Which is better for a players development?

Is it better for a players development to be sent out on loan to a lower division to get game time or to be kept in the u-21 squad on a training schedule of your choosing?

Never loan them out.

Keep them in the U21 if need be and give them games, they only need around 15 games in a season to develop.

I think it depends upon your U21 set up, the U21 manager and coaches compared to the club wanting them on loan. I do try to avoid sending players out to nations that I dont have set as fully playable. For me it also depends on how many players I am trying to develop at the same time. If I have five under 21's, I will send three out of loan and develop two in house. I then take the better prospect of those two and play one of them in some league cup games or last 15-20 minutes in a league game I am already winning.

It just depends man.

First team football > everything else.

First team football > everything else.

Is that first team football with you or out on loan?

First team football in general I guess. It's all about playing competitive games.

What Schotsmanntje said. ManagerFootball also has a point. You don't send your Man Utd hot prospect to League 2 team, but you do send him to play in the mid-low table club or top Championship club where he'll get plenty of games.

Thanks lads, you've all been very helpful.

Best prospects train with my first team and come on every game after 75 minutes if they are eligible. (I make them available for Under 21s regardless) but sometimes they aren't eligible because they have already played once that day.

Other players just go in the under 21s squad until they hit like 2*... then I move them to a Championship side or the B Team if I am managing in Spain.

Depending on age:

under 17s go into youth squad normal (i might have the best prospects in my first team)

after that:

some stay in youth squad, some are loaned out but the best prospects get around 15-30 games a season rotational. depends on what positon. Wing Backs and GK don't really get this option however most other positions i can rotate easily.

What Schotsmanntje said. ManagerFootball also has a point. You don't send your Man Utd hot prospect to League 2 team, but you do send him to play in the mid-low table club or top Championship club where he'll get plenty of games.

I did....

Pugliese for me:

Season 1 (13/14): 6 months in the u18s, then 6 months at Bristol City

Season 2 (14/15): 6 months at MK Dons, then 6 months at some championship club (or maybe someone like Newcastle, can't remember)

Season 3 (15/16): Out on loan at Udinese

Season 4 (16/17): Out on loan at Udinese

Season 5: Sold to Monaco for 35.5m

yeah, okay, he got promoted really quickly, but he still went out there for regular games (which I wasn't giving him)

I tend to stick with that for my youth, loan them out to the lower divisions, and then promote them (if they get better) through the ranks to a bigger side (often overseas)

If they then flop, I can sell them on (developed for an inflated fee) or they'll be good enough for the first team

Pugliese was an exception, generally they've already got decent stats when I sign them, so they get loaned out (for something like 100k per month)

then they make the first team (as backup) pocketing a nice value spike from a CL win, before being sold on

I tend to keep the best three potential youngsters backup to first team, but also try to give them some match time. If i know for sure they will not be getting match time then I loan them to high reputation leagues. I feel these leagues can increase player development more. If a couple of teams want to loan I choose the team with better facilities. Also I don't accept a loan unless the player is guaranteed first team.

Loan rarely works, unless the player is good enough for a top-division side (mid-bottom table)... Anything lower than that (or top-level club one league down) isn't going to benefit the player that much, regardless of how much playing time he gets.

Also, forget about loaning to inactive leagues, domestic or foreign.

As a rule of thumb, follow the indication of coaches and scouts for Current Ability. If the report says Player X is a decent Championship player, he won't improve much if sent on loan in League One or Two. Basically the one in the report is the level he must play to keep on improving.

Still, I don't loan promising youngsters out unless I'm sure they'll get enough quality football. I'd rather have them at my club because AI managers tend to do stupid decisions with training and selection, so I can't foresee if my talented striker will be played as a winger on loan or will be trained in the wrong position...

Loan works best for soon-to-be deadwood and to saddle other clubs with wages you don't want to pay.

I'll usually loan to a championship club with excellent training facilities. I don't know how much this helps development mind you, but my facilities were crap and my youth team league wasn't the best. I thought my player would develop at a greater rate playing and training at Middlesbrough, compared to training in poor facilities and playing against FC Halifax's youth team