Would be nice if free-agents were more likely to go on trials with 'lesser' clubs

I have just been playing my LLM game and took a couple of players on trial to get more on their stats and whatnot one player was far above what I expected and I wanted to sign him but after a couple of impressive performances for me a few bigger scandinavian sides came in and snapped him up. On the other hand, a few players who weren't what I was after also attracted interest where there was previously none.

There are some players who are desperately short of match fitness that if they were to go on a few trials would get a club again, I know a few players have gone down the route of essentially training with clubs to keep fitness up (Sol Campbell has taken up residence at Arsenal it seems, Vincent Pericard left Stoke in the summer, went to Burton, Sheffield United, Cardiff and others keeping his fitness up and looking to impress someone before getting an offer from Carlisle) so it would be nice if instead of a player spending 12 - 18 months doing nothing at all he could have kept his fitness up and surely secured a permanent deal by then.

yes i agree. im in league 1 and in july 2013 craig mackail smith left peterborough at the end of his contract. were now in december and he refuses to come for a trial or listen to any sort of offer. would a player of that reasonable calibre really sit at home for a season and do nothing??? hes still only 29 as well so he should be at his peak

That is the kind of situation I'm thinking of, I'm not saying Frank Lampard leaves Chelsea at 34 and instantly takes up a trial with Wimbledon in the blue square. But average type players, particularly those who haven't been on huge wages with enough to retire comfortably should be willing to try it out.

this would be a nice touch

I'd welcome it.

Problem is it would be too easy considering the huge amount of players getting released each year around the globe. One thing is an englishman joining a local club or a club in close proximity. But with this introduced in the game you would have no problem filling your squad with italians, mexicans, brazilians, japanese and south african players and it would be a cakewalk to build a descent squad. I would like to see the odd player going on trial to a lower league side as a stepping stone back to the big time, however I cant see this being done realistically and would serve more as a insta-win for human managers in lower divisions.

It wouldn't be as much of a problem as you think. Historically on FM, its quite a struggle to get Brazilians to move to the lower depths of the English & Irish leagues etc. Even more so in some because of the work permit issue, 99.9% of lower league Brazilians won't get a permit simple as same with the majority of non-EU players. If implemented right as well, players would be more like to go to other Italian clubs if they're Italian. Remember, this is only me suggesting players should be more willing to go on trials, maybe add a bit of interaction to if a player has enjoyed his trial and would stay on until the end of the season in future versions beyond that in order to get him back up the ladder with a low release fee.

Ive been complaining about this same issue last year. In real life players are prepared to drop division, go back to their home club etc. They usually insist on a short contract or a contract that says that they can leave the club if they are offered a spot at a bigger club. Also their wages are much lower in such cases. This is something that FM needs to model. I would also like to see old players past their prime going back to their home/favorite club in a lower division for a year or two before they retire.

yea i agree with this, im currently Trapani in the italian serie D and loads of older players being released by serie B+C clubs will not entertain the offers i make, even though no other clubs are interested.