This sounds great! May have to pick up FIFA 16 sooner than I expected. Always had a problem with the lower teams youth players being trash, and all the top players being at the Top 4.

My favorite part about scouted players is that their physicals are just complete trash. No more attacking players with sub 60 sprint speed, acceleration, and stamina. 

That + the training every week allows you to really boost what you need. I usually find myself spending more and more of my training slots on youth players instead of first teamers.

2nd Season Intro -

Alright, the transfer window has closed and I did quite a bit of fiddling to get my team to where it is right now. I participated in another Dutch tournament and won $2.1 million from it. My goal this season is guaranteed promotion to the Championship and I certainly have a tough road ahead of me.

Transfer In:

Maxwel Cornet - 70 ST - 19 - $1.6 million | $15k/week

This guy was my big win of the transfer window. He's a big, strong, fast striker and is the perfect replacement for James Wilson.

Russel Teibert - 67 CDM - 23 - $800k | $8k/week

Alexandr Zuev - 67 LW/RW - 20 - $900k | $7k/week

Maxime Dupe - 69 GK - 23 - $1.1 million | 8.5k/week

Patrick Mullins - 65 ST - 24 - 2 Yr Loan w/ 500k option - 5k/week

Ben Swanson - 66 CM - 18 - 1 Yr Loan w/ 650k option - 3k/week

Transfer Out:

James Wilson - $2.5 million to Eintracht Frankfurt

Had an incredible amount of offers for him. With 20 goals and 10 assists in League Two, he was due for a big club.

Genaro Snjiders - $800k to Burnley

Julian Jenner - $450k to Colchester

I also sent out some of my younger players on loan + Hayhurst, Stead, and Burke. I have about 8k in wage budget to resign people. I'm focusing on my young RB/RM Hewitt in hopes that he'll re-sign.

Also, surprisingly, Patrick Mullins may be a much larger player than I expected. He's fast enough to dribble into the box, but strong enough to hold up and not get pushed off the ball. Scored 2 for me in the Johnson Paint Trophy.

I continue to use Adam Campbell as a winger instead of an out striker with his pace.

Been playing around 130 hours now, mostly manager mode. Liking it so far, there are certainly some improvements but many of the problems still persist, most of which are evident when you're actually playing out on the pitch.

I spent a ridiculous amount of time hoarding youth talent, both from my own scouts and by purchasing others', my entire starting 11 has a 5 star weak foot, which is a major blessing both in shooting and passing and I've also managed to build a team where the shortest man is around 6'4", so my guys are pretty much unbeatable on corners and headers in general.

The new scouting and youth academy system makes almost every player type besides "physically strong" useless, the technique skills can be trained anyway and become less important. That said; I've managed to get some great youth players without training them at all, the highest I got without training was a 76 rater 18 year old CF. Unfortunately, he only had a 2 star weak foot and 3 star skill moves so I sold in the next transfer window.
Defending is easier than ever and almost every goalie can be trained into a global superstar in a matter of two seasons or less.
I had a 15 year old keeper talent in my youth academy and spent three seasons training him (and others as well, of course), he came out of the academy 93 rated and at 6'7" tall and with good jumping and strength and even decent pace, he was pretty much the best goalie in the world...

Training adds depth for sure, but in its current form, it's completely overpowered as it can make even proper duds into superstars and it kind of defeats the purpose of potential overall.

Pro-tip: buy the Greek right midfielder Charis Mavrias; I have him at 90 rated and 26 years old, no training! And get Julian Draxler from Germany on the other side; fast, technique, tall and with 5 star weak foot!

Gah, with Charis's wages, no chance I'd be able to afford. Have to hope for a nice wage budget after promotion to Championship (fingers crossed).

Timo Werner is also a good option, his wages are likely quite a bit lower!

I also like Duncan Watmore (RW) and Ryan Gauld (Scotsman in Sporting CP I think, 5 star weak foot and good tech, really good potential). Mario Pasalic (CDM at Monaco, not first team and fairly low wages) also has a 5 star weak foot and is young, Edmilson Junior is a great catch for a Ligue 1 or Championship side, he also has a 5 star weak foot and plays both LM and RM and his potential is easily in the 80's, his salary should be quite low.

I played Portsmouth up to the PL, I got Gauld and Watmore pretty early on, and then bagged Mavrias on a free signing on contract end and could afford his salary. Other than those; I pretty much live and die by my yourh players, not only can you grow your own in the academy but after 3-4 seasons, there will be tons of youth players with insane potentials and stats available for purchase, most of them having only 500-2500 a week in wages and sometimes costing less than 200k in transfer fees, depending on positions. I've found that goalkeeper are among the most expensive youth players to get, just bought a 6'7" behemoth with a lowly 52 rating and had to shell out 700k for him after a long bargaining sessioon. Of course, with training, he is now a 64 rated goalie a few months later...
I also recently bought a 54 rated CDM from Japan (playing for Bayern Munich) with 5 star weak foot and 4 star skill moves, 6'7" tall and great potential, he'll become my midfield bastion in 2-3 seasons and is currently 67 rated and getting some first team action. I think he cost me about 300k or so.

My best tip is to scour the "search player" and add tons to your shortlist, discard those with poor work rates and weak foot, you'll still be left with a bunch of gems as the seasons roll by and most of them will be cheap and have great potential! If you're short on cash, promote youth players or buy dirt cheap ones and sell them after 6 months or so of training, which should boost their overalls by at least-10-12 points.

Alright, I got caught up with some other things so I've been slacking on my Career Mode. I put a couple hours in over the weekend, and I'm now in the transfer window in my 2nd season (League One).

Currently top of the table with Bradford City 5 points behind (we're both so far ahead of everyone else). Season is going well so far, only a small amount of injuries (Mullins out for 6 weeks was the longest).

Acquisitions/Sales:
I decided to not renew Stanely Aborah's contract (wanted 15k at 29, screw that). Sold him for 550k. That freed up a lot of my wage budget so pursue some contract expiring players.

- Brought in Romain Gall (21yo, 66 rated RM) from Columbus Crew on a 1 year loan with a 700k buyout.
- Agreed to terms with Jon Taylor from Petersborough on free transfer (and only 7.5k/week wages). He's 24, rated 68 RM.

I need depth on the wings in a bad way. Both players should be major contributors for me.

I cut Snead and McLeod as I wasn't going to bring back either.


Now I'm in a weird spot for my remaining players. A lot are starting to demand higher wages, and I certainly can't afford to up Hyndman from 3.2k/week to the 15k/week he's asking for.

Alright, the opening transfer window closed and it's time to provide my Year 3 update.

Completed Season: 
Season 2 ended with me winning League 1 by 10 points. Bradford City, Portsmouth, and Notts County will be moving into the Championship. I got knocked out really early in the Capitol One Cup to Liverpool, where I lost on penalties. I made it all the way to the FA Cup Final where I lost to Manchester United 3-2 (Rooney scored in the 116' and 120' to seal it). I beat Hull 2-1 (on replay), Everton 6-0 (they put out a 2nd team and got a red card early), and Chelsea 2-1 on the way to the final. It was a pretty season that finally got me to change the difficulty from Professional to World Class. I'm generally just not very good at the game, so it's gotten very tough. I don't believe I can dribble the ball anymore in the midfield. I get muscled off the ball very easily or tackled from behind regardless of the pace of the player. So, it's a ton of one touch passes. 

Stats: 
Maxwel Cornet finished with 31 goals in League One and 8 assists. Emerson Hyndman finished with 16 goals and 14 assists. Alexandr Zuev finished with 4 goals and 10 assists. 

Current Season: 
Now in the Championship, I no longer have any advantages in roster, or talent, so it's not been an easy going. I've won 3 and drew 5 matches.  I don't think I'll get promoted this year, but I hope to do well enough to get around $4-5 million transfer budget. 

Due to my performance in FA Cup, I qualified for Europa and my group is Roma, Bursaspor, and BSC Young Boys. I've only played Roma at Roma, and drew 1-1. I consider that a major win considering the vast gap in wages. I just hope to get past group stage and increase my transfer budget. Does anyone know how much the Europa League gives in wages? 

Transfer Window: 
As I mentioned in my previous update, I signed Jon Taylor from Petersborough on free transfer. I only had 2.6 million to play with, so I was very limited in possible moves. I brought in Matt Miazga from New York RB for $2.8 million (defense has been my biggest problem), and bought Wylan Cyprien from RC Lens for $500k(!). He's playing the role of a holding midfielder for me behind Hyndman and next to Russell Teibert. Last full transfer I made was for Dillon Serna for $1.3 million. He's listed a winger in the game (despite being a DM/RB in real life) and I'm playing him at any of the 3 midfield positions on the wing. Still trying to figure how he best fits in the squad. I brought in Bradford Jamieson IV from LA Galaxy on a 1 year loan. He's only making 6k/week in wages with a $1.4 million buyout. I also agreed to Kingley Coman for a 1 yr loan+1.4 mil buyout, but his wages were much higher and so I was able to afford Jamieson. 
I loaned several youth players away and my most promising is a 17 year old LW already at 72. He's currently at Brighton. I loaned him and Adam Campbell out so I could afford the wages required. 

In the next transfer window, I also have to decide who to keep/come up with the money to pay for Ben Swanson, Patrick Mullins, and Romain Gall as their loans will be up. I would like to keep all 3, but I don't think it'll be possible unless the board is nice to me.

I meant to do a Winter Transfer Window Update, because I was delayed due to making this image:



I brought in some more players, turned down Romain Gall's option. Apparently Mullins and Swanson's loans are up in the next window. Battling for a top 3 spot in Championship. Was knocked out in group of 32 by Sporting CP on away goals. Managed to get to FA Cup Finals again.