Is There A Problem With Youth Intake?

I have played countless seasons on FM since release but still have not had one top class player come through my ranks. I normally don't manage Man Utd till January after we've had the big patch but after seeing them ALWAYS get top youth in with top attributes I decided to manage them earlier this year. So after 7 seasons I haven't had one decent player through my ranks despite having top facilities for my full 7 years at United.

So why is it that United get them all the time in all different saves yet when I manage them I don't get one worth giving a shot in the 1st team?

I can think of two reasons.

A. You fired all the (probably) rubbish staff there and hired new ones who don't have the same connections and knowledge as the old ones.

B. You are just unlucky. Even though the chance of getting wonderkid-potential youngsters through your own ranks at Manchester United in FM12 is quite big compared to other clubs and earlier versions, the chance is actually quite small still. Just consider the amount of good youngsters being generated each year (a few hundred?) compared to the amount of clubs worldwide!

A. I never get rid of the United staff the only ones that have left are the few that have been approached

B.How can I be unlucky? its not just me who has noticed this. I have mates who play the game and they have to noticed this.

A. I never get rid of the United staff the only ones that have left are the few that have been approached

B.How can I be unlucky? its not just me who has noticed this. I have mates who play the game and they have to noticed this.

Well I got two wonderkids in the first-season intake with Roma, so I can't say that is a global thing...

Well I got two wonderkids in the first-season intake with Roma, so I can't say that is a global thing...

Just seems to me that the game is a bit biased when it comes to intakes of youth.

SI staff have said its slightly more likely for gamers to get wonder kid newgens in their youth then AI controlled clubs. I think you must have terrible luck. Was there not even one possible squad player?

Just seems to me that the game is a bit biased when it comes to intakes of youth.

I'd say it most likely boils down to bad luck. I had 4-5 seasons with Juve where no youngsters who would have had any chance of coming near the first team were taken in, before two of them suddenly appeared.

There might be a correlation between intake and how many talented youth players you already have. If you buy a lot of youngsters elsewhere, I suppose the game might regulate just how many of them rise through your ranks. (This is unverified, of course.)

Had one great DC and a future first team AML in my first season with ManU. The DC is 17 and competing for first team playing time already. Just comes to luck I guess.

I don't know if this is consistent throughout all teams but me and a few mates, all of us support United keep an eye on them in are saves and it seems consistent with all of us that when we are not them they get tons of top players yet when we manage them we struggle to get one in 10 years.

How many 'world class' players have United developed in real life since the era of Scholes etc?

I play as a lower league manager and always have three or four youth graduates in the squad.

Is it possible your just giving up on your youth prospects too early?

Do you try farming them out on loan and giving them run out in the cup?

SI staff have said its slightly more likely for gamers to get wonder kid newgens in their youth then AI controlled clubs. I think you must have terrible luck. Was there not even one possible squad player?

This, it's just being unlucky, or your scouts/coaches are under-estimating potential or something. It's a random thing - sometimes you'll get amazing ones, sometimes you wont, purely random, but it's biased to give you better players thant he AI, that much has been confirmed.

I'm Coventry in League One in season four, and we've just managed to get Man Utd as the parent club.

The reason I chose them above the other options (Chelsea and Spurs) was because they had no less than 7 youth players with a value >1mil that looked like they had a lot of potential.

It's bizarre that you haven't had one decent player in 7 seasons.

I think people maybe misunderstanding me here. I have had 6 saves so far playing 3-6 year in each one and United get regens worth 2m plus regularly in all them saves but when i manage them the best I've had in 7 years is a dm/cm who was worth 1.5m when I got him through. Plus attribute wise these regens what AI united managed get are unbelievable to the ones I've seen in my 7 years managing them.

I know people are saying that we have a better chance than the AI of getting top players but from speaking to mates and playing the game I think they are far more likely to than human controlled team.

This is not something I have just thought about today I also seen this all the time with FM10, don't get me wrong I love FM and will continue to play it but this is one thing that does annoy me at times.

How do you manage the youth intake? In my current Man Utd save i have had one worldie player come through who im trying to improve some more but my squad now contains four other players who came through youth intake. When they joined they were not all that great but have them training for new positions, specific training and mentoring from 1st team squad and they are now fringe members of my first team aged 17 or 18.

I have another longer save involving Crewe, Huddersfield, Ipswich and Newcastle and with all those clubs i have taken youth intake into my first team squad. One of them was a RB who followed me from Crewe to Ipswich to Newcastle before leaving for Celtic then Bayern Munich.

Well I am in charge in Malaga, upgraded my youth facilties to the best over the first 3 seasons and it still took me a decent 11 seasons to get one star player, then suddenly I have one who is "has the potential to be as good as Walter" Walter is my current star striker on 60-80 goals a season, so I say just be patient and keep an eye out, as one will appear.

I managed Man Utd for 7 seasons in FM 12.0.4 and I'm yet to see, a newgen who could be worthy first team player, coming through my ranks. Even in earlier FM version it never happened and I always manage Man Utd. I always look to buy good newgens at early age from the other clubs. Probably one of the things that annoy me the most.

EDIT: I always have the best staff FWIW and all of my facilities are at maximum.

I do think that you need to make your youth setup work for you rather than simply wait for the next Rooney to turn up, fully formed, in your U-18 Squad.

The first thing I do when I start my game (as Liverpool) is double check my coaches, try and make sure that all areas of coaching are 4* or above and then I ruthlessly cull my entire squad from top to bottom. You youths need to develop and to develop they need matches. The U-18 and Reserves will do but cup games and going out on Loan are better. If you don't know who that kiddie is in your first team, let alone your youth team, your squad is, imo, too big.

I don't have a reserve team. I have first team players needing fitness or to get some form and the U-18s get promoted (automatically) as needed to fill the gaps getting them match experience.

Any kiddie with less than 2* potential doesn't get a contract, simple as that.

I try to keep a championship or at worst L1 feeder club and send players there to get match experience. I have specific players for tutoring and make sure that they are always tutoring someone, all the kids are on individual training focuses to boost where they're weakest and so on.

On top of that I have scouts out everywhere looking for talented kiddies with a head scout whose opinion I trust to do the 3 match report scouting for an in-depth look. I have a youth team brimming with talent, brought in on the cheap from other clubs so from my point of view, I'd say no, there's no issue with Youth Intake. Maybe it total luck, but I did get my next Jack Robinson coming into the academy this season.

i have had ONE at united, and he was 4 stars

doesnt help that the facilitys are downgrading every year through technology, and they are still 5 stars