Potential Ability: The "Jamie Vardy" problem

[calcal]

Newgens can generate in the lower league with high PA's, I bought 2 outstanding players from Loughborough Dynamo who both went on to get England caps etc. So it can happen, just extremely rare, as it should be!

[Guest]

I'll wager that many FM'ers wanting more higher PA players coming through at lower clubs would just use various tools to scoop up those players straight away, SI made the AI clubs much more aggressive at identifying & signing hot prospects because of human behaviour in doing just that.

I play FM in a true LLM fashion & 15 or so years in I will come across top division players who started out the FM life (15+) in the lower leagues, what is more uncommon is for a youth reject (18/19 yr old) to fight their way back up the leagues after being released by a top division club but that is equally rare irl too.

[scott MUFC]

there was a way of telling in 12/13 in the scout reports..

[netking]

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Perhaps, not just signing of the season, but most improved could be a category monthly and yearly, even as a news item / subscription, to create more visibility to the players who have had the highest jump in there performances month to month or year on year? Even acknowledging a player who moves from say League 1 to the Championship and performs well, creating this acknowledgement and news within the game, will highlight improved players and well performing player and add this element to the gaming world?

This! It's basically what the media does. If they had not pointed out the history of Vardy, Mahrez, Kante, et al, we would not have noticed as much (at least the general public would not). A note about player histories (less rigid and limited than the "Where are they now" compilations) if there is a great increase in average rating over the years, great increase in reputation, progress from bottom level to top, etc would help immerse the player in the gameworld.

[rayr27]

Real life lower league players like Vardy could be better modelled in FM by having the technical & physical abilities of higher level players but being very much lacking in the mental attributes to the point that they are only useful in the lower leagues & much like any player tagged as a late bloomer will only ever make it at the top level when they sort out what's going on between their ears.

Getting mental attributes that are more accurate across the database would have a massive positive impact on the way FM simulates real life, by all accounts Vardy always had the talent but lacked the mental ability to apply himself to a level that is required to be a top player & only recently has he got the message that he was wasting his talent, it's the same with Luca Toni who is always trotted out in these debates as he was a complete waste of space until he grew up & sorted out his attitude.

Can't say just how much I second this. There isn't a chasm in ability between your average Premier League player and your average Football League, in the same way that very few players make significant technical improvements to their game after the age of 16. What changes is the mentality as their careers are shaped by their experiences. Do they have the determination to make the most of their talent? Do they have the intelligence and composure to make good decisions on the pitch and execute their skills in high pressure situations? I've felt for a while that FM doesn't really reflect this all that well.