Selling your Squad Players in FM21
Selling your squad players in FM21 can be a satisfying or frustrating experience depending on which team you are managing. Your best players are likely to be approached for a transfer, but selling your lesser known squad players can be more difficult. This article aims to give you the best tips on offering out players you want to sell and what to do when negotiating a sale. Also, advice on what to avoid when selling players is provided, as you do not want to upset your players in the process.
Throughout this article, I will be using examples from Liverpool FC on FM21 for selling your lesser known squad players.
Offering out Players to Clubs
So you have selected the player you wish to sell on. Selecting the player can allow you to check if anyone is interested in the player – indicated by the Wanted icon. If clubs are interested, this can make it easier to offer the player out to clubs.
Click on Transfer > Offer to Clubs and you will come to the screen as below. Here you can offer the player out for a fee and include any clauses as you see fit on the right hand side. For Georginio Wijnaldum in the screenshot, I’m going to leave the transfer fee as Unspecified and see if any teams come back with an offer. Click Offer to Clubs when you are done.
Negotiating a Sale
So now you have received your first transfer offer for your offered out player. As you can see below, Real Madrid and PSG have both bid £26m for Wijnaldum.
Once this happens, accept an offer and offer the player out again, this time specifying a transfer price. In this case, we are going to put a price tag of £30m when offering Wijnaldum to clubs. The aim is to start a bidding war between clubs to drive the fee up, although this is not a guarantee every time.
In this case, PSG came back with a £30m offer for the player, as below. Accept this offer and reject the previous offer in Transfers before offering the player out again for a higher fee. Repeat this process until no more bids come in order to get the highest transfer fee possible.
No Offers Received
Sometimes, you offer a player out and no one is interested in bidding for the player. Step forward Divock Origi.
But all hope is not lost! If you still wish to offload the player, click Transfer List Player at the bottom to make clubs aware he is available. Assuming he does not react badly to being transfer listed, offer him out to clubs again as previously described.
On this occasion, Arsenal have bid £34.5m over 3 years (with instalments) for Origi. As previously described, accept this offer and offer him out again for a higher fee to start a bidding war. If no offers are made for your player, wait a couple of in-game weeks before trying again, as continually offering the player out could upset them.
Selling Team Player Wages
Sometimes, a player may be difficult to sell on, because this wage demands are too high for other teams to offer. In this case, you may have to pay part of his wages in order to move the player on. This is something to try and avoid doing, but sometimes it’s better to free up some wages than have a player sitting around and never playing for your team.
In the case of Adrian above, his £55k a week wage is considered high for a player of his ability. To make him more attractive to clubs, offer him out and add in Selling Team Wage Contribution, found under Additional Clauses. You can offer to pay 50% of his weekly wage, but try and lower this to free up more wages to use elsewhere. It’s not a guarantee that offers will come in, but if any do, remember to accept a bid and offer the player out again for a higher fee.
Adding in Clauses
When selling a player, regardless if a first team player or a squad member, adding additional fees or clauses to a transfer offer is always highly recommended.
When offering a player out, you can add in Additional Fees and/or Additional Clauses to the transfer offer. These can include Instalments over 6 or 12 months (boosting the transfer fee over time) or monies due after so many League Appearances, among others on the screenshot above. It may be best to try these out and see if clubs are willing to go along with these.
A popular clause to add in is Percentage of Next Sale, which would result in your club receiving a percentage of the next sale of your former player. This is useful for younger players who have potential but ultimately may not make it into your squad long term. Start the offer at around 30% but the buying team will more than likely want to negotiate this. Try to keep this as high as possible if you believe this is worth it long term!
Beware of Upsetting Players!
Before offering out players, make sure to check the top left of the screen.
In the case of Virgil Van Dijk (why you would offer him out I do not know!), he would become upset if he was to be offered out to another club. If the player in question is an Influential Player in your Team Dynamics, this could lead to the rest of the squad becoming unhappy with you.
In short, avoid offering these players out and focus on those who are willing to speak to other clubs. They are more likely to accept a contract offer elsewhere, even if you have to contribute to their wages as mentioned earlier.
Conclusion
Selling squad players in FM21 may seem daunting, but generating interest in them can be created. Offering out players and starting a bidding war to drive up the transfer fee is the ultimate aim. If possible, adding in clauses or a wage contribution can lead to extra funds being generated or made available. But overall, you are looking to build some extra transfer and wage funds to build your team. Using these selling techniques will help you to shift any deadwood in your squad and bring in better quality players.
———————————————————————————————————-
Follow me on Twitter @Craig_FM1 for more FM21 content or find us on Twitter @DictateTheGame for more Football Manager news and content.
Other Articles you may enjoy:
- Trial and Error: Guide to Trials in Football Manager
- Moneyball | FM21 | Introduction
- Managing in the Lower Leagues in Football Manager