Youth Development Unraveled: Part 2

I’d like to explain (try!) some of the more detailed information in relation to how CA points are spent and why certain attributes increase, decrease or simply don’t go up at all! If you are not familiar with Current Ability and Potential Ability then you need to head over the Part 1 before reading this.

**disclaimer** I believe the following to be correct, this is how it worked in FM08 (from memory and simplified) and i’m fairly certain this is how it is working on FML. Rob Cooper has said that attribute points are spent in the same way as on FM so the following shouldn’t be too far off **disclaimer**

The most important thing to understand is attributes are weighted so an ‘important’ attribute costs more CA points than an ‘unimportant’ one and some don’t cost anything at all! I can’t tell you what the weightings are because I don’t know them and it is a very complicated system.

Put simply physical attributes are probably the most costly. Pace and acceleration are the biggest cost for most players. Every wondered why so many high potential youth players with high pace and acceleration are rubbish or not developing? The answer is because they have used up all their potential by having high pace because it is such a costly attribute to possess. I’d say this echoes real life because how many truly world class players have exceptional pace? So if you see a low potential player who has very high physical attributes then his career is over – that’s it folks, he has nothing left in him, he will not get much better. Most physical attributes are very costly because they are important to just about every position on the pitch.

The next thing to realise is that attributes are weighted depending on a player’s position. So it will cost a lot of CA points for a striker to increase his finishing, it might not cost as much for a winger to gain finishing and for a defender ? Well assuming it works like FM08, which I’m fairly sure it does… it’s free!

If a player gains an attribute which is not linked to his position then it doesn’t cost anything, no CA points, nothing! I wont list them all but they are fairly obvious, like a centre back gaining crossing etc. Just see these as bonus increases, you are not losing any potential development by gaining something which is unimportant.

The same goes if you see a dreaded red arrow! Look at what has decreased, has your striker just lost some marking ability ? It doesn’t matter! Players can be shaped depending on their position, age and other factors. Maybe a striker has lost some marking and tackling but that might have been put towards something useful instead like composure. I do have a list of the free attributes for every position, I’m not going to put I on here because I can’t confirm it’s accuracy. If anyone would like the information then get in touch and I’ll pass on the link.

Understanding the above is absolutely key to finding good youth players. If you see a 3* defender who has 15/15/15 tackling/heading/jumping but has low attributes elsewhere there is no need to worry! This means he has plenty of PA left in him to develop what is important to his position, his KEY attributes which could make him a top class defender. If you see a 4.5* player which has 10+ in every attribute then be wary, he clearly already has a very high CA so he might just not have it in him to develop anymore.

It can still be worthwhile signing low star players who look like they can perform in your youth team even if they will never get any better. Always try to find some older youth players with KEY attributes. The reason is, see Part 1, you need your players to get a high average rating and your team getting hammered every game does not equal a good rating :) Also look at your current senior team and try and guess how many would have been above 4* ?

Another thing I would like to touch on is player positions. If you come across a youth player who is competent in several different positions you need to be wary again. It actually uses up CA points just to be able to play in all those positions!

If these points have been used up creating a green field it may mean less green arrows. There is a second huge impact to this too because you are losing lots of free attribute potential. Crossing for a MC is free, Crossing for a ML/R is not free. So if you find a player who can play MC RLC and you intend to use him in MC, bear in mind he has to use CA points for ‘pay’ for his crossing ability which may mean less potential to develop something such as passing.

Did you know that GK rating for outfield players also uses CA points ?

The final thing I want to mention is the ‘preferred foot’ attribute. This is massively over looked by so many people on FML. It makes a HUGE difference to how a player performs and is worth a few attribute points in several areas. A dual footed player with 15 passing could actually be better at passing than a massively one footed player with 18 passing.

Whether this is right or wrong the match engine loves those two footed players and they will consistently average higher than their one footed counterparts. This is more notable in central players compared to wide players. (this could be a post in itself so wont go into detail) Why is this important to youth development though ? Well this is the single biggest CA drain, it uses more points than anything else – this is how important it is. The only problem is there isn’t many good regens who can play with either foot!

Understanding all of the above should explain why some 5* players simply don’t become world beaters. I think youth progression is far from perfect but it’s nowhere near as broken as some people like to suggest.

It also shows how crucial Judging Potential is because if you see a youth with high starting attributes, only JP can give you an indication of how good he can become or whether he is already finished his development.

This post has been a very simplified explanation of how I believe it works, mainly for length reasons, but I think you should be able to work it out after reading this!