Can you "Freddy Adu" a player?

Usually, when I get mah youff intake I snap-release all the half and one star numbnuts and go ahead and presign everyone I want to keep for pennies. Under the theory that I might as well get them into full training as soon as they turn 16 (figuring full training is better by default).

...is there a downside to this, ie, does sticking a 16 year-old kid (who will not be good enough for the reserves even for a few years) on a pro contract have a downside like too much training too young and no more Pele commercials for you?

woops, tried to post this in the "tactics and training", mods feel free to move it over if you want

personally id leave them in the youth. unless they got amazing stats

I think that there is more benefit from match experience than from training.

And when it comes to match experience, I try to play them as much as possible.

I see no downside in offering youngsters pro contracts.

I would offer them a pro contract as soon as possible and then keep them in the youth team until they are too old, that way they get a lot of training and a lot of match experience. I don't think I've seen an in-game example of someone breaking down because of too much training or anything like that

By "Freddy Adu a player", I thought you meant changing his age to make him seem younger than he really is, and was simply going to point you in the direction of the Editor.

Considering your scouts seem to have an eye for spotting potentially great but horribly inconsistent/unprofessional youngsters, the chances of "Aduing" a player are high...

Unfortunately you won't be able to find out if that 0.5*CA/3*PA 16yo striker is going to be an Adu or a Rooney before it's too late (if he's an Adu of course). So you'll see that once promising player you've signed on a relatively expensive 5 years deal has flatlined and you'll be lucky if you'll be able to offload him for 10-20k...

I usually don't sign younger players on pre-contracts unless they're TRULY something (happened maybe once since FM09). Otherwise I just leave them on the default youth deal to see how they develop.

Granted, it's been a while since I've managed in a country/club able to produce players who are potentially good enough to need full-time training in order to fulfill their potential...

When the "best" you get is a 50/105 CA/PA kid, it doesn't make much difference...

Freddy Adu is not as god as his potential suggests because there are a lot of romours and inside information at his home in Ghana that he is actually six years older than his age suggests. When he was at 14 playing for DC United and people were amazed, his body shape was very defined of a man and the funny thing is that since that he has not grown. That is rumours but it is weird that now he is supposdely 21, every single European team he is at does not think he is good enough and tbf it doesnt mean I am right but this age corruption is being looked at majorly in countries like Nigeria and Ghana. People have also speculated about Martins and Kanu being older than their age suggests

I'm in year 11 and two of my friends are from South Africa and they're 18 while we're all 16 .. they're twins btw ..

I always offer pro-contracts to my best youngsters and put them into the reserves straight away. I figure that even if my reserves to terribly, they get a slightly better level of match experience there than in the youth team. If any of them have particularly incredibly stats, I'll have them in first team squad and give them the cup games and easier league games. It's worked fairly well for me so far.

Field your youth prospects on the highest possible level where they perfom well. Good performances --> skill improvements.