The summer transfer window always brings a long a mixture of optimism and disappointment, depending on which team you support and what dealings they have made that year.
When a new arrival you have never heard of joins your club from abroad, there are two ways to research him.
Either looking at a compilation of his best highlights on YouTube. Or seeing how good he is on Football Manager.
Should your club’s latest signings be the next big thing or a proven international on the game, there is joy to behold as you feel encouraged about progression over the summer.
On the downside, should these latest signings your club has just spent a fortune on, be average at best on the game, questions are immediately raised.
“Why didn’t the boss scout him on Football Manager first?”
To celebrate the start of the new football season, Miles Jacobson and his team have added a whooping 66% discount to Football Manager 2015. For those who didn’t purchase Football Manager 2015 at the time, they can now own it at a bargain price using vouchers from VoucherBin. The complete opposite to which Manchester City have paid Liverpool for Raheem Sterling’s services this summer!
Indeed, Manchester City fans may have anger to show this summer with the club spending over £50 million to sign only two England internationals.
Would you have signed Sterling and Fabian Delph for the 2013-14 Premier League champions on Football Manager?
We didn’t think so. This is whilst their rivals across the city have landed some of the rising stars from the game – the pacey goalscorer that is Memphis Depay, and a solid attacking full-back in Matteo Darmian. Both of these we can tell are a big upgrade to Louis van Gaal’s side.
Manchester United have also landed top central midfielders Bastian Schweinsteiger and Morgan Schneiderlin. All of a sudden United fans can’t wait for the release of the latest Football Manager to show van Gaal how to win the Premier League with this squad!
Once the game is released, be sure to head over to VoucherBin.co.uk where you can purchase the game at a discount – similar to Chelsea’s signing of Asmir Begovic – the goalkeeper five years younger than Petr Cech whom they made a profit on.
However, Chelsea fans are showing their anger this summer with the club’s failure to land a top striker so far. Everyone knows how unreliable Diego Costa’s hamstrings are, yet Jose Mourinho has only added Radamel Falcao to his attacking options for the upcoming season – the Colombian, who was fantastic in previous Football Manager games, and real, looked past it at Manchester United last season.
Falcao and Loic Remy are to take the weight off Costa’s shoulders, or hamstrings, when the Spaniard is injured or simply in need of a rest this summer. Could the Special One have invested a bit wiser?
Here are three strikers from the latest Football Manager that many Chelsea fan would agree would have been a better backup at Stamford Bridge:
1. Luciano Vietto (Villarreal)
The Argentine striker proved it in La Liga with Villarreal last season when he scored 12 goals in 32 league matches for the Yellow Submarines in his first season in Europe. Only 21 years old, Chelsea didn’t go in for him before Atletico Madrid paid a measly £15 million for the striker to replace Mario Mandzukic.
2. Gabriel Barbosa (Santos)
The next Pele? The next Neymar? Santos’ teenage star at the moment is Gabriel Barbosa. He’s been a wonderkid on the past couple Football Manager games and big things await him in the future. Jose Mourinho has dipped into the Brazilian market for one youngster this summer – Nathan, before immediately sending him on loan to Vitesse.
Gabriel Barbosa could be the future of Brazilian football, alongside Neymar. Yet, Chelsea haven’t made an attempt to bring him to west London this summer. Will they ultimately miss out to Barcelona or Real Madrid in the future as a result?
3. Domenico Berardi (Sassuolo)
Still only 21 years old, young Italian striker Domenico Berardi has certainly been making his name for himself in Serie A over the past two seasons. Also a top player on Football Manager that you don’t need to pay over-the-odds for.
In real life, he netted all four goals in a 4-3 win over AC Milan in January 2014. He has 28 goals in two seasons in Italy’s top flight, despite playing for one of the smaller teams. Many Chelsea fans would agree with us that his signature would have been a much better option than Falcao’s…