"Why they put me as Forward"

Today - Southampton (H)
06/11 - Atalanta (A)
10/11 - Liverpool (A)
23/11 - Chelsea (H)
26/11 - Shakhtar Donetsk (H)
30/11 - Newcastle (A)
03/12 - Burnley (A)

The nature of his style of play makes him an underdog against his own able team mates, whichever happens to be playing.
Neymar, Mbappe, Cavani and Chupo-Moting are all involved in build up play, of the 5, Icardi will record the lowest average points for mins on pitch.

He may win PB in single match days, when outscoring his own team mates.
He may win MB if Wanda decides they needs more exposure....she might be fluttering her eyes at Neymar £££.

He is imo an IPD player.
Aside from Neymar, they all are.
Expensive ones but rightly so.

I'd say 35p in IPD's over 10 months.
Age not a factor as he's in his prime.
Value £1.50-£2.00

Yes I paid £1.60 three weeks ago
I also had the sense to IS him at £2.23 after Locadia and Mbappe scored last night.
He was my biggest investment up to that point.

There is and will continue to be, value in hype...the trend.
He's the new PSG CF, which means goals and IPD's....however that does not always result in MB/PB's - In his case it rarely will.

As traders return to holding MB/PB players.....FI will once again require a stimulus to trade. IPD's will receive a boost.
I put Icardi at £1.75, but a doubling of IPD's at some point in future would take him to £3.50.

ter-Stegen looks a safe place to put some money right now.

Upcoming games in the next 3 weeks for Barcelona :

Eibar (A)
Slavia Prague (A)
Real Madrid (H)
Real Valladolid (H)
Levante (A)
Slavia Prague (H)
Celta Vigo (H)

Not too late to grab a 2p dividend before the midnight deadline.

Top Defender tonight.
The young AC Milan Captain could grab another PB dividend on the 31st/Oct when he will lead his team in a home game against SPAL in the league.
(Single match day)

As a Lefty he would be the natural compliment to Bonucci in next summers Euro's.

@MickTurbo

Sidenote.....Bernardo Silva has now been sold at £2.29.....
I paid £2.38 - he generated 6p in dividends.
However I made + 26 p on CR7 and Diaz.
Semedo is currently up +9p.

It's a good days trading.
I will not touch double and treble match days...where players score hat-tricks and lose. It's a lottery with too few winners and little value.
Yes I only engaged in these international double days to give me some small interest over the two week period. Weak opposition tempted me in, but I did consider it high risk.
I would prefer more winners, to more paid out on individuals.
Even if the wins were smaller, we would have seen wins on CR7 as well as Griezmann, more people happy, less people frustrated.

@Timothee-Atouba

On the basis of the rises in trade and membership....

I think that PB dividends should be raised ten fold, to reward performances on the pitch.
I've never seen either MB or IPD's as a route forward for FI, more like marketing strategies to draw in new investors.
I also think that any need for share splits is evidence of growth....dividends should remain as they are, not reduced in proportion.

It's all guesswork...without knowing FI's financial state at different times over the past 4 years...
I'd be surprised if they accumulated a large amount of debt, I'd be surprised if they haven't made significant operating funds.
I would guess they are either sitting on large funds, or have been pissing it away in salaries, bonuses and marketing campaigns.

Few people have made the point about IPO's. This is the big factor.
FI claims that 93% of MB wins come from the top 200 players.
I'm sure that figure is much lower for PB winners.
The increase in number of listed players alone should merit a raising of PB.

A couple of years ago we were looking at around three winners from a pool of 750 eligible players....now it's more like three winners from 3000 players.
The speculation has given them buyers on all of them.....How much commission have FI earned from Konstantinos Mavropanos trades ??? or Ibra ???
That money isn't repaid in dividends.
I think the trade in dividend winners like Neymar and TAA is probably paying for itself,,,,,Leaving a lot of trade money unaccounted for. FI profits must now be huge.

I wanted a share split by a factor of four, along with three times as many PB winners in a tiered system....at that time FI was sitting in between 50,000 and 75,000 points.
It's now doubled...and seemingly stagnated.
@Metropolis - So no I don't see appreciation. I see it slowly falling back to 80,000 - 100,000 points.....Those projections may have prompted this dividend restructure on the part of FI, they know a dip could become a crash.
It's not a dip due to lack of football. It's due to falling value. Hence their terminology in regard to dividend value for investors.

50,000 points was about right I'd say.
100,000 points - double the divs.
150,000 points - treble them.
Maintain the value.

@MickTurbo

TAA gives us a good example to work with.
He's now the most expensive defender on the market, by some margin.

As a player I rate him.
However as an investment ?

Short term IPD's - would need to generate 8p over 30 days (likely to soon be 9p, rising to my maximum figure of £5/10p).....Messi territiory.
"Overpriced" as a "Flip".

As a "Hold", he needs to return an average of around 25p a season in combined MB and PB...for the duration of his career, simply to break even....assuming his value at the end of his career drops to zero.
It's probably fair to suggest he will maintain his high price for a decade, before it begins to fall. So that would offer a 100% return....or perhaps 10% per year (approx figures).
The bet is essentially + / - 25p per season in combined PB/MB.

Age is a significant factor.....Neymar ? Messi ? Ronaldo ?
In the case of CR7.....he needs to return around £1.50 a season in combined MB/PB, to break even. As those returns would only offset his falling price during that period.
The same could be said for Messi.
Sold earlier today....this could be the last time I consider investing in either player.

For me Neymar and Pogba have reached a peak price, in terms of any value they offer, but it is extremely high risk. The potential for losses is greater than the potential for significant gains...imho.
I think we've known these things for around 12 months.
Hence why the bulk of investment has gone towards U23 players of late.

We already see TAA and Mbappe hitting these peak prices £5.00-7.50 in terms of value - their speculative PB/MB yields.
Not all of these players can produce high yields, only a minority will do so, with those mentioned being the "favorites".
There will certainly be more losers than winners...in terms of dividend returns.

*Quick Math".
Take all dividends paid out over a season / combined price of all futures.
More losers than winners.
Buying every defender will produce a loss.
Buying most defenders will produce a loss.
Buying several defenders will likely produce a loss.
Buying the right one or two...might just generate a profit.
Prices are bloated, there is more money to be lost, than to be made through speculating on who will be the next Pogba or Kimmich.

The only way to make money here currently, is from the stupidity of others.
Those who today bought my CR7 futures for £3.24.....Madness I say.
You'll not get £4 off me for Trent, not unless Liverpool are playing at home against Sheffield United on a Monday evening and there's a buzz.

It isn't real value though. It's artificial. Not sustainable.
Neither is raising the dividends to keep up with demand and rising prices in a saturated market.....it is inviting a crash when reality settles in, which it is evidently doing.
People are starting to get a little pissed off staring at their Vinicius Jr shares and thinking why I am I not getting my monthly 20p in dividends.
That's a pretty decent return for a "team", individual players can't all generate 20p a month in dividends.

Messi has proven his influence in the Barca team. It would be fair to say he's worth about £4....the rest of the squad maybe a quid between the lot of 'em, rarely do any of them steal his thunder on match days.
What we've done here is speculate on every player in every squad, bloating the prices of all but the winning few.
Good for FI.....Now they either up the dividends significantly or face the pending crash.

We'll see what they do at the end of the month with dividends.
Has to be better than these paper over cracks deposit bonuses.
The terminology they've used sounds positive. Like they've woken up to reality.

Whatever percentage the dividends rise....that's how much scope there will be for individual share prices to rise.
However my port is not going to exceed 50 players (not without tiered PB).
Added to which I will not purchase in excess of 300 shares as is cost effective in terms of selling, price movement and commission.
In essence FI themselves is now putting a limit on the amount that can be invested.
That can only increase if dividends are raised through tiered PB and the pool of "winners" becoming more diverse.
Opening up the MB might benefit Victor, but at a cost to Pogba.

I was pleased to see "media madness" as well as the inclusion of Euro's, but more winners produced through tiered PB is still the way forward for FI.
Once all the 'diots run out of money and patience...which they are increasingly doing.
I think TAA and Cancelo are safe places to put money. Proven, real world and opta world, long contracts at top clubs and top managers who rate them to boot.
I'm not sure how much Scottish football Emery watches, as I understand to quote a spud "it's not in the job description".
I don't want £2 players who've not started a single top flight game.

Gael Kakuta (Amiens) - 30p.....Now that makes sense.
I think after Jorginho last season the Chelsea fans at least have probably learned a lesson they will remember.
Let's hope this Gooner doesn't have the same experience with Pepe.....
He's my "pick".
Buying him, along with Willock, Nelson, Saka, Martinelli, Smith Rowe would be crazy, they can't all play let alone win.
Konstantinos Mavropanos....17th choice CB at Arsenal (reserves)
More expensive than Leonardo Bonucci !!

Clinical psychologists would label that with a simple four letter abbreviation.

I had four players playing in this game.
All were purchased recently.
CR7 and Ruben Diaz I sold this afternoon at a profit.
Bernardo will be put up for sale at midnight.
Semedo I'll be keeping for the upcoming game on the 29th Barca vs Valladolid.
At no point did I suggest any of the above as long term holds.
I don't play for MB, PB or long term appreciation.

"Very weak opposition" was a factor yes.
It would have been a good week were it not for Castagne scoring a last min goal and messing up my Jan Vertonghen win against San Marino.
Still...I'm keeping the two spud defenders for Kazakhstan on Sunday.

After that I'll be looking forward to a star performance from Nicholas Pepe when the Arsenal visit the mighty Sheffield United.
I wouldn't describe it as rocket science though......These days we're more like a hot air balloon race .

Hopefully the a dividend restructure will reward loyalty to the product.
It's gone stale.
Right now, I don't see significant profit to be gained from holding for MB, PB or Appreciation.
At current prices, what goes up, inevitably comes back down, that's a significant change in what I've observed of late.
As I said several months ago....I do not think any player on the index is worth in excess of £5 a future, not with current dividends. The share split was punitive, as the dividends were not increased to mirror the rises in investors and trade.

The index went relatively quickly from 10,000 points to 125.000 points.
A 25 fold increase FFS.
What did we get in terms of raised dividends ?
Token gestures.
These new executives have been given salaries and bonuses though I'm sure.

No longer can I recommend the product to friends and family as an investment.
Right now it's shark on shark, the rest are fodder.
In order to profit one must be an avid football enthusiast, able to purchase at the early stages of any player trending.
As with my suggesting the media would be reporting on Ruben Diaz potentially moving to Manchester, during this international break, the timing being the key....+15% over the course of 2/3 weeks.

I've always defended FI on this forum, always, my one criticism was the amount by which dividends increased following the share split.
Sorta how the Russians felt I'm sure.... when they were all offered a Lada and unlimited cabbage.

I can defend them no more.

I cannot recommend the product to those who aren't football enthusiasts as an investment.
THAT IS THE EVIDENCE WE HAVE STAGNATED.
I am 100% certain that others have also turned that corner in their advocacy of the "investment".

However I'm good with this situation, it was always to be expected at some point.
The UK market may very well be saturated, or approaching that point.
Throwing money at national marketing campaigns will likely be fruitless.

Either we will continue to spin our wheels, along with the highly competitive betting sites, as has been suggested by @johnboywalker and others, or FI will expand internationally.
I'll gladly take another dividend rise, along with an extended stint at trading here (as opposed to conventional football betting) , but we'll quickly arrive at this same stagnation once again.
I would prefer if FI allocated it's resources to it's legal team, let them go have a sit down with the likes of Silvio Berlusconi and work something out.
Surely Balague has friends in Spain.
If Hernan Cortez had been tentative, Messi would probably be plying his trade in the North West of England.... and my mother dearest would have probably married a German or a Frenchman.