5 Steps To Buying The Perfect Player

Hello and welcome to my first guide for Football Manager Mobile 2017. 

In this guide, I'm going to tell you how you can find and sign the perfect players for your team.

So, without further to do, let's get on with the tips..

1. Have a Philosophy

This is the most important aspect of managing a football team.

Every manager has their own idea about how they want their team to play. Guardiola likes the passing style, while Wenger likes the fancy-football style.

And just like real-life manager, you should also have a style of play that you want your team to play. What formation? What mentality? How do you want your players to operate in certain positions?

After you've got your personal style of player, you can then go for players that suit your philosophy. If you like to play with wing backs, then you should be looking at wingers who have good attacking and defending stats, and so on.

I'll explain later on how exactly you can search for players to suit your mentality.

2. Identify What Postions Need Strengthening

It may sound obvious, but before you even start to look for players, you need to know exactly where you need to improve your squad. 

To do this, you simply just go to the squad page, and sort by position (If it isn't already). 

Then, you need to observe what positions you have a low amount of. For further detail, you can also click onto each players' profile to see what positions they can play, and to see if they fit into your philosophy.

From looking at the squad, I have identified that a centre back is probably most needed for Chelsea, as there isn't that much in the squad that are reliable enough to replace John Terry when he retires.

3. Identify What Attributes You're Looking For

After identifying what sort of players you want in your team, and what positions need improving, you can then start to look at the attributes you want in a player to slot into your team.

The best way to know what attributes you're looking for in a player is to look at current players in your team.

For example, I'm going to be looking for a player to replace John Terry, so I want a player with similar attributes to him.

As you can see from the picture, Terry's key statistics that I am looking for in the centre-back position are aerial and tackling, which I am going to search for in the next step.

4. Attribute Searching

To search for specific attributes in players, go to the 'player search' page, and click onto 'customise'.

Then, click the attributes tab at the top, where you can then search for players with certain attribute scores to suit your requirements.

So, because I identified 'aerial' and 'tackling' as the two main stats from John Terry, I am now going to search for centre-backs who have the same/similar stats.

There's 3 ways of searching for atrributes in FMM 2017. 

Firstly, you can set a template from a player from your team, which could make your search a lot more accurate. In some cases, however, it doesn't work, as when I tried this with John Terry, the only player who came through the search was 35-year-old Diego Lugano.

The second way is to set a template from a player from your shortlist, which would only work if you have a big shortlist.

And finally, the third way is to set a template from a famous player, so if you are looking for a Ronaldo-like player who possess similar stats, then this is a good way.

5. Bid Slightly Higher Than Their Value

Once you have searched (It may take more than 1 search) and found the player you want, you can then start bidding for him.

For my example, I have identified Lazio's Stefan de Vrij as the centre-back I want in my team.

Now, although his value is £12.75m, I know for a fact that I will not get him for that much.

It is very very rare that you'll purchase a player with the same price as their value, as clubs always ask for a little bit more than their value.

A top tip for this then, is to make your first bid the exact same as the value. Chances are it'll get rejected, but the club will come back to you with a price that they will sell the player at.

That's when the negotiating begins. Knock your offers up by a couple million each time, until they accept.

As you can see from my example, I managed to buy De Vrij for £22.5m. After my first offer was rejected, Lazio said that they would only sell him for anything in the region of £27m, so I actually got him slightly cheaper than their valuation.

Thank you for reading. I hope this guide helped you. Happy player hunting!

[veerus]

I'll repeat from the other reply. 

I often like to inquire before bidding. Their response gives me a good indication of how the negotiations will go. 

[Robbrown172]

2 minutes ago, veerus said:

I'll repeat from the other reply. 

I often like to inquire before bidding. Their response gives me a good indication of how the negotiations will go. 

The only problem I've found with enquiring first, is that sometimes, they just say 'We are not interested in selling this player', so you don't really get a price, which isn't helpful.

I think that enquiries only work for players who are on the transfer list, as the clubs always come back with a price they are wanting for that player.

[veerus]

25 minutes ago, Robbrown172 said:

The only problem I've found with enquiring first, is that sometimes, they just say 'We are not interested in selling this player', so you don't really get a price, which isn't helpful.

That's not a problem. That's an indication that you should bid way over his value which is kind of what you're describing in your guide. 

Alternatively, if they tell you a value, you know how much negotiation room you have and avoid overbidding. 

[Robbrown172]

7 minutes ago, veerus said:

That's not a problem. That's an indication that you should bid way over his value which is kind of what you're describing in your guide. 

Alternatively, if they tell you a value, you know how much negotiation room you have and avoid overbidding. 

I like to open the negotiations by bidding their value, so then I know the exact amount they are looking for, or atleast the region.

Either way, you're going to get to the end product, which is the player.

I've just found that enquiring is only effective when it's for a player who is on the transfer list, because the club then tell you how much exactly they are looking for.

[zaangie]

You can also ask for a scout report to see how much do you have to bid.

[Robbrown172]

8 minutes ago, zaangie said:

You can also ask for a scout report to see how much do you have to bid.

Yeah, that's a good shout. Should have probably included that.

[veerus]

In my experience, scouting reports rarely include helpful bid info. Should I be doing anything special?

Edited January 7, 2017 by veerus

[henda666]

maybe can try

[BatiGoal]

8 hours ago, Robbrown172 said:

For example, I'm going to be looking for a player to replace John Terry, so I want a player with similar attributes to him.

As you can see from the picture, Terry's key statistics that I am looking for in the centre-back position are aerial and tackling,

Great tip btw. If you don't want an LD for a BPD or BBM fot BWM for example as it would disrupt the squad's momentum if you will, comparing to established players or consistent performers in the team is a safe bet. Also, not everyone remembers all the (key) attributes required for specific roles so a quick look at a 'big name' helps indeed.

[Nickmac81]

On Saturday, January 07, 2017 at 06:50, Robbrown172 said:

that

Good on you for your first FM advice post, however it really is a read for novices that don't know what they are doing. A lot of the times players/Defenders with excellent positional attributes and decision making can be better than your stock standard Centre Half with 15+ Arial abiliry and 15+ Tackling ability. Temperament can make a huge difference, as can signing a player who will join your team if he has fellow countryman already there. Do they speak the Language? How will they adjust to a new Country? For example, of you were looking for a striker and used Balotelli's template, you'd be running a high risk, same goes for John Terry, he's the most hated man in Football but I bet you Jose Fonte is a better player overall. Only tust your Scouts and assistant manager if he's highly qualified, otherwise do what 90% of Manager's around the World do, trust your own judgement. After all, we are all figuring out how to be the best Football Manager individually and there are many ways to skin a cat.

[Robbrown172]

14 minutes ago, Nickmac81 said:

Good on you for your first FM advice post, however it really is a read for novices that don't know what they are doing. A lot of the times players/Defenders with excellent positional attributes and decision making can be better than your stock standard Centre Half with 15+ Arial abiliry and 15+ Tackling ability. Temperament can make a huge difference, as can signing a player who will join your team if he has fellow countryman already there. Do they speak the Language? How will they adjust to a new Country? For example, of you were looking for a striker and used Balotelli's template, you'd be running a high risk, same goes for John Terry, he's the most hated man in Football but I bet you Jose Fonte is a better player overall. Only tust your Scouts and assistant manager if he's highly qualified, otherwise do what 90% of Manager's around the World do, trust your own judgement. After all, we are all figuring out how to be the best Football Manager individually and there are many ways to skin a cat.

I respect you massively for this comment, and know exactly what you mean.

I think copying a template from an existing player is a good thing to do, but ONLY if you have absolutely no idea what kind of player you want. It could be seen as a bit lazy aswell as you aren't really doing any deep scouting.

I wouldn't use it as my first option when it comes to finding players, but it definately is useful if you want a player who can fit into the team and your style of play.

[Nickmac81]

On Saturday, January 07, 2017 at 06:50, Robbrown172 said:

I agree with you too, it can definitely be helpful when you want a like for like match. But sometimes (especially with no top team or top division) it can be better off sourcing a younger player that has an adaptable personality and high workrate, with good basic attributes and train him with all types of different combinations, with a week on one schedule and then a week on another schedule whilst mixing intensities to find his threshold. I'm currently Managing Coventry  (Top of League 1 with 5 games to go  ) and the amount of praise that I've got out of lots of young reserves and first team players for improving their game through training methods is heaps. I really spend a lot of time on training weekly/twice weekly studying the ups and downs of players training attributes and always freshening their schedule up. Players get bored easy at training and I think getting the most out of that is the biggest asset.

I just wish FMM had the abilityto.create our own custom training schedules for those players that need specialised training, I'm not sure if FM Touch has this ability but it would be invaluable. I hope Vrij is fitting in well for you mate, I'm off to play at Wembley in the Checkatrade Trophy against Walsall, I rested my first team for the League game 4 days before and lightened training but they played their full team and are not 100% like my lads.

Best of luck.

Good on you for your first FM advice post, however it really is a read for novices that don't know what they are doing. A lot of the times players/Defenders with excellent positional attributes and decision making can be better than your stock standard Centre Half with 15+ Arial abiliry and 15+ Tackling ability. Temperament can make a huge difference, as can signing a player who will join your team if he has fellow countryman already there. Do they speak the Language? How will they adjust to a new Country? For example, of you were looking for a striker and used Balotelli's template, you'd be running a high risk, same goes for John Terry, he's the most hated man in Football but I bet you Jose Fonte is a better player overall. Only tust your Scouts and assistant manager if he's highly qualified, otherwise do what 90% of Manager's around the World do, trust your own judgement. After all, we are all figuring out how to be the best Football Manager individually and there are many ways to skin a cat.