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Football Manager: A Guide To Youth Players Getting Into Your First Team
When managing a team on Football Manager it is important to make sure that the players in your Youth Academy have a way to your first team. Making sure that you can develop your own players could save you money and it is also very rewarding for you as a manager, if you do manage to get some Youth players into your first team. In order to make sure that you are able to get players from your Academy into your first him you need to make sure that there is a clear path for your players to follow, in order for them to get access to first team football.
In this article we will review the steps that you need to take to make sure you are enabling your youth players to have a chance of playing in your first team.
Deciding On A Players Path
Not all players are going to be good enough to play for your first team. You will need to decide pretty early on if a player is going to be one that you will look to develop. You need to take into consideration your coach reports on the player and also how good you think he is. Once you decide if you would like to develop a player then you can decide his path. The types of things that you can look at for deciding a player's path are things like, if he needs to be tutored, if he should go out on loan, if he is able to get some time in your first team at a young age or if you are likely to cut your losses and release them from your club. It is important to make notes on players so that you can keep up to date with their progress. I often take screenshots of players as they are developing so I can see how well they have developed and the areas that they are most improved in.
Is The Player Good Enough?
Unfortunately not all players that come through your Youth Academy will be good enough to make it into your first team. You need to decide fairly early on if a player is even worth signing on youth intake day. Generally I will only keep the players that I feel can be developed. If a player is good enough, he might not be ready for first team football at the moment but at least you can send him out on loan to develop his footballing skills. If he needs to be tutored before you send him out on loan, this is highly advisable to do.
Offering First Team Football
When it comes to offering your youth players first team football there will be a few different ways to do this. Quite often managers will play Youth players in cup games where there is slightly less pressure to perform. If you are in a position to do this then I would recommend you only play around 3-4 youth players at a time. You don't want to have too many young players in your matchday squad as the experience will not be there and you may not get the results that you are looking for. If you can have a player on the bench for some League games this is advisable as well.
I would recommend you try and give a youth player at least 20 minutes on the pitch. If you are going to use him as a sub it is a good idea to make sure that your youth players morale is as high as it can be, so make sure that your player has a morale of at least good so he can perform at his highest level when he does come onto the Field of play. If you decide a player is good enough for the first team then just play him as often as you can in your match day squads. You might want to rotate him with a more experienced player so he is able to get some rest and to develop his attributes without suffering burnout.
Keeping A Player In The First Team
Once your player has made his way into the first team you then need to decide how best to develop him. By the time a youth player has made it into your first team you should have tutored him so that he has a good personality. You should feel confident enough that he will perform in your first team, with the opportunities that you have given him.
You should never introduce a youth player to your first team if you are not confident in playing him. Once you have a youth player in your team you need to have the confidence in his ability. Quite often if you are managing a bigger team you can go out and buy good players for your first team and this does not offer your Youth Academy players a chance of playing in your first team. Sometimes you will need to make the decision not to buy a player for your first team and to rely on the players that are coming through your Youth Academy.
However you decide to introduce youth players to your first team you need to make sure that they are tutored, that they have good morale and that you are training them in the correct way. The last piece of the puzzle is just making sure that you are giving them enough first team football so that they can develop at a good rate.
