FIFA 21 Career Mode guide to pick the right club, scout the best players and improve your youth team

FIFA 21 Career Mode: Scouting

This year, you start with a fresh batch of youth players already in your academy when setting out on a new career. Go to the Office tab, hover over Youth Staff, then move the right stick left or right to show Youth Academy. Click this to see your youth players and adjust their Development Plan, promote them to the senior squad, or release them from the team.

To get more youth players, go to Youth Staff and hire a scout. Each scout has a rating in two areas: Experience and Judgment. Experience determines how many players the scout finds each month and how likely they are to find the type of player you want. Judgment influences the quality of players they find. Although even the worst scout could potentially find the next Messi, better scouts make it much quicker and easier.

1. Brazil and Argentina
2. Italy, Spain, and Portugal
3. Central Europe (including Germany, France and Belgium)
4. The rest of Southern Europe (including Croatia, Greece and Turkey)
5. The 'Rest Of Europe' region (such as Poland, Czech Republic, and Serbia)

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Hire a scout, then click Set up a Scouting Network. Here, you can choose where to send them. The best places are, in order:

You can now choose the duration of their scouting trip. The greater the length of the trip, the better chance your scout has of finding a great player by virtue of looking for longer.

Next, choose what type of player the scout should look for. There are currently seven player types: Technically Gifted, Winger, Physically Strong, Playmaker, Goalkeeper, Attacker, and Defensive Minded. Choosing Any brings back players of all types.

FIFA 21 Career Mode: Who to sign?

Every month you get a scout report showing you the players your scout has found. You can choose whether to sign them to your youth academy or keep scouting them to get a better idea of their abilities and potential.

Look out for players with high potential ranges. The highest a potential range can go is 94 (e.g. 76-94). Over time as you get more scout reports, this range narrows. The same applies to the OVR (current ability) range. Be careful when considering who to sign; although the first player shown has a high OVR range, his potential range is not much higher, suggesting he will not improve much. The second player, however, has a much higher potential range, and could make a good signing.

To sign a player, click on him, then select Sign Player. He will then go to your youth academy, where his OVR and attributes will be revealed in full.

After promoting a youth player to the senior squad, you can view them in the Squad Hub. Some particularly promising players will have a status. These will only show once the player hits 60 OVR or higher; if a player below 60 OVR does not have a status, it does not necessarily mean they are lacking in potential. Here are the statuses you can see, as well as what potential they indicate:

• Showing great potential: Potential 80-85
• An exciting prospect: Potential 86-90
• Has the potential to be special: Potential 91+

Note that player potentials are not set in stone. FIFA 21 uses dynamic potential, which means that a player's performances can affect his future development. Just as players can have breakout seasons in real life, if your player performs especially well in FIFA 21, his potential can rise. Keep an eye on your players' statuses to see if their potential has increased (or decreased).

Next: FIFA 21's transfer system