Young Players

How much attention do you pay to the potential ability? I see some players with great stats but my top scouts advise me they only have the potential to become decent or good premier league players and therefore I tend not to sign them. I am curious as to what others do.

PA is one of the criteria to use when judging if a player will make it, but by no means the only one. Always use your own judgement based on age, attributes etc.

Personality is a big one. Even if you have potential, but not a great personality, you won't reach it. If their personality checks out and you think they can improve (based on age, potential, and performances) then its worth a roll of the dice every now and then. My best goal poacher for Sevilla right now wasn't highly recommended by my scouts, but I liked the look of him, he's one of my best ever non-pacy goal scorers!

Thank you.

I find that the regens that start out with a good CA tend to be the ones that end up doing the best. PA is useful for judging how good they will become but even if they have an amazing PA they will have trouble developing past their bad initial stats.

Personality is a big one. Even if you have potential, but not a great personality, you won't reach it.

I've got a German world class midfielder with a balanced personality. Since he reached 22 he almost haven't increased in his attributes. So it's definately possible to max out a players high PA even with a mediocre/bad personality. Though, it do takes next to no injuries and lots of 1st team matches compared to players with a more professional attitude

I have Jordan Henderson whom my scouts said would only ever be a 2.5 star player, I liked his BBM-based stats and persevered with him as Hamsik's back-up, he is now rated as a 3.5 star potential player.

Personality does play a big part though as achilles said above.

PA is a key factor ONLY when the attributes are balanced/high enough.

Personality is important too, but ultimately it's all about attributes.

Unfortunately many newgens start with low CA or with horrible attributes (especially mental ones, both visible and hidden) meaning their 180PA will only be a way to lure AI managers into spending money on him, despite being obvious he'll never get close to that ability.

Also, don't pay too much attention to Stars, because even a 2.5* can be more than adequate, especially if you're managing a top club.

Having well-distributed stats makes up for a lot of shortcomings in the PA area, as well. You can have a player with lower end PA perform very well, if his CA is in the right skills.

When looking at youths, I consider their personality, their PA, and their current skill distribution:

Personality: While you can fix a low Determination fairly easily, fixing a bad personality takes a lot of tutoring. Unless you have a very special talent that you are looking at, skip the ones that aren't already at or close to the personality you want. There's often a suitable alternative out there.

PA: This one speaks for itself. I tend to think that a high PA is more important for positions where I demand very high physicals (both strength and aerobic), as these seem to eat up a lot of CA at the high end.

Current skills: Some skill shortcomings are just a pain to fix, since they don't have an individual focus available. Some can't be trained. Examples would be creativity, work rate, bravery, aggression for em. Make sure you have at least a decent base in the skills that are critical to the position you want the player to play. For example, choose a youth with high creativity and low passing over one with the opposite - passing can be raised pretty effectively with individual focus, creativity cannot. In addition, a good distribution of current skills is key for getting the most out of your PA.

It also depends a bit on the type of club you're managing perhaps.

I'm currently past my fifth year as a manager at Heerenveen and at the start, the squad was, in my opinion, a high ambition / low determination type. So my first purchases were aimed at getting higher determination players and high PA-players.

Two years into the game, I started to pay more attention to the amount of development a player got. I noticed, for example, that a player's physical attributes can go up almost ten points between his 16th and his 20th birthday, his Strength and Stamina attributes in particular.

And I seeing the amount of high-PA youngsters around (relative to my level) I got pickier. They had to have the right skills to get the job done, mostly technical skills. Now, I've finally got a team that has the will to drive forwards and the technical abilities to do it, with good hopes for the future as well.

The last step I've started last season is to impose a strict cutoff point on what I think are the most important mental attributes: Anticipation and Decisions. This sets a base level on awareness and football intelligence that all players need.

I also no longer sign young players where I have no need of them. This may sound obvious, but I had a 30+ squad last season with a disproportionate amount of players for MC-slots. It's not just a waste of money, but also it hinders the development of your youngsters as they won't get enough time on the pitch.

I sort of wish that I started to select on these criteria sooner, but I have set a good, consistent record (3x2nd, 1x3rd, 1x4th) with Heerenveen, so I must have been doing something right.

Finally, a good loan period (or multiple ones) at the right level can also do wonders. Or at least let them develop while they're in the waiting room for your older first teamers to leave (as Heerenveen, I expect my better players to get poached by foreign clubs sooner or later)