Youth player dillemma

I have a little minor dilemma on my hands, in terms of how to train a young player. The player is here:

Now, my instinct and experience tells me that my best bet would likely be to train him as a right-back (he's accomplished at right full-back), and try and work on his speed with aerobic training, and his crossing with individual training. Yet I've already got another player coming through Alejandro Mato who while he's way behind in terms of stats, he has the right position and at least some pace and crossing, and it's believed he can be a top player if I nurture him right.

So, is it even possible to raise this first guy's jumping high enough to be a centre-back? in my experience 13 is a minimum, and he's 4 short, is there a training catagory that improves jumping? strength maybe? or can I only improve it through individual training? when you mouse over the training catagories none of them mention jumping but I assume that might come under the "etc" of one of them.

Ideally I'd love to have him as a bit of a fill-in for DC/DR but he's not really set up properly for either yet, and can I get him that 13 minimum jumping? how would you go about this?

Edit: Maybe I should have posted this in the tactics & training subforum, sorry mods!

I go for broke and train him as a defensive mid or centremid. Why? Because I have a few screws loose. Might work though...

Honestly, he'd make a good rightback if you trained him as such. However at that age and with that distribution you could do quite a bit with him. Centrehalf mightn't be his best though.

I like my fullbacks to offer more going forward and this guy offers nothing and never will, crossing, flair & creativity at 4 whilst technique, first touch and dribbling aren't much better. Not really technical enough for midfield in my opinion but he might make a decent destroyer with high work rate and decent anticipation and positioning, but his lack of strength will hamper him.

He's definitely a CB, heading, tackling, marking, anticipation, determination, bravery & composure all good whilst positioning, teamwork, concentration & most physicals are all decent. His decisions & technique lets him down but the other stats compensate somewhat for those weaknesses. As you've pointed out, his jumping & strength are low but he's not too short so there is hope.

I'd crank up the strength training (this covers strength & jumping) & groom him to be a top-notch cover central defender who will give you a solid right-back when required. When in the middle he'll need pairing with a beast of a stopper. I'd see him something of a Cannavaro. His work rate & determination are good so make sure he gets some tutoring to make sure he's got good professionalism and he'll bloom (although it's debateable whether determination plays a role in player development I always like players to have it).

Oh, meant to add, a brutal manager would say he's a dud outright as he doesn't quite fit any position (maybe sweeper I suppose but not much call for that these days), I'd give him a good number of years to see how he develops and would be prepared to offload him for major coin in his early 20's if he didn't manage to overcome his strength & jumping deficiencies.

DMC would be a good shout imo

In my experience strength isn't an issue, it rises very fast and at 15 he's got plenty of time to get that part of his strength sorted. I could get his crossing up to 9 I think with training on it, but creativity would always be low. As I hear comments here, I'm thinking, while DMC sounds a good option, I rarely make use of DMC, so I'm not sure if it's worth it, I'm planning to go with some high strength & aerobic training to try and get those sides of his game sorted. Like said, if that doesn't pan out, I may have to sell him, but I believe I can at least train him enough so he'd be worth quite some money at the very least.

Thanks for the input so far.

see what your Assistant says as regarding his best position. See how he progresses and look top improve the jumping area of his game, Maybe give him the odd game here and there. Get an experienced defender to tutor him to aid his development

I would train him to be a box to box midfielder because he has good stamina that can only better and he as good passing that can olny better.

I would go for high physical training as well. If you add +3 or even +4 to all the physical stats, +2 to the mental stats and +1 or +2 to all the (relevant) technical stats, you already have an excellent player. As he is only 15 he can definitely become a continental class defender, even world class. Strength improves easily and can become like 15-16. He is only 182cm tall so it is unlikely that he will have more than 13 or 14 in jumping. I say focus training on Jumping and hope for the best.

Centre back. He has plenty of time to learn the position, and his stats all indicate that he will be a great centre back in the future. He would be a good right back, however a defensive one, as he needs lots of work on his crossing, dribbling and pace etc. Therefore I don't see any other logical option. Centre back is the best choice for that player.