One of the most exciting days in the Football Manager calendar is the day when your club’s youth intake arrives. This latest batch of newgens will lead to boundless optimism or incredible disappointment – or something in between.
If your latest batch of youngsters hasn’t excited you, don’t lose hope. That ‘average’ right-back you’ve written off as someone who should quit football and become a bus driver might still become a useful asset. But even if he doesn’t, there are still some things you can try to boost your team’s chances of producing a more exciting intake next time.
In today’s guide, I will give you some tips on how to properly assess your youth candidates and improve your academy. I’ll also look to bust a few myths along the way, using some real-life scenarios.
STAR RATINGS
On youth intake day, I’m sure the first thing you’ll look at is the star ratings next to the players, showing their ratings in terms of ability and potential.
Maybe you’re giddy because you’ve got several players with 5* potential, or perhaps you’re underwhelmed because everyone has 2* potential at most. The truth is that star ratings don’t tell the whole story of whether your intake is terrific or terrible.
It’s not as simple as saying that a 5* ability player is God-tier, or that a 0.5* ability player is like Ali Dia’s even worse cousin. You should always consider that star ratings are relative to the ability of your squad. A 1* player at Liverpool would probably be rated at around 3* at Tranmere, or around 5* at Southport.
Likewise, if a youth player’s star rating decreases, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve worsened. The general ability of your squad might have improved, which would increase the thresholds for star rating levels. As such, that solid 3* player might now be rated at 2.5*, even if their current ability has stayed at roughly the same level.
When it gets to the point where your first-team squad has world-class or even elite players in every area, only the very best in the world merit a 5* rating. On the plus side, a world-class player might now be rated at 3*.
If you’re managing a super-team and your best youth player has only 3* potential, don’t turn your nose up at them. It might not look it at first glance, but he likely has the potential to become very, very good.
Also, star ratings are just rough estimates of a player’s ability/potential by a particular coach or scout. They may not necessarily reflect that player’s actual level of ability in-game. Staff members with higher attributes scores in Judging Player Ability and/or Judging Player Potential generally give more accurate player reports.
From past experience, youth players who come in with high levels of current ability are assumed by coaches and scouts to have high potential as well. Naturally, if a player looks very good at 16, we assume they’ll be exceptional by their mid-20s – but that isn’t always the case. Take Freddy Adu, for example.
I’m going to show you an example of how I’d read star ratings, based on this first-year youth intake from my “Saving Burnley” series:
Our Head of Youth Development scores 14 in both Judging Player Ability and Potential, so his reports are quite reliable. He perceives our top three prospects to have 1.5* ability, thus suggesting that it’ll be quite some time before they’re ready for first-team action.
The outstanding player from this intake is Derek Moore – a midfield playmaker with 4*, possibly 5* potential. That means he could reach or exceed the level of ability as our best senior midfielder – loanee Scott McTominay, who’s “a decent player for most Premier League sides”.
Two other players have 2.5 to 3.5* potential. Left-back Dave Holmes is being compared to Charlie Taylor and Erik Pieters, whom most of my coaches rate at 3* ability, high-end Championship players.
Conor Brownhill appears to have similar potential as a forward. At the higher end of that projection, he’d be about as good as regular starters Ashley Barnes or Chris Wood are right now. Our HoYD also offered contracts to Eric Bell and Elliott Butler, who might become good Championship centre-backs, even if they’re unlikely to reach the PL standard of James Tarkowski.
The rest are unlikely to make the cut at Burnley, and many FMers likely won’t even bother developing them. That might be a mistake.
BEYOND THE STARS
There’s much more to players than their star ratings. When looking at players (particularly youths), I look for those who have decent attributes spread out over the right areas. For example, a midfielder with 20 Passing probably isn’t going to be that useful if he scores low in other key attributes.
What if a good prospect comes through whose best position is not one you use in your tactic, or whose strengths suit a different position to his preferred one? That’s the perfect time to retrain him. Converting that explosive winger into a wing-back is likely to be most effective when he’s 16 and still early in his development.
There are other factors worth considering when assessing a young player. If I had a 4* potential centre-back who was 5ft 10in and had a ‘Slack’ personality, I’d pay more attention to the 3* potential CB who was 6ft 2in and ‘Resolute’.
Of course, you could use mentoring groups to help influence your players’ personalities. Just remember that the new mentoring system is less of a guaranteed fix (and thus more realistic) than tutoring was in earlier FMs. Check out this guide on the Sports Interactive forums you want to know more about how mentoring works.
I’m now going to look more closely at those Burnley youth intake players to give them a proper assessment.
Moore is clearly an exciting talent. He already has decent key attributes for a deep-lying playmaker, and the ‘Tries Killer Balls Often’ trait suits that role even more. Reading through his coach report also highlights his consistency. Give him a few years, and I’m sure he’ll be making quite an impact.
Holmes looks pretty good for a left-back, even if he is still quite raw – and he has plenty of Determination. That sadly is not shared by Brownhill, who is ‘unambitious’. The pressing forward might be “labelled the next Michael Owen”, but he needs a serious change of attitude to fulfil his potential.
Now let’s put Bell’s and Butler’s profiles side-by-side. While they are rated as having similar potential, Bell is much taller than Butler, is further along in his development, and has a Professional personality. I’d definitely be more excited about Eric than Elliott right now.
Lastly, here are a couple of players who were not offered youth contracts by my HoYD – though I see enough about them that I would sign them myself. Alex McAvoy has good Passing and Technique for his age, and high Acceleration, so there’s reason to believe he could become a handy winger.
Njabulo Ramakutoane is an excellent decision-maker and a fine team player who, like Moore, is playmaker material. Then there’s his Perfectionist personality, which is always an indicator of a player with high Ambition, Determination and Professionalism, even if his potential isn’t yet obvious. I’d definitely take a punt on him.
HEAD OF YOUTH DEVELOPMENT
One of the biggest influences on your youth intakes is also the most obvious – your Head of Youth Development. A good HoYD who suits your team could make a big difference.
When looking for a good HoYD, there are three attributes in particular that you need to consider: Judging Player Ability, Judging Player Potential, and Working with Youngsters. We’ve already touched on the first two, but WWY is also important because if affects the quality of training your younger players get.
Your HoYD’s personality matters too, as they will be more likely to bring through youth players with similar personalities. A ‘Model Citizen’ HoYD who can deliver a generation full of upstanding young men is pretty much every FMer’s dream. Conversely, a ‘Spineless’ one is more likely to bring through a bunch of slackers who melt under even the slightest pressure.
Their ‘Tactical Preferences’ is another big thing to consider, for they will bring through players in their preferred positions. If your HoYD prefers a 3-5-2, expect plenty of centre-halves, a handful of wing-backs, and next-to-no wingers. Bonus points if their ‘Preferred Style’ of play matches up with yours, meaning your newgens will likely be more suited to your tactics.
I’ve read of people dismissing the importance of personalities and tactics when appointing a HoYD to improve their intakes. That is misguided. Think about it: if Manchester City sacked Txiki Begiristain tomorrow, they wouldn’t hire a long-ball merchant like John Beck as his successor.
A similar myth that’s been perpetrated about your HoYD is that they’re like Father Christmas: they only really work one day per year. What piffle!
In fact, they also double up as a youth coach, which is handy if they have some good coaching attributes. You could also give them some extra responsibilities if you wanted to take some of your workload off. Putting them in charge of signing youth players, and handling the contracts of your existing ones, could save you a bit of time – or, knowing the AI, it could be a risky move.
Bearing all that in mind, what do I make of Burnley’s youth development boss? Jonathan Pepper works brilliantly with youngsters and is a fine coach, not to mention a good judge of ability and potential. His preference for a 4-4-2 also suits the Clarets – or at least it did when Sean Dyche was in charge.
His ‘Balanced’ personality isn’t a major boost, nor is it a significant drawback. However, his ‘Control Possession’ tactical style doesn’t really match up to the counter-attacking football preferred by Dyche – or indeed myself, to a lesser extent. If I was to continue this Burnley save, I would consider replacing Pepper with someone whose philosophies were more in line with my own.
OPTIMISING YOUTH INTAKES
Several other factors are taken into account when it comes to youth intakes. Let’s look at them right now:
- Youth Facilities
Some people believe that the Youth Facilities are used for training by your youth squad (Under-18s/Under-19s). The label is misleading, as they are – in fact – the facilities used by the hidden junior teams from the Under-16s down. (Your youth squad will actually use the first-team’s training facilities.)
- Youth Level
If you’re managing in England, your youth system will be given a Youth Level (based on the Premier League’s ‘Elite Player Performance Plan’). This will determine the league level at which your youth team will compete. Playing at a higher level will give your youth players greater match experience and enhance their development.
The lowest Youth Level is 0 (unrated, basically). As you upgrade your youth system, you will eventually go to Level 4, then Level 3, and then Level 2, with Level 1 being the top tier.
- Youth Recruitment
Youth Recruitment shows how far your recruitment staff will go to bring in youth players. Typically, a minor semi-professional outfit will look no further than its local region for youths. Bigger teams with a larger scope for recruitment may draw players in from across the country, while elite clubs can recruit from across the world.
Youth Recruitment also plays a key role in ‘poaching’. That’s where your HoYD signs a junior player (age 14-15) from a smaller club before they enter your intake. This can go the other way, in that your best juniors can be poached by bigger clubs in exchange for compensation and transfer clauses.
‘Poaching’ has actually been in FM for several years now, reflecting the early-career moves of players such as Sheyi Ojo, Jadon Sancho and 14-year-old midfielder Leo Castledine. It’s only become more prominent on FM20, as you’ll get an inbox message whenever a junior talent signs for your club or is lured away.
- Junior Coaching
Junior Coaching reflects the level of coaching your rising stars will get from the Under-16s down (i.e. before they generate in-game). This will affect the current ability of your newgens, though any improvements to your junior coaching may not be noticeable for a few years.
You can try upgrading any of the four things listed above by making a board request. You’ll only be successful if there’s enough money in the bank balance and the board agrees that it’s a good idea. There is one other factor to consider, though, and it’s not quite so easy to ‘improve’.
- Reputation
Joan Jett might not have given a damn about her reputation – but promising footballers do think about club statures when deciding what’s best for their careers. Even if Wycombe in League One had the best facilities, coaches and youth scouts, not many hot prospects are likely to join them because… well, they’re Wycombe. In League One.
As your club progresses through leagues and becomes more successful, its reputation will improve, and so may the youths available to them.
The country you’re managing in also plays a part in youth intakes. Countries with a higher reputation for developing players have a better Youth Rating in FM, which typically improves the quality of that country’s newgens. You’re more likely to get better newgens in Brazil than Brunei, and even a world-class youth academy in the Faroe Islands might not match up to a similar set-up in France.
WHAT IS A GOLDEN GENERATION?
Let’s say you’ve got a message from your HoYD suggesting that there might be a ‘golden generation’ coming through your next youth intake. What are you expecting? Three star players coming through at the same time? Five? A full starting XI of wonderkids?
The one ‘golden generation’ nearly every English football fan thinks of is Fergie’s Fledglings – specifically, the Class of ’92. A remarkable crop of youth players came through Manchester United’s academy in the first half of the 1990s and went on to win countless major trophies under Alex Ferguson’s stewardship.
The Class of ’92 generally refers to six players who went on to become United and England regulars: David Beckham, Nicky Butt, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Phil Neville and Paul Scholes. That tag is a misnomer, as although the first four did win the 1992 FA Youth Cup together, Phil Neville and Scholes didn’t emerge until later.
Let’s separate these players – and other notable Fledglings – into groups based on their ability levels, so we can get a sense of just how good this generation was. Next to each player in brackets is the season during which the player had their 16th birthday (and thus would’ve been in an FM-style ‘youth intake’ at United that season, so to speak).
5* ELITE PLAYER: Ryan Giggs (1989/1990), David Beckham (1990/1991)
4* WORLD-CLASS PLAYER: Gary Neville, Paul Scholes (both 1990/1991)
3* FIRST-TEAM REGULAR: Nicky Butt (1990/1991), Phil Neville (1992/1993)
1/2* SQUAD PLAYER: Kevin Pilkington (1989/1990), Chris Casper, Simon Davies, Keith Gillespie, John O’Kane, Ben Thornley (all 1990/1991), Terry Cooke (1992/1993)
So that’s four seasons’ worth of youth intakes. Six players emerged who would become United regulars, and another half-dozen or so made a few appearances before moving on. The 1991/1992 ‘intake’ didn’t see anyone of note come up from the Under-16s.
Now let’s look at Barcelona’s youth graduates from the mid-2000s, including the so-called ‘Generation 87’ of Fàbregas, Messi and Pique:
5* ELITE PLAYER: Gerard Piqué, Lionel Messi (both 2002/2003)
4* WORLD-CLASS PLAYER: Cesc Fàbregas (2002/2003)
3* FIRST-TEAM REGULAR: Pedro (2003/2004)
1/2* SQUAD PLAYER: Jeffrén, Víctor Sánchez (both 2003/2004), Giovani dos Santos (2004/2005), Jonathan dos Santos, Oier Olazábal (both 2005/2006)
There were some other graduates from that era who didn’t play much for Barça’s first-team (if at all) but later became top-flight regulars elsewhere. These include Oriol Riera at Osasuna and Paco Montañés at Real Zaragoza. If you’re wondering where Sergio Busquets is, the legendary defensive midfielder didn’t join the ‘Blaugrana’ until he was 17.
So what would a ‘golden generation’ actually be like in FM? I’d say that if you get two or three potential starters – and another couple of squad players – in a single year’s intake, you’ve probably done well. Producing four or five starters over the space of three or four seasons would also qualify as a ‘golden generation’, I’d suppose.
MANAGING EXPECTATIONS
You’ve maxed out your facilities and recruitment, hired the best youth coaches, and have an elite-level HoYD. Then youth intake day comes… and once again, you get a ‘disappointing’ batch of candidates.
I’ve already written about why you shouldn’t simply write off your newgens because nobody is above 3* potential. You can still make use of players with good attitudes and attribute spreads, even if they’re not immediately projected to be the new Cristiano Ronaldo. But what if pretty much every year fails to deliver a hot prospect?
Here’s the thing… having the best youth system won’t guarantee you the best youth players. Even world-leading academies like those at Barcelona, Chelsea and Ajax don’t consistently churn out top talents every single season. Indeed, it’s not unheard of for those academies to have lean periods where they produce hardly anybody of note for years on end.
Take my club Arsenal. The last six years have seen several promising players come through the Under-16s and into the first-team. Reiss Nelson, Bukayo Saka and Joe Willock are now top-flight regulars, and it looks like Eddie Nketiah and Emile Smith Rowe will follow soon.
But what about the Arsenal ‘intakes’ from the previous six seasons – from 2008/2009 to 2013/2014? Here’s a list of Under-16s graduates from those campaigns who play regularly in any of the top five European leagues (or have done in the past):
- Benik Afobe (2008/2009 – now at Stoke)
- Isaac Hayden (2010/2011 – now at Newcastle)
- Alex Iwobi (2011/2012 – now at Everton)
- Ainsley Maitland-Niles (2013/2014 – still at Arsenal)
Erm… that’s all of them.
Note that I haven’t included Héctor Bellerín or Serge Gnabry, who didn’t move to the Emirates until after they had turned 16. They would have come through the 2011 youth ‘intakes’ at Barcelona and VfB Stuttgart respectively before being signed by Arsenal that summer. There’s no Jack Wilshere either, as he was from the 2007/2008 ‘intake’.
Think of youth intakes as if you’re playing the lottery. Every upgrade to your youth system allows you to buy more ‘tickets’ to the annual newgen lotto. The more ‘tickets’ you hold, the better chance you have of getting a big prize (a potentially world-class player, let’s say) or even the jackpot (a generational talent like Messi or Ronaldo).
So, what do you think? Has this article given you a better idea of how youth intakes work? Feel free to leave a comment below or tweet me @Fuller_FM.
Fuller FM 
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