There’s no better challenge on Football Manager than awaking a sleeping giant, and after some woeful league performances in 2016/17 there are plenty of good options to pick when starting a new game on FM18.
We take a look at five of the best teams to build a dynasty with, ranked from easiest challenge to most difficult:
5) Aston Villa
Division: Championship; Transfer budget: £1m; Wage budget: £945k (£31k remaining); Board expectation: Reach play-offs
A dreadful campaign in 2016/17 has seen expectations lowered at Aston Villa, meaning there isn’t any pressure to win the title this time around despite the club possessing easily the best squad in the Championship.
There isn’t much room for new signings at the beginning of the game but funds can be raised by selling fringe players from this bloated squad. What’s more the former European Champions are backed by a Sugar Daddy, meaning serious investment once promotion back to the top flight is won. Villa are an easy but rewarding challenge, with potential to become a major force in Europe after just a few seasons at the helm.
4) AC Milan
Division: Serie A; Transfer budget: £17.8m; Wage budget: £2.19m (£20k remaining); Board expectation: EURO Cup qualification
The biggest sleeping giant of them all is AC Milan, whose dreadful recent record in Serie A makes them arguably the most exciting team to manage this year. Having spent £175 million on new signings over the summer this is a squad clearly on the up; it shouldn’t be hard to challenge Juventus’s monopoly, particularly given the expectation in year one is simply to qualify for the EURO Cup.
Leonardo Bonucci and Ricardo Rodriguez should see you through the first few months and there are plenty of young prospects who will flourish over the next couple of years, including Gianluigi Donnarumma, Hakan Calhanoglu, Manuel Locatelli, and Andre Silva.
3) Ajax
Division: Eredivisie; Transfer budget: £13.4m; Wage budget: £346k (£-1.5k remaining); Board expectation: Win the title
Ajax have been on the slide for far too long. Three successive second-placed finishes in the Eredivisie isn’t good enough for a club with such a rich history, but even more importantly Ajax haven’t made it past the group stage of the Champions League – a competition they have won four times - since 2006.
Boasting one of the best academies in the world and a very recognisable tactical identity, this is the perfect challenge for any manager who fancies themselves the next Johan Cruyff.
2) Valencia
Division: La Liga; Transfer budget: £13.4m; Wage budget: £1.09m (£-300 remaining); Board expectation: EURO Cup qualification
13 years on from Valencia’s last La Liga title the club are in a bit of a mess. After years of flirting at the edges of the Champions League places they fell apart in 2015/16 and have now finished 12th two years in a row.
A modest budget should be enough to add the sort of quality needed to finish in the top six, but with Real Madrid and Barcelona dominant at the top there is perhaps a ceiling to what can be achieved at Valencia. Restoring them to the Champions League, however, would be a major success.
1) Hamburg SV
Division: Bundesliga; Transfer budget: £0; Wage budget: £782k (£13.7k remaining); Board expectation: Avoid automatic relegation
Hamburger SV have won six German titles and lifted the European Cup in 1983 but haven’t come near the top since then. They are now relegation candidates after three years of stagnating in the lower half of the table and have no money in the bank. Nevertheless this is a big club that can attract over 50,000 spectators each week.
This is not a challenge for the faint-hearted but the Bundesliga is a very open division, meaning European qualification is a realistic target within a few short years.
