Sending youth players on loan

If I send a player off on loan for a season, when he comes back, is there any way to see what attributes have improved, and how much?

If I send a player off on loan for a season, when he comes back, is there any way to see what attributes have improved, and how much?

Just click on that play and select 'Training', then 'Attributes'. There is a graph for that

u can check his attributes on the graph that shows the changes, ive seen that they hardly change thought, does depend on their age and position etc..

They usually don't change much while out on loan, but once you get them back you will see rapid gains as they "realize" the experience that they gained - this ensures that your training schedule impacts their attribute growth, not the training schedule of the club that you loaned them to, which you did not have control over.

They usually don't change much while out on loan, but once you get them back you will see rapid gains as they "realize" the experience that they gained - this ensures that your training schedule impacts their attribute growth, not the training schedule of the club that you loaned them to, which you did not have control over.

I never realised that's how it worked. Was this the case for FM08 aswell? Also in your opinion Amaroq (as you seem to know alot about this area) would a youngster develop better in your reserves with top class facilities or by gaining first team experience in a lower league at a club with worse facilities?

I do rather enjoy developing young players.

Yes, that's been the case from FM'05 through FM'09, in my experience - from observation both as a small team lent to and as a big team lending out.

I think that youth players take advantage of your top class facilities and coaches up to a point, but eventually they plateau and require competitive playing time. If you aren't ready to blood them in the first team for any reason, you'll need to loan them out to continue their development.

This has been mitigated quite a bit in recent versions by the influence of tutoring; a successful tutoring relationship plus regular Reserve playing time can yield a pretty impressive growth, getting your player ready to step into the first team without necessarily "having" to go out on loan the way that they did in FM'05.

I do pay strong attention to the quality of facilities at the club I'm loaning out to as well as their expected results and competition at the position. Basically, I want my player to train at as good facilities as I can place him at, with a team that is going to finish in the top seven of its league, and I want him to start most of the matches.

(Why is winning important? Because Morale seems to have a high impact on development, and young players are susceptible to losing Morale quickly in a loss. I've seen enough players learn virtually nothing from a relegation-battling season that I quit loaning out to predicted relegation battlers!)

Thanks for the response Amaroq, so many more factors that i've never thought of before!

My current situation (FM08) is managing Ajax, and i'm trying my best to bring through the talent. I've struggled to gain significant improvements in their stats, three seasons on from when they appeared in my U19 squad. I've even played two of them semi-regularly last season with little improvement. Maybe i'm expecting a bit too much at this stage, especially compared to FM07 where players seem to develop so quickly.

So one more question. I only have the two dutch leagues running, so is it more beneficial to send my players on loan to these active leagues than say my SPL team which is non-active? I've heard this can make a difference in their development?

Why would playing regular football in the reserves, as apposed to first team lower league not develop them as much? Better coaches and facilities, and they still play.

You're welcome, Mac. I've been thinking about putting together a "youth player development guide" for T&TT along this line.

Why would playing regular football in the reserves, as apposed to first team lower league not develop them as much? Better coaches and facilities, and they still play.

Competitive football, and quality of opposition.

The basic theory is, a Reserve match just isn't played with the same intensity as a competitive match, so you can learn a bit from playing in the Reserves but you aren't ever going to reach your full potential there - and there's a big enough gap between an EPL team's Reserve side and the EPL that you aren't quite ready to step into the first team on a featured basis. So, loans-out, to the Championship level especially, provide the player with the first-team experience that they need to take their game to the next level.

If you loan a player out too low, then they don't develop as well because there's only so much they can learn against "easy" opposition; they need to be challenged at a higher level to take their game up to that level.

However, if you toss them in too deep, that harms their development because they are in "survival" mode, where the entire game seems to be passing them by at a blur and mistake breeds on mistake, so they aren't learning as much as they would against opposition that's more their size.

Its like learning to surf .. you're never going to become a top surfer if you only ever surf 2-foot-high waves .. but if a beginner goes out and tries to surf in 20-foot waves, they're going to spend the entire time getting pummeled, and they aren't going to have any chance of improving.

My current situation (FM08) is managing Ajax, and i'm trying my best to bring through the talent. I've struggled to gain significant improvements in their stats, three seasons on from when they appeared in my U19 squad. I've even played two of them semi-regularly last season with little improvement. Maybe i'm expecting a bit too much at this stage, especially compared to FM07 where players seem to develop so quickly.

First off, successful tutoring partnerships are a must if you're trying to develop them internally.

Second, is Ajax 2 in an active league?

If so, then that should be helping their development, because unlike the English system, they actually are playing competitive football. Are they getting enough playing time there? You might find that you need to control Ajax 2 yourself to ensure that they're getting sufficient playing time. (I'm very control-oriented and do tend to run my youth teams myself.)

If it is not in an active league, that might be your problem:

So one more question. I only have the two dutch leagues running, so is it more beneficial to send my players on loan to these active leagues than say my SPL team which is non-active? I've heard this can make a difference in their development?

Yes, that makes a large difference. They should show some development for a loan to an inactive league, but its nowhere near as much as they will get from a loan to an active league of a similar quality.

That's why its important whether or not Ajax 2 is in an active league; if they aren't playing "real" matches with Ajax 2, they aren't getting the full benefit of being there.

If I loan a player out to a feeder club that doesnt have their league active, or real competitive matches, will that work out worse than an active league?

Quite good posts Amaroq, but one thing I do disagree with you is that you shouldn't loan players to relegation battling clubs because of the moral issue. In my case I donot have that experience. It seems to me that the players loaned to an unsuccesfull club develop at the same rate as players loaned to succefull clubs when they comes back.

Nice, Veg, thanks for the correction. What version is that?

TBH, I had been a bit frustrated with that issue in FM'05, and have steered away from relegation battlers ever since, so if its no longer an issue I'll cut that from my advice.

If I loan a player out to a feeder club that doesnt have their league active, or real competitive matches, will that work out worse than an active league?

Yes. You should see better development from a loan to an unaffiliated club in an active league (compared to a feeder club in an inactive league).

That's why my "standard" game setup nowadays includes Belgium and Poland as active leagues.

(Though, as in the case Veg has pointed out, that leaves me with a blind spot: if SI have fixed that issue, I may not have noticed.)

First off, successful tutoring partnerships are a must if you're trying to develop them internally.

Second, is Ajax 2 in an active league?

If so, then that should be helping their development, because unlike the English system, they actually are playing competitive football. Are they getting enough playing time there? You might find that you need to control Ajax 2 yourself to ensure that they're getting sufficient playing time. (I'm very control-oriented and do tend to run my youth teams myself.)

If it is not in an active league, that might be your problem:

Unfortunately Ajax 2 compete in a reserve league but most seasons do get the added bonus of competitive games in the Dutch Cup. I think you're right, the quality of the reserve league just isn't enough to be seeing significant developments in my players.

Yes, that makes a large difference. They should show some development for a loan to an inactive league, but its nowhere near as much as they will get from a loan to an active league of a similar quality.

That's why its important whether or not Ajax 2 is in an active league; if they aren't playing "real" matches with Ajax 2, they aren't getting the full benefit of being there.

My best option then would be to only really use my two feeder clubs in the Dutch first division. My 'best' feeder club is probably Dundee Utd in the SPL so its quite hard to judge if this inactive league has a greater/lesser affect than the active Dutch first division. Probably an element of trial and error over the next few seasons.

You're welcome, Mac. I've been thinking about putting together a "youth player development guide" for T&TT along this line.

Please do:thup: This is one of my favourite areas in the game, one which i thought i knew alot about until talking to you!

Quite good posts Amaroq, but one thing I do disagree with you is that you shouldn't loan players to relegation battling clubs because of the moral issue. In my case I donot have that experience. It seems to me that the players loaned to an unsuccesfull club develop at the same rate as players loaned to succefull clubs when they comes back.

Well i'm going to give this a try. My two feeder clubs in the Dutch first division finished 7th and 20th (last) the previous season. I've sent them about 8 promising youngsters each and i'll see how each set develop over the season. Of course though there is no guarantee these teams will finish in these same positions this season.

One last question i've just thought of; is there any difference between loanee development in an active league with no detail compared to an active league with matches on full detail?