Players settling in

When you take over a team right at the start of the game, say Arsenal in August 2012, and they have Podolski and Giroud. Does the game treat them as "standard Arsenal players" because they're in the squad when the game was loaded, or does it treat them as "brand new Arsenal players" who will require some settling in time, or the occasional sub appearance to blend in to the squad, etc?

The reason I ask is that if I buy 5 players over the summer, then my team takes a little time to play well again, like the new players are settling in, and finding their feet, and I notice a few mistakes from them during this period. However, if I start a new game with a team that's signed 5 players before the game start date, those players seem to be completely settled in, and I can treat them as veterans!

Just wondered if the game considered them new players or not.

In the editor there is a date on which they joined the club. For Podolski and Giroud this will be recent. So the game will treat them as new and they'll need time to settle in.