Brazil
During the off-season in 2031, my Brazil side played in the Copa America. Which we promptly managed to win. Below you can see the reaction of the Brazil FA and fans. Although the Copa America only counts as a minor International trophy, it is still good to win something on the international stage - particularly considering the doubts I have over whether my Brazil squad is really World Class or not.
However, just as important as actually winning the competition was seeing how well my side played. In the below screenshot, you can see the average ratings of the squad over the competition. Pretty impressive.
The screenshot below shows the matches we played on the way to winning the Copa America. Overall, I was very happy with the fact that we won every game and only leaked 3 goals. The only possible fly in the ointment is that we never really came up against any world class teams during the competition. The toughest match we had was against Chile in the Final where we really struggled to break them down.
Liverpool
And below is a screenshot of my new look Liverpool side taken just before the start of the season.
Yes - in a supremely funny twist of fate, Andy Rogers is injured. You may recall that last year, I signed Andy Rogers and John Farrell together. The idea was that John Farrell would be my fourth MC while Andy Rogers would get some development time. Things didn't quite work out that way when Farrell picked up an injury during the off-season and I had to play Rogers straight away. Well, after seeing how well Rogers played and deciding to push him into the first team, he promptly gets injured in the off-season which means that Farrell will be starting the season instead. Yeesh!
As promised, I sold Danielle Galli to Middlesbrough and managed to get GBP12.5M for him. Which is a pretty good deal as this was his market value at the time of sale. All in all, it was a good decision to sell him. I came up against Middlesbrough in the Charity Shield and at one point, Galli managed to beat the offside trap and raced clear of all my defenders. However, instead of scoring, the plonker blasted the ball over the bar. I couldn't help but think, "and that is why I sold ya".
I replaced Galli with Oliveira. If the name is familiar, its because Oliveira is in my Brazil squad. In fact, it was his good performances for Brazil which gave me the confidence to buy him. I paid GBP25M for him but I do have high hopes for him in the coming season. I also intend to let Darren Barber get some playing time on the right wing when the occassion permits. Barber is a wonderkid I signed in 2029/30 and has been doing really well in the U18 squad.
Another new name you will see is Coelho. He is an AM L and was brought in to replace Michael Bennett. Bennett was a player who showed a lot of promise as a youngster. Unfortunately, that promise never really materialised despite a couple of seasons in the premiership and so I sold him off to Tottenham for GBP4.9M and replaced him with Coelho who I bought for GBP10.75M plus John Simpson (a decent U21 DC).
You will also note that Sanchez is still around. Literally a day after the season ended, his value dropped to GBP6M which annoyed me in that I was hoping to get GBP10M for him. In any event, I offered him to other clubs for GBP6M. At that price, a couple of other clubs made bids for him. Unfortunately, nobody was able to agree a contract with him. I suspect the greedy twat was asking for GBP80,000 a week which nobody was willing to pay. Ah well, he can be a backup striker for next season.
With the scoring issues I had last year, you may be surprised to find that I didn't add to my strike force. My hope is that Ross Mills will be able to spearhead my attack together with John Blake (Blake is a funny player in that he doesn't score a ton of goals but he does get involved in loads of attacks and passes - kinda like the modern day Rooney). I was very impressed with the number of goals that Mills scored last year and I'm hoping he is now ready to be my first choice striker.
In any event, with Coelho and Carter on the left wing, I can always play Paul Thorpe in attack if Mills bottles it. Although Thorpe has always played as a midfielder for me, he actually plays as a striker in the England team so he should be able to step into the striker role relatively easily. The only other new purchases were potential future stars who went straight into the under 18 team. I signed Mike Patterson (MC) from Watford for GBP375k (fee decided by tribunal) and Michael Parsons (DL) from Tottenham for GBP13M (ouchie!).
And with that, the new season begins!
2 comments:
13 mil for an under 18 player? You must have a lot of confidence in him!
I do have a lot of confidence in Parsons. Several of the scouts came back and said that he was a potential star of the future and an excellent acquisition for any club. So far, this has been borne out in his performances for my U18 squad and in the couple of first team games I've played him in.
However, the key reason I paid so much for him is that the only way I can get quality players is by paying through the nose for them. If you look at my transfer history, you will see loads and loads of overpriced acquisitions. If I wait until they become established players, then I easily pay upwards of GBP20 or 30 million for squad players. The only way I can get a team of quality players is by buying them while they are young and/or unknown and even then, I have to pay well in excess of their market value at the time (as you can see).
In other words, although 13 mil sounds expensive, its cheap compared to what I would have had to pay for him if I had waited for another year or two. And considering that I didn't have any up and coming DL's in my reserves or U18 squad, I figured he was worth the money.
Having said that, if the players do well and win me the league and UCC - can they still be considered overpriced? Especially considering that the club is doing very well financially.
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