Bit of advice about a 15 year old newgen

I have just moved to Avai in Brazil and was checking my squad in the youth team was this lad who looks great for his age and has the potential to be a leading first division attacking midfielder. My team are underdogs in the league and predicted a 17th place finish which would see us relegated. I have had good youngsters before on FM but none as young as he is I have always found that playing them is obviously the best way to get their attributes up and turn them into world class players.

Would you play him at 16 years old in the league?

What sort of training would be best?

Any tips on stopping him being poached by European clubs?

Are too many games bad for a 16 year old player? I have a couple of 18 year old's in my first team playing 45 games at Sunderland and they never had any problems.

I was planning to use Avai to up my reputation until a bigger club came along but there is this lad with 5 star potential, four others with 4.5 star and four with 4 star potential. I know these are not totally accurate and could change if I make the club better but the future does like pretty bright.

Don't date his mother...

Would you play him at 16 years old in the league? Yes, but start off with easy games and see how he performs, if he does well play him more, if he doesn't wait until his attributes get a bit better.

What sort of training would be best? I'd start off with focus on his stamina so that he can play full games at a decent level. His other attributes should improve naturally and when stamina hits 14/15 you can shift the focus towards other physical, mental and technical attributes.

I've never had problems with 16 year olds playing full seasons as long as they were rested occasionally and match fit.

- Don't let him get exhausted. Goes without saying really, youth development can really be damaged by fatigue.

- Poor performances do nothing for youths. Make sure you only play him in games where can can make at least some sort of meaningful contribution, or achieve ratings of at least 6.8, but preferably 7.0+

- As you're in the Brazilian league, I probably would say it is safe to let him play in at least some of the games. I'm in the EPL in my save an even my most promising youngsters struggle at 17, so it's best to let them stay playing for the reserves and under-18s. A lot of young players play in the Brazilian league though and are successful, and Alex has excellent technical stats and decent physical ones so should have some success at least despite the tender age.

- Get him tutored by someone with good determination/personality and other mental stats, and also get him doing some intensive strength training as that is really quite poor and lets down his otherwise great physicals. I'm not sure if there is any particular way to boost the creativity stat, though it would be good if you could as it would complement his excellent passing.

Cheers for the advice guys. Like I said I have had 18 and 19 year old's playing in the EPL regularly and they progressed great with no tutoring and just lots of playing time but I think I will need to be more careful with this lad.

Off topic but.. Is his second nationality Chinese or something?

Off topic but.. Is his second nationality Chinese or something?

lol, I thought he looked Asian but he is 100 percent Brazilian at least officially he is.

I had a Left Back in my Chelsea save who played every game he could (fitness permitting) from the age of 14 (was ineligible for most at the start, only could play in the cups until 15 I think) and he was superb, never had a problem. However, I've also had players I've tried to blood at 15 and it's been disastrous (mainly because they picked up long term injuries that they otherwise might not have).

So basically, it depends on the player, ease him in gradually from the bench, if he handles that well, then give him more playing time. I think anything above a 6.5 will still help a players development, and any appearances off the bench aren't likely to hurt them unless they have real shockers. Hope that helps.

I've started many kids at 14/15 in 20-25 games a season that have gone on to be top class. Never had any real problems, then again none of them have got long term injuries in that period either. I've found their development rate to be epically good - just don't exhaust them, rotate them often as they will tire easier than 'normal' age players.

Only continue to play him if he's doing ok, if he's having shockers all the time he'll develop better playing reserves or on loan where he'll get fitness and good performances.

lol, I thought he looked Asian but he is 100 percent Brazilian at least officially he is.

There's a sizeable east Asian population in Brazil, a lot of Japanese descent. Fact of the day

Make sure you take the pressure off him with team talks. Also, if he ever says that he's feeling the pressure, give him a few games off.

Gotta be a custom training schedule for that chap, Ball Control attributes are great for his age, but he'll end up with 20's in them and poor Tactical attributes if you keep him on 'Midfield' training which has high Ball Control levels. It'll lead to an imbalanced player.

I'd put the slider to Intensive for Tactic Training to get his Anticipation, Composure, Decisions and Concentration up and rotate the Individual focus between those 4 and then lower Ball Control slider to the middle so he can maintain those Technicals that he has and improve them naturally as he gets older.

Strength isn't important if he's quick, agile and had good balance, which he has