Does this kid have any potential?

Unfortunately he's the best I've produced in 2 years, so I'm holding on to him, and I'm gonna loan him out as soon as possible

What star rating do your coaches give himfor potential?

2 and a half star potential, half a star current ability. The guy has 17 for judging potential

He doesn't look great, unfortunately. See how he develops though.

Yeah, I don't want to destroy your hopes, but I wouldn't place him amongst the shining lights at 16.

Try to get some tutoring for him as well.

Not a chance in hell.

Yeah I kinda thought so as well. I have much better prospects than him that I've bought him but seeing as he's academy produced I want to give him more of a chance.

I do plan to tutor him eventually, but it would make more sense to loan him first, right? To get match experience etc

2.5 stars out of 5 isn't shocking though. Not many players are past 4 stars when we are talking about newgens. So if max is really 4/5 stars then 2.5 isn't exactly appauling to be honest. I would however retrain him in as many positions as humanly possible over his career (WR, MR & AMR - seeing how he is Right foot preferred). Also would use him as a sub from the bench as either a Central Midfielder or a winger (depending what positions you retrain him). Also as previously suggested in this thread, Tutor him with your best Central Midfielder or Winder if it lets you.

Maybe if he start to dating celebrities from UK Big Brother soon then he will feature a lot in papers and suddenly he will be known as future stars.... who know ?

2.5 stars out of 5 isn't shocking though. Not many players are past 4 stars when we are talking about newgens. So if max is really 4/5 stars then 2.5 isn't exactly appauling to be honest. I would however retrain him in as many positions as humanly possible over his career (WR, MR & AMR - seeing how he is Right foot preferred). Also would use him as a sub from the bench as either a Central Midfielder or a winger (depending what positions you retrain him). Also as previously suggested in this thread, Tutor him with your best Central Midfielder or Winder if it lets you.

As he is Arsenal it would be next to impossible to get a 4* or 5* potential player.

2.5* at Arsenal would probably mean a possible squad player if he fulfills that potential.

It doesn't really matter how many Potential Stars he has at 16 though... especially not with such mediocre attributes...

He might as well have a reasonbly high Potential, good enough to become a decent backup for Arsenal, but the thing is his attributes aren't that great to begin with and the distribution is questionable at best..

He has at least one major flaw for every attacking role... and is mentally weak.

Honestly it would take a development miracle just to turn him into something vaguely ok... not worth the effort I guess.

i wouldnt waste my time with to be honest...

what surprises me is that he is the best player to come through your ranks at Arsenal in two years!

but i suppose they do only poach their best young players from other clubs

doubt he would be d player you want him to be... i keep him just to see how he develops and if he not any good by 18 get rid of him... i say he make a league one player in the future...

Not great, I wouldn't hold much hope of him becoming a decent player for a team like Arsenal.

2,5 stars = decent to good player in the future. Usually not worth the effort unless he has extreme qualities of some sort. Like 16-17+ in pace, acceleration, strength and dribbling.

3 stars = the average ability in his main position in the club, if he fits into your tactic and the squad personality/mentality he could be a good PL player in the future and that's not bad

3,5+ stars = those you should look for.

That player will never be good enough for Arsenal.

I've trained players similar to him to become PL-regulars.. not superstars of course, but decent players none the less

I'd definitely train him to see what he could become.. nothing better than training your own players

Physical stats look decent enough but at the moment his technical skills dont look up to much. i wouldnt think he would ever be good enough to start for Arsenal, but he could develop into a decent squad player if you nuture him correctly, maybe give him a decent tutor.

Good thing is that as your Arsenal you can keep him and try and develop him. It won't cost too much to do this and at the end of the day, if he doesn'tmake the grade he will just leave without much damage!

Don't know why alot of people in this thread think not to bother with him, there are alot of players in the database that are very good players with some low attributes, attributes too low for their current ability. Walter Samuel has terrible Technical Attributes, Vidic (Man Utd) could have better Technical Attributes also. Gerard Pique is the same with Technical Attributes.

So in saying that, I wouldn't forget about that Academy player, I would stick with him but only as a backup at best

The players you just listed though, Wiitastic, are all defenders. If he was a defender with woeful tackling, heading and marking, you wouldn't be interested in the slightest... I think that is their point.

With his physical attributes and heading, there is a fair chance that he will light up the U18 league and garner some interest from lower league clubs but I seriously doubt he will ever be good enough to play for Arsenal, even as someone in reserves.

Look for a free agent who plays in the same position with a similar personality and high determination, then have them train him. The high determination from the tutor should rub off onto the pupil for a few points which will help his development. But otherwise I doubt he'll be much more than a fringe player if your bringing in world class talent.

I'd work with this kid... I can see potential...

If you do everything that you can to make him as good as he can be then you can't do anything more. He's decent aerially despite being 5'9, has decent pace but poor acceleration, finishing, composure and first touch are all potential 14/15's if trained correctly (perhaps even better...) his off-the ball will make him hard to mark (and will improve over time), he has decent anticipation which will also improve (PPM - likes to try to beat offside trap)..

training: Shooting - high/intensive, Ball Control - high, Attacking and Aero should be fairly high medium; Tactics halfway medium, Strength just into medium, Defending little... individual focus - Dribbling

No need to retrain any position, he'll play best as a Striker (imho). If you concentrate his training on those aspects he needs to play his position naturally, those attributes that are "unbalanced" will eventually balance themselves out..

He'll likely never be more than an average EPL player, but that's a squad player for free who is also a saleable asset..

I don't think he will become a PL player at all. A Good Championship player perhaps, with the right tutoring. A fast striker in the mould of Beckford and the like. If you add +2 in the striker technical attributes, +1 or +2 to some of the mental attributes and +2 to all the physical attributes, that's what he'll look like when he's 24 - if you're lucky!

I don't think he will become a PL player at all. A Good Championship player perhaps, with the right tutoring. A fast striker in the mould of Beckford and the like. If you add +2 in the striker technical attributes, +1 or +2 to some of the mental attributes and +2 to all the physical attributes, that's what he'll look like when he's 24 - if you're lucky!

+2 points in 8 years? You need better coaching/training schedules...

+2 points in 8 years? You need better coaching/training schedules...

he is 16 years old. Most likely he will have maximum two stars when he's 18, and if he's ambitious he will have half a star to go on by then. If he's not ambitious, probably a full star. Better prospects could easily gain both 3 and 4 to their main positional attributes, but not that guy.

he is 16 years old. Most likely he will have maximum two stars when he's 18, and if he's ambitious he will have half a star to go on by then. If he's not ambitious, probably a full star. Better prospects could easily gain both 3 and 4 to their main positional attributes, but not that guy.

You don't know that... not everything is black and white in this game... that kid would probably fit into my L1 Hereford team quite nicely now, although he'd need to be used sparingly due to his age and that is at 16... at 21 he could be a first team regular for a championship team (or better). I've had prospects come through the ranks that have started life as 2.5 stars and gone on to be Continental or Worldwide rep players in the past, I see no reason why that should be any different in FM11.

Maybe if he start to dating celebrities from UK Big Brother soon then he will feature a lot in papers and suddenly he will be known as future stars.... who know ?

And who did this? Is this a RL example...just caught my interest.

As for the player, i had a player with a 2.5 star potential and trained him hard, gave him some first team experience. now the same coach, rates him as 3star current and 3.5 star potential.

he still is not a world beater but has done well in my squad rotation system.

I'll try the free agent tip, thanks

If I saw this guy on someone else's team i wouldn't look twice, but I've been starved of any good academy regens, so I want to at least try and develop a player.

You gotta consider the fact that he is "right only" in terms of footedness as well. ie he's even more crap than he looks, don't bother.

You gotta consider the fact that he is "right only" in terms of footedness as well. ie he's even more crap than he looks, don't bother.

One wonders if Cameron Jerome would be where he is now had his youth coaches and managers had the same attitude...

I've known Cam all of his life and there is no way in hell that he was an EPL striker in the making... Good job I stuck to playing at being a footy manager eh?

As for the player, i had a player with a 2.5 star potential and trained him hard, gave him some first team experience. now the same coach, rates him as 3star current and 3.5 star potential.

he still is not a world beater but has done well in my squad rotation system.

Do you go up to heavy workrate for youth?