Super Depor! - Reviving Deportivo La Coruna

So for context, i used to be really active on this site in my FM prime maybe 10 years ago or more and i havent listed or written an FM career or story in a long time but i was playing through my save and really enjoying it so thought it could be worth sharing my experiences so far.

I have just finished my 6th season in game and i am entering into my 7th season now so mostly everything will be a historical post up until this current season where i will then post periodic updates!

But first for anyone who doest remember or recognise Deportivo, in the early 2000s they were one of the funnest sides to watch in europe and spain, they had Roy Makaay scoring goals for fun and have great players like Juan Carlos Valeron and Diego Tristan coming through. They managed to win 1 Spanish title with their golden era team and a string of second place finishes before bigger teams came calling stripping their squad and succumbing to financial burdens. In recent years they suffered relegation to the Spanish second division and then again to the Spanish 3rd division due to financial irragularitites, something that is completely understandable when you start a save in spain. 

Finances have been a huge gripe for me in this save in total, firstly there is the wage cap in the spanish league for your player registration which made several deadline day signings way more stressful than they needed to be and can really hault a resurging team from growing, there is also the complete lack of tournament prize money for winning or placement in the league. Teams rely on money from shared TV revenue and european competition prize money in order to progress their playing squad which is extremley difficult. If i was a conspiracy theorist id say that the league is set up to keep the three main teams Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atheltico Madrid to a lesser extent at the top and everyone else scrapping the barrell. 

Now that we have introductions lets just go through our first season. 

Spanish Federation First Division A - the third tier of spanish football

This season wasnt the most enjoyable season we ever had, none of us really wanted to be there and at times it came acrross in performances, and apart from a bunch of B teams the only team that was noteable was Racing Santander. So we wont go into too much detail but heres how the league finished up.

There were only two players we signed during this season

Ali Ahamada - I wasnt overly unhappy with our keeper situation however scrolling through free transfers i seen him sitting there ready to be plucked up and he is genuinely better than our division, if im honest he could and can do a job in the Spanish top division.

The second signing was Nils Mortimer - i thought at the time that i had captured the greatest coup in transfer history, he was great for us in the lower divisions but i was just wrong and i am still stuck with him too this day.

This sums up our first season and i will continue to update in a seperate post!

We then move onto our second season which was a real big jump up in difficulty, the spanish second division is full again with the top teams B teams which is often stacked with their best youth players. The league is dominated by Barcelona B team and for good measure, they are perpetually stacked full of great players. 

To compete i put all of my budget into freeing up as much wage budget as possible, allowing for us to capitalise on some free signings and experience our first issue with the Foreign player registration rules. 

Fabian Schar and Sean Longstaff joined us from newly minted Newcastle who were now starting to flex their financial muscle and bringing in a higher quality player meaning some very good players were surplus to requirements.  Schar has a wealth of experience in league and european football aswell as top level international competitions, his competitiveness, experience and quality is a level above our division and is a great coup. Longstaff is as industrias and hard working as his hometown, he works hard for the team all around him and will be a great workhorse midfielder for us. 

Then there was Ben Woodburn, we needed a creative spark out in the wide areas and Ben could well and truly offer it, he came through liverpools academy which we will dip into again and has been kind to us throughout our save. 

We then took Peque on loan from Barcelona, we tried to tap this well as often as we could, their B team is overflowing with talent that need game time and if you can with any lower level save always try for loan players or even cheaper transfers. Peque was a great addition to our attacking players

Then there were the two game changers Mattiello and Danilo Pereira.  Mattiello is a great fullback who would serve us for years to come, he provided great attacking width whilst also being able to defend at a high levvel too. 

Danilo Pereira was the real key signing this off season - hes a great striker at our level and to be honest can the job a level above us, he is young and athletic and for free is a great signing. The issue however is that i had to break the bank for him, he became our highest earner by quite a bit and even put us over our wage budget for a while.

The issue of player registration almost derailed our season before it even began. We had Jurgen Eltim on loan from Watford, he was great in our first season and we were playing a 4-2-3-1 formation with an attacking midfielder and he was deemed essential the only issue was that he was recognised as a foreign non EU player for player registration. 

We then brought in Longstaff, Woodburn and Pereira who were all considered foreign. This caught me off guard completeley if im honest, i never even considered brexit during my transfer negotiations and to see Longstaff (england) and Woodburn (wales) both being considered foreign was a shock too me and meant we couldnt register all four players initially and even considered loaning out Woodburn for a while, until we unregistered Eltim, and were still able to use him due to him being under 19 at the time of registration therefore not needing to be registered. 

Our second season with the team and our first season in the Spanish Second Division was tough!! We were inconsistant at best and average for the majority of the time, that was until we decided to change formation toward the end of the season which will be covered in another tactical update later on.

You can see where we changed formation and where our attack really started to click and where the true hero of our story Noel Lopez starts to truly find his form for us, he didnt score much during the season but really started to find his form towards the end of this season. I dont want to show his card yet as im saving it for the current season as hes still with us and im in love with him if im honest.  This late run allowed us to be the “in- form” team in the lague and allowed for us to sneak into the playoffs on the final day of the season beating out Ibiza and Malaga for 6th place in the league. However Malaga still managed to retain a place in the playoffs due to Barcelona B finishing second therefore an extra playoff place being opened.  Espanyol won the league and would become our boogie team, much like Burnley is for Mark Goldbridge, we just can never get the better of them and theyll play a vital part of the story later on.  I will post the table after to avoid spoilers. 

With 6th place secured we moved onto the playoffs.  The semi Finals were a thrill ride, the first leg we won 2-1 against Huesca who were a consistant side all year long and i did not expect the second leg scoreline but Mortimer and Danilo Pereira were in inspired form scoring two each and ultimately giving us the feeling that it didnt matter how much they scored, we were going to outscore them all day long. 

Then there was the final - i was not expecting a 2 legged playoff final, however i was relieved, it took the tension out of the game for me and for the squad and allowed for a more relaxed atmosphere. 

The first leg was comfortable for us, we had the better chances and the better XG, with highlights within the game showing we were really the only ones who looked like scoring, and we did Mortimer again was in fine form scoring 2 and Pereira getting the other goal. I know i said earlier that Mortimer was not the wonder signing i thought he would be i was maybe being harsh, he wasnted the untapped wonderkid i thought he was going to be but he was vital in helping us get navigate the lower leagues, he played long the front 4 at any time and was a team player.

Now this first leg result set us up perfectly to go up and Almeria was a team that we had dominated during the season and we were happy to play them in the playoff final. However the goal by Joaquin could be vital. We really could regret going to sleep in the 88th minute of the game. 

The second leg was an experience to say the least. We finally had Noel Lopez back and thought that he would for sure continue his great form and fire us into the Spanish first division again. However Almeria had other plans, the game was going to plan for the first 42 minutes, we were playing well the match was even and was tied at 1-1 then the onslaught came, they scored two from set peices within 3 minutes before half time. 

This brought tactical changes at half time, we needed to change how we defended set pieces and had to implement that at half time. We gave the team some harsh realities and sent them out fired up. It looked to work really well as Mortimer, the hero of our playoff campaign scored and gave us our one goal lead back over the two legs. We perhaps sent the lads out too fired up,  Fabian Schar is not a man who needs to be fired up and it is perhaps a fact that was overlooked by myself and the managment team, we left him out there angry and on a yellow and he got a second and got himself sent off. This meant we needed to go into turtle mode, sit back and survive the onslaught and we did!!

We won by one goal over the two legs. Nils Mortimer you did it. 

Lets get tactical tactical, i wanna get tactical, lets get down to tactics babe. 

Anyway apart from my Office reference (lets get ethical) Lets look at the tactical change that really propelled us through the spanish second division.  We had started with an extremely generic 4-2-3-1 Gegenpress with a shadow striker being deployed in the CAM position and it had served us well enough but was not consistant and wasnt giving us the attacking power to offset the defensive weakness that it opened up. 

We then switched to a 4-2-2-2, i had played this formation before using a saved tactic from the community however i decided to build my own from scratch using the same formation as i love having 2 strikers and having wide players. 

We switched to a positive mentality to start games as i found it gave us the best balance of taking chances going forward without over exposing ourselves at the back which the attacking mentality often leaves you with.  We wanted to play slick attacking football however we did not want to pass for the sake of passing and wanted to allow our team to take the risk with the over the top or through ball pass without fear of being reprimanded. 

For crosses i fiddled with a few options and landed at whipped crosses because they matched our attackers strengths and gave us the best chances of getting onto the end of them a lot more. We also told our players to be more expressive because i was signing players specifically with flair and high dribbling and looking for player traits to compliment the system, players that try tricks often, runs at players, cut inside etc all compliment the be more expressive command. 

For defense we wanted to counter press and counter attack at all times, we wanted to exhaust our opponents, suffocate them with constant pressure and ebs and flows of the match. We are at our best when the opponent feels comfortable in their attack and then we can pounce and react.  If anyone wants the actual tactic it can be posted but i think all of the details are there to be seen.

So with promotion came the need for major reinforcements. However we never really got the transfer budget i thought that we deserved. I have to admit ive spent most of my recent years playing Premier league or Bundesliga saves were funds arent exactly hard to come by, promotion to the Premier League would normally give you 30 million upwards transfer budget but not here. 

We got 5 million to spend and we tried to extend it as much as possible. Throughout the transfer windows i have tried to sign players who are a level above where we are so that when we get promoted we arent stuck for squad players and i think that we achieved that last season, Schar, Longstaf, Mortimer, Woodburn, Pereira are all able to contribute at the top level of spanish football and the squad will be bolstered by more players.

Diakite, Nusa, Faghir and Bugaj are the stars of the transfer window. 

Diakite is an extremley athletic and young centre back who is ready to contribute now and will become a key figure and future star of the team. 

Nusa was signed for the future and has the ability to be a great player in the future and it wouldnt be long before he attracted the interest of some real top division clubs and would ultimately become unsettled and ask to leave in the future.

Faghir was on loan and is a great player, i wish i had the funds available to capture him because he showed flashes of brilliance when we played but his playing time was curtailed because i had permanent players in his position that needed the playing time for development more.

Bugaj was another signing i was so excited to sign, i thought he was going to be a great fullback and thought he would become a star but he was one of the players that kind of stagnated and didnt really move forward. 

The other signings were brought in to bulk up the squad and give us some real depth, Javi Jimenez was initially brought in as a backup but forced himself into a starting role and formed a partnership with Diakite. Fiabema was a star when he was with us and really looked like he was destined for future glory however it wasnt really the case afterwards. 

Schar was the only real notable out, if im honest i held the final against him. The red card almost cost us promotion so i decided it was time for him to go and he left. 

The other two signings were made in January with Ramon Enriquez being unsettled and unhappy at Malaga who were still stuck in the second division, he had suitors from abroad and we pounced on the idea of signing him, hes a great centre midfielder who can supply some great passing, technique and guile in the centre of our midfield. 

Of the players signed the following are still with us 

Enriquez, looks bang average however he constantly out performs his stats, im not sure if its sthe system we play or the match engine but hes almost like Adam Hlozek, players whos stats dont look overly exceptional but out perform expectations constantly. I do believe his high decision making is a vital factor in his performances

Diakite is one of the best signings i have ever made in this game, he didnt look excpetional when first signed but he has grown and blossomed into one of the best centre backs in the game and is well sought after, often requiring a new contract to stay each summer.

Jimenez has been a loyal servant and is here just cus hes a good lad in the dressing room. hes not going anywhere 

Our first season back in the big time was a mixed bag. We finished 13th overall on 46 points which is a great points haul for our first season back in the big time but there were times through the season when we were close to european football. This was until we faced the dreaded downfall in December, for whatever reason in my saves December either makes or breaks my seasons, we either capitulate and loose majority of the matches and our momentum or we solidify and galvanise the squad and come through the other end on top form.  We wont complain however about the final result, we survived comfortably in the end. 

The run of bad form made us reevaluate our staff and revamp our backroom completely, we were bottom or near bottom in near every area possible until we completed our revamp. I can not express how important Staff is during a save. I honestly never really looked at it or considered it but seeing the change and affect quality staff can have on your club it really is an eye opener and it doesnt even require that much work. If your hands on you do an attribute search the same way you would for players on the transfer market and sign what you can. If your hands off however you can sign a Technical Director with high stats and give him the responsibility of signing new staff and giving out new contracts. 

The last point i want to make on the current season is about Noel Lopez. Noel Lopez has been with us from the very beggining, hes a young 18 year old with very average looking stats but with game time, training and quality coaching he can truly develop into a star. However im not sure if hes a wonderkid who can be signed and played in every save, i think his development has been very circumstantial and without the game time needed he would not have developed as well as he has. 

For context this is what he started at (screenshot pulled from google)

I think his development has been a lesson for me in player development and the true importance of game time and trust, there are times when Noel didnt play well or was out of form but trusting in him fully really repaid my faith. His form in the top division was truly suprising, he had an average season in the second division with most of his goals and high rated performances coming towward the end of the season. For our first season in the top division he rode that momentum he had toward the second half of the season and brought it with him finishing his first campaign with 20 goals and 10 assists. 

Noel Also won European Golden Boy for the next two season in a row, yet again some of his stats arent dynamic or explosive yet he has performed exceptionally well, often playing anywhere along the fron 4 of our team when needed. 

We have however hit an impass with Lopez in our current season, hes had interest from PSG, Lyon, and….. Stoke. Yes Stoke are in the premier league and have managed to unsettle several of our players in the current offseason, the spending power and wages in the Prem are that monstorous that they are able to unsettle players from a team doing very well.(trying to avoid spoilers)

After a succesful first campaign in the spanish first division we needed to then take our next step forward however yet again we werent offered the financial muscle we pined after. Our transfer budget ultimately remained the same therefore we got creative with our offers, with the majority of our deals relying on contingincies, of appearnces, fees in installments, fees based on league and cup success and in extreme instances percentages of profit from sales. 

We would have to sell some players to bring extra players in and to clear up some of the bigger wages we had paid to entice players in the first place. 

This window would see our biggest splash in the transfer market to date. Kelvin Yeboah, a player who ive honestly never gave a second look too was brought in mainly because of OmegaLukes rebuild series he done with Genoa. He is yet again one of those players who out performs their face stats. He was our record signing at the time and worked out spectacularly well. 

Caleb Okoli, Slobodan and Carlos Alvarez were brought in for the future and were at a risk as they didnt really have the best attributes but we needed bodies and tried to think for the future and if im honest its what we could afford. 

Gustavo Hamer is a favourite of mine, im a Sunderland fan through and through and in the last few years hes been brilliant during my sunderland saves anytime ive signed him, hes much better quality than Coventry and he has a really cool name.

Yanis Hamache is the perfect mold of fullback for our system, hes comfortable on the ball, attacks well, has great technical ability and is a superb freekick taker and is a cult hero amongst our ficitional fans. 

Yvon Mvogo was a much needed upgrade for Goalkeeper, Ahamada had served us well and could ultimately do a job for us but Mvogo was an imporvement and would come in for cheap. 

Chiquinho was transfer listed, had the attributes to contribute and was available at a decent price and was too good to turn down. 

For the outs, Longstaff and Pereira left after one season in the big time, mainly because we had been working on bringing in some South American players and i needed to free up the Foreign player slots so we began the process of moving them on. The south american transfers didnt pan out however we had already accepted bids and allowed for contracts to be discussed and decided to use the money elsewhere. 

There was one other signing that was made in January, which was Armando Broja, he was listed by Chelsea as he was not getting the game time required and we managed to sign him for a deal totalling £12 million after fees and add-ons. He was a great boost for us mid season and gave us an extra push in the league and allowed for greater competition for places in the squad. 

Brojas career with us was a mixed bag, he scored 10 and assisted 3 in his first 20 games after signing in January. He then began the next season as one of our two main strikers however he had a freak injury where he broke his back just like Mike Tyson which put him out for 8 months. His agility and bravery plummeted to single digits during this time but slowly recovered. 

However as soon as he was fit, 3 days before the end of the transfer window his release clause was activated by Gladbach for 33 million and he left before we could replace him but thats next seasons problem. 

What a season this would be, this was one of the most memorable seasons ive ever had. We were good throughout the season and had played great in parts and poorly in other parts. 

However it all came down to the last day of the season. We were 6th and needed results to go our way to confirm european football for the following year, playing in the europa league would be a huge boost to our finances and club rankings which is much needed to attract better quality players. With that said this is the last day results and table

The results were so kind to us Bilbao and Sevilla both lost their last matches and ultimately lost their places in the champions league and europa league respectfully. Due to the high performance of the spanish league and teams the 4th placed team also went straight into the champions league group stage which was a massive financial boost to us because if im being honest we are nowhere near ready to be in the champions league and compete especially not with the league being as hard as it is currently. 

This is our best 11 for the season and how we lined out for most of the season, Yeboah was the absolute star of the team, not only did he score when needed but he was electric on the pitch and made things happen when it looked like nothing was going to go our way. Lopez also deserves special recognition, he was our handyman, wherever we needed a hole plugged he filled it, he played wide left which brought about the adaptation to the left wing position becoming an Inside Forward instead of Winger which we originally had and it paid off, he finished the campaign with 14 goals 

We then moved into our next season in dire need of improvement and to bolster our squad so once again we dipped into the free transfer market and specifically to Liverpool's released players. 

Neco Williams was one i was shocked to see on the expiring list. He is good enough to be backup to TAA and is good enough to start for most teams in Europes top leagues, i snatched at the opportunity to sign him as he would be an immediate improvement at right back for us. 

Tyler Morton is another extremeley well rounded centre midfielder and is a significant upgrade on Hamer, hes also still young and will only improve with time and the game time hes sure to get with us. 

The last free signing was Dean Hughes who was brought in for the future, hes only 18 and is already arguably as good as Mvogo, but will be sent out on loan for at least one season to get senior game time under his belt. 

We then brought in Dzanko on loan for his first year with us, hes a great winger and to be able to get him for one season is going to be great, hes going to be a star. 

The last signing was Carlos Moreno in January, the regen was being let go by Real Madrid and i can not figure out why, their centre backs were all 34 years old plus and he is a physical specimen. Hes 6 ft 6 almost 6 ft 7 in height. A collosal man 

Our new signings were able to meld in with our existing core group of players and they combined for an exciting campaign that ended up with some silverware, an improved league position but also some humble humiliation at the hands of the big boys. 

Yeboah continued his exceptional form however it was a story of two halves for him, he got off to a flyer to start the season scoring for fun and entertaining the fans however in January his head was turned and PSG and Monaco came knocking trying to use their financial muscle to force us into accepting a lower bid but we remained strong even as Yeboah was unhappy

Lopez again was vital to our success, he filled in for Broja when he went down with his broken back and shared that responsibility with Kasianenko our youth signing from Ukraine. 

We finished 3rd this season, asserting ourselves as the best of the rest in the league, we didnt need any final day dramatics to hand us european football, it was a lot more comfortable than last season as we were a lot more consistant than ever before. We continued to score a lot of goals but also concede quite a few aswell but ill take that as long as were scoring we can work with anything. 

From the highs of the league finish to the utter embarrassment in the Champions League. We knew we werent prepared for this challenge and i prioritised the league, continued qualification for Europe is vital for our future success, we need the prize money more than anything and we can build from there.  It also didnt help that we were dealth with a group of death group. 

There was however a bit of Silverware in our campaign to go alongside a great league finish. We managed to win the Copa Del Rey! We beat Atletico Madrid extremely comfortably in the semi final which is the easieast match ive ever had against them. Then the final was a real suprise to me, Barcelona have been utterly dominant so far in my save, winning every league title and we comfortably defeated them in the final 2-0

The summer of Change!!!

This Summer was huge for the club. We had one Champions League campaign under our belt, a Copa Del Rey and a 3rd Place finish to boot. We now needed to take the next huge leap in terms of bolstering our squad however some players had other ideas. 

First we deal with Kelvin Yeboah. Kelvin had 2 great campaigns with us yet had his head turned since January so i decided to let him go in the summer. His performances dipped and im big on loyalty. If players dont want to stay and fight then they can leave. So when PSG came in with £27 Million we had to let him go. 

As discussed earlier on Gladbach came in and activated Brojas release clause of £33 million shortly before the end of the transfer window which would be used in January. We never got to see how he would perform when he returned from his broken back but its a deal that worked out well for all parties involved.

The rest of the transfers are below, we let youth signing Arrieta leave to Leeds for a low fee but with 50% trasfer fee clause included, he wasnt getting the time he needed, and when he did get chances he didnt perform. He had better stats that Kasianenko but couldnt perform when needed the way Kasianenko could. 

Mvogo was a victim of circumstance in January, we made a huge signing and due to wage restirctions we needed to unregister a high earner and because we had Dean Hughes ready to go he was the most expendable member of the squad.

Hamer was allowed to leave because he wasnt going to get the chance to play much at all after our signings and i wanted him to be able to enjoy the last few years of his career and well we got money for him so he went. 

The big players we let go meant that we had money to spend for the first time in my career at Coruna and had the chance to freshen up the squad!

First off was the Yeboah replacement - Roko Simicic 

Roko was a player id never seen before in my Football Manager playthroughs and one i was extremely excited to take a chance on. and boy did he work out well. He is physically Elite. He is technically efficient and his mentals are growing. This man is an absolute monster. He won near enough every award he could win as a striker. 

We then brought in Filip Stevanovic a Serbian winger being ignored in Man Citys squad of super stars. i think hes even better than a certain Serbian wonderkid of years gone by. 

We then brought in Alvaro Fernandez, hes a Spanish left back who was unhappy at Manchester United and was transfer listed as a result, we had been using Harmache for the last 3 seasons and he was great for us but Fernandez was a step up and with Champions league player registration in mind getting another spanish home grown player into the team is substantial. 

The last signing is one of the biggest and best that ive ever made in my life. Ryan Fing Gravenberch. Yes THE Gravenberch. For whatever reason he was still at Ajax in January and when my scout first suggested him i laughed until i realised he was at Ajax.  The transfer was substantial and could come back to haunt us one day but it will be worth it. We paid £20 million up front and £50 million in installments with a further 30 million in add ons for league titles etc. 

There were some more loan signings and youth signings made below but nothing of note. 

Our Season with our new signings was a season like no other. 

We start with another positive yet again, we retained our Copa Del Rey, we used it this season to give our youth prospects games often playing the full team filled with our youth players. They got us right until the semi final drawing the first leg 2-2 with Valencia and we added some senior players in the second leg to finish off the tie and get us too the final. 

When we got to the final we had a really comfortable 3-1 victory over Real Madrid thanks to a hattrick by Kasianenko, our golden boy of the Copa Del Rey.

We then move onto the Champions League where we had a considerably better campaign than the last year. We topped our group unbeaten, even defeating FC Bayern away from home. A great group stage for us where we showed we had taken a real step up in class

We then drew Inter Milan in the first knockout round and to be honest they werent having a great season but their front two was dangerous in Lutaro Martinez and Raspidorri. We won the tie 8-3 on aggregate thanks to a 4-3 victory in the first away game followed up by an extremley comfortable 4-0 victory in the second leg at home. 

We were then drawn against our league rivals Barcelona in the Quarter finals. We put up a great performance in the first leg and things were level at 2-2 unti the 84th minute when Barcelona scored what would be the deciding goal in the tie. The second half was a weird one, weve never been short of goals and the games where we havent scored could be counted on one hand, however we just werent up to task, we created a lot of chances but we missed our main striker Simic and Kasianenko and Noel Lopez couldnt capitalise on our chances. 

We then move onto the league and something ive never actually done before. Going into the last two games of the season we were 3 points behind league leaders Real Madrid and they had been in fine form and we on the other hand had dropped points to lesser opponents in the weeks leading too it. So for the first time in my whole FM career over 20 years i attended an opponents game. Their second last game against Valencia and i dont know if it was my presence or the pressure it added but they capitulated.

Valencia had no shots in the first half at all but a cross deflected off a Madrid defender into the back of the net. Then in the second half Real Madrid got a man sent off and Valencia caught them on a counter attack late in the game to secure a 2-0 victory

This meant that going into the last game we were level on points, with near identical results, having both beaten eachother by a margin of one goal in our league fixtures. This meant it was down to goal difference, all we needed to do was win on the last day of the season and the title would be ours!!

And we won we defeated our old enemy Espanyol who gave us a hard game and we won 3-1 meaning we finished level on points with Real Madrid with identical season results having defeated eachother throughout the season meaning that our goalscoring exploits that we discussed before was our saviour. Plus 9 goal difference won us the title!!

Thats us caught up now to present day!! ill be updating in a few days once the current season has progressed more!

The Noel Lopez paradox.

Noel Lopez has been with me from the beggining, hes been a talisman for my success and is in the clubs favoured personnel now and rightly so, he deserves a statue he helped deliver a title. But he wants to leave, hes been unsettled for one and a half seasons now thanks to PSG and Lyon. He wont consider a new contract at all and has not lfited his desire to leave.  His release clause is 66 million but hes not worth that.

I accepted a bid of £34 million from PSG but im honestly for the first time stuck on a decision, normally when a player wants to go then they go im not keeping players who dont want to stay. But honestly im conflicted, i want him to win everything i win and i want to keep him as my first ever one club player. Im honestly at a cross roads.