I SERIOUSLY haven’t had this much fun on a football game for years!!!

The First Players Arrive

With a franchise, Madero Mayhem FC, now in place, I needed players.

The first thing I did was open the three starter packs and the reward pack earned from the onboarding tasks.

Out of the eight players I received, only two look likely to play a meaningful role.

Mahjoub Hamzaoui is a 22-year-old right wing-back with enough pace and physicality to provide useful cover, whilst Rasmus Duus is a 23-year-old centre-back who could see decent playing time as backup.

What I liked about both players – and what quickly became part of my recruitment strategy – is that they already possess the difficult attributes to find cheaply: pace and strength. If younger players already have those physical traits, there is always a chance their technical ability develops over time and they become a very useful player.

Tactical Plans

Because real money is involved, I wanted to avoid positions and attributes that I suspected would be overpriced.

My assumption was that the most expensive positions would be:

• Striker
• Winger
• Attacking Midfielder

And the most expensive attributes:

• Pace
• Dribbling
• Shooting

That makes sense when it seems most managers are using either a 4-2-3-1 or 4-3-3.

So I decided to go in the opposite direction and use a 5-3-2.

For me, it is the ultimate budget formation. It removes the need for expensive wingers and attacking midfielders, and only really requires one mobile striker rather than two.

The defence also makes financial sense:

• Three good centre-backs should cost way less than an good front four
• Wing-backs only need pace and stamina, not elite defending
• A midfield three can each carry out different roles, spreading the cost.

If everyone else is chasing the same profile of player, the value is usually elsewhere.

Real Money Being Spent (And Mistake #1?)

Once I had settled on the system, I started signing players to fit it.

My favourite role in a 5-3-2 is a proper destroyer in the DM slot. So… the first arrivals were Daniel Karsai and Gustavo Zeballos, bought for $3 each.

Karsai is a classic destroyer-type midfielder: physical, defensively strong and simple in possession. Across the last three seasons he averaged 3.08 possession wins per game.

Zeballos is more agile and technical. He can cover the deeper role or play slightly further forward, with his shooting giving him a little more attacking threat. His last four seasons’ average ratings – 7.5, 7.0, 7.4 and 7.6 – suggest he should be one of the better players in the squad. Both can play centre back too, if needed.

Real money spent so far: $6 (£4.50)

…and mistake #2!

It always pays to properly check a formation before recruiting for it.

In almost every football game, the deepest midfielder in a 5-3-2 is a defensive midfielder. In MFL, though, it is classed as a central midfielder.

As both Karsai and Zeballos are natural Defensive Midfielders and can’t play Central Midfield, their OVR will take a hit because they are technically being played out of position.

Even stranger, the other two central midfielders are classed as left and right midfielders.

Thankfully, I spotted this before I spent too much money.

Learn from my mistakes folks…!

A Recruitment Strategy Starts to Form

Although I do not regret signing Karsai and Zeballos, neither player is likely to improve in value.

AND THAT AIN’T SOCCERNOMICS!!

I quickly realised I needed a proper strategy.

From this point on, I decided I would only spend real money on players aged 24 or under, unless they were:

• Clearly undervalued
• A perfect tactical fit and likely to hold their value for at least two seasons
• Difficult to replace through loans

My ideal squad would eventually look something like this:

• 60% owned players aged 18-24
• 30% loan players aged 25+
• 10% owned players aged 25+

I probably won’t get anywhere near hitting those numbers in Season One, but at least I now had a plan.

Developing a recruitment strategy with my imaginary recruitment team

Welcome to the Mayhem

With the recruitment strategy in place, it was time for me to go and sign the players who would hopefully make Madero Mayhem FC a contender in the Flint division. (Although I’ll be happy just not embarrassing myself!).

Didier Cambier – Left Wing-Back – 67 OVR

The 24-year-old Belgian joined for $10 and fits my preferred profile perfectly.

He is quick, strong and good on the ball. Over the last two seasons in Spark Division (one level higher than we’re at) he produced 13 assists, so should be a real threat down the left.

He is technically a left-back, so there will be a small penalty for using him at wing-back, but he was easily the best option available.

Teofilo Espindola – Central Midfielder – 64 OVR

Another $10 signing, Espindola should become the creative heartbeat of the midfield.

Although MFL classes the outside central midfielders in a 5-3-2 as RM and LM, they are really all-round central midfield roles. Across the last two seasons in Spark, Espindola scored three goals and provided 13 assists. I’m hoping for big things from him this season.

Nestor Zamorano – Striker – 63 OVR

The 23-year-old joins for $8 after scoring 19 goals in 44 appearances over the last three seasons.

He has the profile of a poacher, but with enough dribbling ability to create chances for himself as well. The hope is that he can feed off the service provided by Cambier and Espindola and become one of the focal points of the attack.

Total cost: $28 (£21)

Added to Karsai and Zeballos, the total now stands at $34 (£25.50) for five permanent signings.

A Game Changer!

Whilst waiting for a plethora of loan offers to be accepted, I discovered a tool called MFL Assistant.

One of many useful tool to support the game, one of its features shows the average OVR of the best 16 players in each division.

For Flint, the strongest 25% of teams have an average top-16 OVR of just 60.69. Across the top 50%, it drops to 56.25.

That completely changed my thinking.

At that point, my own eight best players already averaged 63.25 OVR. In other words, I was already building a squad stronger than most of the division.

So instead of filling every remaining place with 62+ OVR players, I could:

• Build around a spine of 63-68 OVR players
• Use younger 54-58 OVR players in supporting roles
• Save money for genuine difference-makers

It also meant players like Rasmus Duus, who I had only seen as a squad player, might actually be good enough to start, or play significantly more than I planned.

If I can remain competitive whilst developing cheaper players underneath, I should gradually build a squad that improves in value rather than constantly needing to be rebuilt.

And, perhaps most importantly, it means I do not need to spend anywhere near as much real money as I first feared.

So, with that revelation in mind, I went back into the market looking for development players rather than finished products.

Investing the Reward Money

As part of the special offer of buying the franchise, I received $20 cash-back. This paid for the following signings, the first being a very good one!

Clemens Vollmer – Centre-Back – 68 OVR

Vollmer goes against the strategy slightly at 27, but at just $6 he felt too good to ignore.

He instantly becomes the highest-rated player in the squad. He’s got goos pace and, crucially, is left-footed. In a back three, that can really matter.

Edmund Grossman – Left Midfielder – 57 OVR

Grossman only cost $4 and feels exactly the sort of low-risk signing I should be making.

The 23-year-old has played just 17 matches, but all in a higher division. He’s got decent pace and ability on the ball.

Karolj Simeunovic – Striker – 54 OVR

Karolj cost $6 and has never played a professional match.

At 23 he could develop into a decent player and has good physicals and decent finishing, he is exactly the type of cheap, young player this strategy is built around.

Walter Falcone – DM – 63 OVR

A limited-time pack drop tempted me into spending another $14.99. I wasn’t going to get involved, but with just one pack left when I logged on to check my inbox, I took the plunge – purely for scientific purposes, of course.

Of the two players I received, one player was a forgettable 42 OVR. The other was Walter Falcone.

Falcone is not the destroyer-type midfielder I usually prefer. Instead, what he lacks in defensive ability, he more than makes up for with his excellent passing. He should be useful when I need to dominate possession against weaker teams.

Christian Bevilacqua – CB – 54 OVR

Another left-footed centre-back. Yes, there is a theme here.

Bevilacqua only cost $3.50, has good pace and should suit the left side of the back three. At 22, there is still time for him to improve.

Filling out the Squad with Loans

There were still a number of positions to fill before I had anything resembling a proper squad.

Not only did I need depth, I also needed enough players to avoid the conditioning penalties that come from using the same XI every match.

Alfonso Escobar – Striker – 64 OVR

Escobar is 33, but with a staggering 51 goals in 46 games across the last two seasons, he should be ideal alongside Zamorano. However, he’s ageing so will need regular rest which means a decent back up will be needed.

Better still, he only costs a 1% revenue share.

Horacio Vasquez – Goalkeeper – 62 OVR

The 36-year-old conceded just 15 goals in 23 matches last season so should be a solid option.

His age worries me, though, and like Escobar, I’ll need a very adequate backup.

Matthew Hopkins – Central Defender – 63 OVR

Hopkins is another left-footed centre-back.

At 4.5% revenue share he is expensive, but left-footed defenders are a necessity and he’ll start regularly in the centre of the back three.

A good start, but more were needed…

Viorel Balaban – LB – 61 OVR

Balaban arrives on a 3% revenue share and should be a good backup to Cambier. It may seem a lot for a squad player, but he can also play as a Left-sided Midfielder, so his versatility could come in handy.

Valentin Turpin – RB – 63 OVR

Turpin was one of the first players I put an offer in for… and it dragged on for so long it seemed like it’d never happen.

Alas, eventually it did and I gave a little fist pump to myself in the supermarket when I got the alert!

He joins on a 3% revenue share but will be a starting right wingback.

Like Cambier, he is naturally a full-back rather than a wing-back, so he takes a small 2-3 OVR penalty. Even so, he should still be more than good enough.

Valter Sinkovec – CB – 60 OVR

Sinkovec adds more depth at centre-back for just 2% revenue share.

He has solid pace, physicality and is comfortable in possession.

Leonel Amorin – GK – 62 OVR

Because Vasquez is 36, I needed another goalkeeper who could start regularly.

Amorin is rated exactly the same, so the two should share the gloves through the season. At 2% revenue share it feels like decent business if he can keep us in games.

Fabian Patino – ST – 62 OVR

Patino arrived thanks to some good old-fashioned networking.

I ended up chatting to another manager in the MFL Discord because I was interested in one of his loan players. That particular deal did not happen – he, rightly, wanted the player to move to a stronger division – but he did offer me Fabian Patino instead, as well as give me some advice about the MFL.

And I am very glad he did.

Patino joins for just a 2% revenue share and should play plenty of football backing up an ageing Escobar, without the quality dropping off too much.

And now we wait…

To this point, I have spent roughly £25 of my own money on permanent signings, plus around £12 on the pack drop.

But that is very much because I wanted to.

If you wanted to build a squad almost entirely through loans, you absolutely could. In fact, with what I know now, you could probably put together a competitive Flint Division side for very little outlay at all. The key is being patient, understanding the system you want to play and avoiding the temptation to buy every player who catches your eye.

For now, my squad is almost settled. There are still one or two areas I could improve if the right player becomes available, but otherwise I am going to spend the next few days before the season starts playing friendlies, learning the match engine, honing my tactics and figuring out which combinations work best.

This first season is not really about chasing instant success. It is about learning the game, building a squad in the right way and developing the young players I have invested in.

If a few of them improve, if the 5-3-2 works as I hope, and if Madero Mayhem FC can be competitive without spending a fortune, then I think we might be onto something.

And if you are tempted to give MFL a try yourself, now is probably the perfect time to start alongside me (and use this referral link so we both get goodies!)