Maximizing the return from scouting.

[Daaannnuuulll]

Has anybody got any tips on how to effectively get the best out of your scouts? At the moment all that I do is send my scouts to various countries. I'm mostly interested in finding young prospects rather than players with already inflated prices, is there a better technique than the one that I am currently using.

Thanks!

[Daemonic]

Set up filters so that the older players don't get scouted, eg, set a filter at age highest 18 or 19.

If you know position you're looking for then you can also filter attributes for the player you want, but obv you dont set the bar as high as if your looking for world class players

[Sporter]

Obviously adding to what Daemonic said, you should also try sending the majority of your scouts to places you have little/no knowledge of (in game on manager profile) as you will be able to find players from countries you know about anyway, and you won't need as much scouting.

[SH4UN WCFC]

I usually get scouts from different countries so they know alot of knowledge about the country. I dont care about the scouts CA and PA of which the foreign scouts have scouted, I then have the scout who has the highest attribute CA and PA. I then scout the player which the foreign scout has reccomended to see if the player is actually any good. It works because you have good knowledge from everywhere except from the Middle East - which I can never seem to find an scout from.

[Big Blue Toaster]

Originally Posted by SH4UN WCFC

I usually get scouts from different countries so they know alot of knowledge about the country. I dont care about the scouts CA and PA of which the foreign scouts have scouted, I then have the scout who has the highest attribute CA and PA. I then scout the player which the foreign scout has reccomended to see if the player is actually any good. It works because you have good knowledge from everywhere except from the Middle East - which I can never seem to find an scout from.

Sounds like an interesting approach to scouting, I've never thought about doing things that way. Isn't there a possibility though of the lower quality foreign scouts not picking up on a talented player because they have severely underestimated either their current or potential ability? Also, it would be very hard to implement at clubs with a lower wage budget or who are allowed less scouts, but I guess your method isn't exactly meant for teams of that calibre.

As for the original question, I set my scouts to scout the youth competition of the country that they are already scouting as well, it seems to get a fair few good young players coming through every season.

[Lebohang Mokoena]

There's two ways scouting works:

1) As a big club, you spend lavishly on signing lots good scouts with great knowledge and a high attribute for judging CA/PA. This way you have a world network of people who can notify you when the next big thing is playing in france or brasil (think Arsenal)

2) As a smaller club, you buy a few scouts with a good knowledge of bargain areas (I always get intimate with Scandinavia) where you can find decent players that cost a lot less in transfer fees and wages. You can then sell these players on at inflated prices after a couple of seasons.

[Shrewnaldo]

I usually just use scouting to reveal a player's stats and also the judgements that the scouts make as to transfer value and required wages. I very rarely sign a player based purely on a scouts recommendation.

I also usually manually chose the players for my scouts to have a look at by trawling through nations and clubs and sending a scout to do a report. Tend to find this works better than sending the scouts on tours of countries as they often miss the gems that are out there.

Once the stats are revealed I'll shortlist them if I think they look good enough and then filter my shortlist according to my own criteria for certain positions

[Forza Hellas]

Originally Posted by Shrewnaldo

I usually just use scouting to reveal a player's stats and also the judgements that the scouts make as to transfer value and required wages. I very rarely sign a player based purely on a scouts recommendation.

I also usually manually chose the players for my scouts to have a look at by trawling through nations and clubs and sending a scout to do a report. Tend to find this works better than sending the scouts on tours of countries as they often miss the gems that are out there.

Once the stats are revealed I'll shortlist them if I think they look good enough and then filter my shortlist according to my own criteria for certain positions

This is pretty much exactly how I find and identify my targets. It can be slightly more time consuming searching for players manually but the potential rewards make it well worth it.

[Shrewnaldo]

Originally Posted by Forza Hellas

This is pretty much exactly how I find and identify my targets. It can be slightly more time consuming searching for players manually but the potential rewards make it well worth it.

You're not wrong there... I regularly take around 4 hours to search through all the clubs I want to scout in the close season which pretty much encompasses two days of real time playing for me... you can feel like a right nonce if you turn up empty handed after all of that but it rarely happens

On old FMs I would also do a simple 'No Club' search and scroll to the bottom of the list to pick up the newgens but now that SI have made the search list alphabetical it can't be done anymore