Partizan has been very fun so far. I have been a little more loose with the rules than I intended initially, but I'm not out there chasing the dragon yet. My scouts are more or less looking exclusively for Serbians. In fact, through my 2 full seasons I have bought only 2 non-Serbs:
An American regen who didn't cost a dime because he was with a non-professional club, and Andrei Ivan, a very good Romanian striker from Craiova for 5.5m. Unfortunately, in order to sign he demanded an 8.25m release clause, so I lost him a year later to Hoffenheim. However, through negotiation I was somehow able to also procure 50% of the future fee.
Year 1 we won the domestic double and made it to the Europa League Quarter Final. Year 2 we only won the league, but we made it to the First Knockout Round in the Champions League, and it should have been the Quarters. We were up 3-1 on aggregate after the home leg, and it was 0-0 in the 80th minute in our away leg against Sporting in Portugal. We had 5 clear cut chances without a goal. Sporting scored twice in the last 10 minutes and sent us out.
I have remade the squad quite a bit now, and it is extremely domestic based, obviously. I signed Ivanovic on loan this year just because I can. I'm making 15m each year on average, and it will be at least that much again if I can make the CL Group Stage by advancing past former Yugoslavian League rival Dinamo.
My two best youngsters, by far, are Sasa Lukic and Jovon Nisic. Obviously Zivkovic would be here, but his contract expires at the end of the first season and he does not want to extend. While I was forced to sell him, I got 7.5m from Real Madrid, which was a pretty good deal. He also came in on loan in 16/17 and had over an 8 average rating.
