It’s not the same as in the past when I had enough time to play the save for 15, 20 or even more in-game years. But it doesn’t mean I resigned on the player development. I only have to slightly tweak and change the approach to be able to see some progress faster than in 4-5 years.
I had/have some very good newgens within the FM21 save in Sweden but probably none of them “forced” me to write about them. Until Kristofer Armenteros appeared in the 2028 Youth Intake.
He was labelled as the attacking midfielder as an advanced playmaker with very good attributes of passing or technique, but also teamwork. I remember I shared him in my FMSlack channel and several suggestions where to play him were mentioned. I’m somehow and sometimes a little bit weird and one thing can be enough to go against the flow.
I decided he will be developed as the Central Defender. Mainly because of his Aggression, Bravery and height. And also because of the simple thing that he is able to with both left and right foot. As the game suggests he left foot is fairly strong and his right foot is very strong.
This is Kristofer Armenteros at the beginning of December 2028, just three months after the Youth Intake in September.
He stayed in the U19s team and I set his training to the Central Defender role.
The additional training focus for the first months was set to Strength and the training intensity to Double.
Low natural fitness is probably the biggest weakness.
I’m not sure how is it affected by age but I always try to give young players the most possible playing time no matter their age. Someone says the playing time only matters when the player became 18 years old. But it’s my save(s) so I don’t care if this is rule, fact or something different. I’m sure I mentioned it several times in the past, maybe the development of my players would be even better if I would follow some guides, I don’t know.
The issue with Armenteros during his first months in the youth team was that my U19s manager always put him in the central midfielder role. Even if I adjusted the tactic before the U19s team match manually, he changed it during the match. Obedience = 0!
It meant a couple of things. Firstly, the position/role/duty training always changed from the central defender role to AM(C) playing position. Despite we are not playing with the AM(C).
And why not? If the Football Manager is famous for something (recently), it has to be the option to reset everything without telling you.
Secondly, if he would play in the central midfield, his possible development in the central defender role would decrease. That led me to the decision to move him to the senior squad for the last season of 2029 season.
I arranged friendlies for our Reserve squad (not playing in some competition) for the whole spring of 2029 and I managed them to ensure Armenteros will be played in the central defender role (same as some more young players in the particular positions/roles). It gave him 15 appearances and he also made his U19s national team debut scoring once.
As I already mentioned, the additional focus after Arementeros signed the youth contract with the club was set to strength. Even the coach reports told me “Lack of strength and fitness means he should be in the gym working on his overall athleticism.” To be honest, he would be set to strength no matter what position/role/duty I would decide to train him.
Pros & Cons in December 2028
The first months were like Gym - Rehab - Gym - Rehab - Match - Rehab. And repeat. But I would say it was worth it when I check the development/progress screen. You can see his development between October 2028 and October 2029.
His physical attributes improved a lot. Stamina by 3, Strength, Acceleration, Agility, Balance and Pace by 2 and Jumping Reach with Natural Fitness by 1. Don’t forget he is still only 17 years old. And I’m sure this positive trend would continue.
Physical attributes development within one calendar year
Armenteros spent the whole spring of 2029 in the senior squad while playing for reserves. He was with the U19s national team when we played the Svenska Cupen so he missed this competition, unfortunately.
I decided it’s time to give him a proper chance in the first team in the middle of May 2029. We played Elfsborg at home and we won 3:1. He missed just two matches since this moment in terms of not being selected for the match.
He played also again bigger clubs in the Champions League group stage (Anderlecht, Hertha and Manchester City).
I also decided that his physical attributes are good enough already considering his age, he was already accomplished in the central defender role so I decided it’s time to concentrate on different additional focus. The main aim was really simple - just concentrate on attributes he needs for the Central Defender role. My aim was to improve these attributes at least by 1 at the end of the 2029 season because the improvement by 1 is always better than nothing.
That’s why I rotated between Aerial (Heading, Bravery), Final Third (Composure, Decisions), Attacking Movement (Off The Ball, Anticipation, Decisions) and Defensive Positioning (Marking, Positioning, Decisions) additional focuses.
Development between 10/2028 and 12/2029.
As you can see, the key/preferable attributes for the CD(D) role are highlighted, some went by one, some went up by two.
Since he was promoted to the senior squad and I started following his progress almost day by day including continuous praising for the training performances, his training rating never was below 9.8.
He made his U21s national team debut during the international break in October 2021. He scored twice against San Marino while playing as AP(S) in AM(C) position. I’m probably doing something wrong… 😆
He made 18(1) appearances in Allsvenskan with an average rating of 6.98. He also made 5 appearances in the Champions League group stage.
He also scored his first competitive goals for the first team as he scored once in the Allsvenskan in November against IFK Värnamo. And also in the Champions League as he scored twice away against Anderlecht when we won 5:1.
This save ends after the 2029 calendar year/season so I won’t see his further development because I really don’t want to spend time simulating the save.
I’m happy with how his development within 14 in-game months went. I made him a proper part of the starting XI and his attributes improved rapidly while combining several additional focuses.
He was lucky he had only two injuries during these 14 months and both last about 10 days together.
It’s not something groundbreaking. It’s something that I do with many young players. Some of them develop better, some worse. Is Armenteros central defender star? No! Will he be a central defender star? Yes! If the save would continue and he would continue his development in the same way, I’m sure the key/preferable attributes for the central defender role would be improved at least by 2 points at the end of another season.
And Bayern would come for sure…