Winger dilemma

my right wing is basically:

Rob Woods - Age 31: Club Legend, but not getting any younger, already lost a bit of pace, but still a fantastic player and still world class, has stats in the right places, scored a lot for me but he wont last more than a season at the top of himself I think. part of me wants to keep him on for a bit longer just out of respect for a club legend who has brought us a lot of success.

Julian - Age 23: World class winger, not as good at corner taking, bit worse technically than Rob, but he's faster to make up for it, recently had St Mirren appear as his favoured club so I can reliably believe he'll happily stay for as long as I want him without needing a new challenge. Would be happy having him first choice when Woods gets worse.

Alan Morrison - Age 19: Up-and-coming Winger, versatile, can play right, left, or even centre if I fancied it, good speed to him, technically he's a shambles, he's only got 11 crossing, but he's got a lot of potential, my scout at least used to think he'll go far, they seem to have lowered that estimation a bit and he hasnt improved for a while despite playing in a confederations cup for scotland and getting a fair amount of games for club. I think he can be really good.. plus he's Scottish, I'm trying to play a game where I nurture Scottish talent above all else, I already have 15/23 players in the scotland squad from my team. Yet he's not improving, at all, I've got him on a schedule to focus on set pieces, hoping to get his corners and crossing up yet nothing recently, I'm still hoping it's just a temporary stint.

David Thomson - Age 20: He's versatile as well, right/left, and he's got good crossing (17) and corners, he's a bit slower though, and my coaches seem to think he's nearing his potential, but he is still improving, and I think they're.. wrong frankly. I don't think he'll hit truly world-class though, but could work as a rotation player or a third winger alongside Morrison with julian. I have accepted a 6.75 million pound bid for him from huddersfield, who are currently 6th in the premiership after just a few games and he would be a first choice player for them probably so that would help him develop, although huddersfield training facilities are fairly poor and they dont have many coaches. Has refused to go on loan to several high-profile clubs and no one wants to buy him with a buy-back clause on - so a permanent move seems possible.

The transfer deadline is just 1 week away and I am keen to have my scottish youngers develop as best as possible - as said, my aim is to continue club success in europe while cultivating Scotland into a force on the world stage (I'm english but I love the under-dog)

So I don't know, my options are:

1. Sell Woods

2. Let Thomson go

3. Let Morrison go on loan or permanently

4. Sell Woods, Sell either Thomson or Morrison, and buy in some high-profile winger (no idea who!)

All are risks in a sense.. and the window is closing soon, if I dont do this right, one or both players could fail to hit their potential really.

What would you do? If you've bothered to read this far . I just.. I feel for my players! Thomson is St Mirren/Paisley born and bred so I have sympathy for him, Morisson is a scot and i want him to do well, Woods I have sentimental attatchment to, the guy's played in 471 and scored 151 as a winger, I don't think he'll ever leave my hall of fame.

Yet one of them has to go.. at least.. ideally I'd loan out thomson and keep woods for a season.. but the bastard wont accept loans. feels like no matter what I do there'll be hurt!

What to do.. I'll delay my decision at least till tommorow i think .

I can sympathise. I had Vargner Love do tremendous things for my Wolves team and was very torn when I had to trim someone from my squad and his name was the most obvious. I would do the following:

Keep Woods and start to really bleed in Julian and up his technical training to try and get the missing stats up. Loan out Morrison to either a feeder or just another club so he gets some playing time, but set the option to recall in case you need him, as he is under 21 he shouldnt need a squad number. Frankly from the sound of it id sell Thompson, i think from reading the 4 descriptions, deep down you know this anyway, plus there are generally alot of good regen wingers but if you do as I say you will have a 23 and a 19 year old winger so if all goes well, your are sorted for 6-8 years anyway.

but, its yoour call..

Well, Julian is already developed, and i'm happy with him, he's already staking his place for that first-choice spot from Woods even if I consider him not absolutely perfect. Morrison I really am not sure if he'll develop as I want him, I'm really concerned with his crossing level, he's just not good enough right now and he needs to improve. I do envision a team where eventually I have say two first-choice wingers on the left, two first-choice on the right, and one which can do right or left who is a bit worse, that could be thompson, he'd fit that if I sold woods. Could also be morisson, ideally though I do like to keep three wingers, in case of injury, but that could be done with the feeder club thing I suppose.

I'm in SPL though so it is fairly easy to play these youth players in league games so normally keeping the player in my team, playing him every third game and training him works, but it's not yet, so I'm worried. I don't know if it's the schedule that's at fault or what.

When does the old guy's contract run out?

People would respect you more if you played him until the end of his contract, doesnt matter if hes on the bench a lot of the time, you need to help your youngsters grow

Or you should sell him, and then when he retires, bring him back as a coach

Personally, I'd play Rob, and keep Julian on....and perhaps look at selling the other two. Then look for a young versatile player who can fill the role and have him on a specific training regime to hopefully push the other two.

Well, I want the scottish players to develop as much as they can so I can play them in the national team and win games, so ultimately my end decision should be dictated by where the players would best develop, so in hindsight, I think I will try and sell Thomson and consider giving morisson a loan to a feeder club, although I have a dilemma there in that my best feeder club (only one with actual coaches and the like) plays without wingers, so he'd be forced into centre midfield which isn't his best position.

Oh and letting Woods contract run out isn't an option, I've done that before for legends, I always get whined at by the fans for letting a club legend go for nothing. They forgive me if I get an actual fee for him .

I tried getting new feeder clubs but since I cancelled the first deal with Ayr (they got relegated to the scottish third and none of my players accept a move there) they no longer let me choose which feeder club I get, and keep suggesting work permit and "youth exploiting" links, even though I already have one of each of those.

Krald...I can't remember if feeder teams who you send loanee players to tell you whether they are are expecting the player to be a "useful first team player"? If not, perhaps the feeder club will change their formation with a quality Winger in tow?

Nah they won't change, I've sent wingers to them before, they'd probably play him in centre midfield though. I've decided to sell woods, he's still top class, but Julian is ready to take over, I just have to hope I don't get injuries. I decided it's best I cash in now though while he's still worth something, he only has in my eyes 1 good year left in him, I like fast wingers, and he's dropped to 14 pace, within a season he'll be 13, and maybe even 12, I just dont see a future for him and I believe the three I have will do. I'm going to look into loaning morisson out short-term as well, which could leave my under-stocked in terms of wingers, but thompson is the oldest I want to play him as much as possible, and if morrison stopped improving I can only think - maybe I need to loan him to get that improvement.

One question though, If I move morrisson to my english feeder club, I can move him back at any time right?, even after the window closes?.

I'm pretty sure you can't recall players from your feeder teams. I'm working off memory here (and it's been a while since I gave a player to my feeder teams) but I don't seem to remember the same "can be recalled" option in the screens.

Tough one.

First I would take a decision on Woods. Either you keep him for being a legend and then you should also stick to him contractually or you allow him for more playing time at the end of his career. Economically it might be the wisest thing to agree on a transfer for him at the end of the season. Then he'll stay on until that end but now you can still get a way better transfer fee than in a years time (even if you renewed his contract). Funnily enough, clubs will be happy to pay for a move next summer now even if his contract is running out then.

Should you decide to keep Woods, I would let Thomson go. Scouts and coaches are rarely vastly wrong when it comes to estimating potential and if he is nearing his peak already then he'll very probably never be as good as the others. On top of that you already have two other quite young players for the position so he isn't really one for the future who can step in after the old guys become worse either.

Well I see Thomson as a 3rd, a backup, occasinal rotation, I like to have three per position, am I being too greedy?

Okay.. I've decided, I sell thomson *and* woods and bring in the promising 15 year old felix schwab, a german regen, then I'd have a 23, a 19 and a 15 year old right winger, by the time julian is 29 this 15 year old will be 21, and just about ready to take over, so I could cash in on julian if I felt it was a bit too crowded and bring in another youngster. Also if morisson doesnt improve as much as my coaches think he will, schwab should be able to take over instead as second choice eventually.

I know I've made probably the worst decision possible for the "now", as I think morrisson is worse than thomson right now, but he has a lot more potential, but honestly, I think Thomson will improve and do well at huddersfield in the premiership, and if I have a high-profile game in which I doube morisson can cut it, I could always play the good old 4-3-3 without any wingers, I've got enough quality players in midfield and attack.

Thank you all for your input on this, has helped me decide some

I might have tried a delayed transfer on woods actually, I didnt think of that, but it's done now, he's at spurs (my hardest enemy at times, but i figure, they lost some players to old age, I can risk them having woods ;P).

I'm pretty sure you can't recall players from your feeder teams. I'm working off memory here (and it's been a while since I gave a player to my feeder teams) but I don't seem to remember the same "can be recalled" option in the screens.

Incorrect. You can recall youngsters on loan at feeder clubs. If you were say an EPL team you couldnt recall outside a transfer window though.

Incorrect. You can recall youngsters on loan at feeder clubs. If you were say an EPL team you couldnt recall outside a transfer window though.

Thanks for putting the record straight. I can't remember the last time I did this so I bow to your superior knowledge on this one

Id keep Woods and Julian rotating until Wood's stats start to go...then introduce one of your youngsters and start rotating him wth Julian

Bit hard to judge properly without seeing the players