FM19 - Making a Manager - 05 - Semi-Pro Pre-Season

Can't scout players? Offer them trial contracts. Giving a player a trial at your club for one week, two weeks, or more, is a very good way of building up an understanding of what that player's ability is on the pitch, what he is like off the pitch, and whether he'd be a good fit to your squad. These trial players will take part in training sessions and may play in non-competitive fixtures for your club.

I think some FM players can be somewhat misunderstanding of the idea of trialing in players. It isn't by any means guaranteeing the players have a future at your club, but a way of scouting their abilities first-hand. Instead of scouts developing reports on these players for you, you can see what they are capable of first-hand. You can get a feel of whether you like these players or not in a very short period of time by trialing these players.

In this particular scenario we trialed over fifty players in pre-season alone, with plenty more coming in on trial after. If we liked the look of a player, we extended his trial to get more time to asses him. If we felt that a player was definitely good enough to be an active part of our squad, we offered him the chance to join the club permanently. Only a fraction of the trialists earned a second trial, and even less earned contracts at the club.

In terms of selecting which players of the trialists to recruit, and how I went about signing them for the club (contract negotiation), this will be discussed in the next tutorial in much more depth. We will look at getting the best possible deal for the club in every contract offered.