Chat Youth Academy Rejects. Can It Get Better Than This?

[Meow]

If anyone knows how I play FMM, they know I'm a notorious cheapskate. Signing players on the free, making them shine and them sell them off for a profit (preferably back to the same league, or even better, to the same club).

The Youth Academy System

Obviously I'm happy with the new system, no longer was I obliged to take in some shit player because "my assistant thinks he is a great prospect". No, screw off his stamina is like a 1, damn it!

But most of all there was a huge number of free players at the start of the season! Obviously I knew from the start they were going to be decent at best (in terms of PA anyways), but since last year I've become a firm believer that stats > PA. I also later was disappointed that only the 4 loaded leagues get the new Youth Academy System.

So why the post?

My Best Youth Academy Reject

I go through almost every single new reject each year, I'm mostly looking for attributes that stand out like a 15 in 2 physicals, have 19/20 somewhere or a decent set of attributes for a position I envision them to play. Most of these players end up just going on loan till some smaller clubs bid a few million and they go, I'd say they got it far better off since most other rejects end up in a far far lower league. Most of them are pretty forgettable.

Then I came across this lad

19 pace, 14 stamina, 14 strength, 15 technique, 17 teamwork. He couldn't shoot or tackle to save anybody's life, but 11 passing could improve to a decent 14?

Who in their right mind wouldn't at least give him a chance?

Minor spoiler on how he performed in the start of his career under me.... But Monaco apparently snubbed this lad, the lunatics.

"Hey erm... that's good and all, but he's kinda still decent at best, right?" I hear you say.

This is how he looks like now

Whose regen is he? I don't know. I don't want to use FMMScout on players I'm bringing in or are still at my club. But considering he is a Youth Academy Reject, he might have less than 100 PA for all I know, which not having a world class PA isn't necessarily a bad thing. I've got a Japanese left back last year, 20 technique, 20 pace, 20 stamina, 13 strength, 18 crossing, 17 dribbling and I think 15 passing. A monstrous corner flag to corner flag fullback, hitting over 10 assists every season with a dizzying heights of 23 assists, a seasonal average rating between 7.6-7.9 in his prime and runner-up to the World Player of the Year. All I did to find him was search 19 stamina and above, bringing 3 players in, of which only he remained to lock down a first team spot for years in the best club in the world.

I've not seen a triple 20 physical player before, which excites me. I find my greatest joy in FMM is to see players that I've picked up with no real long term plans for, brought in to experiment or just because I could, yet they become unexpected legends. Unexpected legends was what made FMM16 the edition I had most fun playing.

His Progress

This is all in 1 year! Just look at those physicals. Players don't really improve stats wise on loan, but it exploded!

"Come on... there's got to be a flaw right? This is too good to be true. Does he have bad anticipation? Or poor consistency? Or is he insane?"

No major concerns to report!! Wew!!!

So what are your best?

Just comparing Youth Academy Rejects only, so no "Best Ronaldo" or "Best Messi" regens. Though maybe in a few years his stats could look on par with the best of the players you'll ever see on FMM, and to think I got him for free after being rejected graduation into the Monaco first team! So post your best here!

Edited January 25, 2017 by Meow

[Jack]

These are the best 2 I've had 

 

[Roffatje]

Nice article! I can't just play more than one season, so i don't have seen the new youth system. What a shame!  

[Dar J]

[samhardy]

[Meow]

@Jack 

My my Parle looks good. Stamina isn't that important for GK, so that's great physicals. 20 agility and 20 communications is beautiful.

What role does Bower play as? Certainly has the key stats for a striker, but 10 for stamina is probably concerning. That goalscoring record is nothing to sneeze at though.

 

@Dar J

Hmm... not exactly a Youth Academy Reject, but pretty much still a youth prospect that got shafted. So you still did get him for free though. Looks in pretty similar mold to Bompard, probably heavily reliant on physicals and technique, though better at shooting but perhaps less aerial (though that's not that important as a centre mid).

That leaves me with a question, Bompard already scored 3 screamers, with a total of 5 goals all from outside the box, 1 competitive and 4 friendlies (Not against weak opposition, but 2 each against Real Madrid and Athletic Club). So what's allowing him to score so well with his poor shooting? His technique? Then which is more important for goal scoring, shooting or technique?

 

@samhardy 

What's a CDM doing with 16 crossing? Lol

Great stats and all, but how have they performed? And who rejected those lads?

Edited January 26, 2017 by Meow

[Jack]

3 hours ago, Meow said:

@Jack 

My my Parle looks good. Stamina isn't that important for GK, so that's great physicals. 20 agility and 20 communications is beautiful.

What role does Bower play as? Certainly has the key stats for a striker, but 10 for stamina is probably concerning. That goalscoring record is nothing to sneeze at though.

 

It's really odd because during my time in League 1 / Championship I had another GK who had progressed fantastically and he was my starter. However as soon as I was promoted to the PL I became aware of Parle's ability and went with him to the point he blossomed into an amazing keeper. Not really sure how he's still uncapped to be honest.

As for Bower he's always played second fiddle really. He really struggled in my first season in the PL coming off the bench. This current season is the first season he's started a lot of games - he really fits the AF role well. He's performed amazingly in Europe - so well that he now starts nearly every game. The stamina is a huge issue though and he does need to be subbed off every game, thankfully I have another young striker who has superb stats.

[nick328]

nice post

 

Edited January 26, 2017 by nick328
fixing my errors

[nick328]

18 hours ago, Meow said:

I've not seen a triple 20 physical player before, which excites me.

 

[Meow]

1 hour ago, nick328 said:

 

After a bit of digging around, I realise many players fit this category, Marcel Sabitzer can grow into a triple 20 as well. But I don't think I've seen regens (whose physicals seem almost random) develop into a triple 20.

[Dar J]

11 hours ago, Jack said:

It's really odd because during my time in League 1 / Championship I had another GK who had progressed fantastically and he was my starter. However as soon as I was promoted to the PL I became aware of Parle's ability and went with him to the point he blossomed into an amazing keeper. Not really sure how he's still uncapped to be honest.

As for Bower he's always played second fiddle really. He really struggled in my first season in the PL coming off the bench. This current season is the first season he's started a lot of games - he really fits the AF role well. He's performed amazingly in Europe - so well that he now starts nearly every game. The stamina is a huge issue though and he does need to be subbed off every game, thankfully I have another young striker who has superb stats.

He's still uncapped because his English and there may be better English goalkeepers 

[Dar J]

14 hours ago, Meow said:

@Jack 

My my Parle looks good. Stamina isn't that important for GK, so that's great physicals. 20 agility and 20 communications is beautiful.

What role does Bower play as? Certainly has the key stats for a striker, but 10 for stamina is probably concerning. That goalscoring record is nothing to sneeze at though.

 

@Dar J

Hmm... not exactly a Youth Academy Reject, but pretty much still a youth prospect that got shafted. So you still did get him for free though. Looks in pretty similar mold to Bompard, probably heavily reliant on physicals and technique, though better at shooting but perhaps less aerial (though that's not that important as a centre mid).

That leaves me with a question, Bompard already scored 3 screamers, with a total of 5 goals all from outside the box, 1 competitive and 4 friendlies (Not against weak opposition, but 2 each against Real Madrid and Athletic Club). So what's allowing him to score so well with his poor shooting? His technique? Then which is more important for goal scoring, shooting or technique?

 

@samhardy 

What's a CDM doing with 16 crossing? Lol

Great stats and all, but how have they performed? And who rejected those lads?

Could be technique and could be luck or his got good long shot (it's a hidden attribute) and there are players with good long shots but poor finishing

[Meow]

I do play slow in my saves because I like to soak in the immersion, so yeah. I guess I'll update about Bompard every now and then.

 

Past His Teenage Years

With his teenage years behind him, he certainly cannot be called an inexperienced youngster anymore.

I've retrained him to play left inside forward, so his positions now are AML (IF), left MC (BBM) and right MC (AP).

 

Player History

I've attempted to loan him out multiple times. He might have been average at best while at Leyton Orient, so I'll let them off the hook. However I thought a loan back to the French Ligue One would be beneficial, but in half a season they clearly just couldn't bring the best out of him, so I recalled him. I'd say he was perhaps just short of World Class in the second half of the season after I recalled him, but has definitely progressed into a world class player since.

[Jens]

The system is a really great way for lower league teams to get higher up. Was a real life saver in my Edinburgh save. Often they're very good if they come from top teams. They were also very necessary since the game handed me the hard Brexit while in Scotland. Playing as a team with limited wage budget and no transfer kitty, I didn't have much of a choice other than resort to these lads.

[Meow]

4 hours ago, Jens said:

The system is a really great way for lower league teams to get higher up. Was a real life saver in my Edinburgh save. Often they're very good if they come from top teams. They were also very necessary since the game handed me the hard Brexit while in Scotland. Playing as a team with limited wage budget and no transfer kitty, I didn't have much of a choice other than resort to these lads.

Actually I personally find that these Youth Academy Rejects have too low reputation, so they usually end up in a non-league team (on rare occasion in a small league 2 side). Which really makes it way too easy to build a smaller club from nothing except Youth Academy Rejects with good stats.

It'll make sense if the better of these players are highly coveted by clubs just below the first division or in smaller leagues. I mean every player seems just absolutely honoured to play for almost any shit club on small wages.

[Meow]

It's nearing the release of FMM 18, so I'm just taking this opportunity to give a possible penultimate update on Bompard, with a final one when I fully leave FMM 17 for FMM 18.

 

An Early Peak?

A promising start to his career in the previous post was not all Bompard could muster, just in 2 years he went from a first team player in the squad to the key man providing the bulk of our goals!

What exactly is it about Bompard that allows him to do such amazing things?

As we see with many well-rounded young players with lots of 14s, many of them go on them to develop beautiful world class stats. Bompard was no exception to this.

 

His peak years

As we know with many young bloomers in the game, inconsistency and failure to hit the initial successes can soon follow such a bright start. Can Bompard put the fears of his fans aside?

After so many great seasons in his younger years, he was 26 and in the 29/30 season, with his peak years ahead of him.

There really was no stopping our superstar, some wonderkids might have faltered at this point but he was in the form of his life. Monster in front of the goal, scoring 49 goals in 51 from the left. Could have been more too, but he wasn't our focal point of the attack in that season. The team's main man up front started the season flying, he was breaking goalscoring records and ended up the clubs top seasonal goalscorer.

That said, his contributions to the club was not only in goalscoring, he has been the club's top assist-maker the past 7 years! And the shift in focus for the French magician was nothing he couldn't take in stride. The second half of the 29/30 season and the entire 30/31 season, he showed he was well capable of being the lynchpin of the side, even setting assist record for the club in a season.

 

World Player of the Year

Of course, his abilities hasn't gone unnoticed by those outside our club. His top level performances has earned him the World Player of the Year award 4 times before he has hit 30.

 

Past his Prime

With his age nearing 30, he has won all that there is to win in the game. He has come far from the AS Monaco Youth Academy reject that he was.

However as we know, Bompard is a player that heavily relies on his physical dominance in the game. Many a great player that have reached this age experience the unavoidable decline in physicals. What exactly are the skills that Bompard can take with him as he transitions into his twilight year along with his huge depth of experience? Can the best player of all time prove to have longevity as well?

At 29, he is still at peak physical condition. With superb decision making, the willingness to work as a team (a rarity for superstars) and good creativity, we can only hope he can have a long career and continue his excellent service for the club.

Despite his shooting stat never being great, it never stopped him from scoring with his foot at outrageous distances be it in open play or through free kicks, with most of his close range goals coming from headers. Perhaps he can drop down and play deeper in a central midfield role, the position that he had played all his life and was trained to play professionally in Monaco youth system.

Doesn't seem like he's too bothered by it though, he's already closing in on his assist record tally in a season this year.

Edited November 4, 2017 by Meow

[Mr.Manager]

Isn't there a challenge for 500 goals & 500 assists? You could reach that with this guy!

[Meow]

On 11/9/2017 at 15:23, Mr.Manager said:

Isn't there a challenge for 500 goals & 500 assists? You could reach that with this guy!

I could. I've not taken enough screenshots of this save though, so likely won't be posting much on this. Not like many people on this site is interested in regens anyways... It'll be more of a personal challenge, so it will be hard to motivate myself to do since FMM18 is out, but I'll play it for a little,

Despite already buying FMM 18, I'll probably still be on FMM 17 more than FMM 18 for a few weeks. Probably going to test every tactics under the sun, before inevitably just going back to the 442 with a left inside forward I've used for years XD

Edited November 10, 2017 by Meow

[Nick11]

This is one of the best post i've read  this year. I'm disappointed that i never ever attempted to devlop any of the academy reject. Never imagined that any academy grad. can become a club legend .  I'll make sure that i don't do the same mistake on this years post .