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Tips for having a better youth academy (Part 1)

Written by markT05

Here you can find a few tips on how to manage your youth academy.

1. The first step to having a good academy is by finding good players that can make it in your academy. This is done by phoning your scouts. You can have a maximum of 3 scouts and hence one should try to have 3 scouts searching for 3 different kinds of players. The best option is to have scouts searching for specific players (defenders, forwards etc.) and not ‘any kind of player’.

2. When deciding whether to keep a player in your academy when you phone your scout keep in mind the level of the player and his age.

If for example you find a 17 year old with inadequate or passable as maximums its most probably useless as this would mean that you would be promoting an 18 year old passable which is not quite the max. If on the other hand he has at least solid or excellent maximum skill you should keep him.

On the other hand if you find some 15 or 16 year old with at least passable maximum skill he is a good talent which should keep as you be promoting him at about 17 years.

When your scout finds a 15 year old and doesn’t tell you his maximum skill or overall skills, keep him, you could be lucky and find a future star.

3. Choosing the right training for your players is essential. If you have a star player in your academy (say a possible 17 year 0 days excellent) focus on him by training him in primary and secondary skills.

If on the other you have a group of promising players in two different positions try to find a balance by changing training, say every 2-4 weeks between the two different types of training. Try to keep training your players until they have reached their maximum potential in their primary skills and then shift to their secondary skills if possible.

4. If you have 16 players (maximum no. of players in the YA) and you have some players which don't have good potentials or are a bit old (over 18 years) fire them or promote them. This is done so you can call your scouts every week which is essential in your academy.

So let’s summarise:

1. Employ 3 scouts each searching different kinds of players.

2. Find the right players:
a. You should accept 17 year olds only if they have solid or maximum skill.
b. Accept 15-16 year olds with passable or higher maximum skill.
c. Accept 15 year olds when you are not given overall or maximum skill.

3. Chose the right training.

4. Remove any unskilled or unnecessary players (if you have reached the maximum of 16 players) to make space for new, hopefully skilled new ones.