ML UNITED – The defaults
Season 2 – Winter transfer window update
So, fighting for promotion eh? Our unusual and unexpected accumulation of points also brought us…a whole lot of PES Points! Even with all the contract renewals and transfer-ins last summer, I’ve managed to keep our salary expenditures not-so-inflated (just a near-thousand PES points more than the original default team’s paycheck) so you bet this excellent half-of-season 2 meant that we had a few thousand extra PES Points to spend in new players. Also, I definitely wanted to get rid of a few defaults who had even less space in our squad, now that we can proudly admit we have a core of players that play every single match (and also a core of bench players which I heavily rely on, like Minanda, Ettori, Baumann, Ordaz and Hamsun) and leave no room to further experimenting with reserves, which I had done in Season One.
As usual, I scanned the “newcomers” group to find out if there were worthy and rather cheap newgens/regens for us to acquire. Though I usually look down on regens, I’m learning to love that particular retro-PES quirkiness so I bid for Maldini (the only 17-yo you’ll ever see with a 98 mentality rating!). He ended up rejecting my bid and signing for…AC Milan!!! Do not mess with PS2 PES2009 AI, “she” knows a lot more than what we thought she knew…
Besides Maldini, this batch of regens wasn’t exciting at all. So I turned my attention to the newgens and as always, they do not disappoint. I didn’t even intend to acquire a goalkeeper now, given how spectacularly Ivarov has been playing since the beginning of the save, but a certain Fredriksson caught my eye not just because of his goalkeeping skills, but because he’s a prolific set piece taker and he’s a penalty kick specialist. The Nordic Rogerio Ceni? Anyways, I offered him a buttload of money…(ahem, excuse me, PES points) that made him the most expensive paycheck of ours by far and still he didn’t want to come. Only such a quirky player would make me lose my mind like this – also there was another newgen in this batch who was also 17-years old and a much better keeper than the Swedish…- so in a way I’m glad he didn’t accept my offer for the PES points would certainly be better spent elsewhere.
Still most of the newgens won’t sign with us, no matter how cheap. Makes sense, since even the ones who are not the most impressive are immediately hired by the best clubs in the world. But as you know already I never quit so I kept making offers to a few of them, and against all odds I was able to get ONE newgen, my first!
Guimaraes (SB) – 17 years old - free agent: I knew Guimaraes from another save I did years ago on the PSP – also on a more recent PES – and if he turns out to be what he became in PES2011, he’s definitely bombastic! I mean, as a 17-year-old he’s already the best statsheet in our squad, so you can see why I’m excited. He’s a right-back with no weaknesses to his game and a welcomed introduction to our team because of Espimas’ decline, which has become evident this season not just stat-wise but also shows on the pitch. Even if he’s still reliable, the time has come to begin the process of replacing him.
For now though, I’m thinking of the possibility of playing both Guimaraes and Espimas at the same time, though they’re both right-footers. Ximelez still plays decently but Espimas was always more comfortable in the wing-back role (Ximelez’s lack of stamina is a liability) and playing Espimas on the left could give me more opportunities to use his long-range ability; also Guimaraes is so skilled overall he would fit the left-wing-back role perfectly too.
Away from the newgens/regens, the “available for transfer talks” group had no interesting players. Most of them were past their prime so I wouldn’t spend points on their transfer fee and contract, given also they don’t fit our “timeline” as a team who’s looking to get younger, not older.
I still had time, PES Points and availability to get at least another player, so I focused on my priorities for the squad: a decent CMF to replace Van den Berg (he’s doing fine but I doubt he’ll be a good player in the future as players like Gutierrez and Jaric are turning out to be) and a centre-back to fight with Cooper, El Moubarki, Jaric and Baumann for a spot in our back-3. A 22-year-old Ledley was an interesting choice, rather cheap (transfer fee of 3000 Points) and a balanced player overall, no weaknesses and every stat above 70, including mentality and teamwork which I value tremendously. He refused all my offers.
As for the CB role, there were no cheap, young and decent players available who fit these criteria. I ended up getting a…Libero! Yeah, a natural Libero, thought these were extinct! I got him while I was searching players with high teamwork stat and came upon a certain Mexican dude who’s still young and who’ll provide me an interesting challenge: where the hell will I play him?
Araujo (Libero) – 21 years old – 2500 PES Points: He’s a decent defender for his age (70 def. stat), he’s agile and isn’t slow but he’s short (175cm) and a very good passer of the ball. Also, he’s got an 83 teamwork stat. Seems to me he could be a good DMF or even a CMF (a Stein/Araujo midfield would be a tough one to swallow for our opponents), but he’s so skilled he could still handle the CB position anyways. I’ll need time to see what he brings to the table in-loco.
Transfer Outs: Stremer, Giersen, Fouque; Ruskin (Loan) – 3 players sold and one loaned out. Stremer hasn’t played since Season One, same with Giersen (also the arrivals of Araujo and Guimaraes made these two completely obsolete). Fouque played a few minutes mainly in the last fixtures up until this transfer window, his attributes evolved a lot though I seldom played him, but he’ll never be a good player and on the pitch he brings nothing interesting. As for Ruskin, I was ready to sell him as I completely trust Guimaraes, Espimas, Ximelez and Macco to fight for the two wingback spots. Ruskin wasn’t horrible at all, but miles away from what Macco is doing and he’s going to be the 4th option for these two roles, so Ruskin completely lost his space here.
Must’ve made around 1500 PES points with these sales.
- > Overall, I’m pretty pleased. Got rid of a few defaults who were just taking squad space and brought in two interesting, young players who’ll certainly be the future of our team. The fact that my ML is on the “very hard” setting makes it tremendously difficult to negotiate with players, so every transfer-in is celebrated like a D2 Cup win. Particularly Guimaraes is a catch, I believe he’ll become one of the best sidebacks in the game in a few years. Araujo and his ability to fit in most positions and high football-IQ is bound to be a favourite of mine, few 21-year olds have the balls to declare themselves to be a Libero these days.