save game required Attribute bias in AI national team squad selection

[The Scarecrow]

This isn't technically a bug, but it's something that's been annoying me for a few years now. Players who perform well will consistently be overlooked by AI national team managers if their attributes are worse than the other players the NT manager can select from. It's only a minor issue, but it's definitely lowering the realism. 

I remember reading a post in this forum once, about something the poster called "The Harry Kane effect", where a player who's perceived to be average at best suddenly turns out to be great, and how that's not really possible in FM. However, a player can sometimes play well above what his attributes suggest if he's used correctly in the right system. In many ways that does account for some of The Harry Kane effect, but any realism soon disappears when the player is being consistently overlooked by the national team.

This has happened to me on several occasions previously, and it's happening again now, which is why I've decided to finally raise this issue. I'm doing a journeyman save, and took the reins at Aston Villa in 2026. I won't bore you with the details, but as of March 2027, Louie Barry is top scorer in the league with 25 goals, three ahead of Erling Haaland, and nine ahead of Marcus Rashford, who's the second highest scoring Englishman. In all competitions, Barry has 35 goals in 39 games. 

Ahead of him in the national team are players like Greenwood, Kane, Rashford and Nketiah, who all have better attributes than Barry, but none of them is top scorer in the Premier League. Ahead of him is also a newgen who got relegated with Blackburn last season and only has two caps so far. He is scoring at a much lower rate than Barry in the league below, but he's still preferred because his attributes are better. If it was Harry Kane then fine, he's in on merit, but this young man should not under any circumstances be ahead of the top scorer in the Premier League in pecking order. 

I should probably be happy that I get to have Barry for myself, and it's only a minor issue, but it's annoying nonetheless, and it's not the first time it's happening. I've added a picture of his profile. As you can, see, he looks like a mid table striker, but plays like a star.

[Christopher Lewis]

Hey @The Scarecrow - Could you upload a save game from just before England announce their squad with Barry not in it and I'll investigate why he doesn't get called up? It's a balancing act between selecting players on good form and players who have a higher ability, and judging from the above it looks like we might have got the balance a little bit wrong in this scenario.