How to get accurate scout reports?

[The _Captain]

Scout reports are pretty good, and detailed.  ability stars, potential stars and an alphabetical rating.

But I feel they are a little bit inaccurate. Especially for potential in younger players. They also seem to undervalue potential of older players. 

I've had a hard time building a team of younger players in this FM as they invariably wind up not having enough room to grow after a glowing recommendation from my scouts.

What can I do to scout player potential more accurately. 

I've been mostly signing players relreased or sold cheaply by the big teams at around 22-25 and have found these players to develop quite a lot.

[Grifty]

You can’t get fully accurate scout reports and nor should you.

They are technically a scouts opinion of a player, some will be wrong, different, think a player will be worse than what he gets, think a player will be better than he will be.

If you want more accuracy, just use the editor to look at PA.

[turnip]

The scouts just give your their impression - it's ultimately your decision about signing a player (unless you're playing a DoF challenge, which it doesn't sound like you are). You should also be checking their attributes before making a decision. 

With young players, I try to use the logic of "how much better would this player look with +1/+2/+3 in each of his key attributes?" when a scout comes back with a glowing report. This then helps me work out how much money to spend on them.

If they only need +1 to look like a much better player, they're a fairly high priority and I'll consider spending a reasonable amount to sign them.

If they need +2 to look like a much better player, they're a lower priority and I'm unlikely to spend much to sign them.

And if they need +3, I'm basically only going to sign them if they're dirt cheap and have a good personality. 

 

With older (22/23) players, it's a bit harder. As you say, scouts seem to find these players' Potential harder to unpick. So really, it's only worth signing these players if you think they can contribute to your team even if they don't improve.

[FrazT]

A scour report is purely an opinion from one of your staff about a players ability and potential.  Consequently it can never be assumed to be 100% accurate although with a good scouts, it will be reflect the players attributes and CA/PA pretty well.

[ImDaWeasel]

Good scouts will give you their personality, attributes and consistency/big matches attributes.

Anything else said by a scout should be ignored, including the A-F ratings and especially star ratings.

[The _Captain]

Obviously I check the attributes. I normally use the scouts for a second opinion. Particularly for what they think of potential. 

I don't know if it is because my team is one of the higher ability teams in a middling league, maybe that makes it easier for the players to be leading stars when they a basically 120 to 130pa.