Alejandro_FM

Great start to season 4. Brilliant display against Real. Who's managing them at the moment? I can't recall if you've mentioned in an earlier post.

Thank you! And yes - I did use the tactic from the last update - the 4-3-3 with the AP(S) on the left. I do make the occasional in-match adjustment, like dropping the "work ball into box" if we're too passive, or mentality to "balanced" (if I'd like to spend more time in build-up to draw the opposition out) or "attacking" (if we're behind late in the match and we need to take more risks). There are some PIs: The Winger on the right is told to "cut inside with the ball". It helps that Roony B is left footed. Everyone from the CM strata and up is told to "mark tighter" and "press more". BBM is told to "take more risks" and "dribble more" when it's a player I'd like to empower, like Samardzic or Guerra.

Nice challenge to keep them up this season and a good long term aspiration as well. Good luck!

Thank you! A satisfying season for sure. Thank you! .. Haha -- it's actually Klopp managing Real here too. I agree, it's a bit of an AI cheat code. They've been absolutely running over teams, won everything including the UCL in season 5. This season they lost to Barca on the UCL QF. Last two league seasons they had 98 and 97 points respectively.

Season 6 - Final Stretch (May 2029) The final stretch of the season was intense, nervy at times, but we’ve performed as well as I could’ve hoped. Dropped points on only two occasions in the league. Real Madrid gave us a proper run though. We had to be so perfect, in fact, that we ended up breaking La Liga’s point record (was 100 over 38 matches) en route to Valencia's first La Liga title since 2004 (and first of this save). It’s refreshing to me that we had to be this good and get these many points for our first league win, and that it took 6 seasons of progress, all in the top flight. Typically in my saves, I’ve been winning initially despite some struggles because the “AI teams” tended to flop, but not this time. Real were close to perfect themselves. They scored a whopping 127 goals this season. It’s mental. So many 4-0 and 5-0 results in their campaign. Eventually, we did prevail... Separately, we won the Copa Del Rey for the 2nd time in a row, which made this season even more of a success. I do wish we did better in Europe to boost our reputation a little. Below are a few more screenshots and highlights from the campaign: Team performance: 100 goals scored (2nd best to Real's 127 goals, as mentioned above) scored and 25 conceded (best). Exactly the same as last year. Overall underlying numbers suggest that our adjustments did yield those coveted marginal gains. We won the title fair and square. Player performance: Mamadou Dosso didn’t repeat his incredible goalscoring performance from last season. His NPxG/90 (0.55 compared to 0.71 last season) and xG underperformance of -0.78 were both disappointing. Overall he contributed 17 goals in all comp (only 12 in the league). Not the kind of numbers you’d expect from someone demanding a super star contract. Player of the season (primarily true in the first half) was Roony Bardghji with 14 goals and 8 assists in just 34 apps (due to injuries). I was also very happy with Lazar Samardzic - he had 8 goals and 13 assists, highest on the team in xA/90 (0.42), 2nd highest Op-KP/90 (2.09). Neither of the two made the league’s team of the season, given the performances of Lamine Yamal (15 goals, 13 assists in the league), Vinicius Junior (18 goals and 9 assists), Fede Valverde (19 goals, 14 assists) and Jude Bellingham (23 goals, 13 assists). Dosso, as well as Carnessecchi, Valentin Barco and Paulo Berra represented Valencia in La Liga’s top 11. The versatility of our attacking display did manifest in 7 players (4 starters, 3 2nd choices) achieving double figures in goals scored, and 3 players achieving double digits in assists - Barco from the full back position, Samardzic, and our most prominent academy grad to date, Salvador Rostoll (Prestianni's backup at AML). I was also particularly impressed with Oger Meendering, Dosso’s backup at striker, who scored 14 goals in 27 appearances, but only 14 starts. His NPxG/90 was 0.74, higher than Dosso’s number last year. He seems to get into chances even when he plays limited minutes. It will be interesting to see if he can sustain these high numbers if he were a starter more frequently. OVERALL – We’re in a very good spot in terms of competing in La Liga for years to come, and I am delighted to have gotten to this point with only realistic, frugal transfers, and a young squad, on a wage budget that’s about ¼ of those of Real’s and Barca’s. Going forward - I am asking myself where I’d like to take this journey, with 3 possible options on the table: 1. Achievement focus - we’ll turn our attention to Europe. We’ll continue to gradually raise our wage bill, enhance our squad depth in a few key spots, and try to take the club to the next level. We still want to challenge for the league every year, but the clear goal would be to win the UCL in the next 3-4 seasons. To be clear, In this scenario, I will still maintain transfer market sensibility. Not looking to “break the bank”. So far, our highest transfer fee was ~€18m, and I would intend to remain in that ballpark (maybe up to €30-35m), and have the wage budget peak at about ~€120m/year (about £2m/week). How fast can we become the best team in Europe? 2. Academy focus - we’ll pivot harder to focus on youth development, and make the Valencia first team an academy-first squad. We’ll aim to field as many of our academy players as we can - at least 50% of our La Liga (and UCL) registered squad of 25. So far, I've considered players who arrived at the club at 16-17 years-old as academy players. If I pursue this option, I could further refine the definition and say only our own intake players are academy players. We shall see. How long will it take us to get there? We’ll still want to win as much as possible along the way, but we’ll slow (or halt) transfers to ensure that our academy players have a priority each summer when the first team squad is decided. 3. Tactical innovation focus - we'll pivot away from my mainstream 4-3-3, possession system, and try something I've not done in years (I've been playing 4-3-3 fairly religiously since FM17 at least). Maybe a 3 at the back? Or maybe a 4-4-2. The key would be to introduce new tactical principles, and be more rigid about them. We'll still try to win, develop players and so on, but mastering the new shape will be my focus. These options are not mutually exclusive, and we’re not going to set hard and fast rules. It’s more about the theme of the save going forward. Trying to decide what will be more interesting and enjoyable for me. I’ll figure this out after a little bit of a breather… as I tend to do … I realize that this is completely subjective, but I am curious to hear what others might have done if you were in this stage of the save ... Any thoughts or ideas from any of you reading this are most welcome. Cheers and vamos los ches!

Thank you. Much Appreciated. Yes their finances are nuts, revenues too.

January 2029 3 additional months into the season, cross the half way points. How are we getting on with those marginal gains? The rest of 2028 went smoothly in the league, coupled with one more European victory against Bayer Leverkusen (not coached by Xabi Alonso at the moment). The league form pleased me in particular - 6 matches, 6 wins, 15 goals for, 3 goals against. Then in January - We saw off Bilbao away thanks to a brace from our Dutch striker Meendering. but then, we had a defining slate of fixtures ahead of us: It's all nice and well to beat the "other teams" in La Liga in successive fashion. However, as we've seen, Real Madrid do not blink. Coming into our match against them, we were tied on 53 points a piece in 20 matches. It didn't help that this match of the season got scheduled right between two do or die UCL fixtures, both away from home. To add to the challenge - our two best players - Roony Bardghji and Gianluca Prestianni, were going to miss that entire stretch. So, I decided to "give up" on Europe, and fielded our backups against Nice to keep our team fresh for Real. That didn't go well... We got thoroughly outplayed by the 7th place team in Ligue 1. The Valencia loanee Benito (class of 24') even came on for a cameo with 3 minute to go... Never mind that... we gave Real THE BUSINESS: And with 10 men for about 40 minutes, after Javi Guerra, our vice-captain, and scorer of the early goal, decided to lunge into a 2-footed tackle in the 54th minute. Our low possession stat is misleading, and is mostly driven by us being pinned back in the second half when we were a man down. In the first half, we had our way with Real in their half, and even when we lost the ball, we were in excellent pressing situations, which led to our 2 first half goals, both from final third interceptions. Here's the possession that led to our opening goal - We're building play from the back in a left-skewing 3-2. Navajas, the ball playing defender and at the top of the back 3, passes to ball to Kalu, our defensive midfielder, who then passes a nice line-breaker to Oger Meendering at the center of the front 5 (the right winger is out of the at the bottom of the screen). Our left side overload with Barco (top of the light blue line), the Rostoll, (The AP, in for the injured Prestianni), and Samardzic the BBM, is clear to see in the image. Kalu chose to pass into the middle in this case, however, I often excellent interplay in the left wing, which leads to someone freeing up with a through ball. Meendering can't hold on to the ball, but we have 4 players (including him) near by to immediately pursue the ball and counter press. The resulting blunder ended up with Javi Guerra and Meendering both heading towards goal with the ball at their (Guerra's) feet, with only the keeper left to beat. 1-0 Valencia! A minute later - we had another clear-cut-chance resulting from an interception in the final third, only this time Meendering's shot hit the post. Speaking of Meendering. No, he did not become our starter at striker. He started for Dosso because the latter was throwing a fit wanting a new contract. He's on ~€1.7m/year with 3 years left on his deal and is asking for 6 times that (€10-11m). He's incredible, and we can afford it if we keep our winning ways, but I am reluctant to break our squad wage structure for the guy given the depth we have behind him. We'll revisit come the end of the season. So - I was extremely pleased about beating Real. We proceeded to handily beat Shakhtar away and Barca at home as well. What a wild ride. With Barca - the match was a bit tighter, and they certainly had their chances, but I was confident in our strategy. They played their usual narrow 4-2-2-2 under Xavi, and we exploited the flanks by turning our IFB on the right into a WB(S), while providing extra cover in the middle with Kalu as a HB instead of a DM(S). In the UCL - unfortunately, as I suspected despite winning more in the second half of the league phase, it was "too little too late" and we had to bow out with a disappointing 9 points in 8 matches. We really have to figure out how to step up our European game. Since winning the Europa League in 2026, we've only been back to a round of 16 once. In the league, after 22 matches, we have the edge at the top of the table. Our head to head matchup (i.e. matches between us) is tied, so we'll need to beat them with more points. It may take 95+ points to win La Liga this season. Can we keep up this insane pace in the coming months?

Terrific season. Your team performance stats really support the results. No real weaknesses and great defensive and possession numbers (relative to the league from what I can tell). I think the 4-2-4 is really brave with the attacking mentality and the top heavy formation. Should be better in pressing intensity and make you even more attack minded. I'd be curious to see how it performs, for sure, similar to warlock above. And I'd also second the praise to Carnesecchi. He's been my GK as well. Rock solid.

This is a comprehensive dismantling. Mostly down to them having 10-men? Or some tactical magic? Prestianni developed really nicely for me. He's the complete wide player. Great purchase!

Thanks! ... yeah to be fair, that's the way it is in football sometimes. The best predictor of on-pitch success is the wage bill

Great start. Depo have not made it back to the top flight in my 6 seasons here so far, but would have been nice to have that "derby" on a regular basis.

Nice progress so far! Bartesaghi looks immense. What a talent.

Early Season 6 (November 2028) We kicked off season 6 hoping to mount another title challenge, and to improve our performance in the UCL. Unfortunately, our early season slate was brutal and really tested our resolve. 2 of the first 3 league matches were against Real and Barcelona, both away. The opening 2 matches of the UCL were both away at Braga and Barcelona (for the second time in 3 weeks), followed by home matches against Liverpool and Spurs. So, the schedule was not in our corner, but as they say “To be the best you have to beat the best”. How did we fare over the first 3 months? The answer depends on the competition. In the league, our form has been very good, continuing on from last year. After 13 matches, we’re 2nd behind Real, only 2 points separating us, having lost only once (to Real, on match day 1), and having beaten Barca away at Camp Nou. Real is just on a different planet at the moment. They boast a 47 to 9 goal difference after 13 matches. Just running over teams. In Europe, we lost all 4 of our opening matches, despite controlling 3 of them and having good chances to win each match. We finally won on November 1st, at home to FC Koln, but it might be too little too late, as far as our European campaign is concerned, with matches at Leverkusen, Nice, and Shakhtar, all away, still to come in the league phase. We’ve been competitive, and clearly whatever it is that we need to do to win the biggest competitions is about finding marginal gains. A tactical evolution? Better in-match adjustments? Squad reinforcements? Better rotation? I don’t know. I am hoping to find the formula in the coming months. Real Madrid pose an almost impossible challenge in the league, but can we find a way to stay close to perfect and keep up with them? A tactical sidebar: Coming into the season, the plan was to do “more of the same”. I’ve rigidly stuck to this 4-3-3 shape with the right side providing cover in the back, allowing Barco on the left to go forward and contribute in attack. Our central midfielders ALL like to get forward and in the box (If I decided to overhaul the position, this might be something I would look to balance). Therefore, the attacking plan is to involve the flanks (mostly left) in the buildup and allow the midfielders time and space to make the forward runs. Dosso is a goalscorer and backline stretcher. Roony is an all-around threat from the right, whereas Prestianni on the left is expected to create, either for himself or to provide the killer pass, to one of his forward line partners or to one of the midfielders on a forward run. Overall, the plan has worked well so far. Hard to argue with 3 consecutive top 4 finishes in La Liga, 2 of which were accompanied by over 90 points. Additionally, this setup did seem to produce solid performances from our best players: Dosso had an excellent season 5 as covered previously. The underlying numbers suggested that he was well served with goalscoring opportunities (recall, he had the highest NPxG/90 in Europe’s top 5 leagues). Barco - is at the high percentiles for progressive passes, xA, xG and shots for a full-back. 8 assists in the league and consistently one of the highest avg ratings on the team. Bardghji - 8 goals and 12 assists are perhaps not the output I’d expect to see from our 2nd option attacker (behind Dosso), but then again, his xG (~10) suggests he should have been in double digits for scoring, and his underlying numbers suggests he’s at high percentiles for shots, OP-KP, xA an xG for his position group. Prestianni’s output last season was very good, 14 goals and 11 assists in 29 starts. Barco's stats (season 5) Bardghji's stats (season 5) Last year, I felt that our attack was on par with the best, but our defense was a notch below those of Barcelona and Real. This trend continued into this season. If the reasons behind this trend are tactical (they may not be, but humor me here), then what is it about our tactics? I went on a mini data mission to figure out where our underlying numbers differed from those of the La Liga royalty. I looked at the defensive line, pressing intensity, pitch tilt and more. We were impressively keeping up with Real and Barca. Here’s for example the pitch tilt chart: Ultimately, the meaningful differences I found: We are more loose in possession. Our pressing intensity is lower. Improving on #1 felt like something I ought to try. If we gave opponents fewer opportunities to possess the ball, we would be less vulnerable to counter attacks. I am not quite sure about #2. I don’t want my players running around pressing like headless chickens, so “much more often” intensity is out of the question. Should we be more aggressive, though? Perhaps with a pressing role like a BWM, or with a TI of “Get Stuck In”? maybe. For now, I ended up creating this alternative tactic. The “jury is still out” on this one. What I am trying to do with the changes here: Playing out of defense - more safe possession. Removed “Pass into Space” - more safe possession. Removed “Counter” - more safe possession. New roles with more fluidity and support: Barco is now a WB(S). Wanted fewer attack duties and the other 3 seemed more important Changed the IW on the left to an AP, CM(s) to BBM. Let’s see if any noticeable improvements are apparent as the season continues …

Preseason/Summer 2028 - Squad for Season 6 Heading into the summer my focus was optimizing the development paths of our brightest prospects. I prepared for a transfer window with minimal changes to the squad, and almost no spending. Summer comings and goings: First, We cashed in on a few players: Marcel Ruiz, a bonafide starter and high performer in seasons 2 and 3, fell off the rotation, and given his limited runway for growth, and relatively high wages, €35m was too good to turn down. He’s off to Nantes, which is a popular team among our players (many state that it’s their favorite destination for loans and such), having been recently purchased by a tycoon. Nantes is also managed by a Spaniard who plays a 4-3-3, interestingly. Alejanro Frances, our starting right back (IFB), is off to Spurs for €42m (matched his release clause). A good player but one I didn’t mind letting go, which may have been a mistake given how opposing left forwards abused us in matches this season so far. Tobias Gulliksen, our 3rd choice left forward is on a season loan at West Ham with an option to buy at $45m. I think they’ll go for it given his market value of €70m+. Some of our best prospects went on loans with the hope they’ll make a leap this season: Salvador Zagala to Crystal Palace in the Prem, Benito (to Nice), Juan Hernandez (to Lens), and Salvatore Marchi (to Bordeaux) in Ligue 1. Marchi, by the way, is an excellent wingback prospect whom I may not have mentioned before. Was acquired in the summer of 2027 into the academy, and had a very strong preseason which prompted me to believe he was ready for a top flight loan. Enclosing his profile below... We made just two incoming moves and only €9m spent upfront: Stefan Bajcetic, a bit of a leap of faith that he can get back on a development path. Our scouts and fans were not supportive given his age, but I figured it was worth the risk. He has been okay overall since coming in and has certainly developed, but he has also made a couple of mistakes which led to goals from the opposing left wing and eventual losses (early in the season - update will follow). Sabit Sarigul, a Turkish center back, and already very impressive at age 20. Fit straight into the rotation behind Paulo Berra. Overall, the transfer strategy here was simple. Let's not bring in players who will prevent our existing young talent from playing big minutes. Squad depth ahead of season 6: (Trying to not spam with too many profile screenshots, so I am limiting myself to our top 4 players, enclosed at the bottom) Goalkeepers: Both are good quality La Liga players. Carnesecchi is a better shot stopper and Restes can do more with his feet. I don’t think in FM having a world-class GK is a must for winning titles, so to me, we’re sufficiently stocked in the position. Position grade: B+ Center-backs: Navajas and Valentini share BPD duties in the left center back position. The former is close to world class. Berra and Sarigul are more limited, but very solid and still emerging. Overall, we’re not lacking quality or depth here, just some experience. Position grade: B+ Full-backs: On the left, Barco is a star and high performer. Signed an extension this summer, making him the second highest paid player in the squad. We now consistently set up in shapes and game models that allow him to move forward and contribute in attack. Sanchez is his backup, a player “at his prime” but far below Barco in quality. Clearly an area to improve in the future, given that none of the prospects below the first team seem to have the potential to reach Barco’s quality. On the right, we have homegrown Mosquera, my “pet rescue project” Bajcetic, and two prospects outside of the first team in Marchi (mentioned above, on loan) and Jimenez (in the B-Team). In the first team, this is without a doubt our weakest position, so I really hope that Marchi and Jimenez can progress quickly in their development and command their place in the team, otherwise, I’ll have to make a move in the transfer market. Position grade: B- Central midfield: At the DM strata, Rocco Ascone is a second year starter. Solid option, but limited growth potential. Behind him, Kalu is newly promoted from the B-Team, an excellent all around deep option hailing from Nigeria. I am super high on him. At the CM strata, our best player at the moment is Lazar Samardzic, the Serbian attacking orchestrator, with a mean left foot. We do rotate heavily with 5 interchangeable options because the aforementioned Samardzic is often called to back up Roony Bardghji at left winger, given the lack of a natural backup in that position. I am very high on Camara, whom I’ve mentioned a handful of times before, a player who’s been at the club since age 16 and returns to the first team this season after a loan in the Bundesliga. Benito, arguably our best CM prospect, is out on loan as I mentioned above. Position grade: B+ Wide-forwards: On the left, Prestianni and Rostoll are terrific 1st and 2nd choice options. Both are immense playmakers, and I am aiming to bring them more into matches by adjusting the tactics slightly for the season to come. On the right, we have Roony, who started season 6 on a goalscoring spree, but no natural back-up. The would-be-backup, Juan Hernandez, who is not ready, is out on loan as mentioned above. Hugo Duro and Lazar Samardzic help out by rotating into this position when needed. Position grade: A Center-forwards: In my previous post, I already covered our new star striker, Dosso. Behind him we have Hugo Duro, and Oger Meendering in the first team, and our academy star Zagala out on loan at Crystal Palace. No plans to acquire any more strikers in the near future. Position grade: A Top 4 players: Overall: The squad is 2-deep at each position and is set up well to compete. We have a weakness in right back, and some inexperience in the center of defense. Let’s hope those don’t come to cost us this season, with expectations being as high as they’ve been. As has been the case in the past 3 seasons, the media has us pegged to finish 3rd. With renewals and such - wages have now gone up to ~79m per year and we're up to 6th highest in La Liga.

Season 5 (2027/2028) Another season is in the books. Still going with the save, albeit at a slow pace with life commitments “getting in the way”. Here are 6 storylines from from season 5 at Valencia: 1. We’ve yet to win the league, despite putting together our best season to date Another good showing from our young squad. We are not dominating, and I think I like it this way. The challenge is keeping my engagement with the save high. In La Liga, solid performances throughout the season, including some quality results against the league’s top teams, saw us break the club record point total with 92 points. But, Real has just been too good. They’ve now won back to back titles, and this year they did it emphatically with 98 points. Real is so bloody good, they won the Champions League this year as well, beating Man City, the EPL champions, in the final. We did manage to beat them 4-0 on match day 30, though. After a trophyless 26/27, we added a 2nd trophy to our cabinet in 27/28, the Copa Del Rey (Recall, we won the Europa League in season 3 - 25/26), beating Real Madrid in the QF and Atleti in the Final. Atleti, by the way, really fell off and finished the league in 10th, outside of the “European Places”. 2. Valencia in 2028 is a rich and prosperous club Looking back - our net transfer profit since 2023 comes close to ~€400m. It’s absolutely wild. Admittedly, it has been a bit too easy to offload players to Saudi and other destinations for hefty fees. What further helped generate a positive profit has been my emphasis on (what I'd consider) realistic transfers for all incoming deals - highest fee paid was €19m for Roony Bardghji in 2024. This season, we sold Valentin Gomez - a ball-playing defender, Luka Romero (who's Bardghji’s backup at AMR), Sebastian Bosseli - a right sided center back, and Andre Almeida - a playmaker - for a total of €130m. None of the 4 players were starters at their positions. On the flip side, we brought in 7 players for just ~€30m. Of the 7, just three came into our first team rotation: Rocco Ascone - a French defensive midfielder, good on the ball and can play center-back as well. He ended up spending quite a bit of time in defense in the second half of the season given the sale of Valentin Gomez. Bought for just €6m. Paulo Berra - continuing the tradition of young Argentinians in the squad. Another left footed center back. Came in as Bosseli wanted out and I knew I could shift homegrown Cristian Mosquera to right sided IFB in the rotation. Played backup most of the season but saw plenty of game time and showed solid growth. Bought for €11m. Oger Meendering - a Dutch striker prospect. An opportunistic buy of a forward player who brings excellent physical tools and aggression, and less finesse. The scouts thought he had excellent growth potential and I liked that he came cheap (just €7m). Oger came in mid-season and played backup to the brilliant Mamadou Dosso (more on him below). The 4 other acquisitions were 17 year-olds from Romania, Kosovo, Italy and The Czech Republic. They were all placed in the U19s. All 4 are high potential players but somewhat far from first team ready. I don’t make these kinds of acquisitions every year, but I found that it sometimes helps to bring players at the academy level to ensure future role and play style suitability of academy graduates. I am really keen on giving our own youth intake players ample development focus and a path to the first team, but I have found that what I am getting in terms of role suitability, style of play, is a bit of a crapshoot (similar to a discussion I saw in Shrewnaldo’s Sporting Gijon thread; my experience has been the same). The other aspects of good financial management are all in check as well. We’re achieving in the league while keeping the wage spend well below the other title contenders, at €70m/year (7th highest in La Liga). Our commercial income has also grown significantly and we’re now 4th in La Liga with €27m/year (still just 1/10th of Barca and Real’s comparative numbers). Wages to turnover is just 20%, by far the lowest in La Liga. 3. We have the best attacking force in Spain, but can't quite match the defensive dominance of Real and Barca 100 goals scored? Not too shabby. We continued to be an assertive attacking team, taking the 2nd most shots (behind Real), but still maintaining the highest quality of shot in the league (close to 0.16 xG per shot). The defense was markedly better than last season, but still somewhat worse than the big 2’s defenses. We conceded only 25 goals, with the 3rd lowest xGA (~31 goals). I may have to add defensive solidity to push us to the next level. It’s all about marginal gains at this point, when we’re so close to the top. 4. We still don’t have the quality depth to compete in earnest on both fronts Injuries and fixture congestion led to a lot of rotation in the first team. The constant rotation resulted in some inconsistent form at times, mainly in the Champions League. We had an unremarkable league phase which resulted in another playoff round appearance, same as last year. We were drawn against Liverpool for that playoff round and bowed out after losing 3-0 on the road, and barely scraping a 2-1 win in the return fixture. Disappointed that we weren’t able to beat our Round of 16 accomplishment from last season. The thing about our squad depth… I am not unhappy with our 2nd choice players. They’re good overall. It’s just that the way we’ve operated, our backups are a mix of high potential 19-20 year-olds, such as Paulo Berra, Salvador Rostoll, and Benito, with clear areas for improvements, and solid, but unremarkable, La Liga players like Manu Sanchez and Christian Mosquera. Side note: Hugo Duro (club captain) played a lot of AMR this season with that 2nd choice team, and did a good job, scoring 16 in all competitions. The overview of the squad (below) with the high level stats for apps, goals, assists and avg ratings shows just how much we had to rotate. Pablo Barrios - the man I’d like to start in defensive midfield, manage to clock just 18 starts all season. Gianluca Prestianni, arguably our best player, started just 29 matches (returning a healthy 14 goals and 11 assists in all comps). Our backup GK Restes started 24 matches. Every single 2nd choice player (with the exception of Oger Meendering who joined in January) started 17 or more matches. It’s fantastic for squad morale and development, but definitely impacted results. 5. We have a new superstar upfront Mamadou Dosso - our (almost) 20 years-old Ivorian striker, an acquisition from the summer of 2026 for just €2.6m, became our undisputed starter upfront, and he didn’t disappoint with 25 league goals in 28 starts, and 31 goals in total. That’s a fantastic return. He’s also the best on the team at getting at the end of chances, with 0.71 NP-xG / 90. Dosso’s performance has been so good, he fares well even when compared to the best strikers in Europe. When looking at the top 11 scorers across Europe’s top 5 leagues, Dosso has the highest NP-xG/90, the highest goals/90 (by a mile!), and the highest conversion rate. He’s already up there with the likes of Haaland, Vitor Roque, Gonzalo Ramos, and he’s at least 3 years younger than anyone else on that list. Mind blowing. I give him a ton of credit for his movement (anticipation 18, OTB 16). And then, we have to give the rest of our team credit for setting him up with an array of tap-ins and simple 1:1 chances. Dosso has gotten plenty of recognition, winning both the “Golden Boy” and “NXGN” awards this year. There’ll be interest in him, naturally. Fortunately, he’s under contract till 2032 with a nice release clause of €120m, which is starting to feel a little low given how good he actually is. 6. Our homegrown youngsters continued to progress; seems that loans and starter minutes make a big difference (as opposed to coming on as a sub) The top 4 prospects from our academy, per the list we created in the summer of 2027 - Rostoll, Benito, Camara and Zagala - started the season in our first team squad of 26 players. With Rostoll as a legitimate 2nd choice at left forward behind star man Gianluca Prestianni, and the others being 3rd choice in key positions. Rostoll and Benito stayed with the first team the entire season. Neither has grown as much as I had hoped. Rostoll is clearly already elite with the ball, making great decisions. He managed 9 goals and 4 assists in all comps, Close to 0.5 goals/90 and 0.3 xA/90 put him well within the top 10% of attacking midfielders in Europe. He was 4th on the team in open play key passes (2.06/90), the best among the forward line players. Prestianni, the aforementioned starter ahead of Rostoll, was only 10th on the team with 1.6 KP/90. But Prestianni is much better at creating and finishing chances, likely because of his elite speed and agility, coupled with terrific dribbling, movement and intelligence. Physically is where Rostoll has to grow and improve if he is to compete for a starting position as a wide forward. That is, unless I end up finding a better spot for him on the team (his skillset is really more that of a playmaker than a wide forward). Benito only got 13 starts (+19 sub appearances), but he showed flashes of excellence with 7 goals and 2 assists, mostly as a CM(A). His most notable stats to me are 0.28 xG/90 (highest of any CM on the team), and 2.02/90 open play key passes, which is 5th on the team, right behind Rostoll. Given how good he was as a 16 year-old, I thought he’d be further ahead by now. That being said, the ceiling is still very high with, according to our staff. Probably needs to improve decisions, and the physical side, to truly take over in center midfield. Does he need to play week-in and week-out to make the leap? Maybe a loan next season? That's certainly where my mind is at. Zagala and Camara weren’t getting enough playing time, so in January I sent them out on loan. Zagala went to Rayo Vallecano and actually played very well, scoring 8 goals in 17 league appearances in the second half of the season. He will need another loan simply because he’s a 3rd choice striker at the moment (behind Dosso and Meendering). Camara went to Stuttgart which this season were a mid-table side in the Bundesliga. He also got plenty of starts, didn’t perform as well, but still showed some solid growth. He has some similarities to Benito, and also lacks physically. I am debating whether to give him more playing time with the first team next season, given his elite decision making, or whether to send him out on loan again. The standout prospects out of players who didn’t make the first team was Juan Hernandez who recorded 17 goals and 6 assists for the B-Team, Mestalla, in La Liga 2. His performances made waves and some big teams (e.g., Spurs, does that count?!) started inquiring about him. So, I went ahead and renewed his contract with a higher release clause and pushed away the suitors. He’s now a La Liga caliber player, but not quite good enough in terms of movement, anticipation and decisions to be in our rotation, so we’ll aim to send him on a top flight loan for next season. Another member of the stocked 24’ class (alongside Rostoll, Benito, David, and Borja – the latter two are good prospects who are starters for the B-Team at the moment). The state of the academy overall is very good. There’s a lot of talent there. The U19 won a third consecutive Spanish youth title and is filled with excellent prospects from the classes of 26’ and 27’ (the 28’ intake, the most recent one, was a dud). The B-Team, Valencia Mestalla performed very well in La Liga 2, finishing 4th (they were not eligible for the playoff, obviously). So, we have the best youth team and the best B-Team in all of Spain. Going forward, I'd like to see more academy grads earning places in the first team. There no rush, though. We’re only 5 seasons in. The guys from our very first intake (class of 24’) are just turning 20 this year. Additionally, I'd like to keep winning. Our instant rise in La Liga and also competing in Europe every season means a high bar for the first team rotation. We'll just have the find the right balance in every match between fielding the best player who is fit and the high potential player who is desperate for playing time. In conclusion - Another good season from our young Valencia squad. We won another trophy, but we still have way to go. We are swimming in cash, but we won't be spending it, opting instead to maintain some realism and to try to build the club gradually towards becoming part of the European Elite. For season 6, the board set the transfer budget at €140m and the wage budget at €172m/year. We won’t be spending anywhere near that, but let’s see if we can make further progress in the UCL, maybe challenge for the title again and hope for a slip up from Real Madrid, which is currently Europe’s best team. The board wants to win the title by 2033. I hope we’ll do it sooner than that...

Hey @jckstevens -- sorry for missing your post... I am still undecided on the B-Team. I have been trying to create a path through there to the first team. The first couple of guys are just about to "graduate". So far, the guys who have gotten playing time developed very well. Our B-Team was in a playable league from the get go, and they're now (season 5) in La Liga 2, so lots of fixtures at the right level for the youngsters. I was actually able to hire some staff for Mestalla, and made sure they're top notch, so the set up there is excellent. I hired the manager too and they've been playing the same tactics as the first team. The only thing really that I am not influencing is their team selection and rotations.

Great job bringing Julian Ward onboard. He's surprisingly attainable in FM. Do you intend to rely on him much?

2027 Offseason - The Academy I initially started writing this reflection and listing our academy players after season 3. However, I never got around to finishing the post and the season that has passed changed some perspectives. Overall, the youth system is in terrific shape. Easily, one of the best I’ve had on FM. 4 seasons in is still early in the save, but I can already spot at least 5 prospects who will likely eventually become first team regulars. The list below is sorted by current ability (Not potential, and also not CA, just my personal judgment of their current levels, largely based on attributes, performance, and staff reports). Some of the lower ranked prospects could end up surpassing the top ranked guys given unknowns about their potential ceiling. Alright, so here are the top academy prospects at the moment: 1. Salvador Rostoll (Class of 24’) - Forward When I created this list last year, he was #3. But a year out on loan at Nantes in Ligue 1 saw him grow tremendously. On a team that barely avoided relegation from the top flight, he played very well scoring 9 goals and assisting 4 times. Our staff thinks he still has a ton of runway to grow. This technically gifted forward could play in any position in our front 3. I’d like him to feature in the first team in season 5 (2027/28), but there’s a dilemma regarding his best role. Is he a deep-lying forward? a creative wing? Something else? Fun fact - when you go to “Find Similar Players”, the list returns with 6 names: Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Mohamed Salah, Kvaratskhellia, Luis Alberto (Lazio), and Mattia Zaccagni (Milan). The filter is set to 15 or more in decisions, first touch, technique, passing, finishing, and determination. What a prospect! 2. Benito (Class of 24’) - Center Midfielder, Playmaker Our midfield creator of the future. His technical ability and vision are already top notch. We’re working on decision making and movement. Expecting him to be the heir to Javi Guerra. Despite him not being elite just yet, we have intentionally not brought any new playmakers into the club to ensure he got plenty of playing time. Has been on the first team in the past two seasons, featuring sporadically in both seasons 3 and 4. But despite 30 appearances in this past season (only 8 starts), he has not grown quite as much as I had hoped, and has not been a clear 2nd choice in any position. I am considering sending him on loan in 2027/28. Still only 19. 3. Salvador Zagala (25’) - Forward Initially dubbed the next Fernando Torres (He lost the label for some reason). He’s still very young (age 17) and raw, but what a talent. Could lead the line for us through the 2030’s if he lives up to his potential. I have kept him around the first team from the get go to receive mentorship from our captain Hugo Duro. Not concerned about playing time yet, but keeping an eye on his suboptimal personality. Featured for both the B-Team in the 3rd tier, and for the first team in La Liga (8 times, all as a substitute). Already has 3 La Liga goals to his name. May need to send him out on loan in 2027/28 as he’s turning 18 in October. 4. Adama Camara (Acq. at age 16) - Center Midfielder Acquired from Elche 2.5 years ago as I loved his mentals. Spent one season with the U18s, and then this past season on loan in Estrela da Amadora in the first tier in Portugal. His performance on loan was not good. However, I am bit fed up with our midfield and am tempted to give him a shot. Either that or send him on one more loan, hopefully a more successful one. In any case - he’s an excellent prospect as a midfield runner. Should fit into the first team at some point, no doubt about that. 5. David (24’) - Left Back A bright left-back talent. Spent the first two full seasons with the U18s, leading them to youth cup glory. Then, this past season went on loan to Sporting Gijon the La Liga 2. This was a very successful loan, full of top performances and growth. I don’t think he’ll be a world beater, but hoping he could be a meaningful rotation option in 2 seasons or so. 6. Borja (24’) - Center Back Another top talent hailing from the famous class of 24’. Spent 26/27 in the B-Team getting rotation minutes and continued to grow. He’s already at La Liga 2 level and I am thinking that he could go on loan to a better side (than our B-Team) before hopefully making himself valuable to the first team in a couple of seasons. 7. Enric Costa (Acq. at age 16) - Center Back / Central Midfielder Another acquisition we made for the U18, from Mallorca this time. I just loved his versatility and the mentals at such a young age. Quite hard to pinpoint his best position, but I am leaning towards CB because he’ll be strong in the air, brave, and has great anticipation. Weakness in vision and work rate hold him back from midfield roles, in my opinion. He spent 6 months with U18 and will likely play 2027/28 mostly in the B-Team. Probably one of the 5 highest potential players on this list. 8. Juan Hernandez (24’) - Wide Forward Like David above, he spent 2 full seasons with the U18s. But his growth has been a little slower, and so instead of going out on loan, he spent 2026/27 plying his trade with the B-Team in the Primera Federacion. Scored 23 goals in 34 league games in the 3rd tier. Not quite as highly rated as some of our other attacking prospects, but I should still be a La Liga player one day (maybe not with Valencia). 9, Oier Ugarte (26’) - Wide Forward An elite attacking talent. Was the U18’s top scorer this year. May move up to the B-Team this year as our staff thinks he’s ready for the 3rd tier. 10. Nicolò Masullo (26’) - Center Back According to our staff, he has the most potential of any prospects at the club at the moment. Still young, but like Ugarte above, he may get a chance with the B-Team this season. His elite athleticism could cover for weaknesses in positioning and anticipation. Those latter two attributes will have to improve if he’s to make it with the first team. 11. Roberto Jiménez (26’) - Right Back I have been very impressed with his growth this past season in the U18. Could be a solution at right back in the future. The 11 players I covered should be in the top flight within a few seasons, half of whom will hopefully play for Valencia. Incredibly, I didn’t even cover all the 4 and 5 stars at the club. Some of the younger guys from the class of 27’ in particular are raw, but could possibly climb up this list in a matter of 1-2 seasons. Some other interesting early insights are that the class of 26' has already surpassed the class of 25' with 3 players in the top 11 comparing to only one guy from 25' (Zagala at #3). To be fair, there are a couple of prospects from 25' who are probably on even terms with Ugarte, Masullo and Jimenez, but I didn't include them thinking that the 26' lads probably had better potential. We shall see. What would this list look like if I rated them on potential and not current ability? That's hard to answer. I think the top 5 by potential would be: Zagala Rostoll Benito Masullo Costa I could be convinced otherwise, though. It's so hard to say. I can see these 5 guys becoming world class given where they started and the elite levels on key attributes for their roles. But, I won't be shocked if all five never reach those heights. Should be a fun following their stories. This is it for now. I am very impressed with the quality of youth so far. Time will tell if we’re able to develop them well for the first team (or to sell for good money).

Season 4 (2026/27) It has been a month since I posted in this thread. After a short break I returned to the save for another season. This season was a real rollercoaster ride, with frustrations and inconsistencies, and plenty of good moments as well. Big picture - we’re still on course. We didn’t take another step forward. We didn’t repeat our 2nd place finish or that club record 91 point total. But, we are where we deserve to be, given our playing squad relative to the rest of the league. Before we talk about Valencia, in the summer of 2026, the world cup took place, in North America... and this was the final... No idea how... Ben Doak with the world cup winner! Before the season started - this came in: Tempting, but no thank you! I think I’d like to end this save with a stint at Liverpool, but not quite yet. There’s still so much to accomplish at Valencia. Perhaps in 3-5 seasons. I said no and they ended up going with Luis Enrique. Squad plan for the season: After a stellar season 3, my intention going into the summer was to minimize change among the first team. Our core is still quite young and has a lot of runway, if I can keep them together. This may not be the best first 11 in Spain, but surely a solid squad to continue contending for the European spots. So, initially, we planned just 3 incoming transfers: Manu Sanchez, a 25 years old left-back with plenty of La Liga experience with Celta Vigo, came to be a proper backup for Valentin Barco. We paid a bit much (~€20m) for a player who is not going to be a starter and already in his prime (in FM terms, that is). However, a good attacking full-back is hard to find, and this is a position we filled with an array of left-footed center backs last season. Manu should give us good depth for a couple of seasons before we move on to bigger and better things. Lazar Samardzic, a 24 years old center midfielder. I initially thought Marcel Ruiz, our starting Mezzala, was going to depart in January 2026. He didn’t. But I did search for a replacement and found Samardzic, a very similar player to Ruiz, who was coming out of contract and agreed to join us on a free for €2.2m/year in wages. He’s excellent technically and should just fit right in. Certainly an upgrade on Fazzini, who will see a reduced role this season. Mamadou Dosso, an 18 years old Ivorian striker. He looks like someone who has immense potential, and despite being blessed with future options upfront, I could not help myself when I saw he was there for the taking for such a low fee. He’ll be a 3rd or 4th option this season, but with this acceleration, and this movement, this guy will be our marksman one day. Perhaps a 2-striker formation in our future?! On the outgoing, beyond the loans discussed above, the Saudis came again bearing gifts. They pawned €53m upfront (to to €58m) for Nordi Mukiele, a 28-years old backup center back. Then, on deadline day, RB Leipzig came and met Eric Martel’s release clause of €60m. In a panic to replace our starter at defensive midfield, I looked at some loan options and was pleased to see Warren Zaire-Emery from PSG available for an affordable loan. The option to buy was a ridiculous €121m which I was never going to trigger, but still, some excellent loan business. He was not going to get the playing time at PSG, a back-to-back UCL champion in this save, and for us, he was going to play a vital role. On deadline day, I also brought in another youngster, Joseph Kalu, from Nigerian side Sunshine Stars. He’s a future option at DM and spent 26/27 in the B-Team. This was the first team depth chart to start the season: Benito is an academy grad (class of 24'), who is already fully with the first team. Highlighted players are whom I consider our best players. Crimson highlights are the new additions. My ability and potential assessments are based on staff reports: A+ = World Class A = Leading La Liga B+ Good La Liga B = Decent La Liga (keep or loan) C = La Liga 2 (loan out) D = Primera Federacion / B-Team E = Segunda Federacion / youth I find this system useful when I need a single value to tell me whether a player is at the bar or not. The more As and A+s we have on the team, the more likely we are to beat Barca and Real and compete for the UCL. I also use this type of scale when deciding on promotions of youth between the squads, sending them on loan and so on. I’ve been doing this for a while, with a slightly different visuals. The idea for this particular table format is from Shrewnaldo’s excellent thread about his Sporting Gijon journey (excellent one to follow, kudos to him). Our first team is solidly top 3-6 in terms of quality and depth. Yet, our wage bill is only 8-9th in the league, and our wages to turnover ratio is the very best in all of Spain, at 18%. Tactical plan: We stuck with our 4-3-3 shape and high-octane attack which proved solid in season 3. The presence of Zaire-Emery in the defensive midfield made me tweak roles and duties just a bit for a 2nd version of the tactic, aiming to build from the back a bit more and free Javi Guerra to make deeper runs upfield. Prestianni on the left was told to stay wider in the 2nd version of our tactical setup. The results: We started the season well both domestically and in the Champions League, but injuries and inconsistent form saw us dancing around 5-6th spots in the league and outside the top 8 in the European league phase through January. We played better in the second half of the season, enough to finish 4th in the league and bow out of the UCL at the Round of 16 (to Barcelona, an eventual finalist). (I’ve excluded the domestic cups from the screenshots so they’ll fit in one image. No big news there. Lost in the QF of the Copa Del Rey and SF of the Supercopa). The underlying numbers suggest that this season was similar to last season, placing us as the 3rd best team in La Liga. However, last year we outperformed the metrics and finished 2nd in the table. Overall, I am not displeased. The one area for improvement tactically is on the defensive end. We were clearly a tier below league leaders Real and Barca in xGA. A deeper look suggests that we: Are conceding a lot of through balls The most prominent assist location is centrally just outside the area On one hand, through balls are the risk you take with a high press system, that’s okay. However, Barca and Real also press high. What do they have that we don’t? World class center-backs, possibly. That’s one thing we can aim to improve upon. The other element is the “drop off more” instruction. I have been using it for a couple of seasons now to cover for the lack of pace and acceleration in our back line. Perhaps it’s doing more harm than good because the space left in front of the defense allows time and freedom for opposition creators to make the final pass. So, I am going to try to remove that, perhaps even “step up more” and see if that helps. In terms of individual performances, this season was unspectacular… Roony Bardghji was our player of the season with a pedestrian 13 goals and 11 assists in 42 appearances in all comps (Got some international recognition too). Nicolas Valentini was our top defender and made La Liga’s team of the season (as a sub). Hugo Duro was our top goalscorer with 19 goals in 35 apps. Again, quite unremarkable. He did miss about 30% of the season with injuries. Mamadou Dosso, the Ivorian new addition, showed a lot of promise with 15 goals in 34 appearances (but only 17 starts). He’ll start more next season. Our 2nd best striker at the start of the season, Norman Bassette, was sold to Brighton for €20m in January, which cleared the way for Dosso to see a lot more playing time. Zaire-Emery, our prized loanee, became our highest rated player over the course of the season, and had a solid year statistically as the single pivot in our 4-3-3. He assisted 8 times, and recorded a solid average rating. We’re not going to buy him for €121m, nor will we extend the loan. I’d like to find a more permanent solution in the DM spot. Our other top players, Gianluca Prestianni, Javi Guerra, and Valentin Barco, were all quite underwhelming. We need better returns from these guys going forward. Going forward: The board and fanbase are happy to continue establishing ourselves as a top 4 team, but I’d like to start challenging Barca and Real sooner rather than later. Still, despite the ambition to challenge for the title, we’ll continue to make only sensible transfers (<€30m in fees), and focus on player development. I’d like to procure a new center back, and obviously resolve our DM conundrum. Additionally, I’ll consider moving on from some of our established, but unglamorous options in midfield, rotation players such as Marcel Ruiz, Jacopo Fazzini and Andre Almeida. I plan to follow this post with a more thorough look at our academy and the pipeline of young talent coming through. Until then… Vamos Los Ches!

Thank you @Blodyxe. I think it will continue. Just taking things slowly as things are busy IRL. How are you getting along with Valencia?

Good to know I'm not alone in feeling this way. That each virtual season takes longer year-on-year is a real pain. I used to LOVE long term saves. And yeah I get what you're saying about the challenge of revisiting a save after a break. Hopefully you find something that sticks!

Thank you both! We're definitely on solid grounds now. With another year of clinical finishing and barring any major injury we should put on a good challenge for the title. I am just trying to decide whether to continue... to be determined...

April-May 2026 - Season 3 at Valencia CF La Liga: A terrific final stretch saw us really testing Barca for the title. We started April 7 points behind leaders Barcelona. 3 draws out of following 5 games made it feel that the league title was a done deal (for our rivals). At some point Barca even increased their lead at the top of the table to 12 points. However, we finished strong, with 4 consecutive wins to end the season, including a 3-1 win against Barca at home (which gave us the seasonal head-to-head advantage), and made sure they really had to earn their title, winning on match day 38 on the road against already relegated Levante. We finished 2nd, 20 pts ahead of Real Madrid in 3rd and the surprise package Osasuna in 4th. I am proud of our 91 point campaign. The highest in club history. And only 3 losses throughout the year. We’re certainly ahead of schedule in the league and the board already declared victory on their “best of the rest” objective, targeted for 2027/2028. Europa League: Last time around, we beat Leverkusen in the round of 16 and were headed to The French Riviera to face OGC Nice (5th in Ligue 1 this season). They were instantly not a match for us and we beat them comfortably 3-0 at the away leg. We made it a bit harder for ourselves at home but our aggregate win was never in doubt. To be fair, I let 4 academy players start on the day as our league fixtures were coming thick and fast in April. In the semis, we got Man United. A side I feared for their superior talent. However, just as in real-life, this is also a side that is underperforming their wage bill. They finished 2025/2026 7th in the EPL. Already sacked 2 managers since the start of the save (ETH and Simeone). So we played them well. Deserved more than the 2-4 loss in Old Trafford, and absolutely trounced them at home to advance to the final. Roony Bardghji was immense across the two legs, torturing United with 3 goals. On May 20th, inconveniently scheduled midweek right between two La Liga matches (with title implications!), we played another former great side - Juventus - in the Europa League final. They’re playing quite well IRL, and they won the scudetto in season 1 of this save, but in this season, season 3, they’re a mid-table side in Italy, playing boring, cautious football (coached by Conte, who else?!). Juve was no match to our boys. We held them to 1 shot over the 90 min, which was not on target by the way, an xG value of 0.07, against our 18 shots and 2.50 xG. The score line sells short our domination and the trophy justifiably became ours. Europa League champions! Team performance: According to the xG table, we were good but not THIS good. Overachieved expected points by 12 (Real really underachieved as they finished 20 points behind us). Nevertheless, our defensive effectiveness improved significantly (xGA was ~31 goals relative to 38 last year). And in attack xG rose from 69.5 last season to 78.2. So, we improved on both ends and were more than deserving a top 3 finish. I am definitely content with our tactical adjustments. We were able to hold on to our setup for the majority of the year, and certainly the entirety of the second half of the season. This is how we played for the majority of the matches, including the UEL final and the home thrashings of Barcelona and Real. A couple of keys to this structured, positive pass and move system: The fairly narrow shape and the lateral movement of the midfield players due to their roles and duties, mean that players are close enough to each other to have plenty of passing options, both laterally and going forward. There’s box penetration from both flanks, giving variety and unpredictability to the final pass. The three players in the defensive strata who take very few risks make us solid at the back. I am not sure it’ll work with any side, but this system suits our team’s strengths and weaknesses quite well. Player performances: This was a very balanced performance by the squad this season, with a whole set of guys contributing significantly to the success on the pitch. Gianluca Prestianni, who was arguably our best player in season 2, was somewhat hampered by injuries and into the void stepped not one but the entire front line. Hugo Duro (23 goals in all competitions) and Norman Bassette (21 goals) have been reliable finishers. Roony Bardghji (11 goals, 11 assists), Tobias Gulliksen (12 goals, 12 assists), and the aforementioned Prestianni (13 goals, 8 assists) had solid seasons from the wings. Marcel Ruiz (14 assists) and Javi Guerra (11 assists) were creative out of midfield. The latter was the 3rd highest rated (7.31 avg) in La Liga this season. Marco Carnesecchi was immense in goal, conceding only 22 league goals and achieving 21 clean sheets. He didn't win GK of the year in Spain because Ter Stegen and Barcelona conceded only 20 league goals and kept 22(!) clean sheets - and of course they won the title. Lots of solid contributions. Again, a very balanced team which key players across the pitch. If I had to pick a top 3 - as of the end of this season, I'd say our best players are: 1. Roony Bardghji at right wing 2. Marcel Ruiz in central midfield 3. Carnesecchi in goal. Additional thoughts: As I tend to do at the end of seasons, taking a bit of time to reflect. Asking myself questions, in no particular order: Is this save progressing the way I envisioned it to? -- it is. We're making progress, somewhat believable progress too. Is it still enjoyable? -- it is. But I am drained by some of the nonsense in the game. What’s left to accomplish? --- a lot .. competition wins, player development, club financial health Am I excited about what’s left to accomplish? I have to admit, the grind of full fat FM is quite something. I love the in-season flow, including tactical adjustments, managing form and fitness. I love transfer windows and making squad decisions. However, the year-round scouting, the year-round interactions with the squad and media, and managing 50 odd contracts are just draining me. I know I can delegate, but I struggle to trust, having witnessed over and over again even staff with excellent attributes make terrible decisions. If there’s one thing I’d get rid off in today’s game, without thinking twice, it is interactions. They are just so superficial, so lacking in nuance. I understand that it’s very difficult to simulate real conversations, and to take into account personality, morale, and most importantly the relationships between parties. If interactions were perfectly implemented, they would add to realism and immersion, but how do you even implement them perfectly?! I’d rather they just took them off the game altogether. In any case, I am trying to muster the energy to carry on, because there are some things I absolutely love about this save. The youth prospects already in the team, the competitive challenges that still remain (win the title, win the UCL). These are exciting… a little break may do the trick… I am thinking about it...

I took a 5-week break from the game. Just real life getting in the way. Now I am back in the save, chugging along the second half of season 3 at Valencia. January-March 2026 We’ve gone through 3 months in 2026 and the team continues to fly high in La Liga. We’ve also made it to the semi-final of the Copa Del Rey (eventually falling to the best team in Spain, Barcelona), and to the QF of the Europa League - still ongoing, where we’ll face OGC Nice in upcoming fixtures in April. Notable highlights: The vultures are circling around our defensive midfield. We rejected multiple bids (Liverpool and Bayern) for Eric Martel, our starter. He may have to go in the summer. Pepelu, our backup, left for Brighton in the EPL for €14.5m (up to €17.75m). League results have been excellent overall with 8 wins (7 clean sheets), 2 draws and 1 loss since January. That loss to Celta Vigo was a fluke, coming at the 90th minute to their only shot on target in a match we absolutely dominated. We gave Real Madrid a 5-0 thumping at home. Still to come, a late April encounter with Barcelona at home, with the title potentially on the line. Seems unlikely given Barca's incredible form. Nevertheless, we’re all in on the league this season and a top 2 finish seems to be in the cards. In Europe we have OGC Nice in the quarter final. We’ll try to continue to advance, but I am maintaining a low expectation given the strength of some of the remaining opponents, including Manchester United, Inter Milan, and Juve. Our cup run ended in the semi-final at the hands of Barcelona, as mentioned above. A couple of injuries to key players (Valentin Barco, Hugo Duro, Gianluca Prestianni) hurt our chances. But frankly, I completely rotated the team for both legs of the semis. Didn’t go for the cup this year, perhaps a mistake. The annual youth intake arrived with a less glamorous group this time around. We are attempting to sign 6 of them. The most intriguing prospects seem to be a central midfielder named Jose Segrelles and an Italian center back named Nicolo Masullo. Let’s see how we crack on with the rest of the season… Vamos Los Ches!

Season 3 - October through December, 2025 The league campaign We’re at the half-way point of season 3, and our league form has been nothing short of spectacular. We won 11 in a row (including the last match of September) and in that run conceded only 2 goals. We find ourselves 2nd in the table, 7 points clear of Real Madrid in 3rd. Barca, by the way, is on pace to 102 points for the season and seems poised to wrap up the title by March. Can we keep this run going in the second half of the season? The metrics suggest that we probably won’t, having been a little lucky in defense. Nevertheless, we’re very close to where our performances suggest we should be. Our defensive metrics show a massive improvement. Our opponents have the lowest conversion rates on one of the lowest shots on goal number in the division. We're certainly more disciplined in defense, and perhaps the individual instructions we added to our back line (they all "close down less") made a difference. Our main man of the first half has been Marcel Ruiz, adding 9 assists to his 6 goals. He is a player at the peak of his game, and our 2nd highest earner at (€3.4m per year). I am not keen on paying him more given his limited growth potential, and unfortunately his release clause of €45m is highly doable for Europe’s top clubs. I won’t be surprised if he leaves in January (currently wanted by Dortmund). It’d be a nice bit of profit. Hugo Duro got back to scoring, adding 8 goals in the last 10 matches (after going scoreless in August and September). 3 of these were penalty goals, so it’s not like he’s firing on all cylinders, but still it’s nice to see him back on the scoresheet. Gianluca Prestianni got a new contract, which has him tied to Valencia till 2030. He was announced Europe’s Golden Boy on Dec 31, scoring 12 and assisting 14 in 42 matches in 2025. What a budding star this 19 year old is. GK Marco Carnesecchi deserves a shout as well. 10 conceded goals, 11 clean sheets in 18 league matches and the team’s highest avg rating overall with 7.28. His save percentage was 89% in the first half - by far the highest among starting goalkeepers. Is he the reason we’ve overperformed expected goals against? While we were flying high in the league, The Madrid teams were somewhat inconsistent. I expect them to surge in the second half of the season, and Osasuna and Rayo Vallecano to shrink back to their normal sizes. The biggest disappointment of the first half has been Real Sociedad. They’re 12th in the table, sacked their manager Alguacil in early December and brought Thiago Motta (who led Bologna to 6th in Serie A) to replace him. Let’s see what they do going forward. Sociedad’s staunch defense and possession system was such a feature of our first two seasons in La Liga. We need strong competitors to the big 3. The Europa League Our European campaign has been less glamorous so far. A frustrating loss in Monaco was followed by inexcusable back to back draws with Braga and Basel. We then recovered with back to back 5-0 wins over Panathinaikos and Bratislava. At the turn of the year we find ourselves 8th in the league phase table, but a difficult away match at Bayer Leverkusen (who are right behind us in 9th) awaits, before we finish the phase at home with Galatasaray. We really need a top 8 finish to avoid the extra two fixtures in the round of 24. It is worth mentioning that I often field a fully rotated team in Europe. I prioritize the league in the first few seasons, knowing that something has to give. Our lack of consistency therefore illustrated that our 2nd 11 is still not quite where it needs to be to compete on both fronts. The academy received praise… We’ll do a proper review of our academy come the end of the season, but in the meantime we received news that our youth program is rated 10th in the world (City, Barcelona, and Chelsea were the top 3). Excellent place to be, but by the time we’re finished here, I’d like to see us in the top 3. Is that achievable? The manager received recognition… Finally … My managerial success this season caught the eye of some big clubs, as Juve and Man United each came knocking on my door at different times this fall. Both giants have struggled in their league campaigns (being 14th and 11th in their respective tables). I said “No, thank you!”. We’re here in Valencia to elevate the club and we’ll see it through. I might look to take on a new challenge in a few seasons, but certainly not yet. That’s all for now. Lets see if we can avoid a slump in the 2nd half of the season, something we were unable to do in the previous two campaigns.