Jtomsett11

Thank you both! Both of you highlight our issue with release clauses, but to be honest the truth is none of our players are really worth much more. Our best players (disregarding Mella as he's on loan) are probably Garner and Bella-Kotchap, both of whom are probably good rotation options for European- hunting sides but not top sides. Currently, nobody seems willing to pay the fees when you can probably pick up similar players for less. I think I'll renew contracts where possible to boost minimum fee release clauses where the fee is lower than I'd consider a very good fee or where the player has a lot of potential. For example, Arsenijevic's agent inserted the £52 million release clause which improved upon his £15 million one which we signed him with. A couple of our intake wanted £15 million + release clauses too so I think it'll be a case of slowly and surely build them up as the side improves and accept we may lose a few players on the way. I have to say, having never played in Spain it's added a new dimension to my planning and makes it a whole lot more interesting.

Good luck with January, looks like it'll be very tough!

Mid-season performances 2027/28 I don't want to go into loads of depth with this anymore, but it's useful as it helps me to adjust my A and B team (as in my starting 11 and backup 11) for the second half of the season, plus decide early on transfer strategy for the summer ahead and possibly in January if anyone decent comes up as available. Goalkeepers We've conceded a lot this season, so it's no surprise that both keepers should have saved more than they have, but I'm surprised by how many more saves they should have made. Both feature 15th (Vallejo) and 17th (Yaakobishvili) on the goals prevented page for La Liga keepers and both have negatives. Obviously, both are still very young, but I'd really hope they push on and get better over the remainder of the season or perhaps I need to look for a new number 1? Outfield squad Bella-Kotchap stands out as the best performer at CB, which is no surprise. There are some interesting stats for the rest, with Nicolaisen yet to lose a tackle and Basso winning less than half of his. Panzo has mostly done well as our left centre back, but I have a feeling that to improve defensively, we need to upgrade on Panzo and sell Nicolaisen as the next natural step of the squad. That'll likely be done in the summer unless we find a left footed CB who is of a higher quality and available now. Basso isn't a bad backup, but is also 30. At full back/ wing back, we've had just 4 assists, with Bernabei getting 3 of those. Ludewig is at least creating key passes from open play, but Williams and Hoever aren't contributing much going forward this season. With Williams, his defensive output is probably the best, making more interceptions, winning the ball back more and being more successful in the tackle than anyone else. Hoever has had his injury problems, but to be honest RB is an area we should probably look at and potentially we'd sign an upgrade on Ludewig and sell Hoever. In the midfield, Garner is once again performing brilliantly, with 6 assists being the highest number of any player. Padilla's numbers look good going forward, but defensively he is nowhere near the pressing machine that Garner, Gonzalez and Val are and he just isn't winning the ball back like they do. It's something I need to consider at the end of the season; has he progressed enough to deserve my continued loyalty, or do we simply need to upgrade and let him develop out on loan? I feel the only safe started is Garner and then there's room for improvement if suitable players can be found going forward. At AMR and AML I'm delighted with the impact of Rubio, and similarly Mella has really shone in the last two months. Capone still does a good job while Man hasn't really had enough minutes to settle in to the side and it would be too early to judge him I feel. Costa has some really nice stats for someone who has only played 3 games, but I am worried his potential ability is too low to justify giving him more than the backup AML/AMR role he's now fulfilling in Man's absence. However, I'm also very happy with him as a backup. At AMC and ST there's been two successes, Cirjan and Mara. 6 goal contribution and 10 goal contributions respectively, they've been really good for us. I am disappointed in Arsenijevic, who has got 2 goals and 1 assist, but has looked lightweight when playing. I really want some physical development from him and I want him to contribute more passing wise. I've asked the coaching staff to get him to learn tries killer balls often on the back of this, as that may help him. Bear in mind that we've got another superb option as AMC for next year, Enrique who we signed and then sent on loan to Almeria, so Arsenijevic does need to kick on. Cheddira is barely playing, so his one goal isn't too bad. If we get European football at the end of this year, we'll need to upgrade him to someone who can compete with Mara. Transfer plans That leaves us with very little to do now, but some positions to scout for the future: GK - depending how our current players kick on RB - almost certainly want to upgrade here if the price is right CB - an upgrade to our left footed CB is the priority, but a backup right footed centre back to Bella-Kotchap wouldn't be a bad move. DM - if someone good comes up, or Padilla doesn't kick on, we could improve our quality here. ST - if we qualify for Europe we need to upgrade here. Squad pending any transfers Starting 11 Backup 11 With Val and Man to come back in for Oca and Costa respectively when fit.

December 2027 It's a perfect end to 2027, completing what has been a superb year for Deportivo la Coruna. Deportivo 3-1 Mallorca A really comprehensive victory. Mella continued his fine form with an assist and a lovely finish across the keeper from the edge of the area, while Hector Rubio also continued to score the goals. This one was a beauty from the edge of the area. We should have scored more in the second half, but no complaints from me. Elche 0-1 Deportivo The second string came in and did really well defensively; Vallejo and Oca in particular impressing, but the forward line was swapped in the 65th minute and that allowed Mella to cross for Cirjan to seal the three points. Deportivo 5-1 Real Sociedad The standout performance of the month as we blow Real Sociedad away. Mella needed resting, so Costa came in for only his second league start and smashed one in off the bar to bring us level, and from then on we were just excellent. My highlight was seeing 17 year old Oca sliding the ball through for late sub Mella to finish. Algeciras 0-3 Deportivo Due to the seeding system for the cup draws, we'll always be away for the first few rounds. Here, we really struggled again offensively with our second string side. I brought on the front 5 at 65 minutes, leaving Rubio on, and it made the difference. First, Mara slipped the ball to Rubio who made no mistake from the edge of the area. Garner then scored a drilled 30 yard finish before again setting up Rubio for a the third. Rayo Vallecano 1-2 Deportivo Give Rubio the ball and he will score. Two carbon copies of the third goal against Algeciras were enough here, even though we looked tired and not at our best for large parts. We were sloppy and gave the ball away regularly, but Rubio is playing so well right now he doesn't seem affected. For the first goal, Panzo cleared off the line before we countered at speed, while in the second the ball pinged around the middle before Garner set him away again. He's just so clinical at the moment. At the moment, we're very clearly the best of the rest behind Madrid and Barcelona. I'm just delighted with how this season has gone so far. January Sevilla have dropped away this season, and Tenerife are in the bottom 3, but the first two league games of January are pretty massive ties. 6 points from these fixtures would be the minimum I'd want, anything more and it's a fantastic month.

November 2027 We did get 6 out of 9 points this month, but the only reason I feel we've not gotten 9 is some injuries to key players across the month. Getafe 0-1 Deportivo We seem to be doing really well away from home at the moment. Mara got his fifth of the season to take him above Cirjan as top-scorer this season; it was a lovely through ball from the Romanian that Mara finished well. We missed a couple of big chances and hit the woodwork 4 times in this game, so the defence was needed to keep Getafe out. We did finish with 10 men due to a long term injury to Man. As you can see here, we've just been struggling with a few injuries, lacking backup at RB and CB recently and now lacking backup at AMR. We will promote some young players but it does put a strain on our reasonably small squad. We then played a friendly in the international break, which I like to do to keep our non-internationals match fit. However, this time it backfired as Williams picked up an injury, followed by Val the next day in training. That's our starting LB, backup DM and backup AMR out of action. Deportivo 1-0 Alaves Not a classic by any means here. Bernabei, promoted to the starting 11, repaid me with a great free-kick which was enough for the 3 points. Pablo came in for his third sub-appearance as our best U18 DM and did really well. Unfortunately, the next day... We now turn to Oca, another youth DM. Las Palmas 4-2 Deportivo We had a bit of a shocker here. We just conceded from every chance it felt like, and they were pretty good goals too. After Mara got the equaliser I thought we'd push on, but perhaps should have settled for the draw. However, you can't win them all and we're still punching well above our own weight, so I'm not too disappointed. We're up to third, which is amazing! December We'll have to do a bit of rotation here to keep everybody fit, which will be hard with our injuries, but I again would like 6 points and progression in the Copa del Rey from this month. Club developments We've finished upgrading our youth facilities. We're currently undergoing the training facilities upgrade, so not many left which is great. If we continue to grow as a club, then at some point we'll probably have to buy the stadium or build our own, but that's years away. I also thought this was great. The only issue was I couldn't see who the players were. I remember in previous versions, hovering the mouse of the bar showed you the players. I'm guessing that quite a few of these are our current crop of players. It would be nice to see us push up this list with our current youth looking much better potential wise than our current first team.

October 2027 I said I'd take 6 points, but I think 5 points is a pretty good return here considering the caliber of opposition. Athletic 0-1 Deportivo Another sign of our progression from last season, when Athletic Club completely destroyed us, is that here we weathered the storm and then struck on the counter attack, Rubio delivering a peach of a cross for Mara. In the end, the last 15-20 minutes of probing and counter attacking probably meant we deserved the win. Another standout performance from our defence, who seem to either be excellent, or concede a lot! Espanyol 2-2 Deportivo This was a challenging game as they Espanyol are a decent side, however we more than matched them and it was nice to see Mella on the scoresheet and winning man of the match after a start to the season that doesn't come anywhere near to matching McAtee's performance last year. Rubio then got in on the act which was great as I promoted him to the first choice 11 for this game on the back of his excellent sub appearances this year. Deportivo 2-2 Real Madrid When you come close to matching Real Madrid with your second choice 11, I think that says a lot about your team. We were really unlucky with the deflected own goal and then Coman benefited from another bobble off a defender for his goal. You'll notice Bella-Kotchap played and that's due to a few defensive injuries we've got. Deportivo 4-4 Real Betis Another really good side, but we really should have beaten them. We suffered from long balls and Jorge got a hat-trick as a result of these. At the other end we just couldn't stay level for long enough really, and although all 4 forwards got positive ratings, all were guilty of some bad misses. Cirjan is having a wonderful season, and Mella is starting to show his stuff now too. Hector Rubio contributed again, but Capone got two assists, so at AML I have good depth at least. We've conceded a lot of goals, but we've also scored quite a lot too. I'm delighted with the performances and the table so far. Top 7 is still the aim as I feel European football of any kind will allow us to kick on a little bit financially and thus improve the quality of the squad. Player performances so far I like my detailed stats breakdown as you can examine the full range of stats, but it does make it harder at a glance. Cirjan, with 4 goals, has definitely been a top performer so far, but it's also noticeable that Val is right up there again this season in terms of average rating and has contributed 2 assists, both from open-play. November I'll aim for 6 out of 9, but we are capable of winning all 3 of these games!

I started 2005/6 and then the 3 years after that. I missed the first home game of 2005 which we lost to Plymouth so then didn't see Reading lose at home until in the Premier League! I then only went occasionally, and mostly for big games/ play off and cup appearances at Wembley and now haven't been for a couple of years. I also signed McKenna - he did really well for me in the Prem. Good luck for the season!

Good to read a Reading save, I am a former season ticket holder and remember doing one on FM19 with quite similar players plus a load of extra wingers the club signed for no reason and crap Dutch players Stam bought in. I also went up via the play offs so I think you negate the worst of the financial problems this way. You can see why the club has struggled so much by not getting promoted and now getting relegated since plus missing out on some transfer fees for the better players!

September 2027 6 points from 4 games is pretty good, although the losses were frustrating, if understandable this month. Valencia 2-0 Deportivo We did really well to beat Sevilla away last month, but here against Valencia we came unstuck. There wasn't a whole lot of difference between the two sides apart from quality up front essentially. I am pleased with how Bella-Kotchap has started the season, he looks great on the ball and is really solid in defence. Deportivo 4-1 Almeria We played the first string again here, prioritising this ahead of the Atletico game, and it paid off, although we were certainly made to work for the victory, as 20th placed Almeria really could have had more than just 1 goal. The best goal of the game saw Mara finishing brilliantly from a beautiful through ball from Val. Deportivo 0-3 Atletico A game to forget! Their xG is higher than the reality of the game, as two of their goals came from open goals from a block and a save, but they dominated and we never really stood a chance. We had two decent chances, but they have Jan Oblak in goal still so he kept them out with brilliant saves. Celta Vigo 0-1 Deportivo A really important derby victory over Celta Vigo. This was incredibly tight, with Cirjan scoring a good finish after the ball bobbled about in the box a bit. Really pleased to keep the clean sheet. We end the month top after that win, but I just cannot imagine us staying there very long. We're aiming for 7th, so with that in mind we're doing brilliantly. October I'd take another 6 points from these 4 games, as we're capable of losing all 4 of these; they're all teams who are technically better than us.

Congratulations on your second title! I can see you're entering a period of increased trophy success when you consider your upward trend over the last 5 years or so. As you say, with your restrictions it's going to be very challenging to win the league and compete for the champions league, for example.

Transfers end of August 2027 We've let Suarez go, which is a bit of a risk after Vallejo's performance in the previous game, but I feel like this will be better for our long term development even if it costs us some points this season. The other big outgoing transfer is McAtee. In the end, it's a loan with permanent transfer agreed. The transfer is only worth £7.95 million with 20% sell-on fee, but the loan fee is worth around £4 million in loan fee alone with the potential for £5 million if he isn't used. So, around £12 million in guaranteed fees and 20% sell-on for a player who didn't want to be here anymore. Hopefully that'll generate more than the £15 million release clause. Unfortunately, as it's a loan, all of my players are still annoyed that I haven't given him his promise of leaving...

August 2027 A superb start to the season! Sevilla 0-1 Deportivo We won here due to a Panzo header from a Garner corner, but the overall performance was really pleasing. We kept them out almost completely, and while we didn't have lots of great chances ourselves, Mara could have easily had one from two decent half-chances. An away win is always good, but against Sevilla it's really impressive. Deportivo 2-0 Villarreal Another set-piece goal sees Bella-Kotchap get his first for us, with Garner's second assist in two games. I was a little concerned about not scoring from open-play, but then 16 year old substitute Pablo (who is in the second string squad due to Val's injury) played a wonderful through ball and Mara got his first of the season to make it two wins out of two. Tenerife 2-3 Deportivo This was the first run out for the second string, including new signing Bernabei and Man. Both delivered assists in this game as we produced a really good offensive display. Defensively, we were a bit suspect, with 20 year old Vallejo looking every bit the La Liga 2 keeper his coach report says he is. Still, we win, and I want to give time to Vallejo as he has the potential to be a decent keeper. We won't be there long, but it's a nice start! September Some winnable games here, but Valencia is a tough start to the month.

Pre-season July and August 2027 Pre-season for me is all about getting in the transfers and setting up the squads, but it's nice to have decent results like this too. I feel like the squad are ready to hit the ground running. It hasn't been all plain sailing though, as we've had some real dilemmas within the squad. Transfers Firstly, I made the call to let Yusuf go after this bid came in from Inter. He had turned down a move to Napoli the week before, and I reckon that this is too good a bid to turn down considering his personality. We immediately used this money to improve our youth and training facilities. However, following this, we've had contract demands from Cirjan, Ludewig, Capone, while McAtee has demanded to leave after a £9 million bid from Brighton. I've now offered contracts to Cirjan and Capone after they eventually dropped their demands and McAtee had his minimum fee release clause met and won't renew his contract. As a result of this, expecting our starting AMR to leave, I brought back an old favourite... Mella comes back after a poor loan season with Celtic last year. We've agreed a £48 million future fee, which would actually be £24 million due to our 50% next sale fee, but I doubt we'll bid that high for him. He's not as strong as McAtee as an inside forward, but he's not far off and he's certainly progressed significantly since our first season! However, McAtee has thrown a spanner in the works by rejecting Middlesbrough. I can't imagine that he won't be signed, but if he isn't I'll be left with too many players at AMR! We also improved our CBs, signing Bella-Kotchap for just £250K. He's our best CB, and this allowed us to let Saenz leave. We did bring in one extra player following the U21 European Championship, with Enrique joining from the lower leagues for £250k. He'll go out on loan this year, but could be another brilliant find! He'll probably slot in at AMC for next year, although he could easily play this year! So we're about to start the season and we have one too many players across our forward lines. We're expected to finish 15th, but I want top half again. I'd love to finish in the European places, but it's probably asking too much!

What a great season! I've been struggling to find time to play let alone read on the forums so saved your posts for one go and very pleased to see the cup win! Am I right that's the first cup win of this save? Excellent season overall and I bet you'll be challenging for play offs next year!

Have just caught up with this, with real life having taken over both my own save and ability to read on the forum (doesn't sound dissimilar to your own experience!). I'm enjoying the evolution of your transfer approach which seems really sensible as the stature of the club grows. Good luck for the rest of the season!

It was youth recruitment before that was the issue (I linked you to the fix in here ) so if this a problem that doesn't resolve they've fixed one part and broken another! Or perhaps making it harder to continually improve?

Deportivo Fabril July 2027 I've been really annoyed that since getting rid of all the staff and players, I've been having constant inbox notifications about approaches for staff, despite me being in control of all staff appointments. I kept stopping them, and then suddenly there was advert after advert. When I read closely though, I realised that Fabril are now playing at Segunda Federacion level. T his must have happened at the end of season date (which I don't really remember clicking through). This is fantastic, as it means it's actually worth having the B team. Annoyingly, the squad has been filled with a bunch of random newgens. However, over this year I'll develop a plan to put my 18 year olds into this squad if they need football but can't get it at Primera Federacion level. If we can get them promoted to La Liga 2, it'll essentially be a superb way to get my young players decent experience.

Transfer plans July 2027 Having done my attribute analysis and already knowing some areas of the squad I want to improve, here's the shopping list. Must-have A new left wing/ full back. Varela was leaving on a free having declined last season. A new AMR inside forward. Narro just wasn't up to the standard last year. Nice-to-have An improvement at CB, perhaps replacing Saenz who is the worst and oldest of our CBs. A goalkeeper who can take us to the next level. Positions to consider for the future Another striker - is Cheddira a good enough backup? Segunda volante - Val did great last season and Gonzalez was solid, but they're probably not going to take us to the next level, whereas Padilla might grow to and Garner is really good. Transfers so far (ignoring the ones from before 1/7) Out We've said goodbye to some of the players who I've had since the start - Villares, Narro, Lapena. Combined they bring in £2.7million, which we cannot sniff at and covers the signing on fees of our new players. The fact that they got to La Liga level is impressive; all of them will be playing at La Liga 2 level next year (Osasuna have been relegated this year from La Liga) In Bernabei is extremely attacking, but he comes in at a good age and with good resell value and is Italian second-nationality so doesn't take up a non-EU slot. That's the LB sorted. Man was by far the best player I could attract at AMR who was left footed, and as he was coming in on a free I decided to act quickly and bid to get ahead of the clubs queuing up for him. £97k, but a high wage; he'll be competing with McAtee but this means I won't end up relying on the former Man City player and will instead give him rest when he needs it. That's the AMR done. Escarbos has dropped in potential since arriving, but has great attributes for the pressing forward role. I'll probably give him 6 months in the U19s and then send him out on loan I'd imagine. At £230k, he's a punt so if it goes wrong that's fine. A free transfer, again located by our scouts, Oliveira has the potential and unlike Yusuf, he has reasonable determination to go with his unambitious personality. He definitely needs some work, but he's 17 so has time on his hands.

Attribute growth June 2027 I waited until June 30th until contracts expired as I had about 12 players leaving and doing attribute analysis on those seems slightly pointless. I've also released the entire Deportivo Fabril squad as I've been reading about B Teams and it seems that it's just random when they're promoted to playable leagues and until that point nobody is going to progress in there, and keeping players in there to 'be competitive' seems to make no difference (from what I've read). Goalkeepers Yaakobishvili has made progress over the year and is now our standout keeper by his attributes, even if I didn't trust him at various points this season. Behind him, I really feel I should promote a young keeper to replace Suarez who is at his peak and below the level we need really. Vallejo has the most potential (5 stars) so is probably worth the punt, but Cano has also made really good progress despite only having 3.5 star potential. Perhaps a loan spell for him is needed. If we could bring in a better goalkeeper, we should really. Centre backs The top 4 are our 4 CBs, so no surprises there, but you can see we aren't exactly flush with options here. Neither young player is likely to make it either. Panzo has at least grown by 4 points. If we can make transfers here, we will, including young options as we have nobody with decent potential. Full backs/ wing backs We're actually playing with full backs more often than not, but that's due to our need to be a little more defensive. Bernabei is our new LB, replacing Varela. I'm pleased our other wing backs are above 70 now, with marginal progress made by all of them this year. Behind them we have quite a lot of potential. Huarte is physically lacking, but has made the most growth in this area, with Colley stalling a little, perhaps needing a loan spell next year. We have the 27 intake who are 5 star potential, plus Salas who will go out on loan. The bottom three are nothing to shout home about, but they will stay and go out on loan to see if we can take a fee from selling them after a bit more development. Segunda volante Val is now over 70, while Padilla has grown massively from his exposure to the first team. He's still not massively suited to the role, but I like what he brings to the team. Oca, Pablo and David are the three other potential stars in this role. The two former (26 intake) have made good progress in the U19s this year. Attacking mid This is an easy one to score highly in, as a few of the attributes are low weighted in terms of CA. I'm a bit torn here, as Cirjan, Yusuf and Arsenijevic have shared the minutes here since January when I signed Arsenijevic due to the interest in Yusuf. He must have high potential (or reasonably high potential), but his growth hasn't been great despite game time and I'm very tempted to cash in on him now. Napoli have put a bid in of £9 million so I might see if I can get a bit more and a sell-on fee. £9 million for us would be quite a bit of money for a player I'm convinced won't make it at the top level. Tortosa was a January cheap signing and I'll be interested to see how he gets on with a loan next season. Rubio's growth should also not go unnoticed. He's really developed as a player, despite mostly playing second fiddle at AML. Inside forwards A long list here! Man is the new signing as backup to McAtee who is our standout player really. Yusuf's development in this position is slightly better actually. Question is, is he going to improve by another 10 attribute points to become a really good La Liga player with his awful personality? Lots of players will need to go out on loan here. Pressing forwards Mara is now our player after signing on a free. Home grown talent wise, Alende and Torres came in with high hopes, but haven't really grown that much yet. Escabros was a minimum fee signing from the lower leagues and already looks a good bet in this role.

Season review 2026/27 Improvement all across the board except the cup. The one area we'd want to see higher is finances, as we're set for a low (£7 million) transfer budget for next year which will leave us wheeling and dealing again. Team of the year Capone was signing of the season, but McAtee and Mara were also key signings who contributed significantly, while RB Ludewig also did really well. Garner has been superb since joining last year. Player performances Neither goalkeeper really stands out, both performing worse than the other keepers in the league. Suarez got his first goal from open play technically, although it was a rebound. The rest of the players are as below: I've decided not to break this down too much, as it takes a lot of time and I find it tedious. Therefore, I'll pick out some key performers. I've already mentioned Garner and Ludewig above, but Williams and Val deserve a mention. The former is really solid at the back at the moment, but also improved going forward, adding 3 assists to his name. Val with 4 assists and the highest open play key passes of our midfield has been really effective despite his relative lack of ability (La Liga 2 quality). Cirjan played well across the season, with 6 goals and 3 assists, but of the forward players Rubio had the highest number of goal contributions after Mara, Capone and McAtee. That's despite just 16 starts in all appearances. Cheddira also did well with 8 league goals after a poor start; good numbers for a backup.

Thank you for both responses. The number of goals from around your team is very impressive, I hadn't realised just how many goals you scored this season! This above completely makes sense. I am going to try saving teams at the start of next season as injuries etc. always throw me. Do you ever play the first team twice in a row if, for example, you had two easy home games followed by two hard away games, or do you just accept that you may only pick up 3 points in that spell? I'm also playing in Spain and had Madrid and Barcelona back to back for example. There was very little chance of me winning those games so I was tempted to play reserves twice in a row.

May 2027 An excellent end to the season, but was it enough for European football? Valencia 0-3 Deportivo Counter-attacking football at it's finest. Suarez missed his pen, but slotted in the rebound (first time I've had that with a goalkeeper) which counted for 1.6xG (which it really shouldn't have being in the same move), so we're not as dominant as it seems, but still, this was great. Mara's goal was due to the high press which worked really well in this game. We're up to 7th! Villarreal still have a game in hand though, which they promptly won. Deportivo 2-0 Cadiz We really toiled in this game, considering we had a massive 3.89xG and they barely had a touch, it took us 84 minutes to make the points safe. Cirjan with two classy finishes here. Into the final game, we'd need to better Villarreal's result. Deportivo 2-1 Celta Vigo We win the derby courtesy of a lovely finish from Mara after Garner's through ball. He also got one earlier so ends the campaign with 16 league goals, which is excellent and exactly why I decided to seal his transfer on a free for the end of the season. 3 points for us, but was it enough? No! An 81st minute winner for Villarreal against 10 men means we finish 8th, missing out on Europe. 62 points and 19 wins in our first season back in the top flight is nothing to be ashamed of however. Deportivo La Coruna are certainly back and on the path to redemption!

Youth intake 2027 Wow, this is an intake! 6 5* players, 5 of whom have good personalities! Attribute wise, we've got some players technically good enough to be rotation options in the very-near future. Here's the profiles of the 6. It'll be interesting to see how he develops, some fantastic attributes and then a complete lack of physicality! Physicality lacking again, but mostly positive. I really like this guy, apart from his crossing and ridiculous jumping which could pose a problem. Fondevila wanted a release clause of £15 million, suggesting that he's got reasonable potential at least. He leaves a lot to be desired in the mentals, but is clearly going to be quite pacy. Edu is probably my favourite of the new intake, I think he's already quite a complete player at the age of 15. If he was left footed I'd be tempted to have him in the first team squad next year as backup at LB! No complaints here for a 16 year old! Honestly, this is one of my best intakes in a long time, with the caveat that a 4 gold star player for us is currently worth around £11 million and a 'good La Liga' player. However, if we can get a few to that level, and maybe 1 or 2 a bit higher, we could have a really good source of good players for the next few years.

Profits and transfer spend I think these two tables show you where a lot of clubs are in La Liga, with most teams unable to spend much more than they receive. We're definitely going to have to be very smart in the transfer market to deal with this, or qualify for the Champions League within a couple of years. With that in mind, and the fact the Villares, our fifth choice midfielder, is moving on, I've given Val a new contract. At just £8k a week, he's an affordable player who's shown he can compete at this level. We probably won't make any money off him, but hopefully in time can replace him in our midfield. However, with us likely not being able to spend more than we receive, he's better to tie down to a new deal than let him go on a free at the end of next year. By the way, if you noticed Barcelona making a huge amount of money from sales, it was mainly from these two: £320 million for those two! Huge fees!

April 2027 Wow, that was a tough month! No wins, but 3 points from 5 games against either decent, or top notch opposition, means I'm not upset by the month as a whole. Getafe 2-2 Deportivo We probably didn't deserve the draw, but got one anyone courtesy of 17 year old Costa who grabbed his first for the club with a lovely volley at the back post after Mara challenged for the ball in the air and both he and the CB missed it. McAtee also scored a lovely goal to put us 1-0 up, but a draw is probably a fair result. Athletic Club 3-1 Deportivo I'm not entirely sure how we lost this, but our reserves contrived to miss chance after chance. The injury to Rubio isn't great as it limits our rotation options and he's been playing well, but does give more opportunity to Costa. Deportivo 0-0 Real Madrid A superb team performance all round secures us a point even after playing 60 minutes with 10 men! We even had one or two good chances, but it wasn't to be! Deportivo 0-5 Barcelona Yeah, we were battered here. We couldn't stop conceding free kicks and they used them very effectively. We had a few chances, but never looked like we were going to get back into the game. In games like these the quality of our back line is very obviously below par! Real Betis 1-1 Deportivo This game was shifted forwards for TV I think; I'm not sure that was the best decision as we played a very defensive game, coming away with a point thanks to Gonzalez's header which I think was his first in senior football. We nearly nicked it, but Costa was somehow offside when Narro scored, I watched the replay and I'm still not sure how! I can't see us qualifying for Europe now to be honest, Villarreal can move above us and Espanyol are 2 points clear. We'll give it a good go in our three remaining games though as I'd like to finish on a high. Three very winnable games, finishing against our rivals!