How do you find good loan signings for your LLM side?

[djpdavey]

I'm just curious to know how you find good potential loan signings for your LLM sides? I really want to take more advantage of the loan system as I am not using it enough.

[Ether_mR]

I filter based on division in player search - for instance, if I am a Vanarama South team, I will search championship teams for loan listed players, then league 1, etc. I offer trials to the players who are loan-listed. Many will not want to join, but it is what it is. If I am sure a player is a major upgrade on my side but not confident the player will want to join on loan, I offer them Star Player playing time. Sometimes I am able to convince players to join who would otherwise be unwilling. Another great way is to assign your scouts to run a team report on all of the teams in the leagues above you, but this can be extremely expensive and time consuming so I generally just do this with my senior affiliate or specific teams that seem to have a lot of loan listed players. As such, I also recommend requesting that your board search for a suitable senior affiliate.

 

Edited December 13, 2019 by Ether_mR

[djpdavey]

1 hour ago, Ether_mR said:

I filter based on division in player search - for instance, if I am a Vanarama South team, I will search championship teams for loan listed players, then league 1, etc. I offer trials to the players who are loan-listed. Many will not want to join, but it is what it is. If I am sure a player is a major upgrade on my side but not confident the player will want to join on loan, I offer them Star Player playing time. Sometimes I am able to convince players to join who would otherwise be unwilling. Another great way is to assign your scouts to run a team report on all of the teams in the leagues above you, but this can be extremely expensive and time consuming so I generally just do this with my senior affiliate or specific teams that seem to have a lot of loan listed players. As such, I also recommend requesting that your board search for a suitable senior affiliate.

 

But doesn't that depend on you scouting range and known players?

[Ether_mR]

As you can see in the picture my world knowledge is quite poor, but if you run team reports it will populate your scouting list with the players that are loan-listed on that team. Also, I hire a chief scout and head of football immediately when I start a save in order to take advantage of the players that are known to them. If I am desperate I will manually look through teams in higher divisions and try offering them star player playing time.  Finances are something I try to stay on top of, so I won’t spend on the scouting packages until I am making a solid profit and I generally only take players on free loans unless it’s a player that would be essential for me. 

Edited December 13, 2019 by Ether_mR

[Ether_mR]

Just a follow up - for me the issue isn’t finding great loan-listed players, it is convincing them to join my squad

[djpdavey]

11 hours ago, Ether_mR said:

Just a follow up - for me the issue isn’t finding great loan-listed players, it is convincing them to join my squad

I hear that!

[Hovis Dexter]

Ask your scouts to provide team reports on each of the teams in the two leagues that are higher than you. You will then receive a notification in the scouting centre of the players in those teams that are willing to join you on loan. In my experience it is not worth asking for team reports in respect of leagues higher than two above as you as the players probably won’t want to play for you. I’ve always had great success using this method.

 

[likesiamesefish]

I just tend to scout as many of the highest valued youngsters that my scouting range allows all season long and then I have a report on them when they become listed or released. It's also worth setting the transfer or loan interest to 'extremely doubtful' as they will normally still join if you provide the best offer.

[anagain]

It depends how LLM you want to do it. I personally just use my scouts. Unless they suggest someone then they're not known to me. I do, however make my own personal allowances. The internet exists, as do papers etc, so there is nothing to suggest you wouldn't have some knowledge of local or regional teams. I'm managing Bangor so I'll bring up the squad pages for the likes of Wrexham, Swansea and Cardiff and see who might be worth trying to get on loan. I always then scout them, but that's up to how LLM you want to get. I'll happily extend this to Merseyside, Manchester or the Welsh borders, but that'll cost me money to scout. 

I'll also scout players I see news stories on. They might be stories linking me with that player, or maybe linking a rival with that player.

It can be tough to find the player that kills a season, but that's authetic for LLM's. 

Do you have a Director Of Football? Mine makes suggestions for possible signings, and he did quite well. He recommended me a DM signing that turned out to be incredible for us.