How to Unsettle a Player in Football Manager - FMBrotherhood
Declaring interest as top target in FM23
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How to Unsettle a Player in Football Manager

By callum | September 2, 2023 | 2708 Views

How to Unsettle a Player in Football Manager 2023

To improve your team in Football Manager you need to sign players that are better than the players in your current squad. But it can sometimes be difficult to persuade better players to join your club.

If someone is happy at their current club, this is how to unsettle a player in Football Manager. This can help make a player that’s uninterested turn their head and want to join you. Unsettling a player in FM can also help lower the fee you need to pay for them.

There’s likely 2 reasons you’re reading this article. One, because you’ve already bid for a player and the club are asking for far too much money, so you need to unsettle the player to get the price down. Or two, you’ve had an offer accepted for a player but they’re not interested in opening contract talks with you.

If you’re looking to do either of these things in FM23 or any other version of Football Manager, this article is for you.

For more Football Manager tips, take a look at this article.

How to Unsettle a Player in Football Manager Step 1

The first step to unsettling a player is getting your scout to watch the player for a long time, and go to matches specifically to watch the player.

Assign scout to watch player in FM23

To do this, go to the reports tab on the player you want to unsettle. Then in the drop down menu select Assign Scout, choose one of your scouts to then watch them for up to 4 matches.

By making your scout watch the player, the media and the player will pick up on this. The player will see that you’re strongly interested in signing him. The media will ask you why you sent a scout to watch the player in a match. This is an opportunity for you as the manager to declare publicly that you’re interested in the player. This is the first step for how to unsettle a player in Football Manager.

Step 2 – Attend a Match Yourself

Attending a match to scout a player in Football Manager

Next you can watch the player yourself. To do this, go to their teams schedule tab, and click on their next game. Then in the bottom right corner you can select attend match. The player will like that you’ve gone to watch them, and the media may also ask you again if you’re interested in signing them.

How to Unsettle Players in FM – Step 3

Declaring interest as top target in FM23

Another way to publicly tell everyone that you’re interested in a player is by declaring interest in them as a top target. To do this, go to the transfer drop down menu and select declare interest as top target.

Declaring interest as top target to the media

You will then get a message in your inbox from a journalist asking you about your interest for the player. You can then use the top option to show that the player is your number one priority. The player will like that you’ve openly stated you’re interested in signing them.

Step 4

Star player promoting top target via press on FM23

Now that you’ve made the player you want to sign a top target, you can ask your star player to speak publicly about signing them. For this example we’ve used Ivan Toney from Brentford.

Toney declaring interest in Sutalo in FM23

Your star player will then make a statement to the press saying that the player you’re trying to unsettle should seriously consider moving to your team.

Toney speaking to the media in FM23

How to Unsettle a Player in Football Manager Step 5 – Make the Transfer Offer

Now it’s time to make the offer for the player. If you’re not bothered about how much you pay for the player, then negotiate until you get the offer accepted.

However, if you’re reading this article because you want to know how to unsettle a player in Football Manager to decrease the transfer fee, then make an offer that you know will get rejected, but not too low.

If the player is really interested in joining you, then he will be frustrated that his club isn’t accepting an offer, and he might ask them to lower it.

If the media ask again about your transfer offers being rejected, you can blame the selling club that they keep rejecting your offer. This will frustrate the player even more.

Over time, if you keep pursuing the player, he may hand in a transfer request, and then he will be put up for sale at a set price. This should be lower than what the club originally wanted for the player.

Step 6 – Last Ditch Attempt – Sign Their Friends!

Josip Sutalo player information in Football Manager 2023

If you’re still struggling to unsettle a player in Football Manager, then the final thing you can do is sign their friends!

To find out who their friends are, go to the the overview drop down menu on the players profile, and then select information. This will bring you to the screen you can see in the above image, which shows the players favoured personnel.

Once you’ve signed these players, you can ask them to persuade your top target to join your club.

Final Thoughts

These are the best ways to unsettle a player in Football Manager 2023, and other versions of FM. Sometimes there’s no way of persuading a player to join your club, but it’s likely because they’re not willing to take a large step down to be a part of your team.

If the player you’re trying to unsettle really wants to join you, then there’s a great chance you’ll be able to unsettle them, and get the asking price decreased.

If you want to know how to sign free agents in Football Manager, click here.

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