Youth academy as a source of income?

I read a lot of people using the youth academy as a decent source of income. How do you manage that? Most of the players coming through the academy are of very low / mediocre level. I know the occasional star emerges; about one every year has enough potential stars to be of use, and about one in three years actually have a combination of PA and well-shaped attributes to be worthy of your squad.

How do you turn this into a profitable business? Low ability leads to few games, which leads to low reputation and low transfer prices.

I'd especially like to be able to sell those "decent PA" players who will never break into the first team or those high-PA with fatal flaws. Or are these players always writeoffs?

The only real way to make a profit is to develop players until they are at a decent level of play, as well as reputation. That means giving them first team playing time. But the key is when you sell the player. He might still be worth 800k at 21, but worth 3m at 22 or 23, and sold for twice that. Any way, what I would do is make use of your youth squad by signing talented youths for little money, develop them, if they aren't ready for the first team or good enough, then sell them.

Personally I try to develop all the youths with the intent they will one day be good enough for the first team (provided they have untapped potential, ofc) and if they come shy or disappoint or are unprofessional (i.e. start complaining about ****) then I wait for the opportune time to sell them. A loan spell for a 21 y.o. can do wonders for his playing ability AND his reputation, if you have no intent to keep the player.

If you're clever enough, it can be done. On a save that someone uploaded for me, I'm Forest. They were in League 2 when I took over and were in and still are in financial difficulty. Of my current team, I currently have 5 players in my first team squad who have come through my academy, 7 in my youth team who are considered good enough potentially and another 5 in my reserves with 4 of them out on loan. First team football and not having any other choice has definitely helped these players and now one of them is worth £1m and another £220k. They're still in there late teens/early 20s as well.

I don't have the best facilities either due to the financial difficulties I'm in.

Any way, what I would do is make use of your youth squad by signing talented youths for little money, develop them, if they aren't ready for the first team or good enough, then sell them.

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this is exactly what I do, unfortunately I always end up spending all my transfer funds on youths, my first team does terrible, I get bored of losing, I quit the game and either start a new one or continue with another one, then end up deleting the save a few months later and then start a new one

this is exactly what I do, unfortunately I always end up spending all my transfer funds on youths, my first team does terrible, I get bored of losing, I quit the game and either start a new one or continue with another one, then end up deleting the save a few months later and then start a new one

Now, this is where I'd say you're going wrong. On my Forest save, due to not having alot of wages, I've signed lots of youngsters before realising that whilst they have potential, they won't be in the first team for a few seasons yet. I haven't paid a penny for them and they're on pittance in wages. Most have gone out on loan where they'll hopefully do well enough over the season. If I can get a few more promotions over the next few seasons, they'll either be kept on in the first team, or kept and loaned out again or sold on.

Now, this is where I'd say you're going wrong. On my Forest save, due to not having alot of wages, I've signed lots of youngsters before realising that whilst they have potential, they won't be in the first team for a few seasons yet. I haven't paid a penny for them and they're on pittance in wages. Most have gone out on loan where they'll hopefully do well enough over the season. If I can get a few more promotions over the next few seasons, they'll either be kept on in the first team, or kept and loaned out again or sold on.

I know I shouldn't do it, I have just started a new save on FM2008 (yes, I know!) with Liverpool and said I would concentrate on buying players for first team this time and buy youngsters next season when I have started to build a team, I bought two players (Del Piero & Cani) but apart from these two I find it very hard on all FM's to find players suitable for my first team, I use the search option and end up scouting lots of players, I send my scouts out all over the world trying to find all kinds of players, what is the best way to find players because my way never seems to work!

The only real way to make a profit is to develop players until they are at a decent level of play, as well as reputation. That means giving them first team playing time. But the key is when you sell the player. He might still be worth 800k at 21, but worth 3m at 22 or 23, and sold for twice that. Any way, what I would do is make use of your youth squad by signing talented youths for little money, develop them, if they aren't ready for the first team or good enough, then sell them.

Personally I try to develop all the youths with the intent they will one day be good enough for the first team (provided they have untapped potential, ofc) and if they come shy or disappoint or are unprofessional (i.e. start complaining about ****) then I wait for the opportune time to sell them. A loan spell for a 21 y.o. can do wonders for his playing ability AND his reputation, if you have no intent to keep the player.

While this is what I want to do on an abstract level, I find I cannot seem to get it to work for real. All youngsters (from my own youth intake or brought in at max 18-19) I get that are of decent enough level, are trained in principle to be able to get into the first team. And once they get there, I'm quite capable of making a killing on them.

The problem is getting them there. Simply letting them sit in the U19s isn't good enough, and loaning them out on to the one-step-lower league is only marginally helpful. They just stay in that vicious cycle: competative football is too important to give some youngster who might just not be able to make it a chance just to up his reputation / skills.

I have had some good luck with a few loan spells to better teams; my "first" high PA youngster was a Mexican 18yr old, who just wasn't good enough overall / I had a surplus of midfielders. He stayed with me for 2.5 years getting nowhere fast (about 10 games each year). Then I managed to loan him for the second half of the season to a slightly worse team in the league and the next year to a direct rival in the league. This year, he's ready and fighting with one other guy for a starting spot.

And yes, the true problem lies in those that you "know" are going to fall just short of the level you need them to be. That can be due to hitting their PA-ceiling, or perhaps worse, one or several fatal flaws. I just never seem able to get their reputation up enough to get a club interested in them.

LOL, classic. Some players will mature quickly and be in the first team by 19 and well developed by 22, but that is very much the exception. So don't buy players for 3 years from now if the team is going to struggle for those 3 years!

I would look at loan spells, players that are transfer listed, one year left on contract or available on a free, then I would look at player who are 23 or just turned 24 but not in the first team yet. These players will often still have some room to grow, and they have many years ahead of them, meaning either you get 8 or 9 years of service, or you can at least still sell them for what you paid (or more) in a couple of years.

My youth policy is in place in a LONG term save, its 2038, so I know when players will retire/stop being useful, so the youth I have signed are aged appropriately, that is about 6-8 years younger than the first teamer they will hopefully one day replace. So if I have 3 31 year olds, I will need 3 24 year olds, with good potential, in the same position. It actually works well because the 31 year olds tend to be very professional and don't complain about younger players getting games, while the up-and-comers are also very professional about it, knowing they don't yet deserve to start every game. Its just a basic guideline I use, because you can't replace a 31 year old with a 19 year old (except in the case of the rare phenom).

In my current save with Man United, I had a 15 year old Brazilian striker come through my academy with 4 star potential. Gave him the odd sub apperance from 16-18, now sold him to AC Milan at the age of 20 for 22 million.

2011-2012 Man United 0 Games

2012-2013 Man United 11 Games, 2 Goals, 1 assist

2013-2014 Loaned to Zargoza 34 Games, 7 Goals, 2 Assists

2014-2015 Loaned to Leeds, 30 Games, 12 Goals, 4 assists

2015-2016 Man united played 4 more games for me scoring 1 goal and making 1 assist before AC milan come sniffing and now hes gone.

He was never going to make it with me, decent little player but even after all that hes still current only 1 and a half star CA. I reckon I could have got abit more for him in a year or so if I was giving him the odd game here and there still