Arsenal Career - Entry #1

Opening Thoughts

It's to difficult to watch the World Cup without playing some serious FIFA, so I've decided to keep a journal of my new career mode. Since I tend to play FIFA in cycles, the idea is to keep a written record of my exploits so that I can pick the game back up without missing a beat (and starting completely over). I've yet to finish a single career mode since 2008.

Arsenal Career Mode [July 1, 2013 - September 1, 2013] 

Starting Stats:
79 Atk / 81 Mid / 80 Def

Transfer Budget: 39.5 M
Total Wage Budget: 3,171,000
Remaining Wage Budget: 325,000

Settings:
Download latest squads, Professional difficulty, 4 minute halves

Champions League Group:

Real Madrid

PSG

Arsenal

Galatasaray

Scout:

10 Stars from Northern Ireland (11.88 M); Netherlands, 9 months, Technically Gifted

Summer Transfer Window:

OUT
Tomáš Rosický - Stade Rennais 10.0 M
Thomas Vermaelen  - Sunderland - 7.5 M
Abu Diaby - U.C. Sampdoria - 6.5 M
Bacary Sagna - Manchester City - 6.0 M
Mikel Arteta - Villarreal CF - 5.5 M
Nicklas Bendtner - West Bromwich Albion - 5.0 M
Łukasz Fabiański - UD Almería - 2.5 M
Zak Ansah - Crewe Alexandra 140K
Chuba Akpom - Swap
Jon Toral - Swap

IN
Aron Jóhannsson - 3.2 M
John Anthony Brooks - 2.4 M
DeAndre Yedlin - 1.75 M
Walker Zimmerman - 450K
Bone - Free agent

My original plan was to keep Arteta, Diaby, Rosický, and Vermaelen, but I received generous offers.  Bendtner, Fabiański, and Sagna left in real life, so there was no reason to retain their services. I didn't have any use for Ansah, so I offloaded him as quickly as possible. I used Akpom and Toral as part of the Brooks and Zimmerman deals. I tried to sell Nacho Monreal, but there were no takers.

I brought in Jóhannsson to compete with Sanogo as Giroud's understudy. Brooks has some serious potential, so I decided to bring him in as my 3rd choice CB. Zimmerman is my 4th choice CB, and his inclusion on my team is a nod to FC Dallas (and Lawrenceville, GA).  Yedlin had a strong World Cup, so I brought him in as back up for Jenkinson and Gibbs. I needed a backup keeper, so I convinced Bone to sit on the bench for the rest of the season.

I bid 15 M for Javier Pastore, but PSG wanted 19.5 M. He was valued at 9.0 M, so I backed off (for now).  I thought about picking up Donovan and Wondolowski as legacy selections, but I had other priorities for this transfer window. I decided to pass on two of my favorite center backs, Schär and Papadopoulos, to mix it up a little.

The plan is to bid for Julian Green in the winter window. Anthony Martial and Jonathan Tah are also options.

Concluding Stats:

Transfer Budget: 53.3 M
Remaining Wage Budget: 997,000