Alfredo (we are still waiting for the post about him, Ed!), Gonzalo Higuain (feel free to select your favourite GIF here), Tomas Chory in 99% of the saves by FMStag since he discovered him, all the Norwegians (Hi, Samo) with longer names than the width of the regular laptop screens, Adam Armstrong (Hi, Samo II), Serbian or Croatian XY newgen for €37k because AI forgot to give him a professional contract…

We all have or had some player we can talk about as THAT player. The one who is ideal for us. It doesn’t matter if it’s a global star, someone unknown or some virtual variation. The Football Manager is still only a video game and we all play it differently. But I think I can say that we all love when you have your favourite player or you discover someone who becomes your favourite player.

I’m not an exception. There were many players I would be able to add to this group. Some of them were real ones, some were newgens. Loader, Aga…

And now Sebastian Musiolik in the Football Manager 2022. I played only two seasons with Warta Poznan but I know that this 25 year old (in a real-life) player will be my best incoming transfer through the whole save.

Spring 2022

It was during the first season of the save when I was searching for some new potential players for the next season(s). Mainly with the expiring contract due to limited finances available. I’m not sure if you remember it but the first-team squad had almost 50 players when the save started. The main aim was to cut the number of players and also the wage bill.

Sebastian Musiolik was a regular starter within the Raków Czestochowa squad and he also spent the 2020/2021 season with Pordenone in Italy. His contract would expire in June 2022 and I decided to try to sign him during spring 2022 for free.

My main idea was very simple. My main DLF(A) or TF(S) option was Adam Zrelák during the first season. The Slovak striker or offensive midfielder was not bad. He was our main striker and influential player in the squad. But he was also our highest earner and his contract was until June 2023. He didn’t want to renew his contract. The only option would be to give him even more money. He had €9k per month and I didn’t want to go over €10k so early in the save.

I also thought he doesn’t deserve it. I was happy when I saw someone like Legia was interested in him because they have enough money to offer and he will go here. And that’s something that happened in the end. Zrelák moved to Legia for €240k, he got €13.75k per month until 2025 and everyone was happy.

Especially with the combination of signing Sebastian Musiolik for free with the wage of €5.75k per month.

The initial comparison

There are two comparison screens. The first one (on the left if you read this on PC/laptop) is the general comparison. It’s the screen from the end of August 2022 after the first part of the league. Musiolik had already 9 goals and 4 assists in 8 league matches. Zrelák was happy for just three appearances and one assist. The second picture is the comparison of their attributes for the Target Forward role with the support duty.

Without sharing how both players ended the 2022/2023 season in terms of statistics, even this initial comparison already suggests that I did a good thing. I signed a new player for free who is not worse than the previous key player, he earns less so we spend less and he is doing much better statistically. At least he did at the beginning. But if you are expecting Sebastian did well in comparison with Zrelák, you are right.

End of 2022/2023 season comparison and a new contract

Sebastian played in all 34 Ekstraklasa appearances. He scored 33 goals in these matches and he also added 10 assists. On the other hand, Adam Zrelák made only 7(7) appearances in the Legia shirt within the Ekstraklasa, scored three goals and made two assists. Yes, there is a thing about the squad competition and Zrelák is considered only as a squad player instead of a star player so his playing time was limited before the season started.

Sebastian came with a simple request about improving his current contract during spring 2023 when it was clear he is a big star now. Not only of our team but also of the Ekstraklasa. I think we can agree that €5.75k per month was not enough. He received a new offer with €11.25K per month until 2026. I will take more than three years with him with all my fingers. It’s still less monthly than Zrelák has in Legia in the original contract when he moved to Warszawa.

He became our highest earner thanks to a new contract. The second highest one has €7k p/m. I was interested in the wage comparison and I went to check some other teams. Legia is the strongest team financially so they were the obvious option. They have 24 players in the senior squad at the end of the 2022/2023 season. Musiolik would be the 21st highest earner with €11,25k p/m.

In Raków Czestochowa, his previous club, he would be at the end of the top 10 best-paid players. Jagiellonia Bialystok, the 12th team of the 2022/2023 season - 13th highest-paid player. The last comparison is with Lech Poznan, our biggest rival and the 3rd team of the second season - very similar to Legia, he would be the 21st highest earner of the squad.

It can be a coincidence but I’m glad I found the perfect combination of free & better options & successful & cheaper signing. And I hope he will continue with it.

Close to a historical record

Sebastian Musiolik had 26 league goals after a win over Lech Poznan in the 27th league round. The league record is 37 by Henryk Reyman from 1927/1928... 11 goals in 7 matches? That was too much.

But 26 goals were already the best effort since 2016 (Nemanja Nikolić scored 28). Marek Koniarek scored 29 in 1996 and that's all back to 1948 when Józef Kohut scored 31 goals according to the list of the top goalscorers.

FM BlackCrow boss suggested letting him take all free kicks and penalties. Sebastian was already set as our penalty taker, the same as he was the main target of most of set piece routines due to his perfect attributes for it. I don’t have detailed stats and FM doesn’t offer the option of how many goals a specific player scored from corners, throws, free kicks or through balls etc. It’s only within the whole squad, unfortunately. But I would say he scored at least one-third of his goals from set pieces. Five of them were from penalties.

As I wrote already, Sebastian ended the league campaign with 33 goals. The second best was Tomas Zajic from Lechia Gdansk with 26 goals and third one was Kacper Chelmecki, our main Advanced Forward, with 16 goals.

Can he improve it?

Scoring 33 league goals in 34 matches are fantastic. Do you think he can do it better in the upcoming season? I’m thinking about it while writing this post and I’m not 100% sure. What can help him to score four more goals to at least equal the goalscoring record of the league?

Better players around? Maybe. Better set piece takers? 100% yes. That could be one way how to give him even better service and create better chances.

Some playmaker role? Maybe. I played without a playmaker role during the first two seasons. My flat midfield trio was CM(S) - CM(A) - CM(S) while one CM(S) was more holding position and the second one has take more risks instruction. But it’s still a central midfielder role and players are coded to act in the particular role. One of the most possible options is to change one CM(S) player to the Roaming Playmaker role. There already is enough static players in our formation so I’m sure it won’t affect it too much.

Overall tactic change? 100% no. I like my weird version of 2-3-3-2 formation with two central defenders and halfback despite it’s not perfect. But what’s perfect these days?

One of my most favourite part of this story is that when Sebastian scored his first competitive goal for Warta Poznan in July 2022 in the opening Ekstraklasa round, it was his first competitive goal after 22 matches.

And the rest is history as it’s modern to say…

BONUS POLL

Thanks for reading, take care.