View season 2 here
Season 3
It’s all kicking off transfer-wise at the start of season 3. Erling Haaland 2.0 has gone to Real Betis, Endrick has made his move to Real Madrid and Eddie Nketiah has gone to… Al-Hilal?! A big signing for the Middle Eastern outfit and a clear sign that the money is spreading out. The current Saudi league transfer record for comparison is just £15 mil.
Before the season begins, Real Madrid are now the favourites to win the league, Barcelona are moving up the rankings and Bayern are slowly but steadily sinking down. Arsenal and Manchester United are still very much mid-table, but…
Halfway through the season, Manchester United are on top! Although, they’re not exactly pulling away. Just two points separates the top six. It’s going to be a nailbiter. It’s not looking good for Porto who have lost 13 matches out of 16 and are falling behind already.
Ok, THIS just happened. The Super League virtual world is wild. Bayern Munich have realised that in this league you need one thing to win, and that is cajones. Expect 4-4-2, Coman and Sane as conventional wingers spamming balls to Choupo-Moting, and Upamecano to be put on the transfer list immediately.
Sadly for Bayern Munich, it doesn’t help with their title charge as they finish finish in 7th. Chelsea finish 1st after an incredibly close finish. Although they did have the title wrapped up before the final game thankfully for their fans. Porto manage to pull off a great escape after their awful start. Napoli might be closing in on a Scudetto in real life, but it’s bottom of the table for them here sadly.
The highest average ratings in the league. Bukayo Saka is that guy in this simulation. He is constantly at the top of these lists. Kaoru Mitoma is no longer part of the Brighton super team in this, but he’s still managing to show everyone that dissertation has come in handy as he single handedly drags Porto to safety. Mo Salah is king at 32… maybe we need to reconsider what age is too old in Football Manager.
Manchester City win the International Champions League. A potentially ominous sign of things to come this season.
While Real Madrid thrash in the Open Cup final. Come on… you didn’t really think there was going to be a different outcome when these two faced each other in a final did you?!
By the end of the season there have been some INCREDIBLE transfers. Mason Mount for £173 million needs to be investigated for money laundering. At the very least, Real Madrid need to be treated as a victim of fraud. Flamengo buy Harvey Elliott for over £100 million. He’s an absolute baller in the game so I completely understand this move. Alexis Mac Allister going to AC Milan is a move I absolutely love. Dwight McNeil going to PSG for nearly 60 million is a move I don’t understand in the slightest… but I also love.
The obviously crazy managerial move is Sean Dyche, but he’s not the only big change. Zinedine Zidane at Man City is clearly going to be a bit of a cheatcode. Mauricio Pochettino at Borussia Dortmund just makes sense for so many reasons. Vincent Kompany gets his dream job at Manchester City… but is sacked before the end of the season. Never get a job for your heroes. Finally, Thomas Tuchel is manager of Tottenham. Spurs love an ex-Chelsea employee, even in this game.
We haven’t focused on the other Super Leagues in detail before this, so going to start looking at them. Al-Ahly win the African Super League for the third year in the row. It’s starting to become quite the occurrence. Poor old Simba at the bottom didn’t have Mufasa to guard them anymore and so finished rock bottom of the table. Not sure yet where Timon and Pumba are in the league system. Future is only able to finish 8th… but would surely have finished higher up the table if he had a Drake feature.
We’re just three years in and there’s already clearly a lot of money going in and out of the African Super League. There aren’t many hugely big household names yet playing in the leagues, but obviously Premier League fans will recognise Arsenal’s old goalkeeper Bernd Leno.
Flamengo are the cream of the crop in the American Super League. They’ve won the league two out of three times now and have also often made it to the later stages of the knockout tournaments. Clearly the big fish in this league. After a few seasons we’re starting to see the MLS teams finally make it up to the top half of the table. It’s not looking good for River Plate fans as they see their team relegated out of the top league. Potentially everyone is still just nicking all their wonderkids.
You can see why Flamengo are top of their league. They are making some serious, serious moves. 300 million spent on three players. For the first time in their history they have the cash to compete with the teams in Europe and they are making it count. Michael Olise is having a wild career in this simulation as he moves from Fiorentina to Los Angeles FC. Going from Reading to Los Angeles is a crazy upgrade in general quality of life. Futsal’s Max Kilman has also switched Wolverhampton for Brazil. I don’t blame him.
Al-Hilal finished 10th last season, but they’ve come back to finish 1st this time round. At the moment it’s a bit of a washout for the Middle Eastern teams. Hopefully soon we see teams from all around Asia challenging for the title in this league.
You might have seen that Al-Nassr finished in 8th. A big reason for that is Cristiano Ronaldo has RETIRED. He has given it all up to become an incredibly average manager. I also love that his preferred tactical style is Park the Bus. He’s a Jose Mourinho disciple. The first job in his managerial career is a beautiful return to his origins as he becomes Sporting Lisbon manager. He loves a romantic tale does Cristiano Ronaldo.
P.S. here are also the big transfers in the Asian Super League. You will now be able to see players like Fabio Silva, Billy Gilmour and Eddie Nketiah plying their trade in this league.
Now we move on to the lower tiers of European football. My team Leeds United make it to the top league. Cream always rises to the top. It’s an all English washout as Aston Villa also get promoted. Newcastle might be backed by an entire country, but they still can’t make it to the elite league. Surely it’s only a matter of time. Clearly the Basque region isn’t producing the most elite players right now as Bilbao struggle at the bottom of the table.
Benfica get promoted back to the top league and Southampton have heart break in the playoffs. Fulham just about survive… they’re learning how to not be a yoyo team in this simulation.
Now we move down to the third tier. Union Berlin just about pip Crystal Palace to the title. Farense and Maccabi Tel-Aviv might have got promoted last season but they’re realising now that it’s a tough world. They have both got relegated straight back down.
It seems like in every single third tier division an English team has just missed out on promotion. It’s quite satisfying to see. Udinese have a season to forget.
Strasbourg absolutely wipe the floor with the rest of the competition. A lot of high flying, overperforming European teams in real life are struggling in the third tier. Maybe showing how good a job that unknown manager Will Still was doing. Salernitana aren’t even close to the rest of the league as they have an embarrassing season.
Finally, the last division in the third tier is a lot tighter. With just five points separating the top seven. Although how Alaves were that close with a goal difference of just one I will never know. Angers fan will have a lot of anger as they finish rock bottom.
