Botteams will be left over for the new players. It's hard enough finding 2 star players of under 22y (my current demand for new players) Ive checked 15 leagues this afternoon and was able to add 6 players to my shortlist. About 1 or 2 are very interesting to me.

When it comes to winning transfer bids, I find myself winning more than 50% of those bets. Many times I get a player in who only received an offer from my team. I guess it must have to do with me looking for players in regions not many players will add to their regions of interest (such as Zambia, Algeria, Peru etc)

But the players I won over with a 'but preferred a move to'- message usually joined my club because there are many players of his age around he can compete with. I think in the end the player will choose a team where he will have a good shot at playing or growing with the team. I have lots of 20-21-22-23 y olds, so it seems normal to me that I often win biddings involving players of those age. Those also are the players I bid most often on.

Having a team with tons of different nationalities is an other advantage. There's a good chance I'll have a YES next to his language. I feel this YES is the least important YES, and Age the most important one. Value is somewhere in between, together with the highest bid.

Now I m not sure how many hours everyone put in but to me 5% chance roughly translates 5 successful transfers out of 100 similar bids. Unless someone sees a much larger % of the transfers going the way of the 5% teams, I probably would not whinge.

However the age, language etc barrier kinda makes it unfair to teams that do not have 18-21 yos or a player that speaks the language because the team they inherited did not. To me that seems slightly counter-intuitive to the original socialistic idea which was to create a level playing field for the rich and poor.

@viktor: Well, you have to work for your own 18-21 age-ers. That seems fair to me. And about language and country, that sounds logical too me too. A Belgium player will be more willing to play at my team than an Chinese one...

well, if you want to sell your star player, you definitely don't want that he plays in a country rival team. 4ex. Cambuur or Delft :-)

@MacikaG: Who want to sell his star player anyway? Personally, I only sell players who are NOT good enough for my own squad. :)

Let's see the bosnian team who sell his best young superstar
for 2,5 million Eur to Cambuur.

Some team has not enough money and they must sell his star to continue upgrading facilities.

Well first of all Klocko United was not forced to sell his big talent. It's fine he choose so, thinking that the money and improvements he can buy for it are better on the long run.

But if you ask me, I would not have done it. Klocko is still running for the Bosnian Cup (with good changes playing at Europa next season). Having such a star play can make the difference. Building a youth center level 7 (or whatever you want to buy for it) will not help you NOW to achieve such a thing.

This is the fun part of the game. Because every single person's strategy is different. There is no 'best' solution to manage a club like in real life. No one knows what is running on the manager's mind. Maybe Klocko thinks that he can make it far and well to the Bosnian Cup without the player and that the youth is going to help in the future. Or maybe he regretted it, no one knows. (and to me that is why this game is fun)

@FlameTermite : exactly! And that makes this complaining stupid. The rules are clear (and reasonable). Your task is to deal with them, and find some optimum that suits you. Start managing, stop complaining.

I agree with you Corniel.

I've sold most of my star players in order to build a young squad. My top transfers paid for my youth centre 3-4-5. And a lot of promising youngsters. Of course I only play in 3rd division, so I can afford downgrading my team. Next season will need a different if I want to stay in 2nd (assuming I wont lose my 5 point lead)