It is the end of August, which means the Ligue 1 summer transfer window has just ended. Of course, some players left us, but we did bring in some new faces into the team. So far, we did quite well in the league, sitting at the 2nd position with 10 points. We have also changed our playing formation to a 4-3-3. In this chapter, we will be looking at the players that we signed and discuss how they would fit into our system.
First 4 games
After losing 3-0 to PSG in the Trophee des Champions, we faced the French Cup finalist Bordeaux at the start of the season. We didn’t manage to kick off our season with a win, yet we at least kept a clean sheet. Personally, I wasn’t too satisfied with our performance, so I made a few selection changes in the next match against AS Saint-Etienne. Eventually, the boys had delivered a brilliant performance on that day, scoring 5 goals and kept another clean sheet. Things went very well as we grabbed a narrow win against FC Nantes, then ended our first month with a 3-0 win against Montpellier.
Transfer Out
We received a total of £71M at the end of the transfer window. As usual, a bunch of young prospects were out on loan for better playing time, but we also sold some senior squad members. These were the major outgoing transfer we did – Martin Terrier to Milan, Youssouf Kone to FC Porto, Louis Breuil to AS Monaco, Dijbrail Dib to Amiens SC and Marcelo to Flamengo.
Marcelo, the Brazilian experienced centre back had a poor season with us. We even loaned him out to Rennes during the winter transfer in the first season. I definitely can’t see his future in the squad, so I offered him to other clubs. Lastly, Flamengo decided to bring him back to Brazil and willing to pay us £550K.
Dijbrail Dib, a youngster we had in our team. According to the development centre, he wasn’t progressing well enough and I was pretty certain there were better players in our youth team. His market value was only around £500K but Amiens SC was willing to pay more than that. We went through some negotiation and finally sold him for £1M. What a business!
Louis Breuil is a newgen. He is only 16 years old with great potential. AS Monaco came in with a decent bid, but I thought the offer was unacceptable for a wonderkid. Breuil asked for a new contract. I was okay at the first place, so I went to negotiate his contract with the agent. However, he demanded a high wage and I thought it was unacceptable and rejected him. The 16-year-old reacted badly afterwards. I was thinking to myself that if you don’t want to stay in the club, I might as well let you go. Finally, we sold him for £1.2M to AS Monaco. Decent business I would say.
Youssouf Kone was the regular starter last season. He was our main left back for the entire season. However, FCP came in with a £30M offer for the 29 years old defender. I was considering whether or not I should accept this offer at first until I found out we had Melvin Bard, the 19-year-old wonderkid, in our senior squad. Bard made quite a few appearances last season and he did very well. I thought £30M was a good amount and we could definitely use that money to strengthen the other area. As a result, I accepted the offer and Kone left us. All the best, Youssouf!
Unhappy Players
However, selling out important player like Youssouf Kone made the players unhappy. Anthony Lopes, one of the dressing room leaders, expressed his thought to me – he felt the squad is lacking depth. More than half of the players in the squad agreed with him and no one supported me. In order to solve that, I have to bring in new faces.
Transfer In
In total, I signed 4 players – Thiago Almada, Riccardo Orsolini, Cristian Romero and Hakim Ziyech.
Thiago Almada, an exciting prospect who previously played for Velez, has travelled all the way to France. He only cost us £5.25M which is also the cheapest transfer fee among the four signings. I reckon he could be a very good backup player for Houssem Aouar. His natural position is centre attacking midfielder, but he can also play deeper at centre mid, striker and even at the left flank. Some of his attributes amazed me, like 15 passing, 16 vision, 16 flair and 15 off the ball. He is only 19 years old with 15 determination, and I am very excited to see him grow even better.
Riccardo Orsolini, the Italian winger has joined us with a fee of £15M. I was always looking for a good right winger since last season. Bertrand Traore’s performance wasn’t consistent enough and I always thought Jeff Reine-Adelaide would be a better central player rather than winger. Other than that, Orsolini has a number of good attributes – 18 determination which is brilliant, 16 work rate and 15 flair are great as well. There are only four attributes that are lower than 11 and they are all defending attributes. As a result, welcome to the team, Orsolini.
Cristian Romero, the 22 years old Argentinian centre back, is our 3rd signing. His attributes are pretty decent for a 22 years old player. With 16 heading, 16 determination and 16 anticipation. He has also got a fairly determined personality which I love it very much. Physically he is great, and so does his mental. We spent £25M signing him from Juventus and given him the wages of £105K per week. He would be a perfect backup defender for Jason Denayer and Joachim Andersen.
Hakim Ziyech is our last signing in the summer transfer window. We spent £38M for the Morocco international and paying him £96K per week. Ziyech is a very versatile player as he can play most of the attacking positions. His attributes are incredible – 16 first touch, 16 free kick tacking, 16 passing, 16 technique, 16 vision, 16 off the ball, 17 flair, 17 agility and 17 anticipation which is a perfect candidate for an attacking midfielder or a playmaking winger. He would definitely be a regular starter in Lyon.
Conclusion
It wasn’t a very busy transfer window for us, but we did what we can so far. This season, we aim to achieve a better result, especially in the European competition. However, we obviously are still going to challenge for the league title.
PSG is once again the biggest spenders in the French transfer window. They brought some big names into their team, including Paul Pogba, Christian Eriksen and Sergi Roberto. We will see how it goes and hopefully we can do better than last season. In next chapter, we will see what the league table looks like on September. Can we overtake PSG to become the league leader? How well do we perform in the Champions League? Stay tuned for more!
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ABT Football Manager 