There aren't many managers in the world who would confess to being completely happy with their current playing squad. Let's face it, half the fun of being a football manager is wheeling and dealing! So, with that in mind, let's have a quick look at how best to go about buying and selling players.
As soon as you take over at a club you will be looking to add new players to your squad as you ship out the dead wood and look to find the right players for your team and tactics.
Buying Players Under Contract
To make an offer for a player, go to the player's screen. Select 'Make Offer' from the Action Bar.
When making a transfer bid, your primary focus is on how much you are willing to pay. Setting an appropriate Transfer Fee' will be looked upon more favourably by the club you're making the offer to; try to ensure that you're offering at least 100% of the player's current valuation as a starting point.
You can set a Transfer Date and include a Sell-On Percentage in the deal in order to entice the player's club into selling. The latter is perhaps more valuable to a club when they are subject to an offer for one of their younger talents.
Should you just wish to enquire about a player's availability or what a team might be looking for should they sell him, change the 'Offer Type' to 'Enquiry'. They will respond quickly, at which point you can consider your options accordingly.
Your Assistant Manager will offer his opinion of the player to you at the top of the 'Transfer Offer' screen.
When you are satisfied with your offer, select ‘Suggest Terms’ and you will receive a response from the players’ current club. You can then tweak your offer to entice the club to sell the player.
Each time you press Suggest Terms you will get a response from the selling club.
Once terms have been agreed press Submit Offer to finalise negotiations.
If the player's club accept the offer, you will be given the opportunity to offer the player a contract. See the section on Negotiating Player Contracts earlier in this manual for more information on doing this.
Bosman Moves and Free Transfers
A player with six months or less remaining on his contract may be subject to offers from other clubs without permission from his current employers.
To sign a player who is coming towards the end of his contract (known as a Bosman move), go to his Profile and select 'Offer Contract'. You will be taken to the 'Contract Offer' screen to put together the details of your offer. Under the Bosman ruling, players aged 24 and above may move freely without cost. If he is below 24 years of age, you will be required to pay his club a compensation fee which is decided by an independent tribunal. When managing in England, Bosman moves are restricted domestically until 4 weeks before the player's contract expires.
Signing a player who is without a club is far less complicated as you merely have to convince the player that he should sign for you. Most players will be pleased to get back into football but if your club isn't big enough or he doesn't like the terms on offer, he may well prefer to remain a free agent.
Selling Players
To sell a player, go to his Profile and select 'Transfer Status'. From here you can either place him on the Transfer List, or make him available for a loan move.
You may also wish to take advantage of the 'Offer to Clubs' option, which can be found in the 'Actions' menu. The player's availability will be circulated around interested parties with the hope of attracting an offer.
If one or more of these clubs become interested, you will notice the 'Wnt' icon in the player's status section on his Availability page (see the section on 'Player Indicators' earlier in this manual).
Any subsequent bids will arrive in your Inbox.
Loaning Players
In a football world where money is becoming increasingly scarce, loaning players has become a popular method of adding to your squad without spending big. It has become increasingly common for big clubs to take advantage of the system by loaning out younger players to smaller teams in order for them to gain first team experience, or simply to get out-of-favour players off the wage bill.
Should you wish to loan a player, simply change the type of transfer offer. You can now determine the length of loan deal in the same way as you changed the value in the offer for a permanent transfer. You can also offer to pay anything up to 100% (in 10% increments) of the player's weekly wage whilst he is on loan as a potential sweetener to get the deal done. The percentage you are able to offer is restricted to your current Maximum Wage, displayed on the Finances screen.
Loan-to-buy deals can be negotiated for situations where you want to make a temporary deal permanent, either for the arrival of a new player or for getting someone off your books.
Loaning Players Back
Clubs are increasingly on the lookout for young talent to build their squad around in the years to come, but with so much competition for their services they're often forced to act early and sign a player before he's ready to contribute fully.
These players are often signed and then immediately loaned back to their former club. You will have the option to leave the player at his club when making a bid in order to allow him to develop in a more stable environment.
Searching
Football Manager Mobile™ 2021 features a Scouting Agency which allows you to look at, and monitor, a ranked list of the top 50 players in the game both for current ability and for future potential.
Away from the Scouting Agency, your scouts can be assigned to specific regions of the world in which to search for talent, or to specifically search for youth players. To assign a scout, select 'Scout Results' from the Search menu. You can now select assignments for your scouting team by using the 'Manage Assignments' button. Choose a region or whether to specifically look for youth talent or not, then press 'Assign Scout' to send your scout off on their assignment. At any time, you can revisit this screen to see the players your scout has recommended thus far. To recall the scout and perhaps send him to another location, simply change your settings as detailed above.
Any player can also be scouted individually from their profile screen. Simply select 'Scout Player' from the 'Actions' menu and your scout will provide a report shortly.
Scouts
Scouts come with specialist skills for you to choose from. Select from 'Bargain Hunter', 'Tactical Analyst', 'First Team' and 'Youth Scout' and utilise your scouting team in a more powerful way than ever before.
Use the assignment list to keep track of the work being done by your scouts and the players they recommend.
Select a player to view a comprehensive and detailed scouting report reporting on positives and negatives as well as likely interest, wage demands and an expected transfer fee.
Player Search
The Player Search function has been designed to allow the user to precisely define and refine their search for new talent. To access the Player Search screens, select 'Search' and then 'Player Search'.
To customise a filter, select 'Customise' and then configure the various fields available to you.
In Football Manager Mobile™ 2021 you can now save your Search Filters by selecting the 'Load/Save' button on the Action bar. You can save up to four filters which can then be loaded in future, including during other save games.
You may change as many of these fields as you wish. This enables you to pinpoint precisely the type of player you are looking for.
You can change the page of the Search Results that you are viewing either by using the swipe functionality or by selecting the next or previous page button, located in the Title Bar.
Shortlist
Your shortlist contains all the players you have ever bid for as well as those you have manually added. Once a player is on your shortlist, you will receive news items on any information relevant to him.
To add a player to your shortlist, select the 'Shortlist Player' option from the 'Actions' button at the bottom of his Profile screen. To remove a player, repeat this process and choose the 'Shortlist Delist' option.
In Football Manager Mobile™ 2021 you can save up to four Shortlists which can be loaded at any time during a save game. This enables you to have different Shortlists for different types or qualities of players. Select the disk icon in the bottom left of the Shortlist screen to save or load a Shortlist.
Scouting Agency
The Scouting Agency brings together all of your club's knowledge of the wider footballing world and presents it to you in a helpful manner, making it easier than ever to identify potential transfer targets.
Your Scout will present a list of the best Senior and Youth (Wonderkid) players around the world, ranking them in order of how well they're currently playing.
Also included in the Agency's work is the Player Form section, which indicates who's Hot and who's not. Swipe left and right to switch between the Hot and Cold list.
At the start of the game both form lists will be empty, but as the season progresses the pages will become populated based on how players have been performing.
Use this feature to help you find who to add to your shortlist (and who to avoid!). All you have to do then is convince the stars of the future to join your team!
Player Comparison
The Player Comparison page, accessible by browsing any player and selecting 'Comparison' from the 'Actions' menu, allows you to compare any two players.
Once you have chosen both players, tap 'Confirm' and you'll be taken to the Player Comparison screen where their attributes will be displayed.
To view additional information, tap 'View' where you'll be given detailed attribute and stat comparison options.
Find Club
The Find Club screens allow you to look at any club or national side around the world, should you wish to do so.
Use the continent pages to navigate between regions of the world and select a nation to view all the clubs that are based there.
Additionally, you can use the 'National Team' button in the Action Bar to view the national team for that nation.
Report Record