Glory Hunter 2023-24

Part 1 - Introduction and Picking Our Team

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a map of Europe. Historical continent, in my opinion the best continent, and continent of my birth. We have glorious cities like London, Paris, Madrid, Rome and Berlin. They're the capitals of England, France, Spain, Italy and Germany respectively. They and a certain famous manager have given me an idea for a save. OK, so has DoctorBenjy, but this is a feat that will be nearly impossible, but hopefully we can achieve it. I'll tell you more in a moment. But here are a couple of photos to give you an idea of what's going on (unless you've read the title of the blog.)

This man is Carlo Ancelotti. He is the closest man to achieve what we are attempting to achieve. In his career, he has won all five of the big five leagues in Europe, and he has 4 Champions League titles. I was considering doing a challenge purely based on Carlo Ancelotti in football, but I want to achieve more. And I'm giving myself 20 seasons to do it in. Above are the names of 16 competitions I'll be aiming to win in this save. It's gonna be fast, it's gonna be frantic. But I'm sure if I enjoy it, you will likewise. We have five countries to pick from, a total of over 30 teams I put into a wheel to potentially start with. The team it landed on is a 3-time UEFA Champions League winner, and in fact, we start at a team that Ancelotti wouldn't go and manage. In fact, they're probably his biggest enemies in football.

The Club

We have arrived in Italy, the country of possibly the greatest league back in the 1990s, Serie A. Back then, a lot of English players were transferring over to Italy basically for the money, with players including Paul Gascoigne, David Platt, and Chris Waddle moving abroad to show what our talent had to offer. In the late 1980s, AC Milan had a forward line of Dutch superstars, including Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten. With a whole host of European Cup finalists, champions and even 4-time World Cup winners Italy, it is a country rich with football history. But in more recent times, it hasn't been that jolly. AC Milan last won the Champions League in 2007, to claim their seventh title. Inter won the trophy back in 2010, and reached the final only last season, losing to Manchester City. But aside from Roma winning the Conference League in it's first season, the last European trophy was that 2010 Inter triumph.

Inter Milan

I spun a wheel to decide where we would end up and it chose Inter Milan. We aim to continue their rich history, and attempt to win everything Italy has to offer. Founded in 1908 as Internazionale Milano, they are one of the most successful teams in the history of the Italian game, winning 19 Serie A titles, and 9 Coppa Italias. They've become far more successful in more recent years since the Juventus stranglehold on the title ended. As I mentioned, last season, the team were defeated in the UEFA Champions League Final, and will be looking to go just one more to try and win it for a fourth time. 

So looking over the next few seasons, it'll be a case of if we win the league title and the cup, we will leave. Or at least that's the plan. There'll be times where we will seriously struggle, but there'll also be times we can take the league by force. We have to go for the league in our first season. There's also the chance we complete the double this season. Personally, I don't think realistically we return to the Champions League final. We will look through our best players in a moment, and see how far we can get when it comes to making transfers and building a team. We will look at our finances in just a moment as well. 

Best Players at Club

Lautaro Martinez

My best player at the club is of course, Argentine World Cup winner, Lautaro Martinez. The 25-year-old will be my main centre-forward this season, with greens covering the board. His finishing, first touch and heading are top class, and I'll be relying on him to grab me most of our goals this season. He is my model professional and will be getting top of the scoring charts especially in the league.

Nicolo Barella

My second player to highlight is Nicolo Barella, playing in that centre-midfield role. He possesses the Passing stats I need, working on his teamwork as well. He will be a strong box to box midfielder, potentially playing ball winning quite regularly as well. His work rate and determination will hope the team, and hopefully the younger players will look up to him. 

Benjamin Pavard

Benjamin Pavard has just signed from Bayern Munich in game, 27 years old, scorer of that incredible goal against Argentina at the 2018 FIFA World Cup. He will be strong when it comes to corners, winning headers and clearing away from corners. I'm sure he will grab at least 5 goals this season to help us on our way. Overall we do have a strong squad. There's one more player who I will be showing you, but I'm definitely not disappointed with this team.

Hakan Calhanoglu

Hakan Calhanoglu is your typical all round centre-mid. 29 years old, still probably got about 5 years at the top, he will be finding the perfect balls to Martinez up top. Playing slightly further up than Barella, and not in that pivot role most of the time, he will be able to run forward, take shots from outside the box to fool the other team's goalkeeper. I think we have a strong one on our hands here. 

Round-Up

I'm very pleased the wheel landed on Inter Milan, my squad is fantastic and I think we have a huge chance of winning the league title this season. This league is very wide open though, we're not going to take anything for granted. We will be doing a Summer special in the next part, where we will go over the ins, outs and pre-season friendlies before we begin our season against Genoa on the 20th August. Tomorrow, there will be a double update including the first 6 weeks of the season, and going through deadline day. If you're interested, please stick around and share with your friends and other people who you think will be interested. Hopefully we can ease through the next 20 seasons, but it probably won't be quite so easy. I'll see you then.

Part 2 - Transfer Window and Pre-season friendlies

In Part 1, we selected our club and we looked at what we can build our team around. Now it is time to see who we can add to our squad, and who I think will be available to let go, as we continue into part 2 of Glory Hunter FM24.

Finances

We don’t have an amazing amount of money when it comes to finances. We only have just over £12,000,000 in the bank when it comes to transfer money, so we’re going to have to be mightily careful when it comes to transfer policy, that will be something we go over during this and the next part as we end the transfer window. Our committed spending has reached maximum as well, so we’re going to be careful when it comes to sorting out the squad. I know some may be disappointed, but I may not make that many first team signings this Summer. Just watch this space.

Tuesday 18th July 2023

Pre-Season Friendly

Inter Milan 2-3 Inter Milan Second XI (Lautaro Martinez 39’, 90+1’; Davy Klaassen 10’, Alexis Sanchez 27’, Marko Arnautovic 72’)

Our first pre-season friendly would be at a neutral venue against our Second XI, to keep a watch over the squad and see who would be fighting for a place in the squad. I’m only managing the first team. We nearly took the lead after 7 minutes, Marcus Thuram sending a looping header onto the crossbar. The second XI actually took the lead after 10 minutes. Frattesi and Darmian played the ball wide to Alexis Sanchez on the right, who played in a low cross, and Klaassen fired home into the bottom right corner. It was 2-0 after 27 minutes. Davy Klaassen took the ball out to the right, before laying off to Darmian, who found Alexis Sanchez with a through ball. He ran through and slotted into the far corner. We managed to halve the deficit 6 minutes from half time, a neat passing move down the right found Mkhitaryan, who squared it into Martinez, who got an easy tap in. Marcus Thuram hit the woodwork for the second time in the 41st minute, being played through down the left, and he smacked it out for a throw in via the post. The first real highlight of the second half was Marko Arnautovic wrapping it up for 3-1. Klaassen was involved again, a one-two with Zefi ended up with him finding Arnautovic unmarked, and he slotted into the corner from 14 yards. Frattesi hit the bar for the second XI late on, with a curling shot from just outside the box. In the same highlight, the first XI broke away, played the ball through to Mkhitaryan on the right, who played the square ball into Martinez for his second of the game. As you can see below, the second team really weren’t like a second team, so despite the fact it goes down as a 3-2 loss to the Second XI, it gives me even more of a headache, because the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Marko Arnautovic and Matteo Darmian will definitely be near the first team this season. I wouldn’t fancy playing against us this season. 

New Contract Signing

The first major contract upgrade was of Nicolo Barella, one of the players I pinpointed at the start of the save. He will stay at Inter Milan for another five seasons in theory. I do wonder how much of this player we can enjoy having around while we are still the manager here. 

New Signing

Wonderkid signings won’t be much of a thing, but as part of this save, we could see these players come through at our future clubs. Rayane Bounida is a 17-year-old Belgian attacking midfielder, who was on the books at the famous Ajax academy, and we have indeed decided to sign him as we can potentially add him to the first team by the time he turns 20 at least. His dribbling and first touch are in the green at 16, and technique and flair are big upvotes as well. I’m excited to see how this talent progresses.

New Contract Signing

Our second major new contract has been handed out to Lautaro Martinez, our star striker. He has also landed a new 5-year deal, which will make it even more difficult to sign him for future clubs. I would like to see how he progresses while I’m still here. 

Saturday 29th July 2023

Pre-Season Friendly

Balestier 2-5 Inter Milan (Shuhei Hoshino 21’, Daniel Goh 25’; Rayane Bounida 52’, Alexis Sanchez 65’, Marcus Thuram 66’, 70’, Nicolo Barella 73’)

We went on a pre-season tour of Singapore, and our only game was away against Balestier of the S-League. The Singaporean side took a shock lead after 21 minutes. It wasn’t the start I was expecting. A lucky long ball over the top from Fabian Kwok found Hoshino on the edge of the box. He went through one-on-one and he tucked it past Audero. We hit the post via a deflected shot not long after. They decided to go up the other end and doubled their advantage. A cross from the left by Sugita found Goh on the right hand side of the box, unmarked, and he hit a powerful shot through the keeper, off the bar, to make it 2-0. Nicolo Barella nearly smashed one back early in the second half, powering through into the area, but their keeper saved the powerful shot onto the bar. We found a potential route back into the game after 52 minutes. Boundia was allowed a go on the pitch, and he fired home from just inside the D to score his first goal in an Inter Milan shirt. It was 2-2 after 65 minutes. Cuadrado darted down the right hand side, where he found a looping cross into the box. He picked out Sanchez at the far post, and a decent header found it’s way into the net. The comeback was complete after 66 minutes, a copycat ball from Juan Cuadrado, this time finding Marcus Thuram at the far post, and he looped his header back where it came from, in the corner. It was 4-2 just 4 minutes later. The perfect ball from the middle found Thuram running into the area, who chested it down from the left, and he fired into the corner for his second. The goal glut continued as Nicolo Barella got onto the scoresheet. Hakan Calhanoglu, who replaced Thuram, played the ball outside the area to Barella, who latched onto it and slotted it under the keeper.  An appalling first half turned into a goal glut, with our forward line scoring 5 goals in 21 minutes. They really impressed me while our defence just fell asleep. Who knew a 17 year old could start a fightback like that? Bounida scored the opener to try and impress me, and he could at least get a few sub appearances this season. I just need to sort out that defence now. 

New Contract Signing

Denzel Dumfries has signed a new deal with the club, signing a new 4-year deal, which will keep the Dutch attacking full-back at the club until 2027.

Wednesday 2nd August 2023

Pre-Season Friendly

Crotone 0-5 Inter Milan (Lautaro Martinez 16’, 77’, Marcus Thuram 57’ 87’, Kristjan Asllani 89’)

Our first match back in Italy after the Singapore training camp was away at Serie C outfit Crotone. Lautaro Martinez gave us the lead after a quarter of an hour. A triangle passing move between Cuadrado, De Pieri and Martinez gave the Argentinian all the time in the world to finish off the perfect move. We doubled our advantage after 57 minutes. Poor defending from Crotone found Marcus Thuram with an opportunity to run into the box, and he slotted home from a narrowing angle. Lautaro Martinez got his second and the team’s third after intercepting a horrific back pass from the third-tier side, he latched onto it and finished from just inside the area for 3-0. Marcus Thuram made it 4-0 in the 87th minute, Dimarco finding Martinez, who played a through ball into Thuram, and he added his second very coolly, finishing through the keeper. Kristjan Asllani got onto the scoresheet in the 89th minute for 5-0. A very tame shot took a wicked deflection past the keeper. It was good to see the team play well and ping passes together all over the place. The teamwork is huge for me, and to take a title, you must play as a team. It was our first clean sheet of pre-season as well, and that’s always a positive to see. A huge shout out to the Crotone keeper, Francesco D’Altiero, who made several saves to keep the score at 5. He got unlucky with his team’s defending and a couple of deflections. 

Saturday 12th August 2023

Pre-Season Friendly

Inter Milan 1-1 Lazio (Marko Arnautovic 50’; Ciro Immobile 57’)

Our last pre-season friendly was on paper our first test with me as manager. We decided to set up a pre-season friendly with Serie A rivals, Lazio. A goalless first half led to both teams having chances, and a couple of decent saves from our second choice keeper, Emil Audero. The second half started off with a good throw in routine down the right from us which started with Pavard playing it back, then receiving the ball, who found Arnautovic down the goal line, and his narrow angled shot was deflected past the Lazio keeper for 1-0. Lazio equalised just 7 minutes later. A Calhanoglu corner was cleared away and Lazio quickly found their way flying up the pitch. Zaccagni played the ball through to Immobile, who found himself one-on-one and he tucked it in for 1-1. Stefan De Vrij nearly won it late on with a header narrowly over the bar from a Calhanoglu corner. In the end though, two of the biggest teams in Serie A, playing it a decent pre-season draw. I’ll take that.

Injury

Unfortunately we have our first major injury, just four days before the start of the Serie A season at home to Genoa. Davy Klaassen will be out of action for 3 weeks, with sprained ankle ligaments. Hopefully, it won’t affect him that much. We will need him in the squad to come in and help the team out. 

Round Up

So only one signing made, we nearly made another signing in Emile Smith Rowe, but ultimately didn’t have the funds. 2 wins and a draw when it comes to friendlies played without playing our own side, and a decent 1-1 draw against Lazio. This won’t be a transfer window where we make a whole load of changes, but I think that’s ok. We’re favourites for the title according to the media, so let’s get out there and prove them right.

What’s coming next?

Well in part 3, coming out later today, we begin our first season of this challenge, where I’ll take you through the final couple of weeks in August, transfer deadline day, and the beginning of our Champions League campaign as well. Our first big rivalry match of the season will also be covered in part 3, as we travel to Juventus on the fifth matchday in the league. Hopefully we can start off with a strong performance. Thank you very much for the support and I hope you’re enjoying it so far. I’ll see you on the next update.