Darren: FM 2011 Newcastle’s manic pre-season including a sad goodbye 2020/21

Hey guys and welcome back to my Newcastle story, during the last post Newcastle completed a clean sweep winning the FA Cup, Champions League and maintaining their unbeaten record along the way. Now while all seems fine on the surface, there is a storm brewing within my office. This will be a massive year, one of risks, decisive action and planning for the future. I have held the same starting XI for some time and obviously a select few are approaching an awkward age, add to this the failed young signings that haven’t reached their potential and I also have some massively talented youngsters that must have first team football to grow and fulfil their promise. If I don’t clear some room within the first team, I risk losing these youngsters and ruining the Y2G system, so brace yourself for some evasive action.

The boards expectations are for another EPL title, but the media still favour Man City for top spot. The former me would have spent my £150 million transfer budget already, but we all know my aim is to make a profit in the transfer market year on year.

The richest clubs list is looking increasingly good, with every year that passes I feel closer to that top spot. Last year saw Newcastle valued at £595 million, one year has made a difference and we are now valued at £649 million. We are still in third place but have gained ground on Real and Barcelona who dropped in value yet again. I think two more years is all it will take to snatch second place.

Now its time for the big news and transfer action. We’ll start with what was a relatively quiet window in terms of players entering Saint James Park. Just two players joined for a combined fee of £8.5 million and both are prospects as opposed to first team starters.

Matt Powell is 16 years old and I snapped him up shortly after the centre back joined Man Utd’s youth academy. Not only is he English but Powell shows a lot of promise and is rated with the potential to play similar to my top CB’s. £2.8 million is well worth it for such a hot prospect and not much of a risk either.

My second and last signing of the summer was Ekedo, a 20 year old midfielder that has drifted under everyone’s radar bar mine. Ekedo has played for clubs I have never even heard of, so there is little wonder that I was the first to show an interest and snatched him up quickly. This kid popped up within one of my filtered searches for midfielders with specific attributes. He cost £5.75 mill which is a risk, but I think he can still make massive improvements.

Now moving onto the big news and my transfers out. Firstly we’ll look at the under 23’s that didn’t quite make it to the level I require. Pavoni was signed for £1.6 million back in 2017 and looks excellent but his match performances haven’t been exceptional so I offered him out for £15 million and accepted Porto’s £13 million bid meaning a profit of £11.4 million. Danilo plays CM also and showed great promise when signed for £2 million back in 2017, but his physical attributes never developed and I offered him to clubs for £10 million, I ended up accepting £8 million but a profit of £6 million is very acceptable. I also sold Perotti but the transfer didn’t go my way, I ended up accepting £3.1 million (the players value) meaning a minuscule profit.

Now moving onto actual first team players, we start with Simone Costantino. I was desperate to make a profit on my original payment of £16 million, but the left back hasn’t improved at all since then and I had to settle for Real Madrid’s offer of £12.25 million. Losing out was very disappointing but the next sale made up for that in abundance. I have been considering Yaya Sanogo’s departure for years now and my hand was finally forced. The striker had one year on his current contract and wasn’t prepared to offer him more money which he demanded. Therefore I offered the Frenchman to clubs for £80 million and accepted the only respectable offer of £56 million from Inter Milan, these payments will be structured monthly over 48 months meaning £1.2 million a month. A record transfer fee and a great chance to give other strikers a chance to grow.

I made £94 million on transfers this season which is fantastic considering I already have replacements in the reserves and main team for Sanogo. Santos and Adams are more than capable strikers, but I have two other excellent prospects that need first team football to improve. Below are their profiles when signed and current profiles so you can see their growth.

Fernando’s profile when signed aged 17

Fernando’s current profile aged 20

As you can see Fernando has improved well and just needs to progress physically before developing into a world class forward. I want to offer him a minimum of 15 matches this year to try and test his ability as well as improve it. Now lets check out Borges who has already left on loan.

Joao Borges’ profile when signed aged 17

Joao Borges’ current profile aged 20

This kid has mega potential and already improved a lot, I have loaned him out for first team football this year. I still feel like he needs better pace and finishing before getting his first team opportunity. But my coaches reckon Borges isn’t far off the potential to be better than Santos.

With my left back, Costantino also leaving I had to get a replacement. Well Saint-Louis has been raised in the reserves and on loan since the age of 17. I will be offering him a promotion and minimum of 18 games this year. Check out his profile when signed and current profile below.

Yordan Saint-Louis’ profile when signed aged 17

Yordan Saint-Louis’ current profile aged 19

Saint-Louis has made some impressive improvements in two seasons and I can’t wait to see him progress beyond this. Now that you have seen the next stars of Newcastle, its time to see how we performed in the Community Shield.

Community Shield vs Manchester City

OK well this match didn’t exactly go to plan, before kick-off I realised the Olympics were on but never imagined the impact they might have on my young squad. 12 first team players were away and unavailable making my match day squad full of unrecognised names and most the squad out of position. Some how Manchester City were completely unaffected.

Without my two best strikers, all my best CM’s and even some defenders this match was bound to offer up a challenge, watch the match highlights below to see the outcome.

Despite our major disadvantage Anconetani salvaged our unbeaten record in all competitions very late on. While we did go onto lose 5-4 on penalties, this match isn’t seen officially as a loss so I’m content to see my run continue. We may have lost the Community Shield but I didn’t expect to lose with our dignity considering it was City’s full strength squad against our reserves :)

Now seems like a great time to look at Newcastle’s finances, before doing so there are a few factors to consider though. First of all the £56 mill from Sanogo’s transfer will not be received straight away and I also offered 6 first team regulars new contracts amounting to £15 million in sign on and agent fees. This was a must or I’d risk losing my best players next season but it has taken effect within my bank balance that now reads £333 million. Not bad but it could have been a lot more.

We’re almost there guys, but first let me share the opening matches of 2020/21. The first against Chelsea will be very tough as I am missing the same players as in the Community Shield, but after that things should return to normal when the Olympics reach their conclusion. The next EPL matches are all straight forward and I am looking forward to the Super Cup against Barcelona.

Well that is all for today, thank you for reading and please join me next time to see how the Toon Army cope without their legend Sanogo. As always I look forward to your comments and welcome any questions.

P.S. As always I’m happy to fulfil screenshot requests so here you go Malhar, my best starting XI are below and if you click their names, you can view their profiles. While some of these players are in their mid 20’s I signed them from the ages of 15-19 years old.

GK: Mainetti — DR: Pepe, DL: Pereyra, DC: Varrialle, DC: Kalu — CM: Padin, CM: Dardouri, CM: Hernandez — RW: Anconetani, LW: Da Silva — ST: Santos, and finally my second right winger Ziegler.

Matt also requested Babacar’s profile which is below followed by Lukaku, the Belgian really hasn’t improved due to lack of first team football but Babacar is amazing.