Well considering the fact that I’ve seen players like Mbappe, Alphonso Davies, and TAA tear up the Champions League this season, I can’t think of a more appropriate challenge. This challenge both involves having young superstars like a Trent Alexander-Arnold, but also bringing in even younger guys like a Fabio Silva. I like this because it involves a bit of FM but real-world transfer business as well. Anyways, here are the rules for the Golden Boys Football Manager 20 Challenge
Rules:
- All players must be 23 years old or younger by the beginning of the first league game of 2022
- You have two seasons to rid the club of any players above the age limit
- No contract renewals are allowed for any player above the age limit
- Win the Champions League once the whole squad is 23 at the beginning of the season
- Bonus points for winning the League, any League Cups (FA Cup, Copa Espana etc)
My Save Progress:
The team I chose to do my save on is Liverpool, as they are my favourite club and have loads of youth talent (the massive bankroll doesn’t hurt either). I mean I feel like a sugar baby when I see the wage and transfer budget. As soon as I loaded up the save I knew of certain players I had to dispose of ASAP. Without hesitation, I listed Dejan Lovren. There is not one player on the Liverpool squad I dislike more. After seeing him perform an absolute disasterclass against Tottenham 2 years ago I have never seen any positive footballing talent from him. Somehow Guangzhou offered 27 million, and I gladly accepted. Gini Wijnaldum went second, as his contract was expiring in just two years and was aging fast. I pawned him off to PSG for a cool 40 million pounds. Xheridan Shaqiri left as well since I had just no use for him whatsoever and he had high wages. Finally, Adam Lallana headed off to Ajax, and that was every player I sold. I loaned some young guys like Neco Williams, Curtis Jones, and Ji-Jana Hoever out, as I want them to get match experience since I plan for them to be around the squad soon.
Now if I were to say I splashed a little cash on young players… that would be an understatement. Around 176 million GBP would be more like it. I brought in the dynamic British talents of Bellingham, Karamko Dembele, and Jaden Sancho for 7.75, 9.5, and 88 million respectively. I however did loan Bellingham back to Birmingham to ensure him more playing time as to not stunt his development. I then acquired Vinicius for a whopping 57 million, but my joy was quickly squashed by the news that he was unable to acquire a work permit. He is currently on loan at Lazio and will have the chance to reapply in March. To finish it all out, I signed Porto academy stud Fabio Silva for 14.5 million, I then loaned him to Preston where he has come along very nicely. In part 2 I have even more transfer action, so I highly recommend checking that out when it is released.
Below is my starting 11 and formation/tactics that I have been using (Salah was injured at the time). Currently, we stand at the top of the table having only lost one game. We are in the Carabao Cup Final and have just won the Club World Cup as well. Facing FC Copenhagen in the Knockouts of the Champions League and we are also in the 5th Round of the FA Cup.
Highly recommend you stay tuned for part 2, this is one of my favourite saves and challenges I have done, and the transfers I conduct next window are madddddddd. If you have the chance, definitely try this challenge out, should be a good time.
If that doesn’t take your fancy. Don’t worry, we’ve got loads of other Football Manager 20 challenges.
