Let battle commence

Ok, today is the first day of the end of season wage auctions bloodbath. After winning my AEFA league I received £630k in additional prize money. I sold Asamoah to Azazel for £1.45m following a longstanding agreement with their manager that he would have first refusal. I also sold the three first team players I had who's contracts were up.

All three went for their instant buy out amounts in a matter of hours. Whilst I was happy to receive the money - it probably means I under priced them. A good tip (which I didn't follow) is if you get an opening bid within minutes of an auction started increase your buy out amount - because the bid means that it will be a popular player. My 30 year old £26k right back when for £200k, my 30 year old £80k AF DC went for £300k and my £90k striker went for £450k. So I received £950k for players who would have only given me £196k if I lost them on wage auctions. Many managers get upset about losing their players - I see it as a way to make more money. So £630k+£1.45m+£950k means I now have £3m more in the bank than I did two days ago. Nobody in my senior squad is now available on wage auction.

However I only have 15 senior players left in my squad now. I have sold two starting strikers, a DC and a DR. I've also sold a couple of under 21s.

Today's auction highlights include Zarate, Agbonlahor and Essien. I don't think I will be able to win any of those auctions with my strict wage structure. Therefore I will be looking for value amongst the less popular players. Following my last post, I went to great lengths to stress you don't need world class players to be successful. So I will report back on how successful I have been in signing some hidden gems - but I can't really say who they are yet...

I have all but stopped playing games whilst I rebuild my squad. I fully expect to drop down the rankings from my peak of number 2 (currently 7), but I am not really bothered. I'd rather focus on scouting and practicing the wage auctions.