Are you tired of getting deadbeat prospects in your Youth Academy? Think you have the next Lionel Messi but it turns out they are “Showing Great Potential” and not “Potential to Be Special?” Well, have no fear fellow career mode-r, I’m here to show you how to fix that right up! All it takes is a bit of patience.

To understand how this happens we have to understand the mechanics of the game. When a player is loaned out to another team their potential rating will change depending on how the game assumes your player performed. It’s basically a roll of the dice to see if your player improved, regressed, or stayed the same. EA puts this in to add to the variations of youth players. While you think you’ve signed/scouted the next Harry Kane - you’ve really ended up with Freddy Adu.

Before we get into the process, let’s look at what these potential messages mean in numbers:

Showing Great Potential: The player has 80-87 potential.

An Exciting Prospect: The player has 88-92 potential

Has Potential to Be Special: The player has 92+ potential

The Process

Here we have Jack Nicholson. I’m going to do my best not to use any puns here but you can see he’s a shining prospect. Ahem, anyway, there are two important details to note and to keep track of. For one, he’s “An Exciting Prospect.” Two, he is worth $375,000. Write those things down unless you have a stellar memory.

Step One: Add to Loan List for Short Loan

This might take a few tries. Right after you add him to your loan list, save immediately. If we don’t get any offers for Jack within a week or so, reload and try again until you get an offer. Ideally, it’s not in the same league as you. In this case we received an offer from Sheffield United. Perfect.

After you accept the offer, immediately save again!!

Step Two: Simulate a few days out (3-4)

We’re going to simulate for a few days to really let that loan sink in. Then, we’re going to go into our sell players menu and recall Jack Nicholson from his loan.

This will trigger the dice-roll we mentioned before. Remember his value was $375,000 and he was considered “An Exciting Prospect?” After you call Jack back to your squad, back out of the menu, then go back in and select him. You’ll either see some differences, or you won’t, depending on that dice-roll.

Good Result

My first attempt yielded a higher dollar amount, meaning his overall potential increased, but not enough to make him “Potential to Be Special” which is considered 93+. He remained “An Exciting Prospect” which puts him between 88-92 potential rating.

Amazing Result

We finally did it. It took about 12 reloads from my save point but, I got the “Potential To Be Special.” I also had a few regressions where his value went down and his status was pushed back to “Showing Great Potential.” Here is what he looks like now:

What this mean is that if you have enough patience, you can take a player with seemingly low potential and bring him all the way up to a 93+ potential rating. If you’d like to know more about individual players’ potential ratings check out sofifa.com.

You’re ready to go out there and build an elite dynasty squad! Is it kind of cheating? In my opinion... it’s all about how you want to enjoy the game. Till next time, here’s a video of me trying to copy Dele Alli’s wündergoal: