5 November 2023. That’s the day I was appointed at Lokomotiv, with a difficult task on my hands. Almost a year has passed since then and I thought it would be the right time to write an article about how the team has changed during this time and what to expect in the future.

When I first joined Lokomotiv, the team had a number of glaring issues.

First of all, there was an unreasonable number of deadwood, players who should have been sent external a long time ago. And I’m not talking golden oldies, I’m talking 33 years old 85 rated kind of players, who have no market value and offer little on the field.

Secondly, we had no star players. Our best player was Raphael Veiga 29/89. While he has a respectable rating, 29 year olds playing in Brazil can sometimes be hard to move in SM. Other high rated players consisted of oldies such as Nemanja Matic or Choupo Moting, definitely nothing to write home about.

Thirdly, our lineup included players as low as 86 rated, which should not be the case for a div 4 club.

Our first move was riding the team of external deadwood and filling up the created space with promising youngsters. We managed to scout some really talented teenagers who are still part of our youth team or were traded for more established players. I think as a manager in SM, being able to scout the external market is the most important skill, as you are creating value out of thin air. If  you keep an influx of external players coming to your team, you are always making your team better and more attractive for other managers to deal with you.

We kept around 12-13 first team players during my first season at Lokomotiv.  This was extremely hard to deal with as injuries and suspensions often meant we had to field players as low as 82 rated, but we managed to survive the season with ease. During my second season (the current one), we managed to build a solid bench consisting mostly of 87/86 rated players. This has allowed us to keep a good position in the league and even trying for promotion. As a reminder preseason rankings had us ranked as the weakest team in all of Top 100!

This season we are alternating between our main team and youth team. Many younger players have been sacrificed for golden oldies. As an example, Gueye, Stepanenko, Dudu, Aguilar etc were acquired rerently in exchange for youths. We don’t want to be bottom dwellers and bullshit about having a long term project, which sadly happens quite often in Top 100. We believe that main team and youth team can go hand by hand, and that’s what we’re trying to do in here.

Our starting lineup now does have quite a few older players, however they will slowly be replaced with younger players of decent rating. We have a lot of young gems who at due time will be traded for U25 players with ratings good enough for our first team. At this moment we have three U22 year olds in our lineup. The goal is to have a full 11 of such players and slowly get rid of the golden oldies who while they contribute in the field, they also take valuable squad space. Since I haven’t completed such a lineup yet, my youth team will have to take the hit in terms of trades. Once we have the starting lineup we envision, then we can think about hoarding youth and letting them develop in our team, without having to give them away.

Below are the players which at the moment I consider the highlights of Lokomotiv:

Debast 20/87 – After a rocky start at Sporting he has earned himself a starting spot while putting up some very good performances. With Sporting running the league and getting good results in Europe, I expect his rating and value to only go one way.

Hartman 22/88 – Unlucky with a knee injury last May, but he’s an amazing player. Had earned himself a starting position for the Dutch national team and interest from European top clubs. I’m sure he’ll continue to impress once back from injury.

Turrientes 22/87 – A recent acquisition, joined us in exchange for Daichi Kamada. Very young and decently rated, Turrientes is slowly becoming an integral part of our midfield.

Cassierra 27/88 – Cassierra is the focal point of our attack. He scored 21 goals in the Russian League last season and 4 so far this one. We’re quite with both his SM and irl performances.

Moving on to our youth team:

Gabriel Carvalho – Probably the most exciting player I have on my youth team. Only recently turned 17 and has already become a starter for SC Internacional in Brazilian Serie A. He is the next big thing to come out of Brazil. Has a release clause of 60m and reportedly Arsenal already offered 25m + addons for him this summer.  I expect him to move for considerably more than that, his value grows day by day as he impresses on the pitch. Many Top 100 managers have made offers or inquired for him, but their offers have been miles off. We’re always open to offers, but this guy isn’t leaving for cheap, it would take an insanely good deal to consider moving him.

Batrakov – One of my favorite players from the youth team. Picked up him external at the end of last season and already he’s become a cult hero irl at Lokomotiv. At what’s practically his first season, he has been without a single doubt the best player in the league. 13 Goals + Assists in 11 games so far, keeping in mind that some of the games he has started as a central midfielder. Got his first call up for the Russian national team last international break. Sky is the limit for Batrakov and I’m very excited to see how far he will go. He already got a +12 in game couple of days ago and a nice transfermarkt update few days back.

Bazoumana Toure – The young Ivorian winger broke out this season in the Swedish league, playing for high flying  Hammarby. He has been an integral part of the team’s success with his 7 goals and 3 assists. Toure’s value grows with every match he plays and he’s surely destined for a top 5 league transfer very soon.

Watjen – The young german midfielder debuted for Dortmund last season and impressed with his performances. He’s yet to get minutes this season but I’m sure he’ll get his chance later on. I have full confidence in his talent and I think this year he’ll make himself known. Loads of interest for him from other managers but he’s not moving for peanuts. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

Hekimoglu – Very impressive 17 year old striker for Besiktas. Already getting decent minutes in the league and in Europe. Made his debut scoring a goal against Galatasaray in the supercup, quite the debut for a teenager.

Epolo – The 19 year old Belgian GK has earned himself a starting spot at Standard Liege, while putting up impressive numbers. GKs usually bloom at a later age so the fact that he’s broken into the first team at 19 speaks volumes of his talent.

Norbye – 17 year old Norwegian CB who made his debut in the Bundesliga last season for RB Leipzig, being one of the youngest players to do so. He got some minutes during preseason friendlies but so far he hasn’t appeared in any Bundesliga games for the 24/25 season. However, at 17 years old, he’s got all the time in the world. The talent is there and he’s one to keep an eye on.

Biereth – 21 year old Danish striker playing for Sturm Graz. He already played a key role last season in ending Salzburg’s dominance in the league, while this season he’s also been on fire scoring 7 in 9 games.

Honorable mentions go to Reitan-Sunde, Granaas, Charlie Hughes, Kurtulus, Bischoff, Poku, Chiwome, Kim etc.

It should be mentioned that every player of the Lokomotiv I inherited has either gone external or traded away, a full overhaul has been done and every player in the team has been handpicked by me. I’m very excited to see the team develop further and I’m sure we can make something great here.