by @adam_otbfm
One of the new features for Football Manager 2022 that you could argue has been spoken about slightly less than it should have been (perhaps due to the excitement surrounding the new Data Hub) has been the new revamped Transfer Deadline Day experience in-game. The new yellow & black branding and more prominent countdown timer really push the sense of urgency as the clock ticks making even the most organised managers reconsider their squad and look at chancing one more marquee signing. There’s a lot more to deadline day than that though, so to have a look at it properly, I’m going to play through the single most chaotic day in a manager’s calendar and desperately try to fill a huge void in Man UFC’s squad..
It’s no secret that United are crying out for a new Defensive Midfielder, not even the signings of Varane, Sancho and a certain CR7 can hide that. So with one day and £30m to spend, I’m going to jump into deadline day with no prior scouting done and see if I can secure a deal that genuinely improves the side.
🕗 8 AM - 15 HOURS TO GO
The first new feature that comes up is the early rumour mill. We’re being linked with Barca’s Sergiño Dest, an excellent full-back, but not the man we need the most. If the rumours of bids for Martial and Lingard materialise though, Dest could be a tasty little side project for today. Anyway, onto business. The midfield so far has been McTominay as the DM behind Pogba and Fernandes as the 8’s, but to be real title contenders I think an upgrade is needed. Declan Rice immediately springs to mind, but is probably out of budget. The same probably applies to Kalvin Phillips, especially since Leeds won’t want to lose their key man to us with no time to replace him! After a little bit of a look around, early thoughts are that the likes of Bentancur, Kessié, Bennacer, Rice and Guido Pizarro are among our potentially achievable targets.
🕘 9 AM - 14 HOURS TO GO
Pat Deeley from ITV Sport wants to know if Pogba will be leaving today, I politely tell him that I’m not interested in selling. The new Attracting Interest tab confirms that the rumours around Martial and Lingard have a bit of substance; if we could get maybe £45m for the two combined we could really go big and make a Berbatov-esque impact today.
One of the more memorable 11th hour signings
I know less about Guido Pizarro than the rest of my shortlisted players, so I’ve got the entire scouting pool looking at him to hopefully get me some more info. He’s a bit of a last-ditch option, but if it comes to it I still want to be prepared. In my head, Kessié and Rice are the favourites, budget depending. If deals for those can’t be done, we’ll turn our attention to the likes of Bentancur and Bennacer.
🕙 10 AM - 13 HOURS TO GO
Agents are waking up and starting to get to work, with two getting in touch to test the waters and get their clients’ names out there. These new agent offers are great, it’s another avenue of finding interested players at short notice, although if they haven’t been on your scouts’ radar they could be a real risk. The only one of any particular interest is Emre Can, but as good as he is, I’m not sure he’s somebody I want to look at right now. There are no offers for Martial as most clubs have already concluded their business. Frustrating. I’ve asked him to get his name out there and he’s agreed, so hopefully somebody will panic and come in. I need to make some headway getting a body in, so I reach out to the agents of Rice and Kessié to see what their early thoughts are.
The improvement to agent conversations this year shows how likely we are to get either of these deals done. Kessié is the more affordable option but hasn’t got a whole lot of interest, which is a concern. My hope is that it’s because he’s happy at Milan, but would be willing if they do accept a bid for him. Rice is very interested which makes that aspect of the deal far more straightforward, but getting a bid accepted will be tough. Last year it would have just been “we’re glad you’re interested, this is what it’ll take” with no other context, whereas now we can confirm our interest and let them know a bid is coming.
🕧 12:30 PM - 10.5 HOURS TO GO
Lunchtime must be an agent’s dream! We’ve had 30 players touted to us, all at once. There are actually some very interesting players in there for us, most notably Wilmar Barrios and Bryan Cristante. They don’t usurp the main targets though, and with still no offers for Martial I need to use what we have and make some bids. There’s no wiggle room in the budgets unfortunately, so we’re in with an opening bid of 30m for Kessié. If they accept it, I’ll be amazed!
🕐 1 PM - 10 HOURS TO GO
Milan come back with a negotiation that we just can’t match. They only want £32.5m up front, but the instalments make it £46m to come out of the budget which we can’t do. Plus they locked in signing a replacement first, not a chance! I reject that negotiation but I’ll check back in later. A bid of £22m does go in for Bryan Cristante though, just to test the water.
🕑 2 PM - 9 HOURS TO GO
Offer Accepted. Roma have accepted the £22m bid for Cristante and we can begin negotiations. He isn’t my first choice but an accepted bid is a good step. After a chat with Bennacer’s agent, we slap in a £24m bid for him too. I’m basically scatter-gunning at this point. Cristante wants to be a promised regular starter which is fine, and his demands are fairly basic, a 4 year deal on £94k p/w is agreed in principle. The next 9 hours now become about getting a player, or deal, I’m happier with.
Having a look at the Transfer News tab, I can see that Newcastle are wielding some of their new found wealth, with the £40.5m signing of Maxi Gomez. The deal of the window will surely be over at Liverpool though, with them paying a measly £17m for World Cup winner Benjamin Pavard. The biggest deals could still be yet to come though, with City after Lautaro Martinez and the Pogba to Madrid rumours not going away. Hopefully their fax machine breaks!
🕝 2:30 PM - 8.5 HOURS TO GO
The offer for Bennacer has been leaked to the press! This is bad news, as Liverpool, Newcastle, Madrid and Bayern are all interested. That could push the price up and make him an unattainable target, time will tell I guess. I’m desperate to drum up some extra money for a Kessié deal, so I offer Martial out again at £25m, and Lingard with no asking price to see if I get any nibbles. There’s time left in the day but I feel I’m starting to rush things now.
🕒 3 PM - 8 HOURS TO GO
Two bids for Lingard, but I don’t want to accept them. Spurs have made the better offer of the two, with £7m up front and £7m in installments. Leicester have matched the total but only £3.5m up front. Both rejected, with a £12m flat renegotiation sent. Milan come back to us with a small tweak to the Bennacer deal, so we accept as it’s all performance add-ons.
🕓 4 PM - 7 HOURS TO GO
We enter negotiations with Bennacer’s agent, and initially it doesn’t feel like it’s going to be as straightforward as Cristante’s dealings. Interestingly though his demands are far lower, so the deal is fairly simple after all. A 5 year deal on £80k p/w is agreed in principle. I’m frustrated that there’s no interest in Martial and no nibbles at the higher price for Lingard. I’m willing to drop price once more for each of them to try and do a deal for Kessié, but if not it’ll be a straight shootout between the two deals in progress.
At least the majority of fans think I’m doing my business in the right area - 36% have clearly forgotten we have Cristiano though!
5 PM - 6 HOURS TO GO
Bryan Cristante has been granted a work permit and can be confirmed as a Manchester UFC player. Ideally I’d like to delay it until I can see what happens with Bennacer, but I can’t. Another fan poll says that 60% of fans think Bennacer should be signed, and after a comparison I think I’m inclined to agree, although it’s close! The risk is cancelling the Cristante deal and then the Bennacer deal falling through, that would be catastrophic. It’s too late to get any meaningful info on anybody now and get a deal done, so if I take the risk I need a plan B I’m already familiar with.
A bid of £22m rising to £25.5 has been accepted for Bentancur, just in case the Bennacer deal falls through. A 4 year deal on £95k p/w has been agreed in principle too, but again it’ll depend on a work permit. Fingers crossed, now we wait!
🕡 6:30 PM - 4.5 HOURS TO GO
Things have gone quiet which is a bit of a concern, but we have had Patrice Briand from Maxifoot tap us up for a cheeky interview!
We definitely wouldn’t be foolish enough to suddenly act on a situation. Absolutely not!
Well now I well and truly feel like I’ve panicked!
🕗 8 PM - 3 HOURS TO GO
Relief. We will be bringing in a DM, the entire goal of the day, and we’ll do it with a couple of hours spare for a Horlicks and an early night! The only question now is which one?
In the end we elect to sign Algerian International Ismael Bennacer, also of Milan and an absolute all round defensive midfield machine which is exactly what Man UFC need both in-game and of course in real life. Hopefully he can add the steel we need to this squad, definitely an improvement on our existing personnel.
With a DM finally signed and 2 hours left in the window, there’s only one thing left to do….
I’ve really enjoyed my first proper Deadline Day experience. The separate hub, the colour scheme changing everywhere, and touches like the countdown, the fan polls and rumours tab all genuinely make it feel like an event, rather than an extra set of continue presses like in previous editions. A few of these things have already been in the game, but have been greatly enhanced this year and really feel like they give the day much more meaning, enjoyment and immersion; even if you aren’t doing any business there’s still plenty to have a look around at and see what the competition are up to. The agent offers are excellent, not just as a way to find players that scouting may have missed, but also to give an idea of who might be looking for a move at short notice. All in all, definitely a good feature and something that adds some additional chaos to our saves!
Thanks for reading,
Adam.
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