Hi everyone, welcome to my first post about my journey with the gooners! Before I start Arsenal won 6 — 0 vs Braga yesterday! Yeah! Woohoo! We simply thrashed them :-)
I would like to ask everyone a question, if you watched the game, which goal do you think was the best? My favourite was Marouane Chamakh’s goal.
START OF SEASON EXPECTATIONS:
So my budget was 29m to buy players. The minimum i would recieve was 26m for a continental finish, i told the board that i believe that i can win the league. I have to admit, i am not happy with the budget, i was expecting 35m-40m with a higher wage budget but o well….
TRANSFERS OUT:
Mikael Silvestre departed because he only had a year left on his contract so i thought i might as well cash in. Mikael is just not good enough for this team. I also didn’t have any hope on Fran Merida improving his stats anymore and when Juventus came knocking on the door, i happily let him go. Nacer Barazite was sent out loan as he would have had very little game time at Arsenal. The next three players that departed was because of signing ‘better players’ which you will see in the next screen shot :-) The money i received for Emmanuel Eboue and especially Nicklas Bendtner tempted me even more to sell, especially with my current budget.
TRANSFERS IN:
With my budget only being 29m, i had to make the right decisions on who to buy. Before i bought anybody i did a squad analysis and the defence was the main worry.
A total of 53m was spent on transfers!
Welcome to the club, our 3 new 16 year olds!:
ALPHONSE AREOLA — 300K
Alphonse Areola has some pretty good attributes for a 16 year old goalkeeper. I bought him for one reason only, and thats is for the future, hopefully he will make his way into the first team after 3, 4 seasons.
MARCO VERRATTI — 425K
Marco Verratti is by far my favourite transfer, as usual. I have bough him in every game and he has been a god for me in all of the games i have played for FM10 especially the Leeds United game! Ofcourse i didn’t scout him myself, i picked him up from a wonderkids list. He already has some excellent attributes and hopefully he will improve even more. Marco has been granted a place in the first team also.
LUC CASTAIGNOS — 1.6M
Luc Castaignos, how many times have we heard his name before?!!! Like I just mentioned with the other two 16 year olds, he had pretty good attributes for a 16 year old which is why I signed him.
JONJO SHLVEY — 3M
Jonjo Shelvey was also signed for the future. :-)
The waiting game will have to be played for all of these players but I am hoping they are the future of Arsenal, just like Arsene Wenger has done in the last 5 years :-)
Now the major signings!:
Nicolas Otamendi — 3m
Nicolas Otamendi was signed from Velez on a 3m deal. Otamendi is the current third choice defender in the squad, behind Vermaelan and Gallas. The price was simply too cheap for Otamendi and with all the main defending attributes were very good, was a reason why i didn’t hesitate to pay the 3m price. Not bad replacing Silvestre with him by paying an extra 1.6m ;-)
Cristian Zapata — 15m + P/ex (Francis Coquelin
I needed a commanding strong centre-half. Zapata has high Marking and Tackling attributes, along with good pace, which was the main reasons i opted for him instead of the other defenders on my shortlist. Zapata will partner Vermaelan in defence. With the signing of Zapata, i decided to sell Emmanuel Eboue, as Zapata can also play RB, another reason why I signed him.
Simon Vuckevic — 8m
When i did my squad analysis, i found out that I needed a partner for Cesc Fabregas as Abou Diaby/Denilson wern’t good enough. They are perfect squad player but not first teamers. I really wanted to sign Mesut Ozil but Werder Bremen wanted 25m! Instead i opted for my good old friend Simon Vuckevic who was a real leader in my Leeds game. At 23years of age his technical stats are brilliant. He will partner Cesc Fabregas in the 3 of the midfield.
Edin Dzeko — 22m
Our deadline day transfer, Edin Dzeko arrived at the Emirates Stadium for £22m! It took 2 days to negotiate the deal after i got the fees for Bendtners transfer. I was never going to sign Edin Dzeko but only for one reason….. That is Robin Van Persie hasn’t scored a single goal in 5 games so far! (the August games) and he also suffered an injury which will rule him out for 3 weeks. I was also quiet weak on the right wing as Walcott’s attributes are very average, so i have decided that RVP will play RW with Dzeko CF.
That concludes my transfer business.
First Team XI:
Pre Season Fixtures & Results:
Pre-season went quiet well. The draw vs Tigres was because we started with half of our reserves, but we showed excellent determination and desire to come back. the draw vs PSG was disappointing, apart from that, it all went well. Lets see if it continues into the new season….. :-)
Well that’s it for this post, just let me know if I’ve missed anything out, Thanks.
Take Care, Sayam
Zinedine Zaiddin
17 сентября, 2010 at 11:38
For me, your 15 million on Zapata is too much. I recommend you to buy Sergiy Krystov, with only 19 years old and far better from Zapata. I think his price also around 3-5 million only.
Sayam Khan
17 сентября, 2010 at 18:21
Krystov’s work permit application was the problem so couldn’t sign him.
I’m pretty satisfied with Zapata although we can’t make judgements now as he hasn’t played a game yet!
ish
18 сентября, 2010 at 09:58
zapata is a beast of a covering CB, fast and able to play Rb very well. another great FM player to play as the more hardened intercepting CB is frederico fazio but otamendi is good as well.
as for RW you might want a gander at salvio. can come for around 10 million
Darren Smith
17 сентября, 2010 at 12:15
Hey Sayam
Well done on the great pre-season and Arsenal’s success last night. I watched the game and agree with you, Chamakhs goal was the best. Fabregas was immense which brought me some pleasure as hes in my dreamteam! Anyway, you have signed some great players and seem to have a similar policy to myself with Marseille, invest in the future! Well done pal and keep up the good work…I reckon the title is yours this year.
Sayam Khan
17 сентября, 2010 at 18:34
Nice to know we have something in common.
And i am reading your Marseille story from the beginning, so i’m currently doing catch up! :L
Shade
17 сентября, 2010 at 12:20
Your overpaid for Verratti and Otamendi, Verratti is available for 150k tops, and otamendi for 2.5M should be enough. Also, you can get 2M for Silvestre, those greek clubs like Panathinaikos are willing to pay that amount.
You should have also considered selling Diaby, sometimes clubs are willing to pay around 5M for him. Zapata seems abit expensive, but I have never bought him before.Check out Rodwell, who gets VERY good after a couple of years, you can get him for 12-13M in the first transfer window, dont know how much he will cost after it as it depends on the game.
All in all, quite a standard transfer period for Arsenal, Otamendi will get very good as his PA is very high, and Verratti is a classic in FM2010. Expect godlike stats after 3 seasons or so. Senderos isnt that bad in FM2010, and you can consider selling Gallas if the offers come in, his stats drop quite fast for some reason. Check out Hart after he returns from loan, MCity sometimes transfer list him.
Sayam Khan
17 сентября, 2010 at 18:26
Come on… I’m sure you can forgive me for paying an extra 900k for Otamendi and Verratti.
I want to give diaby another year at the club. And to be honest i don’t think it’s worth selling him for 5m. His wages are not high so he is pretty good squad player.
Everton rejected my highest bid, 10m, for Rodwell and with the budget I had i couldn’t buy him any expensiver.
What is PA?
And yeah, In my Leeds game i saw Senderos a first teamer for Arsenal after a few seasons.
Sears
17 сентября, 2010 at 13:44
Hi Sayam,
First and foremost, I disagree with Zinedine Zaiddin and Shade. I brought Zapata for £18.75 million in my first season and along with Chellini I have one of the best central defence paring’s in the game. He’s a wonderful defender with phenomenal defensive attributes. Sergiy Krystov is a good player, but is simply not good enough for Arsenal. However I do agree with Shade when he said you should consider selling William Gallas. In my opinion, he’s nothing but a trouble maker who may bring a negative atmosphere into the dressing room. Edin Dzeko will surly score about 20-25 goals a season for you, he’s a quality player. Like Darren, I also like to invest in the furture. (I ‘m a guest writer on his blog) I think you should aat least challenge for the title this season, and regarding your post, it’s great! Keep it up mate.
Sayam Khan
17 сентября, 2010 at 18:28
Thanks Sears. Like i said in my other post, we can’t make judgements yet but his attributes are pretty good. And thanks for the Gallas tip ;-)
Shade
17 сентября, 2010 at 20:35
I stated I have no idea about how good Zapata is,but anything goes I suppose. considering that the likes of Mexes/cheillini costs about 25M.
PA=potential ability.
And thanks for writing about Arsenal, the other stories maybe slightly more challenging to the player, but for readers, I find it hard to identify with lower league clubs whose players i have totally no idea about. Hope you can keep this story up and running! Good luck
Matthew
17 сентября, 2010 at 16:22
Hi Sayam
Arsenal have a very good squad already and you have certainly built to a title winning standard. My only concern would be Song as he is young and inexperienced but only time will tell how he will perform. My favoutite goal against Braga was definately Carlos Vela when he chipped the keeper :D but they were all great. Can’t wait to see how you get on.
Matthew
Sayam Khan
17 сентября, 2010 at 18:29
Thanks, i really want to win the title this year :-)
Yeah, i understand your point about Song….. We’ll have to wait and see.
Lye
17 сентября, 2010 at 16:36
Hi Sayam,
I have no worries on the transfer fees spent on those youngster. As you said they are signed for the future. Their value will easily multiply for how many time when they reach their full potential. Some solid signings there and i wish you a good start.
Sayam Khan
17 сентября, 2010 at 18:30
Thanks Lye.
Laxeyman
17 сентября, 2010 at 16:37
Hi Sayad, good signings there, and I also think that you didn’t pay too much for Zapata, Otamendi and Verratti as they are all very good players who will get better. Your side looks strong enough to win the title, good luck!
Sayam Khan
17 сентября, 2010 at 18:31
Thanks Laxeyman.
Well everyone has their opinion…. :-)
ravenie
17 сентября, 2010 at 16:56
Nice Signings
Sayam Khan
17 сентября, 2010 at 18:32
Thanks You!
hils
17 сентября, 2010 at 17:25
Nice signings Sayam. You should challenge for the title. Good luck!
Sayam Khan
17 сентября, 2010 at 18:32
Thank You!
Johnny Karp
17 сентября, 2010 at 23:20
That first eleven looks fairly strong Sayam but you surely have quite a few very promising youngsters that can be more than worthy backups. I’m quite curious to see how will Dzeko perform in the Premier League.
Lordy
25 сентября, 2010 at 14:37
10million is a bargain for bendtner! i sold him so 20mil on first season and eboue i had offer for 11+ million for him, dont rush to sell/sign player cus you often get worse deal