Normally I ignore the "List of Targets" suggested by my scout, mostly because the suggested targets are over 25 and I enjoy building up a yound and improving squad, but in the Summer transfer window at the end of my first season I noticed something very odd.
In the list of targets was a 16/17 year old called Duffy, Irish international, who can play various midfield positions, is a DMF by default but has a much higher rating as a full back, and has the pinpoint pass and man marking cards. He had terrible shooting skills but has some stats in the high 80s.
This is strange, as good young players never turn up in this list. When I spotted him I was busy signing some other players, so advanced to the next week to free up a negotiation space. I was save-abusing at this point in order to get a good youth team selection (sorry, I can't handle playing a whole season without any good youth signings at the end).
When I looked, Duffy wasn't there. I went into advanced search and he wasn't there either - he had disappeared from the game. I loaded my earlier save and signed him, and he's turned out to be an excellent player for my team.
Has anyone else experienced this? I decided that the list of targets is designed to be mostly mediocre but very occasionally has a good player in, encouraging players to keep checking it in case a good opportunity comes up.
Either that, or it was a freak occurrence.
Out of interest, I'm relatively new to football fandom, so I'm not sure if this guy is a real player or not. I noticed that in my ML Everton have a player called Duffy, but if he's still playing then my Duffy can't be a reincarnation of him.
Sorry for the essay!