So the 12th August 2021 will be a day to forever remember , my first Top 100 trophy win and the evening I signed a three season contract with Valencia. A dream move for me… a club that has just suffered relegation but that boasts a squad build with many admirers in such a competive game world. On analysing the squad it was clear that a few additions would be needed to be able to setup in my preferred 4-2-3-1 formation and to have some higher ratings in some key positions based on the tactics and attacking patterns I like to play. As a whole the squad on taking over was pretty strong with a nice U25 style first team build but there were and are still weaknesses. First team depth is an issue with Iheanacho 88 the highest rated substitute (A very handy though backup striker with progression to come). After him the ratings of substitutes range from 82-86.

We identified three areas that needed improving which were centre back, wide attacking midfield and central / central attacking midfield. Due to a lack of first team depth it was decided that we would need to sacrifice some of the youth team talent to secure these signings. My view is that there isnt much point boasting a really talented youth team when you have gaps in the first team and also a lack of depth on the bench so I have rebalanced the squad by trading up youth for a few senior first team quality players.

With a gap in the right attacking midfielder position we decided to market Yeremi Pino 84 in the hope someone would be tempted to go big , (maybe even Dybala big !!😂) this didnt really materialise although we werent expecting Dybala and we had to proactively look for targets for this deal. The key moment was Alex’s return to City and we felt Alex would be the sort of manager that would be interested in Pino and a deal was very swiftly negotitaed with Musa Barrow 88 joining Valencia and Frank Onyeka was packaged with Pino to seal the deal.

Young first team centre back star Ronald Araujo 87 and english prospect Marc Guehi 82 were traded for Alessio Romagnoli 91. This is the deal we are most pleased with so far with a big +4 rating increase to the left centre back position immediately achieved. At 26 Romagnoli is by no means a short term option so we feel we have managed to strengthen Valencia and give them a player with great longevity at the same time.

Finally we needed to sign a central midfielder so I could move Rebic to the left attacking midfield position where I feel he can do the most damage. We decided to market Kluivert 88 for a 90 rated CM and a few clubs were interested but Gregg at Chievo got in contact regarding Kerem Demirbay and we felt this was an excellent solution given Demirbay is left footed and my SM OCD loves a left footer in left CDM and a right foter at right CDM. The new partnership with De Roon looks very solid to me and well balanced. The deal came at further cost though with youths Dennis Borkowski and Lisandru Tramoni being packaged in the deal. We felt though this was a justifiable sacrifice given the solution it gave the team and also another +2 for the first team midfield.

So your Valencia first Xl eleven currently is looking like this and we feel our summer window business is probably done now. We took a very focused approach and only considered deals for the positions we needed and for the ratings we needed whilst also respecting the squad build age wise. Division 2 looks extremely competitive and I cant wait to get started on Sunday. Where will we end up , my feeling is probably mid table but who knows what we could achieve if we can gain that cherished and often hard to come by SM form.