One of the first rules of FM, avoid Balotelli at all costs. Totally unmanageable, his reactions to feedback (one-to-one or team-talks) are totally unpredictable and he will soon descend into a bad run of form due to a bad attitude and will be a waste of money. There is a dedicated thread on the FM forums about him, iirc only one user on there has ever had success with him. In a word: Avoid.
I have Balotelli on loan from manc city, I didn't play him for 2 weeks. He has now got a strop on and has gone on strike hasnt turned up from training or a match for 6 weeks. I can't fine him as he isn't my player lol.
Sorry to double post, just wanted to share some a couple of the greatest regens I've ever had in FM, and who led Saints to total world domination in FM10 (which I still play regularly). Craig Dean please log in to view this image Bought as a 17-year old from West Brom for £4.5m, who were in the Championship at the time. I bought him and another lad from Rochdale in the same January transfer window and for some reason had a preference for the guy from Rochdale (Ferdinand Kehinde was his name). Dean sat in the reserves for two seasons before I simply couldn't ignore his sensational scoring record any more, and once he made the step-up he became the focus of my team. Almost always my top-scorer, including a season in which he broke his leg. I remember he scored 64 goals in one season, a record for any player I've had on any FM. The leg break unfortunately slightly lowered his pace, but his aerial threat and mental attributes had shot up by the time he was 26 so was no big loss. At his prime (25-29) he had 20 for Finishing, Composure and Off The Ball and combined with his PPM's of Move Into Channels, Place Shots and Run With Ball he was absolutely lethal. I never sold him, and when he retired he became a coach for me at Saints, with a view to becoming my assistant manager. The lad from Rochdale had a modest career after leaving us, with Standard Liege, Hoffenheim and Coventry, also being Nigeria's best player for a while (duel ENG/NIG nationality). Alexandros Oikonomidis please log in to view this image Without doubt the best player I've ever had on FM. Bought as 16-year old from PAOK for a measly £1.8m a year after he entered the game, he skipped the under 18's altogether and just annihilated the reserve league. I play a 4-3-1-2 religiously in FM (no wingers), and as my AMC he was expected to be third choice behind my captain Nicolas Lodeiro and a English regen AMC I had bought but he gatecrashed the party after a couple of months as he was quite literally getting at least a goal and/or a couple of assists every game, eventually forcing the ageing Lodeiro to move and finish his career at Argentinos. You would think his natural fitness would let him down, but it was never a problem for me. Since the age of 20 he has always got 20-35 goals and 35-50 assists every season for me. My favourite player on FM, don't think I'll ever get a better one. Carl Harrison please log in to view this image My current captain, this lad came through my beloved youth system and is a Saints fan and natural leader. Scored on his debut in the Super Cup against Roma as a 16-year old, he was forced to step up the season he joined due to Dean aforementioned leg-break. Did well for a 16-year old but didn't set the world alight, but after a season in the reserves he came back to the first team and partnered Dean in a quite frightening strikeforce. His overall attribute graph now (bear in mind he is 18 in the image, in my save he is now 29) is better than Dean' ever was, and although he is prone to have a poor game every so often, he is a local lad, supporter of the club and my captain. The best product to come through my youth academy, and I've had quite a few amazing ones. I love this save so much <3
Some amazing players there, Rob. That Greek guy looks ridiculous!! When I'm back on my own laptop (massive FM cravings over the last week or so, horrible feeling) I'll upload a few of my own
I had some incredible players for Saints on FM10 as well. Ahmed Khalil turned out about as good as that top guy and scored 30+ goals per season. Had some amazing regens come through including the best right-back I've ever seen. I went on to win everything with that team and then with the England team with half of my Saints team involved.
I always have cravings, hence my 400 hour game playing time. You can tell that I'm an engineering student doing 20 hours of lectures a week
I agree. Joey is a good player as well, no need for him to be such a prick. Although, his comment about how Piers Morgan was last to be picked or was goalkeeper at school was quite funny.
£5m??!!!!*%&$^@ They only want £27m for him on my save... Very good keeper. Although I do have 'the next David James' sitting in my u18's atm, don't know whether to be excited or wary, his eccentricity is 19..!
Just read through Joey's twitter and, as I suspected, the Metro has been exaggerating a little bit. Sounds like he quite likes the game and is just having a laugh. He never threatened to quit or anything. Any enemy of Piers Morgan is a friend of mine.
Morgan - "@Joey7Barton I was actually a very quick, deadly Bergkamp-esque forward. But decided there was more to life than being butted by Pitbulls." Barton - "@piersmorgan I've actually just burst out laughing. Very quick??? To the dinner table. #Burgerkamp more like....." I'm really coming round to Joey Barton. He hates all the things I hate.
