Value For Money In The Transfer Market

Moneyball and Soccernomics are two books that have really inspired me lately. And they brinig with them a different approach for the dealing with the transfer market. They point to the fact that dealing in the transfer market is little different from dealing on any other market. The key is to buy cheap and sell for a profit.

The key to buying cheap is to avoid doing what the big clubs are doing. Paying £50 million for a player like Fernando Torres is just plain silly when you can get 3-4 other players of similar quality in other positions.

The point is that buying strikers is generally a bad idea. Having been on the receiving end of such a policy in Lyon Houllier would probably disagree. The fact is though, that strikers are overrated in the transfer market. For the price of Fernando Torres you could easily get 4 goalkeepers of the same quality.

Where strikers are the most overrated players in football, goalkeepers are the most underrated. It seems to me that the old adage that you should build from the back isn't just a wise footballing decision. It is also a wise financial decision. Here are a couple of rules to live by in the transfer market.

• Never buy strikers.
• Try to buy players from less prominent football nations. (that is avoid brazilians, dutchmen etc.)
• Build from the back.
• Never buy a player based on one performance.
• Always sell a player if offered more than he is worth.

Lyon has a philosophy that goes something like this: buy smart and improve your team. A better team improves your results. Better results gives you more money. Which gives you more money to buy smart and further improve your team.

This is a great philosophy. It might not be sexy. It certainly won't allow you to brag to your friends about how you signed Messi. It will on the other hand improve your team and give you a competitive edge in the future.

What Do You Do When You Have Sold All Your Strikers?
This is an obvious question you need to think about if you choose to follow the strategy outlined above. Here are 3 potential answers and a bonus answer.

Youth Development: Cherish the striker you get from your youth setup. Do your utmost to make these players as efficient as you possibly can. I know Football Manager caps their level with the potential ability attribute. I'd like to postulate that you can turn a player with a low potential ability into a lethal strikeforce if you handle him right. I had a save with Hearts where I had a DM with little natural ability who was a frequents starter. Why? He was good at exactly the things I needed him to be good at. The same can be done with strikers.

Freebies And Bosmans: The free transfer market can help you fill in the gaps you have in your team. Take a good look at strikers released by other teams, you might find someone you can use.

Retrain Players: You have no strikers but you have too many central defenders? Maybe one of the surplus central defenders would make a good target man? Other positions are useful as well. AMs could be deep lying forwards, wingers could be poachers etc.

BONUS - Switch Tactic: Roma and Manchester United have at times had succes with 4-6-0 formations, maybe you can do the same? There are always options.