Managing All Over The World

Hello and welcome to the next post in my European Alphabet Challenge story. I have now completed the pre-season activities with Liverpool, as I prepare to challenge for the title. After last season’s success in winning both the Capital One Cup and the FA Cup, I now only need the Community Shield and the Premier League to complete my England set and move into the next nation.

Let’s begin with the season expectations.

I was given a huge £56m with £350k in wages to spend. This was more than enough to bring in the players I wanted to, combined with the sales of dead wood players. Now all I needed to do was sell some players and bring a few in.

Here are the players who left the club during the window:

So a hell of a lot of players left. I released 5 players as their contracts ran up and I decided not to renew them. The only player who I would’ve kept was Neville Hopwood, but he wanted to leave on a free transfer from the day I joined the club. The biggest profile sale was definitely Viktor Fischer. He left for £7.5m to Italian giants AC Milan, as he was old and wanted £125k a week. I would’ve given the money if he wasn’t as old and was a bit better on the pitch. In total, I brought in a massive £43.5m from selling mainly reserve and unwanted players.

So, with all this money coming in, I was able to signed some top quality players. Here they are.

Denis Kovacevic: AMR   (£1.6m Fee — From Red Bull Salzburg)

I signed Denis for just £1.6m from Austrian Premier Division side Red Bull Salzburg as it met his release clause. I’m really happy with this signing as £1.6m is a small price to pay for a 4 star ability and 4.5 star potential player. He will be my first team AMR and he should hopefully provide the strikers with plenty of assists. My only concern is that the step up from Austrian PL to the English PL is huge so he may struggle to keep up with the game.

Adrian Vera: GK   (£27m Fee — From Sevilla)

I signed young keeper Vera for £27m as it again, met his release clause. I am fairly confident that Vera will be able to step up to the Premier League level as he has 4.5 stars in ability. He also came from the Spanish top flight which is miled better than the Austrian top flight. His attributes clearly show that he is a terrific goalkeeper and he will take the No. 1 shirt from Chaffey, who is getting old and his ability is falling.

Othman Toumi: DC/DM/MC   (£575k Fee — From Wolfsberger AC)

I signed the defensive minded Tunisian player from Austrian side Wolfsberger AC. Just like the previous 2, I met his release clause which was tiny for a player of his calibre. £575k is a small price to pay for a strong player with 3 stars in ability. He will mainly be used as backup, however he isn’t a bad option to have on the bench.

Luca Fornasiero: MC   (£4.9m Fee — From AC Milan)

Last year I learnt that injuries and fitness issues occur when the festive period arrives. This is why I decided to sign Fornasiero. For just £4.9m, I got a technically sound midfielder who can be used as cover for the side. Although my backroom staff do not rate him highly, he can definitely do a job and can be a useful player when the games come thick and fast.

Joel Vogt: ST   (£17.75m Fee — From SK Sturm Graz)

My 3rd and final signing from Austria came in the shape of Austrian striker Joel Vogt. I was reluctant to pay nearly £18m for him but after seeing how much money I had, and his goalscoring record, I took the risk. Before I signed him, he was averaging around 25-30 goals a season, and by looking at his international record, you can see he is a good goalscorer. His 20 finishing attribute definitely matches his goals to games ratio.

Scott Hamilton: MC   (£23m Fee — From Aston Villa)

I signed Hamilton as I needed a new playmaker. Although £23m is a large price tag for a player with no caps for his country, he is proven in the Premier League as a very good player. In the last few seasons with Villa, he has had a rating of 7.40 or higher, usually over 30+ games. This shows consistency and hopefully he will be good enough for us to create plenty of goals.

So that covers all the signings, let’s look at a couple of draws.

So we faced league champions Manchester City in the Community Shield during pre-season, and our Europa League Group see’s us face Russian side Rubin Kazan, Italian side Lazio and Hungarian side Videoton. We should qualify from the group as Champions considering our squad. Hopefully we can win the Community Shield, however against City, it will not be easy.

I decided to play the fixtures leading up to transfer deadline day, and here are the results:

So we won all but one of our friendlies, including a good win over Dortmund. We also managed to win the Community Shield by a small 1-0 win over Manchester City, meaning that I only need the title now to leave England. We also played 3 Premier League fixtures, winning 2-0 against QPR (A), drawing 1-1 with Newcastle (H) and winning emphatically 5-0 against Leicester (H).

Thanks for reading and please comment/vote!