Tyler's issues with FM. Major issues. Part IV. Newgens

[tylerB]

Age group exist for a reason. You don't normally place a 16 year old into a u-19 team. There's a u-17 age group for that. But in FM as the game progresses you get your u-19 team consisting of mostly 16 year old players. And not just your u-19 team, any u-19 team including national squads. And there's more. My advice team keeps annoying me that I should loan out some of these players to "get some first team experience". Why would I ever let a 16 year old kid play against older guys on a competitional level? I could as well break his legs with a hammer, that would be pretty similar type of experience. Of course, I never loan anybody out untill they are at least 18. But that doesn't mean that AI doesn't generate this type of deals or just simply promote these youngsters.

As a result after just a couple of seasons the gameworld is already filled with some 17 year old players that have a full first team season in their resume. If not two. Like moukokos and odegaards are everywhere. And this issue remains in the game as long as I remember the FM series. The question is – is this something you often see? Do you often see 16 year old players in the first team? Do you often see u-19 squads consisting of 16 year old players? Then why is it still in the game? This is against human nature. The vast majority of 16 year old players, no matter how talanted they are, can't play against 18 and 19 year old, let alone grown ups. They compete in their own age group.

The suggestion is either to introduce a u-17 age group (implying that players would be left alone there), or make a newgen appear being already 18 year old. If a newgen appears at a younger age then that is a moukoko. As simple as that.

I guess this is it for major issues. For now at least. So I'll se you in minor issues. Yeah, there are a lot more issues to talk about.

[Zachary Whyte]

Thanks for the detailed feedback. This is something that has come up within the community before. As such, this may yet be rejected or end up in a future version of FM.