Signing Youngsters

Playing as Chelsea I find it extremely tricky to sign 16-17 year old regens, they always seem to sign a new deal with their current club. It can't be because they think I'm below them, I'm the teble winning champions, and the best club that any one of these players plays for is Spurs, all the rest are in the Championship.

Does anyone have any advice on how to attract the best young players? It would be much appreciated.

i offer them more than what they want in basic wage and they generally accept.

failing that ofer them a more important role in the team. they don't seem bothered if they aren't what you call them. e.g set one as a key player and don't play them.

Check their persnal page, if they keep rejecting you it is probably because they have signed a pre contract agreement with their club and will sign full time forms at some time in the future. This means that you can offer but they can't accept.

16 year olds that are on a 'Youth Contract' may have already agreed to sign a 'Professional Contract' on their 17th Birthday. Therefore, no matter how much you offer them, and how often you offer them new contracts, they'll continue to sign a "New Deal" with the current club, until they hit 17. At this point, you will be able to sign them.

I have just done a quick experiment on this matter.

I am managing Arsenal and want to sign a regen from Ireland (age 16). This regen have been keep rejecting my contract but accept the one from his current team despite my offer was 10k+/week

This is the time to do some "modifying" with FMM. After loaded the regen's profile, I realize he has his existing club as his favor club + me as his favor person (I've keep posting good stuff about him in the media)

After removing the favor club, he accepted my 2k/week contact offer. So I am pretty sure signing youngster are highly depends of whether they like your team or not...

Offer them "Hot Prospect" status too, and add a little on to their asking wages and "appearance fee".

Originally posted by briz_lad:

i offer them more than what they want in basic wage and they generally accept.

failing that ofer them a more important role in the team. they don't seem bothered if they aren't what you call them. e.g set one as a key player and don't play them.

Without using the editor, this ploy is along the right lines - think of Aaron Ramsey [not being Nevilled; being offered a greater chance of 1st team action at L'Arse], but don't promise a role that's utterly dishonest unless you quickly offer a new contract with more money and a minor role.

Thanks all.

I think it's true that you can't sign players if they've signed a pre-contract with their club, but if they haven't I'll use all your other suggestions.