Past

Buckle up blog readers - this is going to be a bit of a rollercoaster read. Well, that’s how I see the blog in my head as I start to write this down. Last time out I brought you up to speed with events come the end of Season 3 and safe to say a lot has happened since then.

I’m keen to focus on where I’m currently at in the save and the future of IACC but in order to dive into that I’ve got to bring you all up to speed - it helps paint the picture. It’s 18 in-game months past the end of season 3…

So ahead of Season 4 and the League Cup stage we had the usual players leaving on expiring contracts as well as a few sales. £8m was brought in by 3 players; Santiago Rodriguez to Osasuna (£2.8m), Emanuel Cecchini to Zaragoza (£3.3m) and Fernando Alarcon to LAFC (£1.7m). Whilst I was super busy bringing in 12(!) players for a grand total of £0.

As I’ve found, players come and go in this save with no real time to gain a true attachment to any of them. This allows me to be more ruthless when selling them I guess, but I do miss taking a player or two along for the ride. Signing good players for free is always enjoyable and paid dividends ahead of competitive football.

We cantered to IACC’s first ever League Cup triumph, topping our League Cup table over River Plate before smashing Estudiantes DlP 7-2 and ultimately seeing off Racing Club in the final thanks to our two young stars Rayan and Gabriel Lima (more on them later).

We shifted from a 4-4-2 to a 4-2-4 ahead of this season after doing a bit of analysis of average positions and where my wide men were receiving the ball - it was too deep and close to my full/wing backs so I shifted them up and on the whole it worked well. There’s a mini-blog in there somewhere…

We move into the summer months on a high but the usual crowing for new contracts for players persists, this time it’s Nehual Tenaglia who wants to triple his salary, so he was sold to Fulham for £4.4m whilst we spent £1.2m bringing in cover at left back, central midfield and then belatedly in goal as my first choice keeper picked up a bad injury so I had to move quickly.

The new league competition awaited, I was desperate to win but know that beating Boca, and even River, is going to be a really tough ask. One we ultimately couldn’t quite achieve again.

We only finished 7 points behind when Boca last 3 of their last 4 games - they’d already won the title by that point

Realistically we are still a ways off the pace of Boca, they’re just a machine with far greater resources than us and they rarely drop points. Will we ever overcome them over a league season? I’m starting to wonder.

Juan Cruz Zurbriggen was a revelation up front and comfortably signing of the season. He notched 43 goals and 9 assists in 50 games in all competitions. Not bad for a free signing. Maxi Romero bagged another 28 goals and 11 assists in 44 games but it was home-grown Gabriel Lima that really excited me this season. He joined in our first intake, had progressed significantly just before and during the League Cup stage to become a key player at AML playing as a Winger (A).

Here you can see the obvious progress he’s made. I always enjoy players who’re very two-footed and he was just brilliant when brought into the team. 38 games, 7 goals and 18 assists. He really impressed me and was far better than I thought he would be. This calendar year he has come on leaps and bounds…but now the vultures are circling.

In Gabriel Lima I considered whether I had found my next wonderkid, the ‘La Nueva Joya’ we’d been searching for. Here was a home-grown star in the making finally making waves in the first team. We moved into pre-season ahead of Season 5, January 2026 and he was subject to a couple of derisory bids from Premier League clubs that were instantly rejected, but the damage was done, his head was turned and as quickly as he lit up Argentina, he was gone.

In my first blog post I set about my ‘Hopes & Dreams’ for the save, essentially self-imposed targets. One of them was to break the record sale held by Dybala and here we’ve gone and done it. Though it felt a little hollow.

I’d have loved to have kept Lima but I couldn’t reject such a vast sum. A sum that has since helped to improve our facilities and the board plan to build a new stadium. But it almost felt as if I had peaked with this save, or at the very least reached a peak. I debated whether there would ever be another peak for me to find with IACC or if I was destined to just journey down the same road. We’d produce 1 or 2 great youths, sell them before they even turn 20, get forced to sell our better players due to exorbitant wage demands, thus struggling to keep apace with Boca and ultimately fall slightly short in the hunt the big prizes. Is this something I want from my save and my time on FM? I was seriously considering whether it was time to move on.

Yet FM just seems to have a way through to some dormant emotions. Hell I thought I could put some of the Lima money to good use and see what happens - maybe I’ll still enjoy things?

Snap back to the save and we also sold money-grabbing Maxi Romero for £5m to Fulham (they love buying from us). Oscar Salomon joined River for £4.2m and Bersano left for Chicago Fire for £700k. Yet more money in but we lose 3 first team players. So naturally 5 players come in immediately with a few to join in the summer (more on them soon).

Present

I flew through the League Cup stage of the season still in the mindset that I may well resign. So I switched to key highlights for many a game - we seem to have cracked this competition.

We never fail to smash Estudiantes (LP), they must hate us

Winning this competition is great but I’m very much in a place where it’s a nice bonus now with bigger prizes on offer in the League and continental competitions. We’ve not been able to do well in the Copa Libertadores to date and that was no different in Season 4 nor this season so far as we finished 3rd in our group and drop into the Copa Total Sudamerica - a competition I had completely forgotten existed. Could our path to continental glory lie this way? Slowly but surely I’m being dragged back in.

With the transfer window open it’s often a time of turmoil and this season is no different. Due primarily to more demand for crazy wages we’ve managed to bring in £40.5m in sales across 2026. Out go Rayan to Leeds (£5.5m), Liziero to Getafe (£3.3m), Muro to Fluminese (£3.8m) and Joaquin Jara to Fulham (again! £5m). The coffers are well and truly stocked.

So now you’ve joined me at where I am currently - kicking off another new season, reinvigorated by a new cup competition yes, but mostly because of IACC’s future.

Future

This is heavily caveated by the fact I know first hand that the future can be very fleeting. Seemingly so distant and yet passes by in a flash, but I’m determined to enjoy it whilst I can. We’ve a crop of cracking youngsters, a mix of home-grown talent still on the fringes of the first team and a nice bunch of young stars we’ve managed to convince to join the club. Let’s introduce them:

Victor

Victor joins us in the summer of 2026 ahead of the new season for £850k - he’ll be utilised as an Advanced Forward and set to work on his pace. I can see him banging in quite a few goals with that finishing attribute.

Ezequiel Veloso

I had my eye on Veloso as his contract wound down at Talleres at the end of 2023. An offer was made but he chose to join Wolfsburg where he promptly did very little. Ahead of the League Cup 2026 stage I was able to nab him for just £210k. He’ll play at AMR with Rayan now having left the club but I can see him performing anywhere across the front 4 roles if need be. High hopes for this fella.

Darío Sarmiento

A real coup this one. Signed from Man City on a free & I love that he wanted to join us. Signs up ahead of the 2026 league season and will replace Gabriel Lima in the AML - Winger (A) role. Still only 23 I reckon he’s going to be a revelation this season.

Carlos Fernández

Joining from Universidad San Martín de Porres for £550k, Fernandez will provide crucial cover in the wide AML/AMR roles as either an IW(A) from AMR or Winger (A) from AML. His value has already risen 5-fold since I took this screen - he joins ahead of the new 2026 season.

Diego Caballero

Ooooh this guy could really be incredible. Somehow plucked from the depths of Paraguay from Club Rubio Ñu, he joins on an end of contract deal where we pay £375k compensation. An utter bargain if you ask me. He won’t join until the end of the 2026 season but I am hyped for when he arrives. Still only 17 and a Model Citizen. Dreamy.

Lautaro López

An example to never remove players from your shortlist (maybe) this fella was bought by Inter Miami from Velez but then didn’t make the draft in his second season there so was a free agent that we dutifully snapped up. I want him to provide cover in the CM-D role I operate whilst also being emergency backup at centre back.

Rodrigo Pérez

A home-grown IACC boy, Perez has progressed nicely in the last 12 months used predominantly as an Advanced Forward. He’ll continue to provide cover there whilst also able to play in the AML role as a winger. Hopefully he’ll continue to develop.

There are more but I can’t share them all - but between them they make me want to see whether I can still take IACC to yet further heights. Let’s see what the future holds.

Thanks, as always, for reading.