The dreaded financial glitch affecting Eredivisie on Football Manager 2024 means this could well be the end to our second attempt at the Wonderkid Factory challenge. It comes at an annoying time, considering Robinho Lazaró was establishing AZ Alkmaar as a dominant force in the Netherlands, with three titles in four years, and taking on Europe's elite.
Twelve months on from becoming Champions of the Netherlands, AZ Alkmaar were reflecting on a solid if unspectacular campaign. Manager Robinho Lazaró had done an impressive job of promoting homegrown youth while keeping his promising AZ side competitive.
The exciting crop of youngsters at AZ Alkmaar outperformed even their loftiest expectations as they usurped the big three to become champions of the Netherlands for the third time in 2027. The challenge now was for Robinho Lazaró and his young squad to build on that success.
The wonderkid factory project at AZ Alkmaar was progressing very nicely as Robinho Lazaró led the club to two 2nd-place finishes in three seasons. He'd also reduced the AZ squad to just five players who didn't come through the club's academy heading into the summer of 2026.
Footballing overachievement is seemingly always accompanied by the threat of your best players being poached by bigger clubs. And Robinho Lazaró found that out in the summer of 2025 as his AZ Alkmaar's 2nd place finish in Eredivisie saw big teams across Europe raise interest in his top performers.
AZ Alkmaar made a promising start to life under Robinho Lazaró, who'd been impressed with his side's efforts to finish 4th in Eredivisie in 2023/24. However, these early seasons don't really matter too much in our bid to become national and European champions with a team of academy products.
The second edition of our Wonderkid Factory save sees Robinho Lazaró bring his youth recruitment prowess to the Netherlands with AZ Alkmaar. The club has plenty of exciting youth prospects ready to play their part in the 2023/24 campaign - go back and meet them in Part 1 - but Lazaró was keen to remove any expectation from his young starlets.
Having completed my Football Manager 2024 Pentagon Pursuit adventure far quicker than anticipated, I struggled for a while to find a new save that would bring us something a little bit different. So I went back to my own 24 Teams to Manage on FM24 guide (shameless plug) and took my own medicine to select an exciting new challenge.
Cash-strapped SV Dessau 05 suffered relegation back into the German sixth tier on goal difference in 2024/25. And manager Ruprecht Prusseit needed a bit of time away from football to gather his thoughts and consider his options.
Relegation favourites SV Dessau 05 were performing above expectations to sit outside the drop zone of German Division North East - South. But Ruprecht Prusseit's young side were far from secure in the fifth tier, especially considering an increasingly concerning financial situation.
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