fifa 14 scouting guide

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FIFA 14 scouting guide

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FIFA 14 is out, weve all had a go at it, and its pretty good, right? Lots of nice changes, some big, some small. Those new skill games

Posted on October 13, 2013by Alex B Previous Next

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are pretty cool. I quite like some of the new animations. But come on, thats not why we play it we want to scout. The next Messi isnt

going to find himself. So here it is, the FIFA 14 scouting guide.

Contents

1. Choosing a scout

2. Where to look

3. Spotting a great player on your reports4. After youve promoted players & the May update

5. Other tips and info

6. Summary

1. Choosing a scout

Once again EA have stuck with what they know and kept the scouting system largely similar to last years effort. There are a couple ofchanges here and there, and Ill run through them in this article. But first of all, lets have a look at what you can expect from scouts, as

well as the basics of hiring a scout and packing him off to look for emerging youth talent.

To hire a scout, go to the Office tab, then click on Youth Staff. There will be three slots available for hiring new scouts, so click on one

of these and you will be presented with a list of five scouts to choose from, all of varying prices and abilities.

Like last year, you will have a couple of scouts from the nation in which your team plays (e.g. Spain if youre doing a Real Madrid

career). There will also be a few other scouts, all of which will be from a similar part of the world. If you dont like the look of any of the

scouts, advance to the next Sunday and they will have changed.

However, this is where its slightly different to previous years. The scouts will almost always be from your home region. That is, if your

team is from Spain, you will have a selection of scouts from southern Europe defined in the game as including Croatia, Greece, Italy,

Portugal, Spain and Turkey. If you hire one of these scouts, they are replaced by a scout from the next region in a pre-defined cycle.

The regions rotate by a specific order, namely: Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia, Oceania,

Africa, South America, North America, before returning to Northern Europe. In previous versions of the game the regions would simply
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rotate every week; now you have to buy a scout to make this happen.

Furthermore, the process can get reset when you get to a Sunday. If you start with Southern Europe and want to get a scout from

North America, youll have to have start on Monday and have two scout vacancies to hire and fire scouts. Hire two scouts, then fire

them as soon as they arrive and hire the two new scouts who replaced them (they will be from the next two regions in the list). You

need to start early in the week because when you get to Sunday the process resets if you hire a South American scout on Friday, by

the time hes arrived and ready to be fired on the Sunday the order will have been reset, so his replacement will be from Southern

Europe (if thats your home region). Annoying, but something to bear in mind.

Yet unlike the previous two years, sending a scout to his own country doesnt seem to give you any tangible bonus (or if it does, its so

minor as to make no real difference). So if you want to find the next Brazilian superstar, you shouldnt need to worry about rotating the

scouts to get a Brazilian one; a high-rated one from any nation should still be excellent and youll save money on hiring scouts. And

although you cant send two scouts to the same country at the same time, because there is no home nation bonus you wont lose out

if all your scouts are from the same place.

What doesmatter, however, is the scouts rating in both experience and judgement. But what do each of these mean? Last year userLelouch pointed out that a scouts judgement rating affects his chances of finding the best players in the following way:

S TARS BRONZE SILV ER GOLD PLATINUM

1 75% 17% 5% 3%

2 67% 22% 7% 4%

3 50% 36% 9% 5%

4 30% 52% 11% 7%

5 20% 53% 17% 10%

Heres what I said about it last year:

This table refers to a scouts odds of finding good players based on his judgement rating (as opposed to the odds of
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finding good players in any given region). The first number represents the num ber of stars the scout has for his

judgement rating. The next four numbers show the percentage of player qualities each scout will find (bronze being

the worst players, platinum being the best). So a scout with 1 star for judgement will have a 75% chance of finding

bronze players, a 17% chance of finding silver players, a 5% chance of finding gold players and a 3% chance of

finding platinum players. I dont know exactly how good a bronze player is compared to a platinum player (i.e.

where the boundaries are set), but platinum players will certainly be much, much better.

Experience, on the other hand, refers to how likely the scout is to find the type of player youre looking for. So if you just specify Anyas the player type then the scouts experience rating doesnt even matter!

Another thing to bear in mind is that sending better scouts on trips will now cost you more money than sending lower rated ones out.

Here are some example figures for scouts of varying abilities:

5*/5* scout

3 months: 102,000

6 months: 204,0009 months: 306,000

3*/3* scout

3 months: 82,000

6 months: 163,000

9 months: 245,000

1*/1* scout

3 months: 61,000

6 months: 122,000

9 months: 184,000

So there is a bit of a difference. However, I would definitely advise you to get the best scout you can afford to. The higher the scout

rating, the more players he will bring back for you and therefore the better your chances of finding a great player. 1*/1* scouts are not

exactly great thats not to say that its impossible to get good players with them, but you could be waiting a very long time, seeing as

they find fewer players (two or three new players per month as opposed to four, five or six for a 5*/5* scout) and those that they do find

are, on average, of an inferior quality. It also takes a lot longer for lower-rated scouts to pin down a players type and position.

A r an ge of scout s to choose from
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Ultimately, you could very well find the next Ronaldo with a 1*/1* scout it is definitely possible but you have to have a lot of patience.

2. Where to look

One of the first things youll notice when deciding where to look for talent is that trips to different regions will cost different amounts.

For example, this is how much a three month trip would cost by region:

Northern Europe: 48,000

Southern Europe: 97,000

Central Europe: 97,000

Eastern Europe: 48,000

Asia: 16,000

Oceania: 16,000

Africa: 97,000

South America: 97,000North America: 48,000

However, I wouldnt necessarily say this simply means that the most expensive places will produce the best talent. In the last two

versions there was actually an algorithm the game used to determine this, which user MTGowns pointed out. Ive posted it below:

And about the country output, you can access the file that dictates the chances of finding certain tiers of players

there are four: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Naturally, Platinum are the best youngsters out there. Each set

of regions have different probabilities for each kind of player. As found in youth_scout.ini the odds are:

YOUTH_PLAYER_PLATINUM_0=15





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Where each number is:

// 0 = SUBREGI ON _ARGENTI NA_BRAZI L,

// 1 = SUBREGIO N_REST_O F_SOUTH_AMERI CA,

// 2 = SUBREGION _NO RTH_AMERI CA,

// 3 = SUBREGI ON _NO RTHERN_EUROPE,

// 4 = SUBREGION _ITALY_SPAIN_PORTUGAL,

// 5 = SUBREGI ON _REST_OF_SOUTHERN_EUROPE,

// 6 = SUBREGION _CENTRAL_EUROPE,// 7 = SUBREGIO N_REST_O F_EUROPE,

// 8 = SUBREGIO N_JAPAN_CHIN A,

// 9 = SUBREGION _REST_OF_ASIA,

// 10 = SUBREGIO N_AUSTRALIA,

// 11 = SUBREGION_AFRI CA,

So it can be seen that Argentina, Brazil, Italy, Spain, Portugal and every Central European country (including

Switzerland and Austria!) is where youre the most likely to find elite youngsters. On the other h and, its quite

unlikely youll find an EPL star in Australia, Asia or North America and youll be better off looking elsewhere!

So the higher the number after the = sign, the better your chances of finding top players. Interestingly, even though Southern Europe is

one of the most expensive regions to scout, results from Italy, Spain and Portugal should be markedly better than from the rest of that

region because those three nations have a rating of 14 on the above chart, whilst Croatia, Greece and Turkey only have a rating of 8

(i.e. Subregion rest of Southern Europe). Dont be put off too much, though you can get great players from anywhere, but as this

list shows, some regions are more likelyto produce top talent than others.


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Because the scouting system in FIFA 14 is based on the same core as the FIFA 13 scouting system, this shouldstill apply. However, I

dont have direct access to the game code for FIFA 14 so I cant confirm whether this is still the case, but I suspect it is. Perhaps

someone who does have access to it would be able to confirm it if you do know, be sure to leave a comment below.

However, what I am sure of is that, like previous years, certain regions do not specialise in certain player types. I sent three scouts to

Spain, a country renowned for its technically gifted players, but the best player I found there was actually a goalkeeper, and I found

very promising players with a wide variety of player types.

So if you want a good defender, dont go looking in Italy because you think they traditionally produce good defenders; rather, send your

scout to one of the top countries listed above. You may well find good defenders in Italy, but thats because the game says they will

produce good players of any type, not because they specialise in defenders.

Of course, you can find great players in anycountry; you just have less of a chance of doing this if you look in, say, Serbia than if you

look in Brazil. But it is totally possible to find a real gem in a minnow country, so dont give up on them totally.

3. Spotting a great player on your reports

When your scout brings back his report, you will see a list of potential players to sign to your academy. They will most likely be 15 or

16; it now seems to be impossible to find 14 year olds. They will have an OVR range (e.g. 44 58) and a potential range (e.g. 67 89).

There are also similar ranges for a few of the players stats. These ranges basically mean that your scout is estimating how good the

player is, and how good he could potentially grow to become. The same is true for the attribute ranges if a players strength range is

43 85, this doesnt mean it is currently 43 and can grow to become 85; what it means is that your scout thinks the players strength

value is somewhere between those two numbers. The longer your scout watches a player, the narrower these ranges become. Astime goes on your scout is also able to pin down his position and player type, but beware other teams can move in and sign these

players to their own academies. So if you like the look of a player (and have the 21,000 signing fee) then move quickly for them!

Anyway, good players will have an upper potential range (e.g. the 89 in 67 89) in the late 80s or 90s. The very best players will have a

minimum potential value of at least 70 (e.g. 73 94). These are the ones you should move for straight away. But if youre not sure

whether a player will be good enough, simply find the middle of the potential range so for this example, the middle of 67 89 would

be 78. This isnt a foolproof way to work out a players actual potential, but its a simple way to get a rough estimate. If that middle


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number looks good enough for your team, sign the player.

Lets have a look at some examples of players I would and would not sign to show you what I mean:

See full image

This players OVR doesnt look very good (especially compared to FIFA 13), but look at his potential. We can take a rough guess that

his actual potential is around 83, which is very good. What I would do in this case is sign the player and then wait until the May update;

chances are his OVR will go right up and he will be well worth the investment. Now lets have a look at a player who I probably wouldnt

sign:
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See full image

His OVR range is actually higher than the last player, but his potential range is nowhere near as good we can assume his actual

potential is around 74. Come May he may not actually grow that much (at least, compared to the last player) because his potential is

probably lower. Of course, you may find that this player would fit in well with your team and could make a real difference; if thats the

case, definitely go ahead and sign him. But you can expect to (hopefully) find better players than this.
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See full image

Now I dont think I need to tell you whether to sign this beast or not! When you find a player like this and the minimum potential value is

already so high, it quite often goes higher. So while we could guess his potential is around 85, in next months scout report his

potential range may have changed to 81 94 or something similar. These are the very best players out there and are not to be

missed.

If you want to find players like this, its actually fairly straightforward: as with the past two years, you can still reload scouting reports.

Just save the day before the scouting report is due to arrive, then advance to the next day. Open up the scouting report, and if theres

no one there that looks good enough, just quit the career and reload it. Advance again and the players on your scouting report will be

different. You may not want to do this, and thats fair enough. You will still be able to find great players without doing this, it will just

save time.

Last year there were five or six sets of scouting reports, so if you reloaded enough you would get the same set of players come up

more than once. This year (Im almost certain) this no longer happens, and that scouting reports are random (or if there are sets, there

are a lot more than five or six).

4. After youve promoted players & the May update
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As with FIFA 13, youth players only grow once per year (1st May), so it is vital that you wait until then in order to maximise your youth

players growth. If you promote a youth player in April then you essentially lose an entire years worth of growth. If you wait until May, he

often ends up growing a massive amount. Whilst this was true for FIFA 13, it is even more the case this year because it seems to be

much, much harder to find youth players with 65 OVR or higher right off the bat you usually have to wait until May for them to reach

this sort of OVR.

For example, in my test career I had three particularly promising players (the first was found by a 3*/3* scout, the second two with a4*/5* scout). Below are their stats when they were first scouted:

One was rated 52-70, potential 76-94



As a test I promoted them as soon as possible, and they came out rated 54, 54 and 51 respectively, which was pretty disappointing to

be honest. However, I then went back to before they were promoted and this t ime waited until the May update. I promoted themstraight after, and this time they came out rated 67, 65 and 65, which was an incredible jump. So if you find a player with a great

looking potential but weak OVR range, dont discard him. Keep him in the academy until May and you could find that he grows

phenomenally well.

What does this mean for your scouting reports? Look for good potential ranges, not OVR.I cant stress that enough. Funnily enough

this is actually the opposite of how I did it in FIFA 12 back then I would look for OVR instead of potential, purely because player

growth was so poor. Now that EA seem to have fixed that, you need to start focussing on potential, as thats what will matter in the

long run.

Once youve promoted your players, there are three key statuses to look out for that give an indication of how good your player might

become. Go to the Squad Report page (under the Squad tab) and look to see if your players have one of the following:

Showing great potential potential 80 85

An exciting prospect potential 86 90

Has potential to be special potential 91+


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Note that some players have Has that special something as their status, which is different to Has potential to be special; the former

means a player has the flair trait and can do extra flicks and passes, it doesnt relate to his potential. It should also be noted that you

wont see these statuses if your players OVR is less than 60 (but he could, of course, get one of these statuses once he reaches 60

OVR), nor will you see it once your player reaches age 22.

However, heres some big news youth player potentials can change if you

reload around the May update. For example, save the day before the May

update. Advance, promote a youth player and his status may be An exciting

prospect. Reload and do it again and this time it might be Has potential to be

special. Ive actually had a player who had Showing great potential one time,

Has potential to be special another and then nothing at all on a third attempt.

Usually its only going to be a small change his potential going up or down by

one point, most likely but its interesting that it can be manipulated.

The impact of all this may not be massive players can exceed their potential,

after all, so he could reach amazing heights regardless of what his status is

but still, its something Ive never seen before and is a fascinating thing to see.

Youth player values have also changed and there is potential for confusion. They are, generally, much lower than on FIFA 13. So if you

go to promote a player and his value is only 50,000, for example, dont despair. It doesnt mean hell turn out to be useless, EA just

seem to have toned it down a little this year.

Heres a good example. In my test career I found a GK who came out of the

academy rated 62 at age 16. Whilst in the academy he had a very promising

potential range, yet when I went to offer him a contract he was only worth

110,000. However, I then went to the squad report page and, lo and behold, he

had the Has potential to be special status, meaning he could reach OVR 91+.

On FIFA 13 players with that kind of potential would be valued at several million

pounds when promoted, so EA have clearly reined that in a bit. So as I said, if

you played FIFA 13 last year, forget everything about youth player valuations.

This year its clearly different, so dont release a load of youth products if their

value is lower than you expected!

Now y ou see it

now y ou dont
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Interestingly, I found that goalkeeper with a 4*/5* scout whilst searching for playmakers! So you can get some nice surprises from

time to time.

5. Other tips and info

Scout a Future Star: user Patrick W pointed outthat I had forgotten to mention the Scout a Future Star feature which you can buy fromthe EASFC catalogue. This basically sends out a scout to automatically bring back a player with extremely high potential, the type of

player you only occasionally find in scouting trips. Patrick gave some great information so Ill post what he said below:

When you use a Scout Future Star catalogue item, you will absolutely have to wait until 1 May of that season. The

first one I used, I got a German ST, 55-59 OVR, 89-94 POT, who wanted out almost immediately. I signed him to

the first team, and of course he was pretty bad, 58 OVR and extremely slow. Several seasons of loans later, and hes

still only a 68. My second Scout Future Star, however, I got a German RB, 42-44 OVR , 89-94 POT, who I kept in

the youth squad all year. Come 1 May, he leapt up to 69-73 OVR. When signed to the first team, he was 72 OVRwith 95+ sprint speed, accel, agility, and crossing. Three seasons later, hes an 82 OVR complete forward who would

be rated much higher if his position werent listed incorrectly (his low defending stats and high attacking stats

suggest he definitely should be a RW or RM). So while its important for most youth players to keep them in the

youth squad for as long as possible, its absolutely VITAL if you use Scout Future Star.

So it seems like a good idea to purchase the Scout a Future Star option sometime after January so that theres not much time

between the scout finding the player and 1st May. This means theres less time for your future star to demand to be promoted early

and therefore miss the May update!

Now heres a roundup of some other useful information and ideas when scouting in FIFA 14:

Regens do still exist, but of course you cant see their OVR until youve sent a Global Transfer Network scout to go and

have a look at them. This means its much harder to decide whether or not to sign a player; you cant instantly see their

OVR and know that they are worth signing. What Id recommend is that you sort the free agents by position, then get your

scouts to look at any positions that you feel you need strengthening

If t i th l t t f th d it d l d (thi i h it i t t
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If you get a message saying a youth player wants out of the academy, quit and reload (this is one reason why its important

to save regularly). Next time, advance one day at a time (saving each time you advance and dont get the message), and

after an in-game week of doing this he may not ask to be promoted. This can require a lot of patience sometimes it will

take several goes but eventually there will be a time when you dont get the message and so shouldnt risk losing him

Playmakers can still have amazing mental stats and poor technical stats,

but this seems to be rarer than in FIFA 13 (although it still happens

annoyingly often)

Youth players have different birthdays I scouted one player who was 16 inthe first report, then by the second report he was already 17. No other

players my scout was looking at had increased in age. Not massively

important, but its better than last year, when every youth player ever found

would coincidentally be born on exactly the same day.

EA seem to have finally addressed the wrong-footed issue with scouted

players (hallelujah!). In FIFA 13 you would very often find that your left-sided

scouted players would be right-footed, and vice versa. This was extremely

common and very annoying, especially when their weak foot was also

poor. Thankfully EA seem to have cleared this up now you can still get

right-footed left-wingers, for example, which may be a good thing if thats

your playing style but its much less common, making things much more

realistic

EA also seem to have sorted out the weight/height matching. I used to

regularly find 65 beanpoles who weighed 145lbs, or 55 200lb players who had clearly been fed too much ice cream.

Thats pretty much non-existent now

Finally, youth players can now have multiple positions. I know, it doesnt mean much in practice (look at his stats to work

out where hes best, not his listed positions), but its a nice touch. The only slight hiccup is that goalkeepers can have

multiple positions. Yep. Goalkeepers. I have one whose listed positions are GK/LM/ST. Good one, EA

6. Summary

Lets have a look at what all this means to scouting in FIFA 14:

See? Didnt believe m e, did y ou?
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116 THOUGHTS ON FIFA 14 SCOUTING GUIDE

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Get the best scout you can. All scouts can find good players, but there is a noticeable difference between a 1*/1*

scout and a 5*/5* one

Some countries will give you a better chance of success than others, but all are capable of producing world-beaters.

Bear in mind, though, that countries still dont specialise in player types

It is now absolutely essential to look at player potential before OVR when reviewing your scouting reports. Players

can grow enormous amounts in May, and if you have a player with a great potential range but poor OVR then you

could be pleasantly surprised

Reloading still works, so dont despair if a scouting report brings back no notable players. Of course, you may feel

this is cheating, so dont do it if you dont want to

Wait until the May youth squad report to promote your youth players, otherwise you risk losing a years worth of

growth

If you have any useful tips or want to share some of your scouting experiences, dont forget to leave a comment below. Thanks for all

your support and happy scouting!

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Patrick Won October 13, 2013 at 8:24 pmsaid:

Super informative stuff, thanks for doing this man. The only thing Id mention that I

didnt see here is that when you use a Scout Future Star catalogue item you will
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Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

didn t see here is that when you use a Scout Future Star catalogue item, you will

absolutely have to wait until 1 May of that season. The first one I used, I got a

German ST, 55-59 OVR, 89-94 POT, who wanted out almost immediately. I signed

him to the first team, and of course he was pretty bad, 58 OVR and extremely slow.

Several seasons of loans later, and hes still only a 68. My second Scout Future

Star, however, I got a German RB, 42-44 OVR, 89-94 POT, who I kept in the youth

squad all year. Come 1 May, he leapt up to 69-73 OVR. When signed to the first

team, he was 72 OVR with 95+ sprint speed, accel, agility, and crossing. Threeseasons later, hes an 82 OVR complete forward who would be rated much higher if

his position werent listed incorrectly (his low defending stats and high attacking

stats suggest he definitely should be a RW or RM). So while its important for most

youth players to keep them in the youth squad for as long as possible, its absolutely

VITAL if you use Scout Future Star.

Reply

Alex B

on October 13, 2013 at 8:43 pmsaid:

I knew Id forgotten something haha Excellent point, Ill add it to the guide

(with credit of course), thanks for letting us know about it

Reply

Andres on October 13, 2013 at 8:39 pmsaid:

Fantastic guide, Alex. Ive been waiting for this article for a while and it is obviously

the best guide out there. I found the differences between the trip costs especially
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pdfcrowd.comopen in browser PRO version Are you a developer? Try out the HTML to PDF API

Glad I could help a little bit. I am glad you finally had to to write it with

your busy schedule.

The relative percentage increase is what really surprised me. I could

understand a small percentage difference between regions where

more talent appears, but it does seem to provide an incentive for

scouting certain countries/regions if on a stringent budget.

What I would really love to see is a bit more realism in the game

(ways to interact with players besides just increasing wages). For

example, an option of offering an older player a coaching position if

he keeps playing for decreased wages to prevent him from retiring; or

a way to promise younger players playing time in the future when

they say they want out; or even a way to bribe academy players to

stay in longer to prevent having to reload when they want out. One

last thing Ive always wanted is a way to have a club partnership

could be anything from what Udinese has with Granada to Barca and

Barca B or even Sporting KC and Orlando City (if you follow MLS). I

think this system could be implement in place of the national team

managing screen (instead of going to a national team menu, it could

take you to the affiliate club menu where you would have limited

control of that teams management).

Reply

Alex B

on January 25, 2014 at 10:32 pmsaid:

Sorry its taken so long to respond! Yeah Id definitely love

that, especially when players demand more playing time. You

should be able to explain to them whats going on or promise
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should be able to explain to them what s going on or promise

them more time soon, etc.

I like the idea of affiliated clubs and I think it would work really

well as a way of guaranteeing your players get loaned out. It

seems like people are having a lot of trouble with that so there

should be a simpler way of making sure your players get

loaned, and this could be it.

Reply

Gustavo on October 14, 2013 at 10:17 amsaid:

Does anybody know which youths have commentators names and which dont? On

FIFA 13, the Spanish names had many commentator names and this year they

seem to have been removed. Names like Sanchez, Alvarez and Gonzalez for youth

no longer are commentator names. English names seem to have the majority that I

have seem so far.

Reply

Alex B


Sorry its taken so long to respond! I dont actually know. When you create a

pro you can choose his commentary name from a list, but I dont know if that

corresponds to the list of names that can be read out in career mode. Youd


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think itd be the same, but Im not sure, but its probably worth having a look

at that name list to see what names are (probably) read out.

Reply

Mads on October 14, 2013 at 5:44 pmsaid:

Very helpful stuff!

Will there be a guide about the new Global Transfer Network?

Reply

Alex B


Sorry its taken so long to respond! And thanks

I did intend to but Ive been so busy that there just hasnt been time. Im doing

a postgrad course at the moment and could try to make a guide after I finish,

but thats not until early June and I dont know if people would still be

interested then. Ive just got so much work on that I dont have enough time at

the moment (hence why its taken me so long to get back to you!).

If anyone else feels like this is something theyd like to have a look at then I

would be hugely grateful, but unfortunately Im struggling to respond to

comments at the moment, never mind get research and writing done for a

GTN article sorry.


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Reply

Luke M on October 15, 2013 at 2:51 amsaid:also i noticed when using the scout future star that you can reload before the end of

the month that you buy the option, and get a different one each time, i settled for a 62

ovr potential to be special LM from argentina

Reply

Stuart Graveson October 15, 2013 at 8 :08 pmsaid:

Thank you so much Alex regardless of whether Im coaching my beloved Leicester

City FC with their pretty decent budget, or Morecombe, I go for the scouts and free

agents with my wonga.

(I am yet to commence a CM with LCFC was waiting on you).

My Morecombe 1 Star found a Has Potential To Be Special in Season 2, but since

then absolute bobbins.

Hey, hes earned his money for life that manthe player in question is developing

quickly.

Regens at the start of Season 3 I discovered 2 Showing Great Potentials and an

Exciting Prospect defenders and midfielders, no attackers.

I have also noticed that the cost of scouts now values Judgement over Experience

considerably.
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I pick up so much great information from you and the posters on the comments

section really makes Career Mode that much more enjoyable.

Once again, my gratitude and I hope the studies are going well.

(ps from sofifa I picked up Tyler Harvey from Plymouth, an apparent hotbed of

young and potentially great strikers he is not listed as Showing Great Potential,

despite sofifa rating his potential as 81. And he is developing as a player rated that

highly would.)

Reply

Kay on October 22, 2013 at 8:05 amsaid:

Great scoutingtips, thank you so much for these guides, it has helped me a lot (been

following them since FIFA 12). I just have one question. Do you know how the

EASFC catalogue works? Ive purchased one scout future star item and it worked.

But when starting over with a new career Im unable to use it again. Shouldnt it be

possible, since its possible to use it once every season?

Many thanks!

Reply

Alex B


Unfortunately EA seem to have worded it really badly. There are (I think) four

different scout a future star options that you can purchase from the EASFC


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catalogue, all at different levels, and all say they can be purchased once per

season. But what this actually means is that you can only purchase each

one once, and thats it. Its not once per season, but once total, so you only

get four chances at it throughout the entire time you have FIFA 14. So you

wont be able to purchase that scout a future star option again, but if you level

up you should eventually unlock another one.

Like I said, its really badly worded it shouldnt say once per season

because its not correct!

Hope that makes it a bit clearer

Reply

Bubba

on November 4, 2013 at 3:52 pmsaid:

Hey Alex, are you sure?

When I purchase this catalogue item it displays a number in tick

block, just like it did in FIFA 13. I assumed it meant once per season,

I never really tried to buy the same scout future star item again

though. But its different from purchasing another item in thecatalogue which simply gets a tick.

Reply

benjiwade

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Alex is correct. You get one crack at each of these Scout A

Future Star items until the next years FIFA.

Reply

benjiwadeon October 23, 2013 at 7:42 pmsaid:

Excellent work on this article, thanks Alex. Great to see this site alive and well!

Reply

Alex B


Thanks! The first So You Want A article should be out by the end of the

week/weekend, so keep checking back for that

Reply

Lelouch on October 29, 2013 at 2 :20 pmsaid:

Hello Alex, great guide this year again, really impressed by your will to share all these

informations to Youth Academy lovers

Im here to provide some updated info on FIFA 14.
http://pdfcrowd.com/http://pdfcrowd.com/redirect/?url=http%3a%2f%2fwww.fifascoutingtips.com%2ffifa-14-scouting-guide%2f&id=ma-140430234258-430b258chttp://pdfcrowd.com/customize/http://pdfcrowd.com/html-to-pdf-api/?ref=pdfhttp://www.fifascoutingtips.com/fifa-14-scouting-guide/?replytocom=16218#respondhttp://www.fifascoutingtips.com/fifa-14-scouting-guide/?replytocom=16168#respondhttp://gravatar.com/benjiwadehttp://www.fifascoutingtips.com/fifa-14-scouting-guide/?replytocom=16180#respond


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You have noticed that really good youth players are fewer this year, there is a simple

reason found by datamining this years game code.

The knowledge matrix have been modified by EA to reduce the rate at which scouts

can find good players.

Knowledge Modifier Matrix by Player Tier : (in percentage %)

Stars|Bronze|Silver|Gold|Platinum

1|82|15|2|1

2|70|25|3|2

3|60|33|4|3

4|40|50|6|4

5|23|63|8|6

The repartition of players by tier in countries is still the same as last year.

Reply

Lelouch


Bytheway, the player type (Physically Gifted, Attacker, WInger) differs with

countries.

YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_ATTACK_MINDED]

PLAYER_TYPE_ATTACK_MINDED_0=20





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[YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_DEFFENSIVE_MINDED]

PLAYER_TYPE_DEFFENSIVE_MINDED_0=5












[YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_GOOD_HANDS]

PLAYER_TYPE_GOOD_HANDS_0=100







PLAYER TYPE GOOD HANDS 7=100


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[YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_MENTALLY_STRONG]

PLAYER_TYPE_MENTALLY_STRONG_0=5












[YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_PHYSICAL_POWER]

PLAYER_TYPE_PHYSICAL_POWER_0=5










PLAYER TYPE PHYSICAL POWER 10=14


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[YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_PHYSICAL_SPEED]

PLAYER_TYPE_PHYSICAL_SPEED_0=30












[YOUTH_SCOUT_PLAYER_TYPE_SKILLED]

PLAYER_TYPE_SKILLED_0=30












0 to 11 corresponds to countries id, each value is the percentage.


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You see that Africa (id 11) has 35% players with Winger type

(PHYSICAL_SPEED) and 35% players with Physically Strong type

(PHYSICAL_POWER).

(Sorry my game is in French so i dont have correct names for player types)

GOOD HANDS = Goalkeeper

ATTACK_MINDED = AttackerDEFENSIVE_MINDED = Defender

MENTALLY_STRONG = Organisator

PHYSICAL_POWER = Physically Strong

PHYSICAL_SPEED = Winger

SKILLED = Skilled

Reply

benjiwade


Excellent information, thanks for that. So Im lead to believe EA are

rather racist by saying that Mentally Strong players basically dont

exist in Africa?! They also seem to think the fastest players in the

world come from Asia. Fascinating.

Reply

Juan


Are you entirely sure about this? It is excellent information but where

did you get it from?
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did you get it from?

Reply

Lelouch

on November 4, 2013 at 12:07 am said:

Yes, im sure about this, i extracted these data from FIFA 14

PC version s .big (database) files.

Its been the same file data structure for years. Simply

updated by EA since their devs are too lazy to redo the game.

Reply

Cereberto

on November 4, 2013 at 8:57 amsaid:

@Lelouch

Is it really the knowledge rating of the scout, that

affects the quality of found youth players or is it, like

before, the judgement rating?

Dee


@Lelouch Can you provide the a list of regions for

0-11? is this the same as FIFA 13? In which case am

i reading it correctly when you say the fastest players


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g y y y p y

are from Asia and the Southern Europe region (Italy)

has only a 5% chance of producing a defensive

minded player?

Stuart Graveson November 4, 2013 at 12:11 am said:

My godthis is great info!

Reply

Lelouch on November 4, 2013 at 12:29 pmsaid:

EA names judgement as knowlegde in game files but its effectively knowledge

which affects players quality.

Reply

Bubba on November 4, 2013 at 3:47 pmsaid:

Great guide dude. Always helps, I just wanted to throw this out therewhat is the

oldest age that anyone has been able to keep a player in their youth academy?

I almost got a youth up to age 19 before he wanted out
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Reply

benjiwade


Thanks, Bubba. Ive been waiting for somebody to mention this because I

hadnt any data to support one way or the other. I thought all youth would

automatically leave before their 18th birthday. However, Im also interested to

know if a player can still progress in the academy past their 17th birthday.

From memory of FIFA 12 and 13, you might be able to keep them past 17

but theyd stop developing.

Reply

Bubba


Sorry dude I meant to say 18 not 19. But it would be interesting to

know if that were possible. It would also mean if your youth was going

to turn 18 during a season and that this would happen before May, its

advisable to promote them?

Reply

interwebme on November 6, 2013 at 3:04 amsaid:
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Amazing guide yet again!

I do have a question:

I had a goalkeeper in my youth team with POT of 85-94. I promoted him and he has

not got the potential to be special it only says At the club since 2015. Hes 18 with

an OVR of 63 but hasnt progressed in half a season. So what is his real potential?

The thing is I have two other keepers both that had potentials in the youth team of up

to 89 which have the messages showing great potential (AGE 17 OVR 61 +1 this

season) and an exciting prospect (AGE 18 OVR 61 +2 this season).

Id appreciate any thoughts.

Sorry for the repost but it didnt seem to get through.

Reply

Luuk on November 6, 2013 at 7:28 amsaid:

Hey Alex, I need some help.

I never can find any good players this year, while I found the best of the best previous

year.

Reply

TS on November 6, 2013 at 7:33 pmsaid:

Once you get the YOUTH PLAYER WANTS OUT email, how long do you have until

he actually leaves. Just got 2 at the end of March and Im wondering if I can hold out

until May 2nd.


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Reply

Alex B


I think its unlikely, its usually only a week or two. Can you reload to a slightly

earlier save and try advancing again? The message may not come up if you

do that.

Reply

TS


Just simmed it through 4 times. 3 out of 4 times they were still on the roster

on May 2nd.

Reply

interwebme


Ive had a player stay for a year. Ive had a player stay for two weeks.

Reply
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TS


Yea Im sure its just a gamble. Thanks guys for replying. Ill report

back when Ive played it through.

Reply

TS on November 7, 2013 at 12:18 am said:

This is a great resourceful site btw. Thanks for putting it together.

This may be one here somewhere, but are you aware of the roster/ objectives

exploit? You can essentially dictate what your objectives will be for the next season.

Reply

Alex B

on November 7, 2013 at 10:42 am said:

Possibly is that where you change your starting lineup at the end of the

season so that its full of all your worst players, then your board thinks your

team is worse than it is and gives you easier objectives? Thats one thing Ive

heard about anyway!

Reply
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TS


Yup, thats it. Great for stocking up your lower division teams with

Youth Squad guys before the competition gets oppressive.

Also, regarding Free Agents- Ive noticed that some of the good andgreat free agents start to show up in years 2 and 3. Easy trick to

figure out, any time I see an FA with anything thats dark green I

approach to sign and their value is already in there, so if his salary is

over 10,000 youll know you most likely have a decent player. Saves a

scout slot and some time. Youll still have to do some scouting if you

are trying to determine which mid 60s players you want, but at least

this helps with the easy ones.

P.S. Update today finally fixes the roster screen lag!

Reply

Nato on November 7, 2013 at 9:32 amsaid:

Ive found it very easy to get 5 star scouts this year compared to FIFA 13. Like 2

within two months, its crazy last year I would have to reload for ages. Also my first

scout report gave me a 71 94 rated player, found this odd but very cool as well.

Need to play more and will check your guide out though.

Thanks for the guides you do an awesome job.

Reply


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deshineon November 7, 2013 at 7:31 pmsaid:

hey Alex the greatest guide i ever found really nice i have only one question i

search a player ala ibrahimovic or crouch tall strong and striker how i can find himthe best way?

Reply

Alex B


Thanks very much!

In terms of scouting its quite difficult. You can search for physically strong

players and that would find the type of player you want, but the problem is

that the players your scout finds could be in any position. You may end up

finding lots of strong centre backs but no strong strikers. The other option is

to search for players with the attacker type, but most of these players are

the more standard type of striker that you get through scouting great

finishing and heading, but not amazing strength. You can find physically

strong strikers this way, but like the other method, its hard!

Alternatively, Ill be publishing an article either tomorrow or on Saturday

detailing promising young target men (that is, strong strikers like Crouch and

Ibrahimovic) who dont cost very much, so if you wanted a real player instead

of trying to scout one then you could try having a look at that

Reply
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deshine


thanks alex! i hope i will find a good one:) oh yes i see great guide

again;) really nice!

Reply

Shashank Venugopal Koppuravurion November 8, 2013 at 4:57 am said:

Hey Alex,

Thanks again for an amazing guide. Your blog is literally my bread and butter when it

comes to FIFA 14 CM! ^_^

That being said, I call upon you once more regarding confusion with respect to

player status in the Squad Report page.

Some of the players statuses changed after season one.

Pogba from Exciting to to be special

Veratti from Exciting to great potential

Goretzka who grew like an Exciting has Great potential

and Nick Powell who grew like an Exciting has At the club

Why did their statuses change? Im always welcoming of progressive changes, but

despite Veratti growing +2 since joining in Jan, he got demoted??
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Reply

Alex B


Thanks very much!

Regarding player statuses, it seems to be really flexible this year. If a player

has a particularly good (or bad) season then their potential can easily

change, which is what youve been seeing.

The problem is that sometimes you can have a player growing well but

having his potential go down. I honestly dont know why this happen, as itseems quite illogical. The only thing I can really say is that, because

potentials seem to change so readily, they may very well regain the status

that they lost.

Ill put a tweet out this evening to see if anyone else has experienced this and

if they have any advice, so hopefully someone else may be able to shed

some more light on this.

If anyone else knows more about this issue, please feel free to leave a

comment

Reply

TS on November 16, 2013 at 5:11 pmsaid:


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, p

What does scouting for Mentally Strong players get you? Is it worth it?

Reply

Andrew Mertig on November 19, 2013 at 10:22 pmsaid:

Thanks for this incredible guide. I just thought Id offer a couple tips regarding youth

academy players and other thoughts in general. First, I echo your sentiments

regarding leaving players in the youth academy until after May 1. Some naysayers

say to get them out of your squad ASAP and play them. I still dont think they grow as

fast as they would post-May 1. I would go one step further and say to leave them in

there as long as possible. If you can wait until July 1, theyll advance a year and are

more likely to be loaned out. Ive had players make it through TWO May 1 periods.They come out with 70-75 OVR and 90-94 POT at times. The May 1 time period is

also amazing for boosting their ratings. I jotted down my players overall ratings

before and after May 1, and they were vastly different. Some went from 39-51 OVR

to 67-71 OVR! It isnt that uncommon for a players rating to go up 10-20 points after

May 1. You want to get players who have a high potential. Dont even worry about

their overall rating range before May 1.

Be careful not to send out a scout on the 28, 29, 30 or 31st of the month. Youll getscrewed for a few months especially February.

Another thing Ive noticed regarding GK lack of growth is that theres a way to speed

it up a bit. During the games, if you are dominating your competition your GK will

have a lackluster rating. Try lob passing the ball from your GK to a defender and

heading it back to the GK. This give the GK a save. Do this 10-20 times, and your

GK Rating will be 9.0+ typically. This is a way to make them grow faster.

If you get five star perfect scouts and scout hard in good countries (Spain Brazil


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If you get five star perfect scouts and scout hard in good countries (Spain, Brazil,

etc.) at the start of your third season you should have an absolutely incredible youth

academy. It takes time for them to grow and increase in ratings. At the start of my

third season, I had a full youth academy squad with guys rated from 65-75 all

potentials over 90. Its a pain to constantly save so they dont terminate their

contracts but well worth it in the end.

These are just some ideas I had mulling around in my head.

Reply

Andrew Mertig


One more thing

As for:

Showing Good Potential, An Exciting Prospect and Has Potential to Be

Special, I think sometimes they are inverted or incorrect. I always write down

what my youth players Potential rating ranges are. I have lots of players who

have 90-94, but periodically they come out with the title of Showing Good

Potential. On the other hand, Ill get a player rated 81-87 potential that says

Has Potential to be Special.

Has anyone else noticed this? Im not sure if I should go by their Potential

rating OR this phrase.

Reply

Paul Gunslinger Smith
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G g S


Yes Ive noticed this. Im tempted to go by their description after being

promoted. Ive found they tend to grow according to this and not

according to what their overall potential was in youth academy. I

could be wrong of course.Nice tip on the keepers!

Reply

herbski

on December 20, 2013 at 6:48 pmsaid:

Yeah I believe that is correct, the description is more

important as far as growth. Im not 100% certain but it

seemed that way in my experience.

You can just save before you promote the player, and reload

the player until he gets potential to be special though.

Reply

just want beas t players


regarding the GK rating every match, do you lob through pass to a defender

then regular lob to gk? i tried it but i tend to have an own goal
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Reply

Andrew Mertig


What I do is hold LB (xbox) and press Square to do a subtle lob pass

to my defender. Then I Hold LB and press X or Square to head it back

to the keeper. This counts as a save. It takes a while to get good at it,

but once you do, your keeper will have a very high rating.

Occasionally Ill get an own goal, but you can still get a very high

rating. Doing this in conjunction with loaning your GK for a day or two

during the winter transfer period then getting him back will help

expedite his growth. Ive noticed that GK still progress much slowerthan any other position. If I can get a GK to go up 3-4 points a year,

thats a success. In year 2023, all of my guys were rated 90 and my

GK was around an 82.

Reply

jus t want beast players on November 21, 2013 at 9:57 am said:

has anyone manage to get good young players with potential to be special using the

global transfer network? as in getting these players from other teams youth squad

who have been promoted to the main team.

Reply


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Gustavo


I have not and I also have not read about anybody being able to do it. The

exact opposite actually. Many people complaining about this problem that the

GSN is broken on the EA forums.

Reply

Dustin


I have found some exciting prospects but not potential to be special. I

personally love the gsn as it ads a lot to the depth of the mode. I use it most

the first two seasons to kick start young player growth until my youth squad

develops. Its also nice to use if you have specific needs.

Reply

herbski


I dont think there arent any potential to be special players in the game other

than Neymar or Gotze from the start. All the 91+ potential players are over 21

except Neymar and Gotze. Of course a few years in you may find a regen or

a CPU scouted player (not even sure if CPU scouts or just uses regens)

that could have that status.


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Although you can get a player and improve him to that status. The first

season the status is always player just arrived. The potential of that player

can go up/down the following season. Or you can loan a player out and when

he returns his status can change.

Reply

herbski


As for the May update whether to wait or not, I tend to think that you

absolutely need one May update. Especially for the mispositioned

players. If they are showing a really low OVR, they will jump huge

after their first May update.

But any more than that? I would say would depend upon whether you

plan on playing them as a starter or not. I have yet to find any

ridiculous growth from a player in a 2nd May update.

Id say if they are good enough to start pull them out after the first May

update. This will also help you keep a bit more room in your academy

for scouting other players if you have a full academy. If you dont plan

on playing them a ton, Id say leave them in.

Reply

jus t want beast players on November 22, 2013 at 7:09 pmsaid:


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j p y p

hey guys what are some ways of finding regen players? i know you could keep track

of their retirement but most of the time you cant really tell. should i just put age 17-23

on global transfer network and with promising checked?

Reply

Luis Taglianetti (@Lou_Taglianetti)


do ages 17-20 then check the promising, and first team quality boxes then

sign whatever players your scout brings back. they will definitely be good.

scout places like spain italy germany england and brazil. the players turn out

to be really good and most cases are fast. they only cost 2 to 3 mill got aspanish striker that was 71 or 72, after 2 years he was 80 and has 87

speed

Reply

Unknownon November 24, 2013 at 2:16 am said:

However, heres some big news youth player potentials can change if you reload

around the May update. For example, save the day before the May update. Advance,

promote a youth player and his status may be An exciting prospect. Reload and do

it again and this time it might be Has potential to be special. Ive actually had a

player who had Showing great potential one time, Has potential to be special

another and then nothing at all on a third attempt. Usually its only going to be a small

change his potential going up or down by one point, most likely but its interesting

that it can be manipulated.
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You dont need to wait till May to try to change their potentials, I just tried in February

and his potential changed from an exciting prospect to has potential to be special.

Reply

Andrew Mertig


I also had a GK who came out as An Exciting Prospect when I initially

signed him to the first team. He had excellent form, and I loaned him out.

When he came back to my team his new status was Has Potential to be

Special. I wonder if potentials can fluctuate based on how the player is

performing/form?

Reply

jymz on November 29, 2013 at 5:46 am said:

ANY IDEA: does playing a scouted youth squad player ON YOUR NATIONAL TEAM

before signing them to your first team screw with their potential?

Reply

Alex B

on November 29, 2013 at 10:52 amsaid:

I dont think so. As I recall, on FIFA 13 you could actually sign 15 year olds to


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the national squad and make them grow even though they were still in your

youth squad. So as far as I know, playing them in your youth squad before

promoting them essentially just gives them a boost

Reply

Andrew Mertig


Somebody should try this. Heck, maybe Ill try it. On Fifa 13 Id always

put my 15 year olds still in my Youth Team on the national team. I

cant recall if this makes them grow faster?! Thats a great question.

If they do grow, I wonder if their OVR range or POT range fluctuates?

Ill look into this.

Reply

Andrew Mertig on December 2, 2013 at 4:35 pmsaid:

Two other things Ive noticed. A good way to get better youth players is to save the

game a day before your scout comes back with the youth players. Then if you get a

bad crop of players, simply quit and reload until you get a good batch of guys. Also,

and I dont know if theres any merit to this, but Ive noticed that when I have a match

the day before my scout comes back with his list of players, if I do very well and

absolutely dominate the match, Ill get better players. For instance, I only had a 2-star

scout, and I was getting garbage. A few times, I blew out the competition 5-0, 6-0 the

day before the scout came back with the report. When I did this I had abnormally

d h l N if hi i hi b i l k d lik d


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good youth players. Not sure if this is something, but it looked like a trend.

Reply

Reed on December 3, 2013 at 2:49 am said:

Awesome guide you have here! But I do have a question regarding players being

sent out on loans and their potentials. I have a youth player I promoted in May and I

sent him out on a loan. Hes rated a 78 and age 17, and his potential was 90-94! It

said he had a potential to be special before he left for the loan. Once he returned

from his short loan, it now says that he is a exciting prospect. Does this mean he

no longer has the superstar potential?

Reply

Alex B


Thanks

Potentials are very strange this year. They can change very easily if you

promote a player, then reload and promote him again, he could have different

potentials each time. So the fact that they can c

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