Proving themselves in Reserves. Tracking players progress?

I bought a 17 year old from Villa for 7.5m (I enquired and negotiated a bit, but Scouts gave him 4 stars for a 17 year old I thought cool)

So as soon as I signed him I put him in the under 19's at the Barcelona setup.

As soon as he went to the reserves I had to have a chat with him. And I said that he needed to prove himself in the reserves and he accepted the challenge.

However, I couldn't find an option to get coach reports or reports from the U19's manager in regards to his performances?

What I've done is create a weekly note that reminds to check what stats he's getting.

Am I missing something here?

Nobody got any ideas?

After 3 games in the reserves he put in a transfer request. So much for proving yourself? Or even following up with the chat we had about progress. I rejected his transfer request and now play him from time to time.

When you sign the player, make sure you define his place in the team, first team, reserve, youth... if you promise him he will be a first team player, he will demand it every time you put him on the reserves or youth.

Changing his role on the club to reserve/rotation player, or youth and he will stop with the requests, however, be aware how you setup their contracts, if you want it to room smooth, be honest with your expectations.

Squad status is set to Hot Prospect for Future

It seems like FM 2011 treats 'hot prospect' differently than it used to. I think they expect a spot in the first team occasionally.

Don't know if loaning them out works better. In my experience reserve team play only serves to keep players fit, not much else.

I think this part of the game needs a bit of work.

Ever since CM became FM, I have never had a reserve team. I just have a 18-21 men first team, and that's it. Between them, I just apply a steady rotation. This will pretty much keep every Squad Status happy, from key to hot prospect, and except for the 1 in 6 year injury crisis, I dont see how you need many more players. Great way to keep the wage bill down too.

Has to me also proven to be the fastest way to develop my youngsters, although you need a strong first 11 to be able to rotate youngsters into the team in key games.

Yeh I do that all the time.