As a long-suffering Everton fan, I became used to not having a lot of money in my Football Manager saves, scrapping for loan deals and inevitably having to sell most of the best players. Following their takeover, I became used to my club throwing money at bad deals and wasting whatever they have in real life.
I don’t think I will ever be comfortable with the fact that they bought three slow attacking midfielders in one window, and that they started a season with Dominic Calvert-Lewin at wing-back. Everton, that.
Football Manager is all about escapism, it allowing me to dream out a scenario in which Everton don’t constantly disappoint me, that they actually turn up for big matches and don’t fold in on themselves every time that lot from across the park turn up. In that regard, Football Manager is probably one of the most unrealistic games ever made.
It also allows me to make smart deals that make sense, which does not include £45 million for an Icelandic ghost who can sometimes score a nice goal. Though Everton start off with a decent amount of money, I haven’t been splurging the cash at all, only just recently breaking my transfer record because I had £200 million that was just begging to be spent. What am I supposed to do, let the board have it to put back into the club and help it grow off the pitch? No, I need a seventh midfielder, thanks.
I’m currently on the 2023-24 season in my Everton save, having won a couple of Premier Leagues and European Cups. The club is now the most stable it has ever been with cash to absolutely burn, but I won’t be dipping into it too much. Instead, I will be making transfers like these.
Ilaix Moriba, who I managed to pick up for £1 million from Barcelona and has just soared to a 5 star rating.
James Maddison, who only set me back £28.5 million and regularly scores a thunderbastard and can also be deployed on the left remarkably well.
Naci Ünüvar, one of “those” players who doesn’t have the best ratings but regularly turns up, only set me back £3 million.
Sergio Gomez, an £8.5 million acquisition who is practically begging to be renamed Xavi.
Pietro Pellegri, who I somehow picked up for £850k after his parent club bought him for £22m (twenty-two million) and loves twatting them in off his bonce.
Armel Bella-Kotchap, a pricey acquisition at the time at £9m, but he’s now basically just a glorious freighter in the middle of my defence.
These are just a few of the players in and around my matchday squad who I bought for far below market value, though I think if I indulge myself any more then I may as well get out the stamp collection.
I also have a YMCA’s worth of young players out on loan at various clubs across the world, which definitely isn’t exactly what Chelsea have been doing for years and have been criticised for. I will play them one day, I swear.
My methodology is pretty simple: high potential, low value, send on loan and then rotate it in over time. For more senior players, short contracts where the asking price has been slashed. I think I’ve bought maybe three players in total who have had more than two years left on their contracts. January is basically like a HMRC convention for me, the amount of contracts I sign.
I’m not always onto winners, mind you. I have bought a player for £4 million, sent them to Rotherham and then saw their stock absolutely plummet. I’m not sure why; maybe it’s the Rotherham air.
My right side is also just a mess, a total mess. I keep buying wingers who just don’t work out, though they really should. I picked up David Neres (who was somehow in the MLS at the tender age of 25) for a decent £16 million, but he just isn’t doing it for me at all and now find himself unregistered and in my U23 squad. I probably shouldn’t have promised him he’d be a Star Player.
There’s also Adam Traore. Now, Adama is a guilty favourite of mine, someone I picked up for £20 million after he regularly decimated me in matches against his club. You give him the ball and the man can sprint. However, if you ask him to do anything with the ball requiring skill, such as something called a “pass” or “shot”, he will usually blast it into the atmosphere or miss from five meters out. I hate and love him, the silly bastard.
It’s November in my save at the minute, and I am already salivating at the prospect of another transfer window in January, just to see how much more wheeling and dealing I can do, which youth players from France I can potentially ruin this time out.
While there’s plenty of excitement on the pitch in Football Manager, I weirdly prefer everything off it. Buying a player on the cheap and the cultivating them into something special over many seasons is probably the game at its very best.
Sports Interactive, if you’re reading this, I would gladly play a Director of Football Manager spin-off. Maybe work on the name, though.
Football Manager 2020 is out now for PC, Switch, and Stadia. A mobile version is also available.
MORE FOOTBALL MANAGER:
– Making A Monster In Football Manager 2020’s Manager Creator
– Football Manager 2020 Wonderkids: Best and Cheapest Young Players
– Football Manager: One of Gaming and Sport’s Greatest Success Stories
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