When transfers take place in the real world we often hear of enormous sums of money being thrown around. These fees are rarely, if ever, paid in full on the day of the transfer. Teams do not just write 20-something million pound checks against their own bank accounts, they pay a small percentage as a down payment and the majority over time much like normal people pay for houses or cars.
Assuming the overall financial health of your club is relatively secure, this is what you should do too. Being an Arsenal fan I know all too well that having a tactical magician at the reins of your club in today's game can only get you so far. It is now required that you also be a savvy business man and bring in quality players to carry out your tactical masterpiece.
Getting Down to Business
There are three factors you need to carefully take into consideration once you've found your next transfer target.
1. How much you think it'll cost to bring the player in
2. How much cash you have on hand
3. How far into debt you're willing to go
The following chart is pretty rough but I've found these percentages of cash to be the minimum you have to offer in order to have your bid accepted. There are of course other lesser factors that are a bit more ambiguous such as the financial health of the other club, whether or not they'll even consider selling and the players desires.
| Estimated Asking Price (in millions of pounds) | Percent Cash | Percent Debt |
| Less than 5 | 10 | 90 |
| 6 to 10 | 15 | 85 |
| 11 to 15 | 20 | 80 |
| 16 to 20 | 30 | 70 |
| 21 to 30 | 40 | 60 |
| Greater Than 30 | 50 | 50 |
It is important to note that while consistently using a lot of debt can help you bulk up your squad in the short term, your future transfer budgets will likely be diminished significantly.
Interpreting your Scout's estimated selling price
The most important part of the above list is #1. Determining what the total cost of the transfer will be (cash+debt) can be somewhat tricky and you should play around with it yourself to get a good feel.
After scouting a player your report will include a rough estimate of what the club will be looking for in terms of a fee. This can be considered the amount you will have to offer only if your bid consists of almost entirely of cash. So, if you plan on using even a moderate amount of debt, you will have to exceed that amount in the following fashion
Example:
Scout Report say club wants an estimated 22.5 million
Hypothetical 1: Pay 15 mil cash and 9 mil debt
Total Bill = 24 mil
Hypothetical 2: Pay 5 mil cash and 22 debt
Total Bill = 27 mil
Both options would likely see the offer being accepted but it's your choice as to what your long term / short term goals are. As stated above your long term success can be hurt by too much debt. In addition, your total transfer bill for each player can be reduced if you pay more now than later. Starting off I generally opt for a general transfer policy closer to Hypothetical 2 in order to add 3-4 quality players to a team and then, as time goes on and I need less players, I tend to pay more now.
Other factors to take into account
1. If the player is transfer listed, the club will be much more likely to accept a lot of debt instead of cash now and you usually don't have to exceed the estimate regardless of the ratio.
2. Dealing with less wealthy/poor performing clubs also allows you to utilize more debt if you wish. I remember during one save with Arsenal in FM 11 Manchester United were somewhere in the middle of the table in January of the second season making Vidic unhappy and I was able to grab him for something like 19 mil pounds.
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