With MLS hitting the ground along with Asia we think it’s time to recap the most interesting players to speculate on for the coming season. For those of you who have been with us or Sorare for a while, you know that during this time and until the start of the regular season the transfer window is interesting due to the low prices, transfer rumours and speculation about the possible performance of new teams. It is certainly a time to invest, to scout and to get good players with a possible optimal development at a good price.
In summary, let’s quickly explain the historical characteristics of the off-season transfers for the American and Asian leagues in Sorare:
MLS is on matchday 30 and the J league is on matchday 26. Prices have long been falling and should traditionally bottom out relatively soon. Last year in the June-October period many players with a good development during the season (see clear examples such as Russell in MLS or Eduardo in the J league) hit the floor, and then rise steadily until preseason (January-February), at which point it either plummets if the player is not a starter or has been sold at an exorbitant price or continues to rise if he initially has several good games (as happened with Frankie Amaya). The confirmation of signings and rumours also has an interesting effect on their development.
The risk is twofold; first of all buying into the rumour can be interesting if some part of the rumour is confirmed (initial starter or transfer to another team), but in our experience it is very difficult for a player who preseason scores a x2, x3 or x4 to fulfil “those expectations”. I mean, for example Kawasaki’s Damiao, a key player for many Asian rewards, had an end of season with 5 or 6 greens in a row and reached peak sales in preseason (February-March). Obviously we were paying an overprice for some certainly unrealistic expectations, because it is more likely statistically speaking that at the beginning of the season a player will underperform at the start of the season than start better. In this case we could have bought him around November at 0.240 ETH and sold him in February at 1 ETH without taking any risk with his performance. Of course this in hindsight is easy to see, and it is difficult to predict the entry and exit, but keep this in mind, salaries with PROFIT and don’t look back.
There is always a player that you know is going to go up. We are talking about that player that we know, that is not getting minutes or is not playing but that we know is good and will grow. We personally encourage you not to hesitate there and buy him and move him. In our case Brandon Vazquez and Matarrita along with Calvo are players that we definitely want and have bagged because we follow them closely. The Mls and J league rarely keep a correlation of points in the table; I mean, the top scorer and best team usually follows a certain statistic but most of the players that stood out don’t stay in the top. Clear examples with Vissel Kobe and Sagan Tosu in the J league and Cincinnati and Kansas in MLS; teams that were very high and very low and have radically changed the way they play for better or worse. That’s the beautiful part of the game as well.
You have to take into account that it was a different era; fewer managers, fewer competitions, fewer leagues… and no World Cup. We are facing a bear market now and more uncertainty, so set a strategy and follow it to the letter. Enjoy the scouting, don’t loiter too much with profit and work out a strategy for the coming season in Asia and America.