On a regular basis, particularly when you first join a new club and after you sign any new players, you should review each of your squads and try to sell any players who are surplus to your requirements.
Deciding Which Players to Sell
A simple way to decide which players to clear out first is to select the Assistant Reports view for each squad. You can then order players by Potential and try to sell anybody with a potential ability star rating of one gold star or less. You should, however, ensure that you have enough players left in each position to retain a competitive squad with sufficient cover, as you may not be able to immediately replace all of the players that leave.
For the rest of your squad you should establish a squad structure as discussed in the Squad Building guide, while it is also beneficial to set a wage structure as discussed in the Player Wages guide. Those players who are at or close to their full potential and have been given a not needed squad status, along those players whose wage is too high for their squad status, can all be deemed as being surplus.
Furthermore, you may want to consider selling a player in the following circumstances:
- The player does not fit your tactical style, for example, he is slow and you like to play a quick counter attacking style.
- The player has poor ratings in important mental attributes, most notably Determination, but also Anticipation, Bravery, Composure, Concentration, Creativity, Decisions, Teamwork and Work Rate, along with the technical attribute Technique for attacking players.
- The player has a negative personality.
- The player is disliked by other players and is negatively affecting morale.
- The player has displayed a poor attitude (not including his attitude on the pitch or in training). For example, he has criticised you in the media. You may want to warn the player in his Private Chat that he will be transfer listed if his attitude does not improve (in the Transfer and Contract category).
- The player wants to leave. You will have the option to talk to the player and let him know if and when you will try to sell him.
- The player has underperformed on the pitch and has not justified his squad status and wages, or he has lost his place in the squad to another player. You may want to warn the player in his Private Chat that he will be transfer listed if his match performances do not improve (in the Transfer and Contract category).
- The player has been regularly underperforming in training. You can judge a player’s training performance by checking your assistant’s monthly training reports and by viewing the player’s own training report. However, you may want to talk to the player about his training performances in his Private Chat before trying to sell him (in the Development category), and perhaps warn him that he will be transfer listed if he does not improve in training (in the Transfer and Contract category).
- The player has past or reached his peak, meaning that it would be financially beneficial to sell him now rather than later. However, you may want to keep him to add experience to your squad or if you believe he will be useful as a tutor for younger players.
- The player could be sold for a good price and give you extra transfer budget to buy other players. You will normally have a percentage of the sale (the % of transfer revenue made available as shown on your club’s Finances screen) added to your budget.
- You want to reduce the wage spending or free up space in the wage budget to bring in another player.
- The player’s contract is due to expire within two years but his demands are too high or he does not want to renew. You may want to consider warning the player in his Private Chat that he will be transfer listed if he does not agree to sign a new deal (in the Transfer and Contract category), or ask him to lower his wage demands first if the option is available.
- The player is at or near his peak and his contract is set to expire within about two years, therefore by selling him now you could get the best price for him and reinvest in younger players.
- The player has not yet reached his peak but there is interest from other clubs in him (as shown on the Transfer Status section of his Transfer screen) and his contract is due to expire in the next two to three years. Therefore, you could be able to get a good price now and avoid having to offer him a more expensive contract and pay the associated renewal fees.
- A club has already approached you with a bid for the player which is too good to refuse as you may not make as much from the player if you instead wait and sell him in the future.
Deciding Which Players to Loan Out
In addition, you should review your squads for any players who it would be appropriate to loan out to other clubs in order to give them first team experience. That is, anyone who is not currently good enough to play in your first team but who has sufficient potential to be capable of breaking into the team or to be sold for a higher amount in the future. For more guidance on when and how to loan out players for this purpose see the First Team Experience guide.
You may also want to loan out any surplus players who you have not been able to sell, in order to give them an opportunity to attract interest from clubs and to remove them from your wage bill.