With EA FC 24 Career Mode Player Agents, Electronic Arts looks to be taking their EA Sports FC franchise - formerly known as FIFA – to greater heights. Now more than ever, Career Mode really promises to offer a more realistic playing experience through the introduction of player agents. In real life, these men in suits walk hand in hand with professional players to ensure their best interests are represented when it comes to transfer and salary negotiations.
Now, in this article, we’ll be taking a deeper dive into this new feature of the game that’s set to be released to the general public on 29 September.
What are Player Agents in Career Mode?
Player agents in EA FC 24 are the people who will guide you on your journey to international stardom within the game.
In Player Career Mode, you try to rise up the ranks as a professional player right down from the grassroots level all the way up towards the intercontinental giants. Agents are there to help you navigate your career trajectory by doing things like:
- Commenting on your on-field achievements and losses;
- Negotiating with interested clubs about potential transfers; as well as
- Brokering lucrative contracts on your behalf
A massive role of the player agent involves physical negotiations, where the agent will sit down with representatives of your current club in order to try and reach terms on a new contract which would see you secure another couple of seasons at your current club.
More so, player agents in the game can also help you finetune your overall career path by offering a list of recommended clubs that you could transfer to, should you wish to leave your current employer.
How to get transferred
Now, if you’re looking to move to another team, your player agent has got you covered.
During the course of the season, your agent will continuously assess your on-field performances and do all the leg work for you by sourcing transfer opportunities at other clubs.
However, transferring to another team isn’t just as simple as having your agent find another club interested in your services as a footballer. You have to meet certain requirements in order to qualify for potential transfer moves.
So, for example, an agent can consider the tactical vision of potential new clubs which will help them match your physical and mental qualities as a player towards the potential team’s style of play. If Chelsea looks to utilise wide areas of the pitch more frequently, then your player can be a good fit for their team if he/she possesses a certain level of pace and acceleration to maximise efficiency in those areas of the field.
Your agent can also weigh up the geographical context of a transfer move and evaluate whether such a switch would be realistic for you to make.
Anyway, once the player agent has sourced viable opportunities for you as their client, you can send over a list of preferred transfer moves to them during the season and they’ll forward the request to your employer.
Come to the end of the season, you’ll then have your chance to switch teams as the summer transfer window opens, provided you meet all the prerequisites concerned. Alternatively, if you’re lucky you could manage to secure a move in January as part of the winter transfer window instead.
On the other hand, when it comes to loan moves, things work a little differently.
Throughout the season, your current club will be monitoring your performance levels and they’ll require you to complete certain objectives for you to remain within the team.
Now, if the mandatory objectives for the current club are not likely to be achieved by the end of the season, you might be allowed to go on loan. Should you accept this chance, you’ll then be temporarily transferred over to a different club, where you'll need to demonstrate your abilities to earn the chance to return to the initial club and resume your career there.
How to pick a target team
Professional players in the real world have a number of different dreams and aspirations, which EA has sought to replicate within the game.
In Player Career Mode, you can create your own bespoke career path by assigning a target team which you aim to land at in the future. This could be as short as two seasons ahead or even something like five or six seasons down the road.
Using your controller or cursor (i.e. dependent which gaming platform you’re using), you can scroll through club options within countries like England, Spain, Germany and Italy. The interface will display what sort of performance objectives you’ll need to meet in order to be considered for a transfer move to the target team in question. This includes but is not limited to completing things like:
- Successful one-on-one dribble attempts
- Goals scored from outside the 18-yard box
- Number of matches in the starting XI
- Player of the Month awards
You are only allowed to have one target club active at any point within the save, but the game does provide you with the option to amend the target team at any point across the season.
The agent will be of help here by evaluating your choice of target team and providing feedback on whether your choice was realistic or overly ambitious. If the agent feels you’ve set your sights too high, they’ll intercede by recommending a stepping-stone club that you could use as a temporary bridge to get yourself from your current team to your eventual dream club.
Opting for a specific target team will entail maintaining a particular performance standard and accomplishing subsequent milestones, which are prerequisites for securing your transfer. Successful attainment of these objectives will then prompt your intended club to make an offer to acquire your services.
Subsequently, your agent will assist in discussing the terms of your contract. If an agreement cannot be reached or if the team's requirements shift regarding the positions they seek, then the transfer might fall through. In such a scenario, you could consider joining the target team at a later stage in your career or redirect your attention toward a new target team.
How to get captained
Another interactive element of Player Career mode involves becoming a captain of a team.
Demonstrating leadership and long-standing service for a club earns you the eventual reward of club captaincy.
We’re still waiting for more information on the length of time needed at a club in order to be eligible for captaincy. Once this becomes available, we’ll update this post accordingly, along with some other details like how high your player’s average rating needs to be in order to qualify.
How to become a free agent
Becoming a free agent in the game is actually pretty simple.
You basically just decide not to sign a contract for any team - be it your current employer or another club - prior to the expiration of your current contract.
What then happens is that after your contract with your current club elapses at the end of the season, you then have free reign to choose your next team, provided you meet their performance requirements.
It’s also important to note that EA have made being a free agent more realistic in this edition of the game. They’ve achieved this by having clubs offer more lucrative salary terms to free agents (i.e. signing on bonuses and higher wages), due to the fact that these clubs don’t have to fork out a transfer fee for such players.