, eh?

Completely agree (although it's actually eight points :D), especially considering we dropped six of those in the first three games of the year. The result against Lyon was a bit unlucky, they play that very annoying 3421 which always overloads the center, one of the formations I have the most trouble countering. I actually suffered against them at the end of the season in the league as well, they completely outplayed us in the first fifteen minutes and it's only when I asked the lads to tackle harder that we got the upper hand and turned it around. 

[KlaaZ]

Season recap

It's been an excellent campaign, both domestically and in Europe. We won the first league title in the history of the club, made it to the semi final of the cup, and went out of the round of sixteen in the Champions League after being rather unlucky against Leipzig. 

Statistically, we were slightly worse defensively, conceding seven goals more than last year's tally, but we actually did slightly better than our xG against so that's an improvement. And in the end, it doesn't matter if you can score for fun. We almost broke the 100 record mark, being only two goals off in the end. Quite the overperformance with an xG for of 80.69, but if I remember we created far less last season so it's a huge improvement either way. Lambourde, playing as a poacher, had an amazing return of 26 goals in 30 appearances, clinching the top goalscorer award. Joao Rêgo also had an impressive start of his Rennes career. After a wobbly few matches, he really got it going and contributed four goals and eight assists in the league. The other newcomer, Colpani, was a bit more mixed but also netted ten goals. This one can leave if someone offers decent money, as I'm confident we have enough cover in depth in attacking midfield, especially with some youngsters coming up. 

Off the pitch, the talks of a new stadium have turned into something more substantial. Rennes Stadium (very original) will take two years to build, with a capacity of nearly 44.000 spectators compared to the 31k now. A hefty pricetag of 124 million will be covered without any additional funding, 50% through stadium sponsorship and the rest straight out of our bank balance. 

In the academy, we have a lot of players that are almost ready for a roal in the first team squad. We'll check in preseason if we want to keep any of them in Rennes, or if they go out for at least one more loan spell. Cardinaux might be the most important one, having made strong progress in the second half of the season in the Ligue 2 he looks ready to be a proper backup for Caprile (if the Italian stays aboard). The same goes for Ngomba as there is strong interest in Sardella. 

[KlaaZ]

Two new confirmed signings. We bring in a young Norwegian left back to provide cover for Truffert, as we were currently backfilling his position with left footed center backs. Garfjell cost 4.4M and looks like a great potential to eventually replace him.

We also signed a hard working defensive midfielder from Serbia in a 1.6M deal, as a potential replacement for either Kari (wanted by Leverkusen) or Magassa.

Finally, we have our eyes set on a very, very, very good young Dutch striker but we'll only move in for him if Lambourde would leave. More on that later, hopefully.

[KlaaZ]

Out, confirmed. Warmed Omari, who's been a regular starter for the past four years, will join Al-Ahli in a 68M deal including bonuses, getting a monster contract there. We can cope with his loss, as Magassa can just drop back a line and Monamay has been doing very well too. So the position of right central defender is still double covered.

[KlaaZ]

Welcome, Hasan Solaiman!

The 19-year old Dutchman had been on our radar for over half a year, first being noticed by our scouts in a 1-3 defeat of AZ by PSV where he scored the only goal for the Alkmaar team. With Terrier starting to regress at 30, Kroupi being quite erratic in his performances and Lambourde gathering interest from some big clubs, we needed to take some precautions. We have a lot of talented striker potential in the academy, but I don't think any of them are quite ready for a first team role yet. So when we sold Omari, I found that we could take a financial 'risk', and we checked with AZ about his availability. A lot of negotiating later, Solaiman became our record signing with a 50M fee up front and another 34M in installments over the next three years. The Dutch club also gets a percentage of any profit made on future sale. He'll probably rotate with Lambourde up front, unless the latter still decides to leave. Lambourde can also play on the right wing so we have a lot of options.

[KlaaZ]

The transfer windows is shut, and we didn't do any additional incoming deals. At this point, I feel the squad is fine as it is, both the first team and upcoming youngsters, so I'll try to only replace leavers. On the outgoing side, nobody left after Omari, but we did loan out 13 players, the biggest one being Kari to Leicester (with an optional future fee), and Le Fée to Kobenhavn. I also accepted an offer from Feyenoord for Terrier but all that did was make him mad at me. Finally, we rejected a deadline day offer from West Ham for Caprile worth 80M because we don't have a replacement ligned up. If Cardinaux develops well, I may be convinced to sell next summer though.

In the league, we had a smooth start with 15/15. No hard opponents though, so our first real test will come with PSG on the fifth of September. We also beat Lyon rather convincingly in the Trophée des Champions.

The Champions League draw is probably the most difficult one we've had so far. Apart from Celtic it's all teams from the big four, ánd PSG. I'll be happy to qualify for the knockouts, really.

[KlaaZ]

Without any miracles, it's already clear that back to back league titles are not yet going to be a thing for us. We could have absolutely no complaints about the heavy home loss to PSG, a complete offday for every single one of my core players. I'm more concerned about losing two points to Brest, a team that was dangling at the bottom with only two points at that moment. Lambourde is a shadow of the player he was last season, having scored no goals in ten appearances so far.

[warlock]

54 minutes ago, KlaaZ said:

back to back league titles are not yet going to be a thing for us

Bit early to surrender . You're only one win back from PSG - plenty of time to make that up.

Keep the faith, brother!

[KlaaZ]

We're at the winter break and the results have been good. We'd have needed a perfect record to get closer to PSG though, as they only drew once, against Lille. We dropped points twice so the gap is now five. Considering we still have to travel to Paris, I don't think we'll retain our league title. Unless PSG miraculously implodes, but they've already scored 59 and conceded no more than four..  My main concern is that we really lucked our way past teams like Marseille and Nice, who were both a lot better than us.

Very happy with the results in the CL at this point. The win in Villareal was absolutely deserved, just like the one against Newcastle. We had to fight hard against the Germans, the loss against Liverpool was utterly deserved although we only conceded the winning goal in the last minute of added time. 

The youth intake doesn't look to promising on paper, let's hope Vivas is misjudging them.

[Jogo Bonito]

Still very much in the fight for the title - sure it will be tough to overcome PSG (again) but certainly not impossible!

[KlaaZ]

49 minutes ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Still very much in the fight for the title - sure it will be tough to overcome PSG (again) but certainly not impossible!

We really need to turn up our quality of play though. Almost went out of the cup just now, against Sochaux who are playing in the National.. And we were lucky to get to the penalties in the first place. 

[KlaaZ]

An uneventful transfer window, with no first team members leaving. Terrier and Colpani are both transfer listed by request but the former keeps rejecting contract offers from other teams and the latter has yet to receive a formal transfer bid. We loaned out a few more youngsters and recalled Fabrizio Benvenuti, who wasn't getting the agreed playing time at Strasbourg. We'll give him some minutes in Rennes instead, especially since Fidalgo has starting to regress and we keep suffering some short term injuries left and right. 

On the pitch, it's going well although we struggled in the first rounds of the cup. We had plenty of chances against Nantes, who are leading the Ligue 2, but the game against Sochaux was an absolute stinker and we could have gone out as they outplayed us. But we made it to the penalty lottery and pulled it over the finish line there.We improved our game afterwards though, with a good win in London in an even game, and a very deserved one in Valencia as well. These results send us directly to the round of sixteen, unexpected considering the league phase draw. Only two games in the Ligue 1, where we struggled in Saint-Etienne and even went behind, but Lambourde saved the day with a brace and a last minute winner. Very happy with the Reims game, controlled from start to finish, a brace from Solaiman and Benvenuti's first league goal!

[KlaaZ]

Second place it is. Could have gone differently, this one, but my main actors tend to never turn up against PSG.. The ratings say it all really.

[john1]

What a heartbreaking 2 seasons ago Epic last season and glad to see you winning the title!

[KlaaZ]

A very good month of February, despite the heavy loss to PSG. We were at least even to the Parisians at Parc des Princes, but they were just clinical. We absolutely bossed the remaining league games and are scoring for fun, even when we play the rotation squad, like we did against Bordeaux. In the cup, we again almost faltered against a Ligue 2 team, this time Toulouse, but nevertheless we're into the semi where we'll play either PSG or Rodez.

In the Champions League, we'll play against Nice, who eliminated Valencia in the knockout stage. Feels like an excellent opportunity to make it into the quarters again.

[KlaaZ]

Honest to god, we've played three games against Nice now and we've been the worse team every time. I really don't get why they're such a bogus team for us.

[KlaaZ]

Absolute horror month, I'll leave it at that. We're conceding way too easily, and we're powerless going forward. Eleven points behind PSG now, and OL only trail by four after losing to them in our last game. At this rate, we'll be happy to finish third. 

[john1]

What is going on?

[KlaaZ]

5 hours ago, john1 said:

What is going on?

Hard to say. I think it was in part tactical, in part some dressing room issues beause Colpani threw a fit about his playing time and then, despite me playing him often enough, started complaining to the group about broken promises. Had to talk several players out of revolting three times. Anyway, just finished the season so I'll do a proper writeup.

[KlaaZ]

Season recap

Well, we picked up a bit after that horrid month of March with three deserved wins, including one over Nice. We also somehow beat Barça at home (also deserved) and then survived the barrage in Camp Nou to make it to the semis for the second time in five years. Losing to PSG in the French Cup semi was always on the cards, but losing at home to Lorient a few days later wasn't. We completely played them off the pitch but sometimes, the result doesn't go your way. We narrowly got kicked out of the CL by City in the end, drew in Lille inbetween and then finally finished on a strong note against Lens (4-2) and Havre (6-1) to consolidate our second place, thanks to OL faltering at the finish line.

The highlight of those final games was young Haji Taro making his debut on right back and playing four games, scoring in the closing match against Havre with a screamer from the edge of the box. 

The final league table, with PSG the most dominant I've seen them so far. On our end, we regressed a bit in both boxes, but that was to be expected after our fluke season last year.

The youth intake was nothing special, with one center back standing out. 

 

[KlaaZ]

That said, I'm planning a bit of a squad overhaul next season. Up front, I'm not entirely happy with Fidalgo on the left who has started showing signs of regressing, and Gouiri misses at least two months of football each season because of injuries. Both are high earners but not really doing enough to justify those wages so I'll be looking to get rid of them if possible. 19-year old Benvenuti would be the prime candidate to replace them, rotating with Kroupi and maybe Doué. 

In the striker position, Solaiman has been absolutely excellent with 28 goals across all competitions. He rotated with Lambourde, but I'm not entirely convinced by the 22-year old Rennes product. Especially since I have three good prospects that I want to integrate into the first team in the next two seasons as they've done well on loan.

Technically, there's also Antonin Akognon for the striker position, but I see him more as a right winger. He could provide good competition for Rego on the wing, as we're also looking to release Terrier somehow.

Behind the striker, we already want to sell Colpani and I'm tempted to do the same with Rieder. Kroupi can obviously play here, Rego as well, and our young South African prodigy has improved greatly in two loan seasons to Belgium.

In defensive midfield, I would really like Pelle Antonsson, who had a very strong outing at Nottingham Forest in the Championship, to be our playmaker next to Serbian strongman Tekijaski, who had an impressive debut season for us. I'd back up the latter for academy product Dembélé, who played 26 games for Monaco and seems ready for the next step.

At right back, we already discussed the debut of Taro but we also have 20-year old Ngomba who seems ready to start featuring in the first team. There's been a lot of interest for Sardella, so if he goes we'll replace him internally.

No changes on left back, where Truffert remains first choice. Belocian was found wanting at center back but has done surprisingly well on the left, so he'll be his backup for the forseeable future. At center back, Theate is our strongest choice but he's entering his last year of contract and asking for 130k per week, something I'm unwilling to offer. Both Monamay and Magassa, who is on the verge of signing a new four year deal, are still here for the long term. We have two potentials for the first team, William Husson (who's profile I really appreciate) and Jérémy Jacquet. If Theate leaves, They'll both provide cover for the first team. That said, I'm sitll looking for left footed center backs.

Finally, in goal, Caprile has been making noise about wanting to leave and I have no problems with letting him go as Cardinaux has established himself extremely well at a very young age. Having recently signed him on a long term deal until 2033 with option to 2035, I plan on transitioning him into first choice goalkeeper next year.

Doing all this in one season may cost us points and even see us temporarily drop down the table, but sometimes one has to take a step back in order to progress. I'm just hoping I dont get the sack for it.

[KlaaZ]

Not bad for a debut season!

[KlaaZ]

Not at my pc right now, but it's the beginning of July and my hypothetical squad overhaul is fast becoming a reality. I'll post more details later but we've already sold Fidalgo and Colpani, with Gouiri and Lambourde soon following. Still looking to get rid of either Assignon (preferred) or Sardella, and maybe Rieder too. Managed to get Theate to sign an acceptable contract extension too. Either way, all of this opens up space to add six or seven youngsters to the first team and guarantee them enough playing time next season.

[KlaaZ]

A busy transfer window, here we go! Overhauling the squad is never easy but luckily, this year's FM gives you a lot of options to sell players, with the ideal way in this instance either being intermediaries or asking their agents about market interest. Terrier is sold to Bournemouth in a deal running up to 25.5M. Fidalgo moves to Saudi-Arabia for 30.5M. Colpani will represent Nottingham Forest for 31.5M and Kari moves to Sporting in Portugal for 21.5M. We also have pending transfers for Lambourde (50M, Dortmund), Rieder (Real, Chelsea, 51-63M), and Gouiri (Marseille, Feyenoord, Leicester).

There may be others who are allowed to leave. Jacquet will probably go on loan again with an option to make the deal permanent, which means Husson will be promoted to the first team as fourth central defender. On the right, I'm still looking to ship either Assignon or Sardella, with Ngomba making the promotion. In midfield, Bermudez will go out on loan so we can play Dembélé more often.

Three moves on the incoming side, two Argentinians and an Icelandic talent. Mauro Cardozo is technically a DM but already capable of playing in central defense. As a left footer, he'll be groomed to replace Theate as we have nobody in the academy with his profile. We paid 4.1M to River for his services, he'll be loaned out to Club Brugge.

Christian Cerra also joins from River, for 9.25M. This 19-year old was coveted by a host of big European clubs but we moved faster to seal the deal. He'll be our main man in the regista role, which will allow Doué to  move into attacking midfield or the left wing.

Finally, we bring in Ellert Jon Gudbjartsson from IA for a mere 35k. He'll spend a few years out on loan before we decide on his final future but he looks like he could be very good indeed.

[KlaaZ]

Official: Lambourde to Dortmund (50M), Gouiri to OM (45.5M), Rieder to Chelsea (63M). Little anxious for the coming season now.  

[Jogo Bonito]

Disappointing perhaps, but 2nd to PSG is no disgrace at all. Big sales there, it will be a new era beginning (for better or worse).

[KlaaZ]

1 hour ago, Jogo Bonito said:

Disappointing perhaps, but 2nd to PSG is no disgrace at all. Big sales there, it will be a new era beginning (for better or worse).

Thanks! It keeps things interesting and there were definitely signs of the team hitting a ceiling, with first teamers that were not bringing to the table what they should, especially taking their wages and playing time demands into account. It's still early days as we've only completed the Trophée des Champions and the opening game of the season, but there seems to be some promise at least.