Sleeping Giants: El Rey de Copas

Hello all! Here I will be writing about my new FM20 save! I will probably do this long-term as I'm not planning on buying FM21 anytime soon. Now, what is this story about? Well, it's about

Club Atlético Independiente


Founded in 1905 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, this team has accumulated a lot of trophies over the years, including: 16 league titles, 2 Copa Sudamericana titles, 3 Copa Interamericana Titles and, more famously, 7 Copa Libertadores with a perfect record in finals to boot.

Because of this, the team has a number of nicknames including El Rey de Copas(The King of Cups) and Orgullo Nacional (Pride of the Nation) as well as El Rojo (The Red One) and Los Diablos Rojos (The Red Devils)

Recently, and especially because of the global issues, they have fallen on hard times economically and have had many important players including Uruguay internationals Martín Campaña and Gastón Silva leave the team for free.

My goal with this save is to at least win the Copa Libertadores, which they haven't won since 1984! Now, I'm a bit of a stats nerd and I want a bit of a challenge so I will be playing without attributes using this skin and basing most of my decisions on my own stat analysis as well as scout recommendations. To add to the realism, I have disabled first window transfers. I will also try to build my squad around argentinian players, which should be relatively easy as the foreigner limit is 5.

Here's the list of leagues I loaded and mods I will be using:
Argentina (1st and 2nd)
Brazil (1st and 2nd)
Chile (1st and 2nd)
China (1st)
Colombia (1st and 2nd)
England (1st and 2nd)
France (1st and 2nd)
Germany (1st and 2nd)
Netherlands (1st)
Italy (1st and 2nd)
Mexico (1st and 2nd)
Peru (1st)
Portugal (1st)
Spain (1st and 2nd)
USA (1st)
Uruguay (1st and 2nd)

Realistic Weather mod by majesticeternity
Realistic Transfer Values mod by majesticeternity
Awards Overhaul mod by majesticeternity
Realistic Injuries by majesticeternity
Derbies Overhaul by majesticeternity
Realistic Transfer Preferences by majesticeternity
Realistic Youth Average Ratings by shwan

Upcoming games(Preseason):
@ Atl. San Luis
@ Puebla
@ Potros UAEM

Independiente Announce New Staff Members

This morning, Independiente have announced exactly who will be joining the backroom staff at Libertadores de América. It seems there have been no firings or anyone leaving so far so unless announced otherwise, this is the backroom staff:

Sporting Director - Jorge Burruchaga, 56 y/o argentinian
Youth Director - Fernando Berón, 52 y/o argentinian
Head Coach - Jesús Sánchez, 20 y/o mexican
Assistant Coach - Rubén Tanucci, 55 y/o argentinian
Assistant Coach - Matías Villavicencio, 37 y/o argentinian
Assistant Coach - Alejandro Makianich, 43 y/o argentinian
Assistant Coach - Gustavo Minervino, 50 y/o argentinian
Assistant Coach - Norberto Batista, 57 y/o argentinian
Fitness Coach - Ariel Perticarari, 51 y/o argentinian
Goalkeeping Coach - Leonardo Díaz, 46 y/o argentinian

Chief Scout - Dante D'Alessandro, 66 y/o argentinian
Chief Data Analyst - Brian Márquez, 37 y/o argentinian
Scout - Ricardo Bochini, 65 y/o argentinian
Scout - Ariel Wiktor, 56 y/o argentinian
Scout - Osvaldo Pérez, 67 y/o argentinian
Scout - Ricardo Pavoni, 75 y/o uruguayan
Scout - Roberto Crausaz, 51 y/o argentinian
Scout - Pablo Forte, 52 y/o argentinian
Data Analyst - Diego Navone, 38 y/o argentinian
Data Analyst - Juan Martín Rizzo, 24 y/o argentinian

Chief Doctor - Marcelo Romero
Doctor - Alberto Rovira
Head Physio - Sergio Hanashiro, 58 y/o argentinian
Head of Sports Science - Cristian Belleri, 39 y/o argentinian
Physio - Alejandro Soler, 43 y/o argentinian
Physio - Orlando Piatigorsky, 58 y/o argentinian
Sports Science - Sebastián Uzzante, 27 y/o argentinian

We wish them all a successful season!

Independiente Preseason comes to a close

El Rojo is ready for the first official match of the season, the 6th round cup match away to Gimnasia y Esgrima de Mendoza, after a successful preseason which included two weeks away in Mexico. Head coach Sánchez is surely happy with his squad as they managed to draw 1-1 with Atlético San Luis, win 1-0 against Puebla and 4-2 against Potros UAEM.

New signings Ezequiel Muñoz, Lucas Rodríguez and Sebastián Sosa featured heavily in the squad during these games, as well as returnees Jonathan Menendez and Nicolás Messiniti.
"It's a great group, with a good environment and good people as well as a lot of quality amongst the players. There's a lot of quality youngsters from the club," said Ezequiel Muñoz when asked about his welcoming into the Argentinian giant.

And what a young team it is, with the head coach keen to include Renzo Bacchia (20), Sergio Barreto (20), Fabricio Bustos (23), Alan Franco (22), Gastón Togni (21), Alan Soñora (20), Alan Velasco (16), Brian Martínez (19) and Nicolás Messiniti (23). The highlight here is Alan Velasco, known as "La Joya" or "The Jewel" by some around the club. The 16-year-old attacking midfielder garnered interest from top european clubs but with his release clause set at $20 million, nothing really materialized.

This will certainly be an exciting team to watch, with experienced players like Silvio Romero and Pablo Hernández leading the way for this young core of players to succeed and bring Independiente back into the spotlight.