No good Left Backs under 26 in the world.

[Roman5228]

I'm in year 2020 and for some reason there are no good young left back in the world anymore. I have the best younger LB and the 3rd best overall according to Genie Scout and hes only a 3 to 3 1/2 star player (according to my coaches).

Everybody I've scouted at best has potential of 3 stars max.

Has anyone else had a problem like this at any positions? Its just kind of weird.

[Carmi88]

Not had this problem yet, I'm 2 years ahead and there is still plenty of class players in all positions. What leagues have you got loaded?

[Roman5228]

All the major leagues in europe....then in brazil argentina mexico and USA

[HakanMild]

Find a good player at a different position with somewhat adequate attributes for LB, then train him in that position: you can then have the best LB in the world. That's what I'm doing with my players, I have a good CB with decent first touch/passing/technique/physical attributes and I'm retaining him to LB since I can't find a good one to buy.

[SCIAG]

I'm in year 2020 and for some reason there are no good young left back in the world anymore. I have the best younger LB and the 3rd best overall according to Genie Scout and hes only a 3 to 3 1/2 star player (according to my coaches).

Everybody I've scouted at best has potential of 3 stars max.

Has anyone else had a problem like this at any positions? Its just kind of weird.

What club are you?

3 stars at the best club in the world is very very good, but if you're a League One club and can't find a left back with 3 star potential or higher then that's bad. 3 stars means "of the average ability of members of your first team squad".

[Things Could Get Messi]

I'm in 2016 and got the same problem for the left back position. Got 11 scouts who i send out here, there and everywhere but they have yet to find even one good left back worth buying. I try to build for the future but this area is just causing me massive problems. At this rate I'm going to have to sign Clichy on a free in the summer if he gets released by Liverpool but he is 31.

[ArsenalFan7]

I have only had two sets of youth candidates in my save and there are 37 LB regens with a PA of 150+, 4 are over 170 and some look incredible.

No issue for me clearly. I'd say they're too good in my game!

[Roman5228]

Im playing with Roma.....i understand 3 stars is good still but at every other position I have someone whos currently atleast 3 1/2 stars or 4 stars......its the only position where I have only a 3 star.

I've scouted like the top 40 LB according to their values and only one...a 31 year old Gareth Bale is 3 1/2 stars in the world......that just doesnt seem right when every other positions have dozens of 3 1/2 star players or better

[swisso]

Plenty of quality leftbacks in my 2016 game, even wingbacks and attacking fullbacks (the versatile DL/AML ones!)

But then i do have 18 scouts trawling specific regions for Under 18 players only, so my youth knowledge is quite extensive

[robertcornell68]

Exactly the same thing with my save - Dortmund in 2020 - I've been trawling the world for 18 months looking for a decent left back. None more than three stars.

So now I'm looking for left footed centrebacks to convert... all of mine are right footed.

[swisso]

Exactly the same thing with my save - Dortmund in 2020 - I've been trawling the world for 18 months looking for a decent left back. None more than three stars.

So now I'm looking for left footed centrebacks to convert... all of mine are right footed.

As SCIAG mentioned above though, stars are relative. If you were Barcelona and you found the next Messi... he'd only have a 3* potential because he's more or less equal to Messi.

What you should be doing, is looking at the Report Card of those 3* players and seeing what the Potential says. More often that not, it will say he'll reach a level similar to your current star leftback.

It's a bit confusing to begin with, but once you grasp it, it's clear. Basically the point is, if you're a world-class team, don't ignore 3* players

[thomit]

Genie Scout, as well as the in-game scouts, tend to give fullbacks and wingback relatively low star ratings, compared to most other positions. Forget the stars, look at the stats and performance.

[Chicha_14]

Forget the stars, look at the stats and performance.

I agree, countless times in long games I've had assistants have said players 2 and half star to 3 stars then few years down the line there one of the best in there position in the world.

Most of the time I just go on what I think a player can be and sometimes they aren't any good but that's football I guess.

[milnerpoint]

I've scouted like the top 40 LB according to their values and only one...a 31 year old Gareth Bale is 3 1/2 stars in the world......that just doesnt seem right when every other positions have dozens of 3 1/2 star players or better

If Bale, one of the games very best players is rated 3.5 stars then you obviously have a very good team, any player on 3 stars will be a very good player, but focusing on stars is the wrong way to go about it, tell by attributes and performances, not coach or scout star ratings.

[robertcornell68]

As SCIAG mentioned above though, stars are relative. If you were Barcelona and you found the next Messi... he'd only have a 3* potential because he's more or less equal to Messi.

What you should be doing, is looking at the Report Card of those 3* players and seeing what the Potential says. More often that not, it will say he'll reach a level similar to your current star leftback.

It's a bit confusing to begin with, but once you grasp it, it's clear. Basically the point is, if you're a world-class team, don't ignore 3* players

Found plenty of four/fiver star right backs, though. In fact I have three in my squad.

[whilewolf]

Found plenty of four/fiver star right backs, though. In fact I have three in my squad.

Retrain the one who's got the best left foot to play LB.

[robertcornell68]

Retrain the one who's got the best left foot to play LB.

Sounds like a plan.

(I'm not really complaining, I've got the impression from previous FMs that DL is the hardest position to fill well and I'm curious whether it's a genuine phenomenon, a fluke or my imagination.)

[quaazi]

Found plenty of four/fiver star right backs, though. In fact I have three in my squad.

I'll say. My very first year of youth intake had an Argentinian RB/RWB (both natural) with a PA of 197! And not a single decent leftback.

But since I've only had one youth intake, I'm obviously not going to make rash statements.

[Seule]

Look at some DMC's as well, early on in the game Zimmerman at Borussia MGB can be retrained to be a really good left back.

[brez22]

Sounds like a plan.

(I'm not really complaining, I've got the impression from previous FMs that DL is the hardest position to fill well and I'm curious whether it's a genuine phenomenon, a fluke or my imagination.)

It was worse in the last Fm and beyond but full back positions aren't easy to fill in real life really. When you think of genuine world class left backs you don't have many options. Sir Alex Ferguson talked about the difficulty he had replacing Dennis Irwin, it took until he found Evra which was a long time.

I find defensive midfielders with hopefully decent crossing and dribbling and convert them.