This article is dedicated to the beginners in FM world, but also to the advanced players who didn't learned some things.

I hope you like it!

Once you’ve attempted to dispose of the players you have deemed surplus to requirements its time to look for new players to bring into the club.
When starting as a small club I generally initially filter for players within my home nation who are without a club.

This shortlist generally be the most reliable with regards to signing players as they’re currently unemployed and so will be looking to get back into football.

Again as with staff the chances are you won’t be able to be over fussy regarding who you can bring in, but if you look around then you might be able to locate a couple of ex-Premiership youngsters who will be star performers for a club at your level.

Obviously the hardest part of scouting for new talent yourself is determining what makes a good player.

The list below will help by acting as a quick reference guide as to the attributes which are most important to a player for each of the main positions found in the game. The settings indicated below are sensible things to filter for for general player roles.

Goalkeepers: Reflexes, Handling, Communication, Jumping

Right/Left Defender: Positioning, Tackling, Pace, Anticipation

Central Defenders: Tackling, Jumping, Positioning, Heading, Strength, Marking, Bravery, Teamwork

Attacking Wingers: Pace, Dribbling, Passing, Off the Ball, Creativity, Crossing

Atacking midfielders(playmakers): Passing, Off the Ball, Creativity, Technique, Dribbling

Defensive midfielders: Workrate, Jumping, Tackling, Stamina, Positioning

Fast Strikers: Pace, Acceleration, Dribbling, Technique, Finishing, Off the Ball

Target Strikers: Jumping, Heading, Strength, Off the ball



The Level which is deemed acceptable for each of these attributes will vary dependant upon the level your club is playing at, as a rule of thumb I’d suggest Premiership clubs (15+), Division One (10+), Conference (7+).

In the lower regions you’ll have to accept that most players at that level won’t have a ‘high’ value in all of their important characteristics and it’ll be up to you to determine which are more important for the style of tactic which
you’re attempting to undertake.

If they’re always at a club then you’ll probably have to negotiate a transfer fee for the player – you do this by selecting ‘Make Transfer Bid’ from either the bottom left of the menu bar on the player profile or by right clicking on the players name and selecting that option from the pop-up menu that appears.
When placing a bid for a player bear in mind that you will often have to pay above the displayed valuation of the player because their club isn’t really that interested in selling the player in question and has to be ‘persuaded’ to do so.

If money is tight then consider the position that the players club is in as there are circumstances in which a player might be allowed to go on the ‘cheap’ from a club (sometimes even much less than their displayed asking price).

I’ve listed a few examples of these situations below:

•    Player is Transfer Listed
•    Player is unhappy
•    Player’s contract is about to expire
•    Player isn’t wanted at the club
•    Player has fallen out with his manager



In contrast there are many similar warning signs available when a club may want more money than his displayed value, again I’ve listed some of these below:

•    Player is a key player in the side
•    Player has a long term contract
•    Player is happy to stay at the club
•    Player is a youth player with potential (commonly these are
     players who are in U21 International sides or similar)


-Spotting Good youngsters-

Generally when looking for good younger players I tend to search forthe following:

•    Reasonable physical stats, especially pace (as this and acceleration less likely to improve as much as the other physical stats).
•    A good technical stat in at least one area critical to his position.

For instance I’ll consider a young kid with 16 pace and acceleration and 12 finishing regardless of his other attributes. This is simply because his other areas may improve in the future as he matures.

When to cut them loose?
If a youngster hasn’t improved to the stage where he’s at least a backup player by the age of 22 then I generally cut him loose as they’re less likely to improve hugely past the age of 23.
Be warned however, this isn’t a 100% fool-proof method and every now and then one of these released players will pop-up and show me the mistake I made in releasing him.