Best way to develop young players

[Sud2002]

Hey all,

What's the best way to develop young players e.g. what age should they be in the U18, U23, need first time football/should send on loan, how to facilities impact it? Want some advice mainly because I have a number of young players and I'm not sure whether to send on loan to get first team football or keep behind as reserves.

 

Thanks

[Overmars]

I find players develop well in youth teams for just about any club. I would keep players in the youth team until they are too old for their youth league rules. Once they are too old, the focus should be on giving them regular playing time at the highest competitive level you can find. I usually loan them out unless I can guarantee squad player minutes. Keeping them in the reserves is almost always a bad move. Once players turn ~22 years old, they generally need excellent training facilities and a high reputation league to develop much further. I usually just sell players who I can't play regularly by that point.

[DarJ]

Training is more important than games played until they turn 18 then playing games starts to be more important so you can leave your youth players in the youth team and focus on their training than when they are 18, look at them again and decide if they are good enough to play for you in your first them; if the answer is no then send the player on loan to a team where he is going to play and try to send him to a league that suits his level (if you look at the scout report it tells you the level the player is at so look for leagues at a similar level). This is what you want to do for most players but if you have 1 or 2 players that are really good but their personalities isn’t as good, you can put them in the first team to mentor them and make them available to play for your youth team

[Domoboy23]

What I would say to all of the above is also...

Players under 18 involved in the first team squad and getting some minutes really can boost their mentals and determination specifically nicely 

[Platinum]

A youth player getting lots of training time at a high standard and ALSO playing at an appropriate level for their skill level is what you should always be aiming for

[Marinho]

I like to have a youth prospect get the odd appearance for my senior side, getting them training with the senior squad for a bit, then loan them out unless they are realistically getting game time.

So i usually have them in the senior squad (and maybe get mentored) for the first half of the season, where i usually rotate more, then loan them for the 2nd half. That way it is also easier to judge if a loaning club is a good destination as i know how good they perform and what sort of players my guy will compete with for Playing Time. Nothing worse imo than an 18 year old rotting on a bench at a lower rated club.

Then i re-evaluate for next season. 

 

[2feet]

Check the training facilities level of the club to ensure you select the highest one.

[Sud2002]

Thanks all, that's very helpful! 

 

When it comes to game time for those 18 or over, how much is enough? e.g. would 20 mins off the bench each week sufficient. 

[Dreambuilder]

On 14/11/2022 at 20:36, Sud2002 said:

Thanks all, that's very helpful! 

 

When it comes to game time for those 18 or over, how much is enough? e.g. would 20 mins off the bench each week sufficient. 

Throw them into the game as often as you dare when you have 3-0 leads or in the second game of two when you won the first  tie with like 6-0

[SergeiG]

Let them train till the age of 18, and after that give them some game time and tutor them with some professional personality players. If you cant try to loan them to a club that will give them lots of it.