[texico11]

Hey. I found out recently about how mentoring can help a young player develop determination and mental attributes, and also PPM. The problem I'm having is I don't have an absolutely ideal mentor, but a lot of potentially good options and I'm not really sure what to go with.

I have a young 19 year old Spanish CM/DM (we'll call him K) who has good playmaker attributes, and who I want to try and develop into a deep playmaker; a Xavi or Xabi Alonso type player. I'm playing FM2011 with an August 2011 transfer window, so I have the current Chelsea squad. Of course though, Chelsea doesn't really have a player of that kind of mold at the moment.

So I've contemplated a few options. K has a favoured personnel in Fernando Torres, but of course Torres is a striker, so I'm uncertain if that's a good match. Frank Lampard would seem a pretty good option, except K only speaks Spanish - Lampard has Spanish(Basic). I don't know if that's a major issue.

My backroom staff had suggested Raul Meireles, but he's neither the oldest nor most talented nor most experience, and he doesn't speak Spanish either.

K has very low determination atm which I'm keen to improve. My most determined/hard working players are Essien and a recently purchased Daniele De Rossi, both DM's too, but neither are really playmakers.

So, does anybody have any suggestions about what would be the best avenue? Linking him with Torres seems an option, if that has the benefit of improving his attacking game too(turning him into more of a Fabregas), as long as it doesn't hinder his development as a playmaker. And also, does making a player a mentor hinder their game in any way? Because Torres is essential to my squad.

Thanks.

[Xulu]

Determination is the single most important attribute in the tutor. Never have a tutor with lower determination than the mentee. Since you can tutor a player multiple times, I would suggest tutoring K with whatever player you felt most comfortable with first and then a second, different, player down the line.

At the moment, I would probably pick De Rossi first since he is a solid DM type but very well-rounded. Perhaps one good thing to do in all of this is to give K an individual training focus in whatever category you want for a DLP. In my example, work on K's "Off The Ball", "Technique", or "First Touch". One interesting thing to note is that while creativity and flair are beautiful attributes to have, but a DLP can get by without super high marks in either provided the other attributes are there (see Michael Carrick and perhaps David Beckham).

EDIT: One thing to add. If you would like a custom schedule for this lad, make sure it has a strong focus in Ball Control (most important) and Attacking.