Rather than mourning the loss of negotiations, can we think of fun new features instead? For example:

- More interactive/realistic scout: e.g. you assign your scout to look for players of a certain position / age / skills, and wait for him to report back. The longer you let him scout, the better players he finds, so some strategy in thinking ahead, getting more players vs better players. This feature should not be about gambling tokens on pot luck finds (which would not be allowed in all countries) - if you spend a token to initiate a search, the outcome (after waiting) should be fairly assured.

- More interactive youth academy: where we can set the development regime or even conduct the training. Currently the free youth players just fill the bench to boost training, a rather wasted feature.

The problem with only having auctions to find players is that you have to check the market constantly to find players, maybe 2-3 hours a day at the start of the season. If you have a job, school, kids, etc this is not possible, so the game is no longer accessible to "regular" people. (Scouts are too expensive for old players, recommended/assistant are pot luck and mostly crazy suggestions.) Also the game is now only about luck of finding someone, the strategy and fun is gone. With negotiations there was strategy in guessing how much to bid, waiting up to 24 hours, and also training up a bench of 19%/39%/59%/79% players ready for sale. It's a bit boring now just waiting for the auctions to refresh every few minutes.