Dave — FM2011 Ultimate European Challenge, Stuttgart Pre-Season 17/18

Greetings people!  I am back and preparing for a brand new season.  I honestly believe this could be our year and I have been much more sensible in the transfer market compared to last year!

Pretty pleased with my transactions.  Serdar Tasci was constantly demanding a move to a bigger club last year and I kept convincing him to stay.  When he requested another move in the Summer, I decided it was time to cut my losses and cash in on the 30 year old.  I was disappointed to lose youngsters Dashamir Bega and Roman Wojciechowski to Barcelona as they were showing a great deal of promise.  Right back Bega was excellent when he was out on loan last season and I was going to give him some game time this year.  I sold Samuel Inkoom purely because of his progression.  Luckily I have another young right back showing potential although not as good as Bega.  Wojciechowski is only 16 but performed very well in friendlies.  I can’t dwell on them going for too long so will talk about the players coming in!  Schuster, Santoni and Biglia are all Centre Backs but will need time to develop.  CB is probably still my weakest position but am hoping Marc Bartra and Fouzi Keraghel to step up seeing as they have both been with the club a couple of years now.

My major signing is Dino Calvo, my very own Argentinian regen superstar!

Not certain about paying 13.75 million for him but I didn’t want anyone else to have him!  He is already showing signs of improving further which could only be good news for us!

Fairly pleased with results apart from not keeping a clean sheet which is why I am concerned about my Centre Backs in particular.

I will give you a quick run through of my squad to familiarise you all with them as most names you see scoring in the friendlies, you wouldn’t have heard of!  If you want screenshots of any of the players, let me know and I will post them up in the designated section on the forum.  I have put an asterisk next to players who have come through our excellent youth squad.

GK’s

Jorge Broun — 31 year old from Argentina and my first choice.  Nothing fancy about him really but dependable which is all you can ask for.  Just received his first call up to the national squad which proves how well he is been doing for me.

Alex Makengo — 21 years old.  Seems ok when I play him in friendlies but not totally sure if I can trust him in a competitive game.  I have a young goalie coming through my youth ranks and if he continues progressing, I will then probably get rid of Makengo next season.

Rafael — 18 year old Brazillian who joined the club last Winter and has the potential to be a key member of the first team squad.  I will give him a run-out in the cup games rather than Makengo.

RB’s

Christian Trasch — 30 year old who has been with the club the majority of his career and my first choice.  In some games his motivation says he is playing nervously which I find a bit odd for a man of his experience!

Stefano Celozzi — 28 year old was first choice in my first season and I had Trasch playing in midfield but better midfielders have come in, forcing Trasch to right back and thus forcing Celozzi out of the team.

Florian Richter* — 19 years old and probably wouldn’t be in the first team squad if I had kept Dashamir Bega as mentioned earlier.  He was away with Reutlingen on loan last season finishing with a 7.24 average.  I am hoping he grasps the opportunity given to him this season.

LB’s

Michael Lumb — 29 year old Danish International.  Currently first choice and played really well the second half of last season.  I think I could do better than him though but he is fine for now!

David Addy — 27 year old Ghanian who has all the attributes to be my first choice but tends to play nervously in a lot of games when I need strong minds.  Might give him another chance this season and perhaps rotate him more with Lumb otherwise he will be out the door.

Florian Gerlach* (19) and Max Jansen* (20) — both more than capable youngsters and will be very interesting to see how they get on this season especially as I am not overly convinced with Lumb and Addy.

CB’s

Sergiy Kryvstov — 26 year old Ukrainian international and now that Tasci has left, my main man at the back.  As some of you noticed in my last report, he is more than handy at the back post for corners too!

Marc Bartra — 26 year old Spaniard who really has to step up this season as he needs to convince me he can stay in the first team.

Fouzi Keraghel — 20 year old Frenchman with Algerian dual nationality.  One of my first signings who I probably should have given more games to before now.  Not totally convinced by him but because of his young age, I may give him another couple of seasons depending on how well Bartra does I guess.

Manuel Santoni (22) and Javier Biglia (18) are new signings.  Santoni looks like he has the right attributes to be a good centre back but didn’t think he was that great in the friendlies.  Hopefully it is just a settling issue.  Biglia however, looked very good in the games he played so at this moment in time, I would put him ahead of Santoni.

Lukas Hensel* — 19 years old and has fairly decent attributes.  Could be hit or miss but another who has played fairly well in the friendlies I have give him.

CM’s

Patrick Funk* — 27 years old and a 1 club man.  He is my main penalty taker and it seems like most plays go through him.  He is also very annoying because when he scores, I always get the god awful 5ive song «Slam dunk da funk» in my head!

Medo — 29 year old from Sierra Leone who has played his way into my team.  When I did play him in my first season, he always seemed to be getting sent off and was almost shown the door.  For whatever reason, I have stuck by him and he has performed well.  I will have to make a decision at the end of the season of what to do with him though as I have a lot of DM’s coming through so Medo could be the first to make way.

Christian Gentner — 32 years old who I will probably try and phase out this season but he is still turning in some good performances making it difficult for me!

Maxime Gonalons — 28 years old who I bought a couple of seasons ago when I saw he was on the transfer list and has been steady for us but I want more from him.  Potential casualty at the end of the season too.

Da Silva — 19 year old Brazillian who I am finding harder and harder to keep out of the first team so should be an interesting season for him.

Anis Pellegrin (21), Mohsen Yavari* (18), Johannes Assauer* (17) are all pushing for first team spots.  Assauer has already played a fair few games for us and is currently being chased by Barcelona as well.

Dino Calvo (21) as you can see from his profile posted earlier, is someone who could slot into the team straight away and has already been capped by Argentina.  Could be the one to drive us on to league success?

ST’s

Sebastian Muller* (21) is my main goalscorer and at times I fear that we are too reliant on him despite his tender age.

Timo Gebhart (28) — I thought had a very good season but his average of 7.09 doesn’t really reflect this.  He could see himself being phased out of the team if he doesn’t start off well this year.

Krisztian Nemeth (28) is very hot and cold player.  I have some very good youngsters coming through so could be heading out of the club soon.

Sid Ahmed Boukemacha (24) — Algerian international signed last season and started off well but suffered a crisis of confidence and was dropped.  Came back into the team at the back of the season and although he did well setting up plenty of goals but not scoring as much as I would like.

Eric Kouassi (20) — Ivory Coast international who I still have very high hopes for.  Was a casualty of our poor start to last season.  I aim to give him more game time this season, probably rotating with Gebhart.

Benjamin Bertels* (19) — Player with huge potential from our youth team and has been touted to be the next Oliver Bierhoff.  I have already rejected a bid from Milan for him but have Sampdoria, Barcelona and both teams from Madrid chasing him.

Jose (19), Andreas Gelsdorf* (22) and Sandro Jungwirth* (18) are all ready for first team action.  I have received bids for Jose and was close to selling him but he played well in friendlies so pulled out of the deals.  Jungwirth has been compared to Jurgen Klinsmann.  All 3 could easily replace Nemeth.

Overall

I am pretty pleased with my squad at the moment although I could possibly lose a striker or 2.  Extremely pleased that youth team is bearing some fruition — something I have always wanted to achieve on FM similar to Ana’s Real Union team from FM10!

I hope you like the update and have a greater feel for my team.  Any questions, please ask away.  If not, stay tuned for a half season update coming soon!