Let’s go into details then. I didn’t really need another goalie but when I saw Rene Adler on a free transfer I just couldn’t resist. He is as good as Akinfeev in my view so I guess more competition for the first team spot couldn’t hurt anybody. I will probably rotate the two guys to avoid making them unhappy.
I surely needed a new centre back after selling Martin Caceres and after chasing several targets I chose Colombian player Cristian Zapata from Udinese. He is an experienced player, strong and pretty quick, I guess he’ll team up well with either Kjaer or Nordtveit in the middle of the defense.
Moving on to midfield, you already know about the Spanish regen called Carlos Abad, he joined us for free from Real Madrid. Since I sold all the backup central midfielders I felt I had to bring in two more CMs because that is by far the most demanding position in my tactical setup. You know that Jonjo Shelvey was one of my targets and I was pleased to sign him, Stoke let him go for only 15 million pounds. He is still young and I think that he can serve the club for years to come.
I wanted another CM and I had narrowed down the options to two players: Jack Rodwell and Fabian Delph. Chelsea didn’t want to sell Rodwell, I stopped negotiating when the price rose to 50 million pounds. Aston Villa wanted 40 million for Fabian Delph but I managed to get the price down to 30 million plus 50 percent of the next sale, I doubt there will ever be a next sale :) He’s a talented and hard working player that could add some spice to our attacking moves.
I also wanted a new striker to rotate with Sobis, Guilherme and Gadi. My initial target was Edin Dzeko but the price tag was pretty steep, I didn’t want to spend more than 25-30 million. It was a good thing actually, I think that I found a better and younger player than Dezko: Italian regen Andrea Romano from Aston Villa. He is strong, pretty quick, hard working and quite talented. Last but not least, he can still improve as he’s only 23 years old.
The friendly games went pretty well despite the fact that six of my first team players were away with their national teams at the Copa America. I was quite pleased with the wins over River Plate and Rangers, the team looked fairly solid at the back and explosive upfront.
The bookmakers tipped us as favorites to win the Premier League, that never happened before. They think we’ll have to battle with Manchester City, we’ll see about that.
August will start with two big matches, the Community Shield with Manchester United and then the Premier League opener with Chelsea. I’m quite confident that the team will perform well in those two games, I’m more concerned about the complacency they might show in the games against lower reputation teams.
That’s about it my friends, remember that you can have a look at the whole squad in detail in the current squad pages (will be updated shortly). Thanks for reading and for all your transfer suggestions, I’m looking forward to reading your thoughts about the new faces in the squad.
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Matthew
14 марта, 2010 at 12:57
Hi
Just want to ask how you watch the games. Do you have commentary only or the 3d match engine?
Thanks
Johnny Karp
14 марта, 2010 at 13:13
@Matthew
I watch them on the 3d match engine in extended highlights view or even full match from time to time.
Kevin
14 марта, 2010 at 13:23
Hi Johnny
Well done with your England performances over the summer and you’ve pretty much wrapped up the group.I like all your new signings and Shelvey and Romano look like they could stay on the field all day long with their stamina. I think Delph will be immense for you as well. Is he in your England squad?
Johnny Karp
14 марта, 2010 at 13:32
Thanks Kevin. Stamina is pretty important considering the number of games we have to play. Delph is one of the important players in my England squad, he’ll be even more important once Gerard will no longer be called up due to his advancing age.
ravenie
14 марта, 2010 at 14:20
I’m really pleased with your choice of signings, sad to see Tinga go as he’s played a role in your previous seasons. I think we can expect some 6-0s this time round. Johnny do you know how to stop fm2010 crashing your computer?
Lye
14 марта, 2010 at 14:34
Hi mate, good signings there especially Zapata looks unbeatable in the air or on the ground. Andrea Romano is awesome and you’ve got another wonderful striker. Think you should be able to challenge on all fronts this season. Good luck.
Aaron
14 марта, 2010 at 14:54
Johnny what are the young Chelsea players like in your game? im coming to the end of my first season and all the young players are on loan but im not sure if i want to avoid buying players in the summer to give them some game time. How have the likes of Kakuta, Borini, Bruma etc came on in your game?
Laxeyman
14 марта, 2010 at 14:54
Hi Johnny, well done on the wins with England. A good bunch of signings there, Delph and Shelvey are obvisouly good players on your game, on mine Delph is average and Shelvey isn’t great. The regen striker looks amazing, he will surely be a great player for you, as will Zapata who is very good as well. Also another goalkeeper! I think the league should be no problem this season, hopefully you can triumph in the Champions League.
Johnny Karp
14 марта, 2010 at 15:24
@Laxeyman
Thanks, the Champions League is my main goal for the season, I’ll do my best to win it.
@Aaron
Borini is all but great, he plays for Wycombe in League Two at the moment. Kakuta is still at Chelsea but he plays more for the Reserves than the first team. He looks like a decent player though. Bruma is a decent player, he is with Panathinaikos now. However, players might develop differently in your game, that happens quite often.
@Lye
Thanks mate, I’m quite pleased with the striker too, he looks very strong on the pitch from what I’ve seen in the friendly games.
@Ravenie
Thanks, Tinga was not able to play at this level, he had the chance to prove himself against Juventus and he failed. About the crashes, I had a few since installing the new patch. Buying more RAM memory could solve things but I’m not sure.
Calum
14 марта, 2010 at 18:16
Great signings Johnny that will add huge depth to your squad. Delph looks a great player :D. So do all of your signings :)
Also, congratulations with your good England results and I can’t wait to reading about whether you can lift the coveted Champions League! :D
Good Luck!
ravenie
14 марта, 2010 at 18:52
I have a problem. I have 3 center halfs over 30 and I need 2 new ones to sign in January on loan or cheap i’ll try asking for money but do you know any decent cbs that I could bring to the club?
Calum
14 марта, 2010 at 18:54
How much money do you have Ravenie???
Majk
14 марта, 2010 at 19:47
Still doing great there Johnny!
I have an off-topic question…
Would there be any chance to add another blogging manager to your roster on your site. I’m getting pretty fed up with my blog and it’s characteristics while uploading pictures ( it messes up what i have written and It never gets fixed properly)
I’ve also taken on managing a new team after the new patch came out ( Stade malhaerbe de Caen — ligue 2 France), and I’m not even through the first season yet so this could be a story that could start of from the beginning.
I feel like I have something to contribute and I’m also looking at doing proper month to month posts from now on. Not like the ones i did on my blog.
Just let me know straight up, I won’t be ‘hatin’ on you if you say no :)
cory berman
14 марта, 2010 at 20:11
interestings signings all of them really high quality players and they and you will no doubt prove me wrong but are any of them real ‘the worlds best’ that will take you to the almost unbeatable level and win tyou the champions league? like a rooney or a messi? not sure but still they are great signings and hope they fit in well with your excisting squad. good luck for the upcoming season!!!
Johnny Karp
15 марта, 2010 at 08:05
@Cory
As I said before, I had the intention of getting Rooney but either him or Messi or any player of that kind would have been dried up my whole transfer budget. I felt that I needed more than just one superstar to strengthen the team, I believe that now I have sufficient depth to challenge for the Champions League. We’ll see how that will come out but overall I think that my team is stronger than last season, so we should get to the final with a bit of luck. Thanks for the good luck wish btw :)
@Majk
Please drop me an email, johnny[at]footballmanagerstory[dot]com , we’ll discuss the matter there. I am honored that you want to publish your story here.
@Calum
Thanks a lot mate, I hope the new signings will fit in quickly.
ravenie
15 марта, 2010 at 18:38
About my CB situation I got a decent SPL CB in Marius Zaliukas I had £9k and thats what they wanted.
Sears
16 марта, 2010 at 19:17
Johnny,sorry for the delay in witten.My old computer isin’t as Fast as my new one and the storys never came up till I messed around the blog!But anyway,fantastic signins.Zapata is truly just a top center defender and the new goalkeeper is one of the best in Germany!The new striker attributes are great!How many goals did he score foe Aston Villa last season?And finally,Fabien Delph looks really impressive!never knew he was that good!Goodluck for next season!
23DS23
19 мая, 2010 at 12:22
I did the same thing :)
GK: Kirkland
RB: Van Den Borre
CB: Breno, Jagielka
LB: Baines
CDM: Rodwell
CM: Jack wilshire, Matias Fernandes
RAM: Nani
Lam: Ashley Young
Striker: Jo/Mirko Vucinic/ Welbeck
In the Champs league
have won the:
Europa League
Carling Cup
Super Cup
Fa Cup
and won league 1 and 2
and community shield