I want a wonderkid.

Now, i've played Football Manager 2008 on a daily basis since the day it came out, I don't think i've ever not played in a single day.

That sadness out of the way..

No matter what club i've been at, LLM teams, Championship teams, Premier League teams, Champions League teams, and even edited teams where my youth camp and training all have 100% top stats..

I've never, ever had a wonderkid come through the ranks.

I've never looked at his coaching report and saw 'potential to be a leading star for most premier league teams' - all I ever, EVER get is 'could lead to becoming a top Championship striker' or 'good premier league striker'.

How can you tell when a wonderkid is in you grasp?

And i'm currently in a 'non-cheating whatsoever' game, so I don't want to use Genie Scout or FFM or anything of the kind.

How can I get one?

Basically it's all down to luck. But players who are listed as "good premiership players" can sometimes become wonderkids, ie. your coach is undervaluing them.

I once had a player who my Ass Man believed could be a leading Championship players who went on to become a wonderkid and take the Premier League by storm

Same here, been playing fm07 for 2 years straight, must of done about 200 seasons altogether with various teams, was Lazio for 40 seasons once etc. and I've never had a wonderkid come through the ranks, always have to buy them from other teams..

why is this?!?!?!!?

First, a problem: The player development model is a bit off, so players don't hit their prime until later than in reality. A 21 year old might still have a lot of developing still to do.

Now, a solution: Scout scout scout. Send them out everywhere. Buy anyone they think will be a superstar. They will be wrong at times, but they will also be right at times.

From your own setup is luck though. The top teams cannibalise other sides youth teams, they don't rely on luck to bring them the stars of tomorrow...

Can you give me some advice on how to train them to be better in this situation?

yeah i do get them from other sides etc. but ive never once had even a semi-decent player come through my own youth team, they're always ****ing ****

wonderkids cannot be at every club. E.g. Sturm Graz in Austria will never get the club reputation above national (depsite winning CL etc.), which will as a result never allow a wonderkid to be described as such. meaning you can have a wonderkid in your team, but not know it... as soon as a big name club buys the player, he can immediately be a wonderkid.

other factors, like training facilities etc also play a role in that description to pop up.

So my suggestion: don't beat yourself up if it doesn't say "wonderkid", chances are that within all those years and reasonable youth player shopping you had several in your rows, just did not know it.

At first, I thought Gary Glitter had wandered onto the forums!

Anyway, I've had a couple of wonderkids come through. Thing is, they didn't turn out to be all that great.

Anyway, I've had a couple of wonderkids come through. Thing is, they didn't turn out to be all that great.

Same here, had a couple of them described as wonderkids, but they didn't look like they were going to be better than anything I already had so I sold them on. The way people go on about wonderkids on these forums you would think that the world was littered with these spectacular talents, when realistically we hear about plenty of hot prospects, but how many are actually wonderful players??

Wonderkid to me means 17-19 and playing International and first team football and setting the world alight, teenage players who are just as good and possibly better than major stars around the world despite their age. There are only a handfull of these players IRL so why do people seem to think there should be more in the game?

I once had a player who my Ass Man believed could be a leading Championship players who went on to become a wonderkid and take the Premier League by storm

I once had a layer who (in my first season) my Ass Man said I should get rid of, which I did. In 2022 and he is World Footballer of the year and just signed for £37m to Inter Milan

I once had a layer who (in my first season) my Ass Man said I should get rid of, which I did. In 2022 and he is World Footballer of the year and just signed for £37m to Inter Milan

did you consider re-signing him?

Wonderkid to me means 17-19 and playing International and first team football and setting the world alight, teenage players who are just as good and possibly better than major stars around the world despite their age. There are only a handfull of these players IRL so why do people seem to think there should be more in the game?

Nomis, I agree that true wonderkids should be as rare as rocking horse poo, the problem I have is that the regen system never seems to creates them. I have never seen a regen player in the 17-19 range who would fulfil that criteria of wonder kid. As stated above, the regen model has players reaching their peak PA at roughly the same age which means we don't see any Messi or Bojan freaks

.

did you consider re-signing him?

I considered it, but I have my own rules in my game and I can never go over the current transfer record at my club, that record is £17m so there was no way I could sign him.

with whitby town, all of my youngsters tend to be under-rated e.g. a regen franny webber came from good youth facilities, i sold him to bury in league 2 with a buy back clause of 400k, and a few seasons later i resigned him from bury in the championship and his value having rocketed to 1.4 million...he now helped me finish 3rd in the premiership with whitby.

so my recommendation is to either keep your best assistant manager potential players and hope they have been under rated, or sell them BUT insert a buy back clause, because you are bound to end up with a few regens of PA over 150 if you have average/good/top youth facilities, you just have to bide your team. it takes atleast 6 seasons in my opinion for youngsters to get to the full CA.

I once had a wonderkid who came through my own youth system. This was due to me giving him first team football from when he was 17 but he didn't turn out to be the player i'd hope he'd become and had to sell him.