Great Idea for Promoting Youth Players with a Full Roster

[Gdbraden]

I am Man U and have spent a lot of money on my scouting, I have a ton of great young players but now in my 4th season have run out of roster space. Many of these promoted youth squad players aren't good enough yet to make an impact but I don't want to just outright release them.

Since loaning players does not free up a roster spot I have been taking the promoted youth squad players that seem like long shots and transfering them to an MLS team (LA Galaxy). I then take the player I receive in the transfer and release them for a few thousand dollars which frees up roster spots. I then keep track of these players on my shortlist. If any of these promoted youth squad players really start to improve I can always buy them back.

I have been doing this now for three transfer windows and it has worked great. None of the players have been sold from the team I transfered them too and they are all getting regular playing time. It is actually kind of fun checking out the MLS stats and keeping track of my old recruits. They seem to be progessing well and I may even buy one or two of them back next window.

This may not be a solution for a team with a tight transfer budget but it keeps my recruiting process moving and keeps me in the loop with all the players I have promoted. The LA Galaxy have become a farm system for me.

[BradyBunch88]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gdbraden

I am Man U and have spent a lot of money on my scouting, I have a ton of great young players but now in my 4th season have run out of roster space. Many of these promoted youth squad players aren't good enough yet to make an impact but I don't want to just outright release them. Since loaning players does not free up a roster spot I have been taking the promoted youth squad players that seem like long shots and transfering them to an MLS team (LA Galaxy). I then take the player I receive in the transfer and release them for a few thousand dollars which frees up roster spots. I then keep track of these players on my shortlist. If any of these promoted youth squad players really start to improve I can always buy them back. I have been doing this now for three transfer windows and it has worked great. None of the players have been sold from the team I transfered them too and they are all getting regular playing time. It is actually kind of fun checking out the MLS stats and keeping track of my old recruits. They seem to be progessing well and I may even buy one or two of them back next window. This may not be a solution for a team with a tight transfer budget but it keeps my recruiting process moving and keeps me in the loop with all the players I have promoted. The LA Galaxy have become a farm system for me.

This is actually a really good idea. Like having your own reserve team. So how exactly do you do it? Buy a player and do a swap? And then add them to your shortlist?

[Gdbraden]

Its a pretty simple process:

Step 1: Pick the team you want to use as your minor league team. I prefer MLS teams because those players never seem to get transfered out of the league.

Step 2: Offer your promoted youth academy player for a player on that team in a similar position. This opens up a spot for your youth academy player in the starting XI, hopefully helping with progression.

Step 3: At this point the team hopefully accepts your transfer offer and you can sign your new player to a cheap contract. MLS players generally make a cheap wage so signing them should be easy.

Step 4: Once you have accepted your new player go to your sell players screen and release them. Now you have an open roster spot and the youth player you couldn't find it in your heart to release is on a new team where they can play and progress.

Step 5: Add your old youth academy player to your shortlist. This way you can watch them progress and you'll also be notified if another team shows interest in them so that you can intervene.


I hope this is something that works for you.

I have been doing this for a few transfer windows now and I am really happy that I did. I hated releasing these players that I put all that time into recruiting.

[DataBull]

I like the idea. But I'm ruthless. I keep the best and sell the rest. Every once in a while it comes back to haunt me as they show up and an opponents team and beat me during a match. LOL

But generally I use the Youth Academy to fill my coffers to buy the one or two players I need to put me over the top.

[NightRaven3]

Quote: Originally Posted by DataBull

I like the idea. But I'm ruthless. I keep the best and sell the rest. Every once in a while it comes back to haunt me as they show up and an opponents team and beat me during a match. LOL But generally I use the Youth Academy to fill my coffers to buy the one or two players I need to put me over the top.

Im ruthless too, between my youth and players I let go, in one career my lowest player was a 72. Then I noticed dang its hard to keep everyone happy.

[Gdbraden]

For me personally, with the transfer budget I get annually at Manchester, the youth squad players generally aren't valuable enough to be worth selling off early in their career. I'd rather see them grow and possibly contribute than get under a million per player in return.

Especially at this stage in my manager mode when great players are frequently available in January on free transfers. For some reason Bayern only resigns Goetze to a 1 year deal every offseason. I have to bite my tongue not to add him every January.

[DataBull]

Quote: Originally Posted by Gdbraden

For me personally, with the transfer budget I get annually at Manchester, the youth squad players generally aren't valuable enough to be worth selling off early in their career. I'd rather see them grow and possibly contribute than get under a million per player in return. Especially at this stage in my manager mode when great players are frequently available in January on free transfers. For some reason Bayern only resigns Goetze to a 1 year deal every offseason. I have to bite my tongue not to add him every January.

Just curious. With the budget you get at Manchester every year, do you really need to even mess with the Youth Academy?

[Gdbraden]

I don't need to but I enjoy it. I like the idea of a homegrown talent finding a home on my squad. It just takes time for these youth academy players to reach their potential. So in order for me to compete for the Champions Cup every year I need to find a place where these players can develop without taking over my whole roster.

Yes, I could easily go out and just find replacements for aging stars but it is a rewarding aspect of the game to grow a youth player into a star and plug them into your team.

I also have a tendency to go after the same replacement players year after year, it gets a little dull. The youth academy players add a bit of unknown.