Scouting Tips?

[whatsupdoc]

Below are some of the methods I use to scout. Curious to hear other's methods.

1. Building broad scouting knowledge.

The most efficient way to beef up your overall knowledge pool is via "team reports".
Click on "World", then move around the competitions you think will find you the best players. 
Click "get team report" for a quick assessment of all players.

 

 

2. Finding good free players:

For me finding good free players is all about setting up your "custom view". I use the following columns to find good free players:

• World Reputation
• International Caps
• Youth International Caps
• International Average Rating
• Work Permit Chance (high chance = higher quality)

 

 

Once you've set the "contract status" search filter to "expired", you can then sort by the columns mentioned above.

 

 

3. Using Data:

To use data, first you need to refine your search. (Otherwise too many players destroying opponents low level competitions will pop up).

 

 

We've filtered:

• 5 star potential
• Work permit likely
• Minimum "decent" world reputation.
• Division: Serie A / Eredivisie / Ligue 1 / Brazil

 

 

Now you use your filters to search for the best performing players in whatever category. Below we're sorted by "headers won per 90":

 

 

Create your own "view". I'd recommend using the stats "per 90 minutes" otherwise your data will filter out subs and younger players getting less minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

[whatsupdoc]

4. Youth national teams:

The key factors when scouting youth national teams are age and transfer value. These are an easy way to "guarantee" a player is a baller.

If a 17 year old is playing in the belgium u/19s, and has a high transfer value, you can basically guarantee he is quality.

 

I pick which national teams to focus on based on:

• My team's level (don't scout the Brazil u/19s if you're in league 2).
• Nationalities already present in my team (this helps cohesion).
• My transfer budget. Top Eurpoean nationals will have higher transfer fees.

 

[wazzaflow10]

Good tips so far. Some shouldn't be necessary but probably come about because of some of the issues that popped up in the game this year. Scouting should be much broader, more players with some knowledge, with recommendations being a subset that fit the criteria.

#4 is a little gamey if you're playing a "scouted players only" save imo. It doesn't bother me if people play this way but part of this is the "wonderkid hunting" that makes the game easier for the human than the AI. I personally try to avoid this sort of route. You should have to at least scout a player before getting a MV and it should be as broad as the PA is unknown to reduce how strongly correlated it is with actual PA. 

[whatsupdoc]

On 30/05/2024 at 02:25, wazzaflow10 said:

Good tips so far. Some shouldn't be necessary but probably come about because of some of the issues that popped up in the game this year. Scouting should be much broader, more players with some knowledge, with recommendations being a subset that fit the criteria.

#4 is a little gamey if you're playing a "scouted players only" save imo. It doesn't bother me if people play this way but part of this is the "wonderkid hunting" that makes the game easier for the human than the AI. I personally try to avoid this sort of route. You should have to at least scout a player before getting a MV and it should be as broad as the PA is unknown to reduce how strongly correlated it is with actual PA. 

Yeah I hope the things you've mentioned are improved in FM25. 

Another weird thing I've noticed / wondered about is... when I sign a wonderkid their price gets immediately updated / inflated. When I sign 6 wonderkids, their price seems to be inflated in an order that almost only seems to correlate with their PA, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me / could be another give-away.

[wazzaflow10]

7 hours ago, whatsupdoc said:

Yeah I hope the things you've mentioned are improved in FM25. 

Another weird thing I've noticed / wondered about is... when I sign a wonderkid their price gets immediately updated / inflated. When I sign 6 wonderkids, their price seems to be inflated in an order that almost only seems to correlate with their PA, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me / could be another give-away.

So player values are heavily influenced by the league they play in. A player on a Premier League team will be worth more than an equal player in South America. So when you sign a player into a higher reputation league the market value reflects that change instantly.

Its not the best mechanism in practice as it does give away the player potential at times. It should be driven by demand imo. How the game generates demand and interest from AI clubs though seems to be a long standing challenge though. 

Off topic:

I do think the best way forward with scouting is to change to the scout/coach perception of attributes rather than fixed/absolute number. If you scout an in form player their attributes/perceived CA should be higher than it is in reality. Likewise if a player is out of form their attributes should be lower than reality. And by reality I mean what the ME would use. I'd be fine if it were a toggle-able option at game start for those that are new or don't want to work that much at scouting. For me though one of the joys of the game is finding, buying, developing, and selling players. But I know which ones to sell and which ones to keep. It would be more dynamic if a player who is out of form starts seeing attributes decline and I think I need to find a replacement. Or a player who is in form, do I think this is their true growth potential or do I cash in while they're looking good?