One of the most important qualities a player can have in Football Manager 2021 is his personality. This label is the product of examining the seven hidden attributes that make up Personality (Loyalty, Professionalism, Ambition, Controversy, Sportsmanship, Temperament, and Pressure), plus Determination and Leadership. In this piece I’ll be looking at the top five Personalities to look for in a player.

I’ll be assuming I’m looking at a player mid-career here. There are a few slight differences in what I’d call the top five between a player in mid-career (and thus finished with development, for the most part) and a player just starting out. But there’s a lot of overlap!

Model Citizen

The first, and most important, Personality to look for is Model Citizen. This is the gold standard of players. High everything, except Controversy. Your Model Citizen is often going to be a superb leader for your team, even if he’s not the captain. He’s determined, loyal, professional, cool-headed, ambitious, sporting, and rock-hard under pressure. The Model Citizen is the easiest player to manage: just wind him up and watch him go.

You can motivate him by appealing to his professionalism or his pride. He’ll be resistant to complacency, and with his high Leadership, he’s usually able to take the team with him. If he doesn’t like his playing time, he’ll come and talk to you one-on-one about it, not go to the press or his teammates. But if he does have to go to his teammates, watch out – this guy tends to be popular.

Resolute

Another fairly easy one to manage is the Resolute player. Generally speaking, his high Professionalism will keep him in line. His high Determination will help him want to win. His Ambition may be anywhere, just about, so you can’t always appeal to his pride. But be aware too that he can have no better than good Pressure. So it may be helpful to avoid piling the pressure on this #2 Personality to look for.

A Resolute player with high Work Rate and Stamina can be a real midfield engine for a team, always driving forward. It’s a good Personality to have on that central midfield orchestrator.

Perfectionist

This is one of those Personalities that you look for in either a newgen or an established player. The Perfectionist is a gem, in his own way, but he’s not the type for mentoring. He’ll have high Ambition and Professionalism, and Determination too, But his Temperament will be low, meaning his ability to hold his temper will be poor. 

What’s good about the Perfectionist is that he’s easy to motivate. Criticize him, and he’ll try to do better. He’s always pushing himself to be the best (this is why it’s so valuable on a newgen). He can be a little tricky to deal with otherwise, as he may respond poorly to praise (“you think that was a good performance? Um, okay.”). You’re better off finding something to critique about this player’s performance, because that’ll help get the best out of him.

Model Professional/Professional

The Model Professional, and his slightly lesser cousin the Professional, are true diamonds for your team. They’ll rarely complain, they’re internally motivated, and they’ll play late into their careers. They can be good leaders, with the right attributes for it, but their professionalism and even temperament may make them a fairly cool captain to have. If you want a fiery general to run your team, the Model Professional may not be your man.

Motivating the Professional is easy, you can appeal to his pride, you can criticize him (within reason), you can go all sorts of ways. The Professional is useful anywhere on the pitch that he can play, no matter the position or role. A good mix of Professional and Resolute players would give, I believe, really impressive results to a team. 

Charismatic Leader/Born Leader

The Charismatic Leader, and his close sibling the Born Leader, are great additions to any team. You don’t want a team full of them – just one or two will do the job. The very high Leadership, Determination, and Temperament mean that the Charismatic Leader (and the Born Leader, with 20 each Determination and Leadership, but no Temperament restriction) will be a natural captain for your team.

These players will usually be Highly Influential in your Dynamics screen, even if you don’t make them captain. The nice thing about them, too, is that even if you don’t make them captain, their leadership qualities will still exist, giving you an extra Highly Influential leader to keep your team moving forward. You don’t want more than 3 Highly Influential players, but having a third one can be very useful in helping manage player relations. 

Conclusion

That’s the list of five Personalities to look for – what do you think? Are there others you would rate higher? How would you change the list if you were thinking specifically of newgens? Any tips for motivating or managing these Personalities? 

Look out for my next piece, Five Personalities to Avoid.

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Other articles you might enjoy:

• Backroom Staff in FM21: The Team Behind The Team
• Setting Up a Save in FM21
• Touchline Instructions in Football Manager 21
• Beginner’s Guide to FM 21 
• FM21 Guides: Newgen Guide for Countries and Clubs