Selling unwanted players

[Butcher]

SELLING PLAYERS

Various threads keep getting set up about selling players and the associated difficulties. Most people seem to be missing several key points about the difficulties in selling something that you don;t want and putting it down to "bugs in the game". I find this annoying because I actually believe the game to be pretty realistic in this respect.

For example if I start the season as Liverpool and immediately put Crouch on the transfer list and offer him to clubs nobody is interested. There are plenty of reasons for this

1. Clubs have identified other targets and options that they want to explore first. In real life a club doesn't bid for 35 strikers and offer them all deals and then cancel the ones they aren't interested in once the best deal goes through... like some of us do when playing the game....because they would get a reputation and nobody would enter talks with them in the future. In all but star player transfer deals most clubs enter a period of "watching" the player to see if his price drops, and more importantly how he is performing - which brings me to point 2:

2. How good is the player? Most managers (and therefore I assume the AI too) want to watch a player of a series of matches to get an idea of how he plays and what his strengths and weaknesses are. Much like if YOU scout a player for a few games you get a more detailed insight into how he might fit into your squad.

Similarly unless a player is a star player, regular international etc then other clubs are going to want to keep tabs on him before they comin with an offer. Using the examples of Crouch, Finnan, Gonzales and others in the Liverpool squad I have found that if I put them on the transfer list then it sometimes takes a month or so before clubs start to make reasonable offers.

If you want a reasonably fast sale, or one at a decent price then you must make sure he is in the shop window, getting regular games. The best way to do this is have lots of friendlies in preseason and make sure in all the easy ones your "for sale" players start the match. They'll then get decent regular ratings, making a sale a more simple task.

Interestingly the few times I have loaned players out to clubs whilst they are transfer listed in order to put them in the shop window I have found that clubs tend not to make offers. I am not sure if this is because they know the player is tied up until the next transfer window and therefore not worth putting an early bid in for or what.

But short term loans to lower divisions (Make sure the club says they see him as a first team regular and not a back up) are a good way of making sure he stays match fit, his stats don't go down and he is easy for other clubs to watch. It generally also means he will get abnormally high ratings as he is playing in an easier division (and arguably he is also trying to get himself a new deal).

3. It is pretty essential you set the player to "not needed by club". Otherwise the player might not agree to terms because he isn;t convinced he is leaving yet. you have to have courage in your convictions and sever your relationship with the player to maximise the chance of him agreeing to join a different club or change country.

4. You may have to offer him to clubs several times. Sometimes interested parties will respond immediately, sometimes they will say "they don't think he represents value for money". If you need to get rid of him quickly you could consider dropping the price to respond to their reply.

5. If you still have no interest it is possible that like you, the other clubs see little value in taking him on permanently. Even if clubs don;t want to buy him they may well take him on loan. OK you don't get a transfer fee from selling him but at least you don't have to pay his wages whilst you watch all his stats drop over the next four months while you wait for the next transfer window.

Offer him out on short term loan deals is an ok alternative but also offering him out on loan can sometimes force clubs to get competitive for his signature and if you cancel all loan offers many of the clubs remain interested. Then you can offer him out for sale instead of for loan and some of these clubs may put in a bid. Its not a foolproof approach - i call it "fishing".


6. Another good thing to try is putting in bids for players and using your unwanted player as a makeweight in the deal. Make sure the player knows he is unwanted or he might cause the deal to fall through by refusing to move. Most times you try and buy a player in FM07 it will tell you if the other club needs a striker or a midfielder or whatever. Browse through your shortlist and see how many offers you can make using your unwanted player in an exchange.

Often even if the other club won't agree to the deal (maybe they generally don't want to sell the player in question or think the overall deal is not good enough) the offer may arouse their interest in the player and when you next do an "offer to clubs" they may be one of the teams that now puts in a bid.


7. Remember, there are plenty of players who in real life get transferred for silly low values and the reason for this is that ultimately if you want money ASAP you have to sacrifice some of the value to avoid waiting for your coffers to fill up. The best advice is always - be patient - the game is supposed to mimick real life. If in real life you could get people to quickly buy overpriced goods without checking them out there'd be a lot more Harry Redknapps in professional football having a go at it!!!!

8. Close to transfer window closing people start to panic that their squads aren't up to scratch. You can benefit from repeating your offers to clubs on a daily basis or even more often than that in the last week before the window closes - you might just catch a club that sold an asset at the last minute and needs an available replacement quickly. When the supply/demand curve shifts in your favour make sure you are making the most of it!

[Woodsy]

nice little guide here

[Luke]

I agree with woodsy, A very good guide.
Another thing you have to realise about selling players at the start of the game is that many clubs have already bought their players as its up to date with the latest transfers in real life.
Such as Man Utd in the game, they are not going to be that interested in buying players because on the game they have just signed, Nani, Anderson, Tevez Etc.
Hope you get the point!, hard to explain .

[THFC_uk]

this is a very nice guide, alot of good points brought up in it