My First Susie Adventure - 16/17: With Leverkusen To Glory?

Only 5 points are left now...

Very, very, very important win with 10 men. Bayern wins too...

Unfortunately Bayern win against Dortmund so we better shouldn't lose against them. A draw is enough to clinch the title!

Good luck in the next game..Keep going it's a really good story !!

@TheMazzeRunner Thank you for your kind words!

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We did it!!! The youngest team in the league is the best! Chicharito cements his status of a future Bayer 04 "Hall Of Famer" with the goal in injury time.

I didn't want to lose this game but my players didn't care about it. With Lomb, Pohjanpalo and Kim Bo-Kyung some of the guys played that will (probably) leave.

Here are the final standings...

Chicharito is just awesome!

I can promise you a crazy transfer period... The big clubs noticed that we have "some" talent in our team.

Before the storm arrived Leverkusen we had this game in the Allianz Arena. Chicharito scores and brings the "First Title Of The Season" - no one cares.

Superb work man! Well done!

Here you can see what I meant... First I want to talk about the departures.

Breel Embolo - I knew that he wouldn't stay forever but that he'll go after just one season (signed for 21.5 million last season) was pretty surprising. At the end we'll get more than the 42,5 Million figured at the screen. 7,75 Million we get through monthly instalments and after 50 league games each. Also we get 40% of the profit of the next transfer. It's a pity that he leaves after just one year but the overall amount of money is more than his Minimum Fee Release Clause. So I had no real chance to hold him here.

Tin Jedvaj - Arsenal matched his release clause. I wasn't able to get it out of his contract so I had no chance. 34 million are at least a good amount of money.

Javier Hernandez CHICHARITO - The Legend of this save himself left to our league rivals Dortmund. The fee can/will rise to 42 million. A fee like that for a 29 year old who has a contract that expires after this season... So bad and sad it is - I had to accept that offer.

Kim Bo-Kyung - I bought him for 235k or so from South Korea last season. Was a solid Back-Up but had no chance to be a starter. So he wanted to leave and I had no problems with that.

Luca Bittante - I bought him for 2 million. He should be the back-up for Jedvaj this season but Hilbert is still okay - I wasn't expecting that. Also I have the young Alexander Munksgaard for the RIght Wing Back position. My coaches said that Munksgaard has more potential. So he stayed. Now, after the transfer to Atalanta Bittante has more potential. That's weird, hopefully I'll not repent that decision in a few years,

The Loans are players that not (yet) have a place in the squad. I do it the Mourinho way, in pre-season I look who's good enough, who could be good enough in one or two years and who's simply too bad. So I decide who stays, gets out on loan or leaves permanently. As it stays Mehmedi will probably leave. His stats decline and with Keita Baldé I've a new back-up for Brandt on the left side.

Now the new signings. I don't think players like Chicho, Embolo or Jedvaj are replaced good enough to defend the title. Bayern will not play a weak half-season like with Ancelotti again so we would need 80+ points. That's impossible.

André Silva - He's the replacement for Chicharito. He's just 21 so I don't expect that he scores 30+ goals like the Mexican. Hopefully he developes well so we can make a profit on him in a few years.

Keita Baldé - We had money left and I thought that we'd need someone who can compete with Brandt on the left wing. Brandt's place as starter is pretty save so for now Keita is a very expensive back-up. But he has some potential.

Kenny Tete - The young dutch is the replacement for Jedvaj. He has big potential and is the same age like Tin. I'm confident he gets the job done.

Christoph Kramer - The world cup winner gets his second chance at Bayer 04. In the first season I played a 4-2-3-1 with Kampl and Bender as Central Midfielders and he didn't play often. Real paid 20 million so I let him go. Now he's back and will get his chances at the defensive Midfield.

Timo Horn For this season he's the number 2 and plays in Cup and Champions League. Leno will probably leave next season (he wanted to go to Juve, I didn't want that and at the end I had the three choices "I promise you a Champions League title this year", "You'll stay until your contract expires" and "You'll stay because I say it"; two or three would absolutely piss him off I think so I had to take the first one) so I've a good replacement allready here.

Marc Stendera - We have just too many Defensive/Central Midfielders but because of the relegation of Frankfurt I got him for 5,5 million. It's like as ut was at Horn or Weigl. I don't really need him but for this fee there's no way that I'd don't sign him.

Nice progress there with Leverkusen

I'm going to manage in Germany for the 1st time but can't decide which team to go between Leverkusen & Schalke, any advice?

Thanks for the kind words.

I'd say neither nor. With Leverkusen it's too easy to succeed I'm not the best FM player at all and won the title in the second season. Schalke should be the same, they even have more talent in the squad. If you search for a challenge I'd suggest Hannover, Darmstadt or Frankfurt.

Just seen this post. I did end up going with Schalke though as I think they have potential to challenge the big guns in Europe. I'm not the greatest FM player either tbh and with it being my first time managing in Germany I don't want it to be too difficult. Someone else mentioned that Schalke are a sleeping giant in German football so I thought it would be good to try and bring them success.

Well done on winning the Bundesliga title with Bayer Leverkusen, top achievement.

Thank you for the kind words, @Shedender mate.

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As said before for this two I didn't see a future at our club. Mehmedi's stats decreased badly, although we have the best stuff of the league. With Brandt and Keita Baldé I've two really good and talented players for the Left Wing so he had to go.
Meffert was a solid back-up for one and a half years. Now I have just too many guys for the Defensive/Central Midfield and he was the weakest of them. Solid profit we make on him too.

Timo Werner scores four against the 5th tier side. Average performance. We'll play Düsseldorf (2nd Bundesliga) in second round. Slightly easier than Dortmund last year^^

I don't feel the dominance I felt in some phases of the old season. Season will be hard. Especially because we lost the 4th Champions League spot to Italy.

That's what I meant... Really bad result.

Darmstadt always is a hard game. We get only a draw...

Looks like we're heading for Europa League the 3rd time in 3 years...

4 points after 4 games... Hopefully the team gets some wins soon, otherwise we can forget the Champions League.