Players greyed out

Why are they greyed out ?

Is there a way to interact with them ?

Is that related to database size or playable league or scout ?

Thnaks

"Grey" players are displayed if you look at a team which does not have sufficient "real" players. Also for any team which has to play a fully-simulated match without having sufficient "real" players.

You cannot interact with, scout, or sign them.

However, if there is a grey player *on your team*, e.g., a grey player on your youth squad, you can offer him a real contract.

The larger the DB size, and the more "active" leagues you have, the less likely you are to run across grey players .. but even with the largest DB, you can still come across them if, for example, you go find a minor club from a country which does not have any playable leagues.

First of all thank you so much.

Then, can you plz tell me what is the advantage of running other leagues except the one you play if every team in the world can be scouted or reached by browsing into it ?

I mean, if I ran a large database on england only, I can scout everything in the world via scout or I can go directly into those country teams trying to buy players manually,greyed apart, so what's the deal running multiple leagues ?

Thanks again

BTW your nick is quite famous among FM fans or am I wrong ?

I don't feel famous! But yeah, I've been around the forum a while and try to keep things on an even keel.

In my experience, running a league:

1. Lets me manage in it, if I decide to later.

2. Generates appropriate numbers of regens in that league

3. Creates better player movement for teams in that league

4. Generates less predictable finishes in that league

5. Helps the national team affiliated with that league to behave in a more realistic fashion.

All of these really impact long-term, top-level games more than anything.

For example, I ran a Small DB, England-only game at one point, and had the following complaints:

a.) I could never leave England

b.) There were very few South American regens (For example, assigning a Scout to South America, he might only spot one or two players; most S.A. players were "grey")

c.) Top teams in Spain, Italy, etc, saw too little player movment ... and middling teams in the C.L. were composed entirely of grey players.

d.) The same teams always qualified for the C.L.

e.) International teams such as Argentina, etc, "felt wrong", e.g., they might not have a quality goalkeeper, which tainted long-term international results.

After that experience, I recommend a minimum league setup of:

Argentina, Brazil, England, Italy, France, Spain, Germany (top division in each), and I'd suggest adding a few more leagues if your processor can support them, e.g., Holland, Belgium, Portugal, leagues like that, along with any country you may feel an inexplicable fondness for (Croatia, for me).

Before replying I feel the needing to carefully study and metabolize your precious answer.

Thanks