Joel Matip & a question about positional ratings

I was shopping for a young centre back and settled on Joel Matip. He has all the qualities I was after - decent marking, tackling, jumping, positioning, pace & strength - and my scout thought he'd be a quality player.

He's a natural defensive midfielder but accomplished at centre back. My assistant thinks he will make a quality defensive mid but only a good defender. So I have a few questions:

1. is this accurate? Is he destined to be a worse DC than DM, despite having the stats to be a DC?

2. How much difference does it make if someone is accomplished rather than natural in a position?

3. Can training fix this? I know a player can improve in a position but it seems illogical that someone could train to be a 'natural' in a position.

just put hes training in DC, and hes become a natural DC soon enough

It isn't really illogical to retrain someone to be a natural in a certain position, especially if they're young and already accomplished playing there. Think Gareth Bale/Phil Jones in today's football. Redknapp has already said that he sees Bale being the best left back in the world, despite currently playing him at left wing (and him ripping up trees in the process) or Allardyce saying he believes Jones will be an England centreback for years to come, depsite playing centre mid for Blackburn at the moment.....

1. How good is your assman? I mean his JPA & especially JPP. IMO He looks to be a quality DC rather than DM. It could be, that your assman says that, because the player isn't natural in DC.

2. In my experience not much, but I wouldn't take risks with a DC. One mistake by a DC is enough to lose a match...

3. Training can fix this, but it might take a long time to train it and he might not be able to keep the position in the end. It depends on his hidden stat adaptability. Also training him to a position eats points from his potential = his stats might not improve much despite hard training+lots of matches.

Still he looks quite good, so I would try training him into a natural DC. Just remember to give him lots of first team matches as a DC and he should turn out alright. If and when he informs you with a message, that he is a natural in DC, you can take him off the position training. If you then continue to give him matches as a DC, he should be able to keep the position.

This is more for GD. I'll move it.

Stats > Star Rating. Every time.

Go with your instinct. He has all the stats you need for a quality centre-half and you're right to buy him.

Mr. Hough's success with his tactics last year were partly due to his tactical construction and partly due to his knowledge that certain stats in key positions greatly effect their performance. All the star system is good for is a graphic indication of the potential ability of a young player or, in lower leagues, an indication on how well a journeyman brought in on a free will perform at your level.

Yeah agree with Tubey, stats are a better indication that an Assman or scout, even a good one. His passing isn't good enough IMO to be a midfielder unless he's played as an anchor man.