So i've just finished my second season with Plymouth, I finished 3 points clear at the top of the npower League 1 and therefore securing my second consecutive promotion. Up to the championship we go!
I've been given a transfer budget of £1.4 million, which is incredibly generous by Plymouth's standards. However, I'm hoping I can do a little free agent wizardry once more and save as much cash as possible for the prem
The board has set me the objective of achieving a middle table finish, which I was a little surprised at to be honest - I was expecting 'avoid relegation'. However, in the hope of not being too ambitious, I'm going for the almighty 3rd consecutive promotion
UPDATE: I've already had 2 offers for Gurrieri, one from Marseille and I forget the other club...
He's valued at just over £1 mil, which looks like a tasty amount of cash; the question is can I find equal or better for less? and could I even cope without him...?
So i'm practically finished with all my transfers for this window, here's a summary:
IN:
67 Vidal (GK) - £180k (Yeah that's right, the first real cash i've spent!)
73 Ulm (CB) - Free Agent
70 Golubov (LW) - Free Agent
68 Emerton (CB) - Free Agent
68 Bassi (CM) - Free Agent
OUT:
Nomvethe - Retired
Wotton - Retired
Areola - Loan ended
Wootton - Loan ended
Haye - Loan ended
Fabio Nunes - Loan ended
Richards - Contract expired
It's crazy the players i've picked up on frees, they're all below the age of 20 and are valued at around £1.5 - £2 mil. Neither of them have faces which essentially poisons my soul haha, but hopefully I can deal with the absence of faces... somehow..
I really did struggle to find a good keeper for little cash (I was hoping free :L). I also didn't want to get another keeper on loan since I'm looking to get a settled squad which I can hopefully develop into a team capable of surviving the BPL later on. Vidal seemed like a decent buy though, especially if his growth is as rapid as some of my players.
I also had him for some lower league team in Fifa 12; I could never 'get into' that kind of career mode in '12, but I remember he was pretty decent.
Also, just to clarify, this is not ARTURU Vidal i've somehow bought for £180k and turned into a keeper... this is MARC Vidal
Also, get this: Gilmartin (my second choice keeper) comes to me saying that he thinks he deserves a higher wage. I'm busy raking through the transfer market so I put it off and inevitably forget. He then comes back again to remind me, saying he's been speaking to his agent about it. I check his contract and he's sitting on £750p/w and he's supposedly after £1,500. I think, 'fair enough' and offer him the 1.5k (as well as the 2 years length he wants). He then replies with 'Oh, thanks for the offer boss but i'm not thinking about penning a new contract at the moment. I'm not sure if I want to continue playing here, I need to consider my future.'
WTF?