2. Speak To Agents Before Transfer Negotiations Begin
This is something which blatantly goes on in reality. Player agents are approached about the availability of their clients long before any real formal offer is made to that players team and I feel like its something they should add to Football Manager to reflect reality. They lead the way for realism in nearly every other aspect of the game, why not add this? Obviously itd be incredibly frustrating to have your own player tapped up without you knowing about it, have that team bid for your player and then have that player get incredibly annoyed when you reject the offer. So heres what I propose instead. When teams approach the players agents, rumours will start flying around the national papers. You can then choose to speak to the player involved in private and then try to convince them to stay. How easy it is to convince the player depends on how far down the line the discussions with the other teams are. You wouldnt just one day have your player pop up out of nowhere saying I want to join this club because they approached me, youd have some warning in the form of rumours and youd have to act quickly on it. Obviously itd work both ways, you could find a player and then an option to speak to the players agent could be added. This would then open up talks of the likelihood of their client wanting to sign for your team at all. If so, you could then open up preliminary contract talks and then all but agree a deal for that player. Youd probably feel dirty doing it, but thats part of the thrill!