MattyC78

We have reached January 2029 and we agreed to sell Alvaro Odriozola to Nice for £2.2 million. We had six months left of his contract and was unhappy with not getting lots of games so he will be leaving us. Having reviewed the number of games played by some of our youngsters we let a few of them go out on loan for the rest of the season to make sure that their development is not hampered too much. Robin Le Normand There was one incoming transfer. A 32 year old was available for £8.5 million on reasonable wages so he improves the first team but as importantly he buys us time for us to find a youngster to come in at centre back. Urko Santana was sent out on loan now his route to game time has been blocked further.

There is no real benefit. I did it because I have never been able to persuade the board in previous years and I hoped to expand the capacity. Sadly I have never had the option to do this. After a few seasons in the Champions League, money is an irrelevance anyway and I'd rather own the stadium than pay the tax man millions on the profit we make.

I paid £5 million rising to £10.5 million with add-ons and he took a little time to take over from Inaki Williams but for the last few seasons he has been fantastic.

I've had seasons with Real or Barcelona (not both) outside the top four or the odd unexpected challenger but not as many as that. It'll be interesting to see how it settles by the end of the season. Real and Barca have always recovered in mine and scraped into the top four (if only just).

It was very quiet in terms of transfers in the summer of 2028. There were no incoming players and just two departures. Gonzalo Saenz left go to Arsenal after throwing all his toys out of the pram and indicating that he would leave at the end of his contract. We got £4.1 million for him but expect the 50% of his profit to be worth quite a bit more in the future. We also sold on Alex Padilla. He had been our third-choice goalkeeper. He never looked like he could offer anything else and he wanted an obscene pay rise so we sold him on for £850,000 and cleared the route for Aitor Merino, our promising 17 year old keeper to move up to the first-team squad. In the second half of last season, we left ourselves a little short of squad options. I spent the summer looking for cheap options and trying to get some former players, like Jon Morcillo, Iker Muniain and Nico Serrano back to the club but was entirely unsuccessful. In the absence of any real transfers, we have moved up some of the youngsters earlier than planned. Let me introduce to them, starting with Ekain Albistegi who is fine young centre midfielder who looks to have a great future at the club. Jon Saizar has had a couple of successful loan spells at Besiktas and Copenhagen in recent years and is now coming in as our first choice attacking midfielder. Oier Neto got a few games at the end of last season and he has now been promoted to our back-up striker. Borja Undabarrena was brought in a couple of seasons ago for £24 million from Osasuna and is going to be promoted to start getting some game-time. The final player to introduce is Zigor Perez. He is a midfielder that I have been converting to a right-back who came in as emergency cover last year in an injury crisis and he played 23 games. He is in the first team squad on merit for this season.

I am in 2028 and I have also have bought San Mames but I have been unable to expand it. It looks like I am going to have to wait a while to get a bigger stadium.

Congratulations on the Champions League victory.

We have now finished the 2027/28 season. We added to the Super Cup with another League title finishing ten points clear of Real. We went out at the quarter final stage of the Copa Del Rey (to Real) and the Champions League (to AC Milan). Jon Karrikaburu had a fine season with 39 goals in the league and 58 goals in 47 games across all competitions. He is most certainly my first choice centre forward now. Asier Blanco and Alvaro Pascual were unlucky not to be part of the team of the year. They are both developing nicely and we are spoilt for attacking midfielder and winger options.

It's always sad to lose long standing players but it is nice to see the next generation coming through. I've had issues with unhappy players in the past and I've had to let a couple of them go. It is hard because I'm sure I could persuade them to stay if I was able to have a proper conversation with them. We are winning trophies and competing in Europe and we can match the money they are being offered elsewhere. We have a good reputation but that doesn't stop the offers coming and unsettling them. Players seem to be more inclined to move on this year and with more considering their options at the end of their contracts, earlier. This probably reflects most players across football but not necessarily the situation at Athletic. Hopefully those that move on will develop elsewhere and come back again ready to contribute to our future success.

The update for January 2028 saw a few players depart. David Garcia and Julen Jon Guerrero both wanted more football than we could offer so they departed for Ponferrada and Hoffenheim respectively. Guerrero really had failed to develop as much as I’d have liked and he was being overtaken by a couple of the newgens so I decided to cash in and accept the meagre £3 million profit. Iker Muniain sadly also departed as he wanted a new challenge so he went to Sporting in Portugal. I didn’t really want to get rid of him or Garcia but both were unhappy and impacting the rest of the squad. January has also seen us win our first trophy of the season in spectacular circumstances. We were three nil down at half time. We switched to a 4-2-3-1 at half-time and Jon Karrikaburu to led us to a five-four victory with five second half goals as both teams considerably exceeded their xG.

Hi steviemay17. I agree with bowieinspace. I never regret not going for non Basque players even if it is hard to not be able to find a type of player you desperately need such as goalkeeper, captain or corner taker but that is part of the challenge. I do buy Basque players but usually as I get later in the save I regret doing this and wish I had a fully homegrown team. Whatever approach that means that you enjoy your Athletic save is the correct one.

In the summer of 2027, we moved a couple of young wingers who were not making any progress. Jose Antonio Lucio was sold to Liverpool for a fee rising up to £9 million and Mario Merino for £7.5 million to Man Utd. I’m a little disappointed in both but we have an abundance of young wingers and I shall keep an eye on them both to see if they develop any better in England. I brought in a couple of youngsters; Unai Susaeta for £100,000 from Vallecano and Borja Undabarrena for £24 million from Osasuna. These are both for the future so the only first team squad additions are promotions of three youngsters from the B team. Nestor Olabarrieta will bolster options in centre midfield and I had to fend off some Premier League teams in the summer and Chelsea retain an interest. Asier Blanco had a great season on loan at Espanyol scoring 4 goals and assisting 14 averaging 7.12 so he is being brought in as understudy to Nico Williams. The final newcomer is Urko Santana who is the best youth centre back is a long way from being first team ready but he is the best option we have to replace the retiring Inigo Martinez.

Ouch that hurts. The game is brutal sometimes.

My B team have been promoted and relegated a few times and I have struggled a little with the wage cap. I have rarely bought players for the B team and only if they have high professionalism and are cheap. I try to let my under 17s develop in the under 19s but sometimes promote them if they are exceptional. Once they are over 18 I try to focus on getting them first team football. If they are good enough to get 15 to 20 games then I promote them to the first team. If not I send them to play for the B team. If they are better than the rest but not quite good enough I send them out to get first team football at the highest level I can. I use the C team purely for the players that I do not think are going to make it, to clear room in the under 19s and B team. I am starting to take control of setting the training for the under 19s and B team.

We have completed the 2026/27 season, dominating the league but failing in the cups with a semi final loss to Athletico in the super cup and a fourth round loss to Sevilla in the Copa Del Rey. Jon Karrikaburu had a productive season with 40 goals in all competitions. This was despite him never being the preferred starting option. I would still always pick Inaki Williams over him and I have been trying to give some game time to one of my wonderkids, Alvaro Pascual. So far I have been heavily reliant on Iker Muniain, Inaki Williams and Nico Williams. This was the first year where they have not all starred with only Nico making the team of the year. This surprised me but may indicate that it is time to move on. I’m a little concerned by the performance of our centre backs but this will not have been helped my inability to fully utilise corners since the latest update.

I have a real shortage of defenders in my youth intakes as well. I have a couple of possible fullbacks but only some much weaker options at centre back. You can either do without or retrain players to cover other positions but it is always hard with a shortage of centre backs and goalkeepers. I have been wondering if it is do with with my head of youth development. I usually try to go for one that likes to play as I do with a great personality to influence the younger players. I have noticed that my current one, Guillermo Amor, has an adventurous playing mentality and I was wondering whether this leads to better attacking players. I was tempted to make a change to someone defensive like Per Mertesacker to see if that would lead to better defensive options coming through.

It feels like we are coming to the end or an era. A couple of players are in what should be their final seasons, Inigo Martinez is 36 and his performances have dropped a bit and I have always struggled with his inconsistency. He would probably have gone earlier if he hadn't significantly dropped his wages and if there was any option to replace him. Ander Herrera is 37 and I enjoy how his personality impacts on the squad but he has not played as much recently after I persuaded him not to retire last season. I have plenty of midfield options so I may let him move on this summer. On top of that two of the team leaders are starting to decline. Iker Muniain is 34 and not controlling games like he has in the past and Inaki Williams is 32 and he has had few injuries and these are starting to impact on his main strength, his pace. They still have a place in the squad but it is time for a couple of youngsters to start to step up and exert some influence on the team. Both Muniain and Williams have taken wage drops which means that there stays can be longer. Williams took a reduction of £80,000 per week earlier in the season and a reduced contract term.

Interesting. He has never looked like much in my world. I shall have another look but he didn't seem as good as Imanol when I have compared previously.

Congratulations on further success. Some of those youngsters look like they are coming on nicely.

In the summer of 2026 we were given a massive transfer budget of £95 million with a board requirement to spend it. We tried to get a couple of youngsters but with limited success. The only person real addition that we managed to secure was Hugo Guillamon from Arsenal for £38 million. He is a welcome upgrade to our options in defensive midfield. Inigo Martinez very oddly decided to retire from international football after having not been involved in a squad in four years. We persuaded Ander Herrera to delay his retirement but it will be his and Inigo's final season. Jon Morcillo left this summer for £10 million and Julen Agirrezabala for £3.2 million. This summer we had all sorts of top clubs hounding our young players. They became unsettled and wanted to leave. Three of them were eventually convinced to sign a new contract but there was no convincing Ekaitz Sesma. With only a year left on his contract, we had to get the best possible price and eventually agreed a £9.75 million deal with Arsenal and we brought Imanol back for £2.4 million as our back left back as a replacement.

Congratulations to bowieinspace, dothestrand and Doyce7. I love seeing Athletic win and good Basque prospects.

Wow. He looks like quite the passer. One to keep an eye on.

I play as myself but keep meaning to play as a legend in a previous Athletic saves such as Gorka Perez. I am planning to go deeper into the save this year and I will name myself after the biggest regen star next year.

We have reached the end of 2025/26 and the defence of our title. In terms of transfer updates, we brought in David Garcia for £1.6 million in January after he turned us down in the summer as the belated replacement for Unai Bilbao. We also bought a few Basque youngster which I hope be pushing for first team spots in a year or two. Real Madrid have completely fallen away and were no challenge whatsoever. However, Barcelona were formidable in reaching 100 points and running way to the title, leaving me in a battle with Athletico for second place. Robert Lewandowski was phenomenal. Thankfully at 37, he cannot continue forever. Barcelona also dominated Europe and were one goal better than us over two games in the semi-finals before they went on to retain their title. In the Super Cup we were knocked out in the semi-final by Athletico before we went on to get our revenge in the Copa Del Rey by beating them 3-0. We have a few youngster kicking around the squad but we are still very much reliant on the same core group of players. Iker Muniain, Inaki Williams and Nico Williams are irreplaceable in this team. With two of them in their thirties we have to hope they have a little of Lewandowski's longevity. I have been contemplating dothestrand's comments about youngsters getting a full season of first team football and feel I may be promoting players too early and then holding back their development. I have been having problems with the B team. The wage restrictions mean I can only register a couple of our youngsters. It may be a job for the summer contemplating how I maximise youth development otherwise the future years are going to be a struggle.

We're set for our attempt to try to retain the league title. Travsfers were much more restrained than last year. We bought a couple of youngsters (from Rennes and Osasuna) but the main bit of business was Andoni Gorosabel as our back-up right back for £4 million. We sold Lekue for £2.4 million, Berenguer for £14.25 million, Unai Bilbao for £2.5 million and Lander Arenal for £2.2 million. We do have an issue though as Iker Munian is unhappy as we turned down an offer from Chelsea. He has less than a year left and may be leaving so we may have to consider taking the captaincy from him. I like the approach of introducing youngsters as they are introduced to the first team so I am following suit. I really enjoy the youth development and this is part of the appeal of managing Athletic. I have promoted a couple of youth prospects who look good but I may be expecting a little too much too early. Alvaro Pascual is a 18 year old attacking midfielder who we have been retraining as a striker who has been hanging around the first team for the last year. Gorka Saizar is another attacking midfielder who we are planning to use as cover in midfield. He spent last year on loan at Huesca and is making the step up for additional depth. The final introduction is Ekaitz Sesma who has probably been promoted a year early but we are looking a little short after selling Berenguer. Hopefully he will settle in quickly to first team football.