Getting A Better Youth Intake
What to do when your country doesn't like football
Getting A Better Youth Intake
I was never under the impression that we were going to have a great youth intake in Taiwan.
Still — I think we could do better than what my Head of Youth Development reported to me.
It is true that the importance of football in whatever country you happen to manage in does make a difference. Your youth intakes will be a bit worse in places where the general population doesn’t care much about the sport.
There are a few things you can do in Football Manager to help get relatively good players despite this handicap, however.
Advice
Hire a Good Head of Youth Development. At the minimum, you want a Head of Youth Development with a stellar personality. Go for somebody who is a Model Citizen, Model Professional, Perfectionist, or, if all else fails, at least a Professional. This doesn’t guarantee that your newly generated players will have great personalities
Improve Youth Facilities. Yeah, it will cost money, and it might make it harder for your team to go semi-pro (or fully professional if it’s already semi-pro). However, improving those youth facilities will help a lot with ensuring that your new players aren’t awful.
Improve Youth Recruitment. I don’t fully understand how, but there is a relationship between youth recruitment and the other teams near your team. This might not be quite as important if there aren’t any other teams within a large radius of where you are located. However, if you’re in a place crawling with football teams (i.e. Germany), you really need to put money into youth recruitment.
Improve Junior Coaching. This basically does the same thing as improving your youth facilities. You should go for it.
Poach Good Young Players. Poaching players who are under 18 is harder in Football Manager 2023 than in any other version of the game. It can be done, however. Make sure that you scout the youth intake of all other teams, and take the time to at least try to bring as many newly generated players in on trials as you possibly can. Even if they won’t sign for you for a few years, knowing who the good ones are will make a huge difference in the long run.
Get An Affiliate Club. If you are a small club in a small country, establish an affiliation with a larger club and take their young players in on loan. You probably won’t be able to sign them, but they can still help you win. If you are a larger club looking for an edge (such as a newly promoted Premier League side), look for international affiliate clubs. Not only will it be easier to poach their newly generated players (or take them in on loan), but you’ll also see good newly generated players from those countries show up in your youth intake as time goes on.