If you’ve arrived here but are looking for FIFA 19 relevant content, here’s a link to an updated Scouting Network Setup Guide.
Now you’ve hired a scout its time to send them out to find high potential players! Feel free to scroll down to the TL;DR at the bottom of the page for the key takeaways.
Where Should I Scout?
The first decision you need to make is where to send your scout, you have a choice of 54 countries from around the world (but not Wales or Iceland?!).
The country you setup a scouting networking in will have a big impact on the players you see in your scouting reports. Countries differ in their abilities to product high potential players as well as the frequency of different player types.
How Much Does Youth Scouting Cost?
Just like the cost of hiring a youth scout, it’s unlikely that this will factor much into your decision if your club has a large budget. However, this is key information if you’ve got a small budget or have already spent the majority of it on transfers.
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While the table above might look a bit daunting, it’s the best way to display the information in case you need to come back and access it quickly.
There is a way to simplify it slightly. If you assume a base scouting cost (we’ll call this X) for each star combination (experience + judgement), Tier 3 areas will always cost 1X, Tier 2 areas cost 3X and Tier 1 areas cost 6X.
- Tier 1 – South America, Southern Europe, Central Europe, Africa
- Tier 2 – North America, Northern Europe, Eastern Europe
- Tier 3 – Asia, Oceania
This should give you an idea of the ranges you can expect to pay to setup a scouting network. The smallest being £12,000 for scouting in Asia or Oceania with a 1*/1* scout, the largest being £120,000 for scouting in South America, Southern Europe, Central Europe or Africa with a 5*/5* scout.
Strangely, these costs are fixed and don’t change based on what country your club is in. Therefore you could play as a Brazilian team but still pay up to £120,000 to scout in your own country, but a UK based scout can travel to Asia and scout for £20,000 or less!
These prices are for the minimum three month scouting period – if you are considering a six or nine month scouting network, just double or treble the cost respectively. Unfortunately you don’t get any kind of discount for scouting in one country for longer!
Player Types
After selecting a country to send your scout to, you’ll have the option of specifying a player type that you’d like to look for. You have six options to choose from, or leave it as Any and get a mix of player types.
Any
Exactly as it says, you’re looking for any type of player so you should see a real mix in your scouting reports. As mentioned earlier, certain player types are more likely in certain countries.
Technically Gifted
Technically gifted players typically possess good pace and dribbling stats, and will often have high curve and sometimes good Free Kick Accuracy. Usually found in all midfield positions as well as attacking ones (ST and CF) – don’t get too hung up on position though, I’ll explain why soon.
Winger
Another player type that mostly makes sense, selecting Winger will likely give you players in the LM/RM/LW/RW positions. However it’s not uncommon to find Strikers and Centre Forwards when looking for Wingers. This player type is often blessed with high Acceleration and Sprint Speed – as well as other key stats like Dribbling, Ball Control and Crossing – crucial for out and out wingers. The rest of the stats can be a bit of a mix but it’s not unusual to find ‘Wingers’ with great Long Shot ability or Free Kick Accuracy.
Physically Strong
This player type tends to produce the widest variety of positions; Centre Back, Full Back, Defensive Midfield, Central Midfield, Attacking Midfield, Centre Forward and Striker. The key thing with these players is that they always have solid physical stats from the start. Physical attributes are always going to be important, but even more crucial when you’re trying to give game time to a young player – weaker players will get bullied off the ball too often. As you’d expect, this player type usually excels in defence but can also work well in midfield providing their Passing and Tackling attributes are up to scratch. Physically Strong players can also make great strikers, although for some reason they can often have strong tackling stats and poor finishing – bizarre but easily fixed.
Playmaker
Generally found in central midfield but will occasionally pop up in a wide position. Wide playmakers are generally ill suited to the position they are assigned so my advice would be to move them into Central Midfield or dump them. Quality Passing stats are common with this player type, and you’ll usually find players with good Free Kick Accuracy, Long Shots or Ball Control (or a mix).
Goalkeeper
Probably don’t need to explain this one too much. If you select this, you’ll only see Goalkeepers in your monthly scouting report. Just like with the rest of the game, you’ll come across both types of Goalkeeper – Traditional and Acrobatic. Traditional Goalkeepers generally have better Handling and Kicking Stats whereas Acrobatic Goalkeepers tend to have better Diving and Reflexes. One thing to note is that youth scout goalkeepers seem to have a poor Positioning stat compared to their other goalkeeping stats – easily fixed with training.
Attacker
After a few player types that generally make sense, it’s time to give you one that doesn’t. The Attacker player type will produce all ‘attacking’ positions (Wide Midfield, Wingers, Centre Midfield and Attacking Midfield) – but NO STRIKERS. Instead you’ll find pacey wingers with respectable finishing stats that you should probably play as strikers. With regards to CM/CAM Attackers, they’ll generally have balanced stats but sometimes suffer with poor Passing and Defending stats which will strongly affect their Overall Rating.
Defensive Minded
Another slightly strange one. Full backs? Check. Central or Defensive Midfield? Check. Centre Backs? Nope. One downside to this player type is they’ll frequently have poor physical stats, which isn’t as much of an issue in midfield, but really sucks if you’re looking for pacey full backs. The midfielders will tend to have decent passing and tackling ability but are often let down by atrocious dribbling stats which will drag their Overall Rating down.
TL;DR
- Countries provide different quality players and different player types
- Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Portugal and Italy are safe bets for high potential players
- Scouting if more expensive the more stars your scout has, also depending on where you scout
- Searching for specific player types will return common stat mixes, but not all player types are self explanatory