[FM 13] The two manager brothers story...

The last minutes of the transfer market has just passed and I think that I did a nice work, well preparing the squad for the next season. An hard work was needed to do that and I passed my days between the pitch, for the pre-season, and the phone, for the market. The improved financial status of the team give the board the possibility to give me a good budget, 8M€ at my disposal, that I used mainly for some interesting youth I planned to block for the next season.



Eleven players joined our side during this transfer window. I needed an expertized goalie and I found Gomes in the free transfer list: the former Tottenham goalie can be a good add to the squad due to his first division experience and can be a good example for Ahmetaj.

I add four elements in the defense roles. Three of them came from the free transfer list: the 26yo Argentinian center back Leonardo Sigali has played a lot of matches in his country’s first division and can add a lot to the team; José Maria is a man for the future, he has 19yo and had to grow up before being ready for the first team; Amedeo Benedetti is a 22yo left back with good potential and can be a good backup for my new first 11 man in that role, Sebastian Boenisch, that I signed from Leverkusen for 1.1M€, a good deal I think for this good left back.

Another five men joined our side in the midfield part. Lucas Romero has the skills to be a key player in the center of our midfield for this season, while Bruno Zuculini and Goran Crnigoj will challenge for a place in the starting line-up. I signed the first two for free, while I loaned the third from Basel, agreeing a 2M€ buy-clause with them. The last two, Quique Lara and Carlos, are definitely players for the future as they are less than 17yo.

The last one to have joined us is Adrian, that I signed for 0.7M€ from my brother’s side, A.C. Milan, and can become a first 11 man for our team, challenging his place with Issa Yameogo and Diego Cervero.



I had to take hard decisions on the players who had to leave our side this season, men that I felt not ready to play in a first division league. They were eight and their departures helped also to improve the economic health of the team.

The arrival of Gomes made me possible to sell Manu: the Spanish goalie was not in my plan and was subject of the interest of Deportivo, where he had played two seasons, that paid me 1.5M€ for a player that I signed for free last season.

Four entered the defense and three left it. Elvedin Dzinic asked some months ago to leave as he had never had enough space and I sold him to Havre, that paid 450K€. The two Italian left back, Simone Sini and Francesco Renzetti left both our side and will be replaced by Benedetti and Boenisch: Sini came back to Italy, being signed by Reggina for 155K€, while Renzetti is going to stay in Spain having joined Racing for 2.8M€. A great deal for me as I paid him nothing!

Dealing with the midfield, the worst goodbye regarded Aitor Sanz: the guy loved Oviedo and I had great respect to him, but had not the skills to play in a first division in my opinion. I preferred to sell him to Havre for 100K€, where I hope he will find space. Alejandro Gagliardi left us without any sign for his performances: he joined Russian Rostov in a 200K€ deal. Finally, after having actively participated in our two promotions, the young Brazilian Lucas Mendes left us to join Gimnastic in a 600K€ deal.

The unique striker to leave us wasLeo Aro: I thought that this Brazilian could be a good man for us, but he showed he cannot be even in a second division, then I sold him to Ascoli for 110K€.

Finally, eight youngsters were loaned to other teams all over Spain to achieve some experience, the most important of which being Borja Goni and Nyon Blaze, who joined Real Madrid second team, José Maria who joined Eibar, and Pau, who joined Salamanca.


The largest amount of money I spent was devoted to sign two young South American hot prospects, two that may become world class in my opinion and are going to join us next season.

The first is the young Argentinian striker David Solari, that I paid him 3M€ to Instituto, a guy with great finalizing and heading skills. The second is a Paraguayan left back named Hugo Flores that I paid 3.5M€ to Libertad, but in perspective he can become one of the greatest in his position in the world.

It has been really strange to sit on my bench in Nuevo Carlos Tartiere, looking at my team playing hard against their opponents, with my brother sat just few meters far on the other bench… I had never thought that this could happen, even in a friendly match. But I was there and brothers or not, I wanted to play the best match I could against the European champions!

We had not the best start ever: after 4 minutes we were down cause of a goal by Stevan Jovetic. At that moment, one could think that it was the beginning of a bad day… Instead, my players work hard and managed to close the half time only one goal down: a great result for us!

The half time seemed more the one of an amateur match among friends, with the players sat in the middle of the field speaking to each others. My brother came to me and said “Wow, not bad bro! Your players are fighting really hard!” I replied “They are good lads, and playing against the European champions is a great moment for all of them.”

Both of us changed completely the line-up for the second half, that was mostly dominated by them. But they couldn’t score and the match ended 0-1. And ended in a party, with all the players exchanging their shirts and complimenting each other in the middle of the pitch… In particular with my players fighting for having the ones of Falcao, Jovetic, Albiol, and so on! My bro hugged me, saying it was really proud of what I did here. I was far more of him than it was of me! We also exchanged a ball with all the autographs of the team players on it… The funny thing was that I was receiving a ball autographed by my brother, and viceversa…

It was a really great moment! At the end of the match, the Sky troupe came with our friend, Gianluca Di Marzio, interviewing us (Stefano (me), Andrea, Gianluca).

G - “Well guys, Sky couldn’t have been here for this great moment: the brothers’ match! What are your feelings?”
A - “It was a great emotion to see my brother sat on the other bench. And I got really impressed for the work he has done here: his team is really difficult to face and we could hardly win against them!”
S - “Well, I agree with my brother: it was a great emotion! I am proud of my guys that could play so great against a wonderful team such as my brother’s one. I hope one day we will face them in a real match…”
A - “I am really looking forward for that moment too! Stefano is doing a great job, and I think this will happen soon!”

OK, he is my little brother, but being complimented by the European champions’ manager still remains a great moment for the manager of a little team like Oviedo… Little compared to Milan, of course…

Being in the first division also means that you have some breaks during the season due to the international duties of the players. I decided to take advantage of this time to analyze a bit my team role by role.



Both Gomes and Albi are good lads. I think the Brazilian will be my regular most of the times due to his greater experience, with Albi that can learn a lot from him in order to be a good regular for the next seasons.




Not a bad defense for a just promoted team. Anis has shown he is a good wide, both on the right and on the left, and will be my regular on the right side, with Wei fighting for his place. On the left, the experience of Boenisch makes him my first choice, with Benedetti as his backup. In the middle, Dzikamai is untouchable despite his 19yo, with Wellington fighting with Sigali for the second place: the Brazilian has been great last season, but Sigali is more experienced in first division matches having played many seasons with Godoy Cruz first team. The young Papp is going to have his space to continue his growing: he showed great skills last season and he can become a regular in the next years.
Among the youngsters, the ones with the most shining future seem to be Lorenzo and José Maria, but they need some more time to show that.




I think Lucas Romero is going to be our key player: he is only 20, but he has a good experience in first division matches and great skills to be our best midfielder. Osuji and Zuculini will fight for a place at his side, while Marcinho and Serge will claim some place during the season, with the second playing with the U19 team in the meanwhile. The wings will be given to Fabio Henrique and Crnigoj at the beginning, with the Brazilian that is going to be the regular for all the season with Alvarez growing up after him, while Ganchozo will fight for some place on the left.. Guberti is my jolly player, having the possibility to play on both the sides.
Among the youngsters, Carlos and Borja Goni are definitely the ones with the most shining future. I am particularly interested in the first one, that I think can become a world class player in the next years, hopefully with Oviedo’s shirt.




Three players for two places: Diego, Issa and Adrian. The last one did great in the pre-season scoring 6 times and showing his great skills, but the Captain and the young English has shown their love for the side’s shirt last season and will fight for a place. Villalobos will be their backup, with Vera that is going to leave the team in January to join Racing, as he asked me to leave for playing more.
The most interesting prospect is for sure Nyron Blaze: I am thinking of recalling him from his loan when Vera will leave the team…