Two 2* with 4.5 potential and 2 1* with 4 potential. I am playing as Villarreal and I think the stars are relevant to the talent currently on the team so no surprise I didn’t get any guys ready to join the senior team as 3/4 are in positions I have good talent in already
Started my Journeyman save when it was released. Hired by Swansea Uni in the Cymru South. Got them promoted to the Cymru Premier where we are currently 3rd in the table in the playoff conference portion. 3 games remaining. Unfortunately one of those against TNS which is a L. So with some luck Swansea Uni will be playing in the Europa Conference League next year.
It is random but certainly helps to have a good youth academy (spurs have the highest in the game this year I believe) and a good Head of Youth development. I found a Spanish guy working as a U19 coach for Qatar who is a 20 in working with youths and a 19 in scouting potential ability so I have to imagine he’s played a role in this
Just started the 3rd season of my Villarreal save. I am pleased, nay thrilled, to report I have secured the services of Endrick for 20 million USD
And if you don't get golden gens, you can absolutely ROB La Masia for out of contract kids that are 4* PA
In season 6 of a save that started with 1860 Munchen but things went south when we rose to quickly from B3 to Bundesliga in 2 seasons. They wouldn't raise my payroll beyond $6M/year yet were getting disgruntled that we were hovering just above the relegation zone so I jumped at an offer from Union Berlin, saved them from relegation and should finally make the Europa League. The funny thing is that the game is putting every young USMNT guy in the Bundesliga. I've got Siebatchu at striker (though he's old now and lost his starting spot to Walid Cheddira) and signed Malik Tillman on a free, and every match I'm playing against guys like Dest, Slonina, Richards, Pepi, Scally, etc etc.
My second season intake was only a 3.5 star rating so I stole two 4* PA kids from Bilbao. One of them only has 6 determination so I doubt he lived up to the hype but the other one will probably be in my first team some day. I need to see if I can raid Barca
If you guys are looking for a cheap wonderkid who isn’t super hyped up like Endrick, Jude, Gavi etc please look no further than Oscar Gloukh. I bought him in the winter window of my second season for 3 million and he’s been my leading goal scorer as a shadow striker two seasons in a row and just won the best U21 Player in the World award absolute gem struggled to score for me at first but once I had him learn the places shots trait he’s been incredible
You overpaid. Just looked him up in my sim and Dortmund got him in 2024 for $2.9M, but they didn’t unlock the key to his success like you did
After winning La Liga and taking these guys to the CL Semi final in my fourth year having never been given a budget above 28 million in any year I have decided to leave Villarreal. I spent all summer flirting with the Real Madrid opening and complaining to the media how the board wasn’t investing enough for my long term vision before Madrid offered Deschamps. Then out of now where PSG came to me and offered a budget of 189 million. I am ashamed to admit that even in a fictional sports management game, I have a price.
somehow as an American managing an overachieving mid-table bundesliga team I was offered the Italy manager job. Turned it down since I can't imagine it's fun managing 12-15 games a year with no ability to find/develop players but I was intrigued enough that I might take a national team job in the future
Need to figure out a team to be in 23. I always prefer a build type of club. Part of me wants to go Wrexham
I don’t know if I’ll ever play another FM after this one. Arsenal constantly sucks in this iteration, near relegation level, and I can live in a virtual reality that doesn’t reflect the pain and jealousy of the real world.
Anyone got any ideas/recommendations? Kinda like the sound of doing something like H/T Irush Mix El_Pato Artoo
Depends on what type of build you’re looking for I suppose. Wrexham could be good if you’re into those grindy type of builds where you’re constantly looking for bargains and sometimes playing “boring” football. if you’re looking to pump out some talented newgens and building up from inside it could be helpful to take over a medium reputation team with good youth facilities-FC København could be a good one there as well as Benfica, Sevilla, Slavia Prague, Schalke. If you’re looking for a team that will give you enough to cash to snap up some cheap real wonderkids I would say just pick any mid table EPL team or a team like Monaco or Wolfsburg
I'm also intrigued by the limited European slots in these mid/low level leagues. Makes the league performance more important
Starting unemployed and doing a journeyman with no badges to start has been my most fun saves recently. You can make changes to your "story" as you go along. The beginning can be a bit frustrating when you're trying to get that first job but ultimately it's rewarding when you do.
Start at the bottom of the English pyramid. I use Southport a lot for some reason. Serie C is also a wild place to start.
I had done one with them a few years ago IIRC. Had solid success. I believe Young Boys typically dominates.
For those of you that have done your English pyramid saves, do you add all the European countries? I have like 12, but I know I won't be sniffing them for a long time. But I also don't want to get years down the save and have to add leagues. I have 12 countries added at the moment and game speed is a 2 star(I've played far worse), but was curious for thoughts.
I decided to sim five years before deciding on a team. I’m about to hit year three in the sim, so hopefully tonight I’m moving forward.
Five years in the books and I may just end up with Wolves. Still in the PL but barely avoided relegation. Lots of guys to sell (Nunes could fetch a big price) but more importantly, they seem to have a ridiculous 19 year old midfielder that would be great to try and build around. I haven’t scouted him but he looks legit. I’ll scour more before making a choice though.
I went outside Europe for my first save this year. Independiente in Argentina. Just wanted to try something different, outside the big European leagues.
Yeah, haven't gotten farther than the semi finals so far. Corinthians fucking smoked me in the semis this season
So after weighing my options in my five year sim, I just applied for all the open jobs and ended up with Parma, fresh off relegation to Serie B. Not surprisingly the team is shit, and has no money. I spent two hours last night selling players that were unhappy being relegated and looking for loans. Team is going to be young and probably bad. Expecting to be fired. As an aside, the US made it to the quarter finals of the 2026 WC, where they lost on PKs to the eventual champs England.
They had zero staff. Because I had no Asst Manager, it was impossible to find an assistant manager because no one wants to work for an 8th tier team lol. Finally got one, trying to bring on a few other staff members. Being a part-time club is wild.
God damn. Do your players have any chance of developing through training in such a nightmare? It’s all about game time probably, although my understanding/belief/mental model is youth up to 17 or 18 develop more via training and then 18-21 loan out for first team experience if they aren’t ready to play in >half my matches. This is the perspective from someone who only has played Tottenham with their astronomically larger budget, where financials is a complete afterthought.
Idk how you guys can do it. Lowest I’ve ever gone was the championship and the one season I was in there it felt like such a grind