Developing youth players and training new positions?

[Scorpion]

If I'm developing a youth player and I eventually want him to play in a different position (for instance, a striker who I want to play as an inside forward), should I wait to train him in this new position until he's older and has had time to develop? Does new position training stunt development? Or will he continue to develop while I train him in a new position?

Is the best course of action to let him develop until he reaches a certain age and then start training/playing him in a new position, or can I just start him on the position I want him to play first?

I also have a tendency to put youth players on tactical role training for roles that build the most stats even if I plan on playing them in a different tactical role. An example is training my strikers as Complete Forwards when I plan to use them as False Nines. Is this a sound strategy, or does it cause problems?

Thanks!

[Blackfyre]

All really good questions. This is my experience.

It's easy to retrain them, the question is: will they like it? I find changing the training cycle around can effect a player either positively or not.You tend to find this out quite soon just by observing the first few months. If the youngster is talented and has the right stats for the position, it should go well. I trained a Shadow striker to be a right midfielder. I found that he didn't like certain training scedules, which made it a bit hrder but he got there. I sold him to Wolves last season for 1.8 million. I'm in league 1.

I also found that training different positions really helped player development. For example. I had a centre back with 7 on heading, but otherwise good defensive stats. His heading did not go up until I started to train him at halfback and even fullback, which makes no sense as they don't even practice heading. Fullbacks as wingbacks, Midfielders as Defensive or attacking versions can work too. It can also backfire, but it is often worth a try if someone who you believe should improve, isn't.

Also training bizarre things like penalties or freekicks can often trigger a boost in technique which helps to improve everything else.

Some players enjoy having different roles assigned to training, some don't. You will find that out as you go. With a new signing I let him settle by training his preffered role even if it isn't my prefered role. I will switch his training after a couple of months and often avoid the dreaded red arrows. Training is a bit of a minefield but you can really do some good stuff in there if you put your mind to it. Good Luck.

Just remember that if you train a player in a different position to the one you want him to play, it will effect your team cohesion. Even if only a little bit.

[Slainpessimist]

This is my experience.
1/ Start training him when ever you think it is necissary, It won't take that long usually. The only reason why would be because their hidden stat of versatility is low, a more versatile player will learn more roles.
2/ His actual stats won't develop as fast while he learns his new role, but if you want him to play in the new position/role, may as well get it done and dusted early.
3/ It's subjective, but the main thing to developing players is game time, if you can see him getting more game time in his new position, then he will develop more quickly overall anyway.
4/ I do the same, most wingers I will train as inside forwards or full backs as wingbacks, only for the benefit of stat growth. Maybe it's the wrong way to go about it, but I don't see any negatives so far.

You have to consider that the more positions a player knows/learns will impact on his potential ability, or rather will use up current ability points, when actual stat raises could be taking those points instead, if that makes sense.
Just say in this case you play a one striker formation, but have 3 good strikers already in the team, though only 1 inside forward. Having that player learn the inside forward role would be more beneficial to the team and he will probably get more game time in the long run.

Another thing to consider is to put him in a mentoring group with other inside forwards/wingers and he will learn it quicker and maybe pick up some traits from the other players.

[Scorpion]

Thanks for all the help! I guess my main question boils down to this: Does player potential represent a total number of attribute points that the player could obtain given optimal conditions (best training facilities, coaches, first team playing time at the appropriate level, etc.) minus any training time given away to other factors (training in an unfamiliar position, preferred player moves, etc.)? Or does it represent a "rate" of improvement which can be distributed amongst attributes, preferred moves, new positions, and so on?

How much does it harm a player's ability to reach his potential by training him in a new position during his peak development period (up to age 24 I believe)?

[HUNT3R]

PA is the best the player can ever be. The rate of improvement is separate and we can't know or see it.

[Scorpion]

So does training a player in a new position (prior to age 24 or so) detract from his ability to reach his PA?

In other words, is PA what the player would reach if he trains solely on attributes and not new positions, or can he still reach his PA if he's being trained in a new position as well?

[Slainpessimist]

Think of PA as the total point that can be allocated to his current ability.
Things that take up current ability points are - Stats and positions learned as far as I know. Learning one other position won't have a big effect imho opinion.