Best Youth Academies in Football Manager 2024: Top 100 Wonderkids Factories on FM24

Football Manager 2024 best youth Academies - FM24 Wonderkids factories

Who can compete against Barcelona’s La Masia Complex to be labeled the best wonderkids factories in Football Manager 24? Which team has the best youth academies on FM24? Here we give you the answer you’re searching for by giving you our massive list of clubs with the best youth facilities on FM24.

Today we hand you a huge overview of the best youth academies in Football Manager 2024 as we look at the clubs who are most likely to produce the best newgens at the crucial youth intake day. To help you identify the best wonderkids in the future, we look at the top clubs with the best youth training facilities and youth recruitment coverage.

NEW ARTICLE | Football Manager’s Hidden Wonderkids Factories

The clubs with best youth facilities in Football Manager 2024 has a better chance at producing the best newgens in FM24. The youth coming through their academy is more likely to have an higher current ability and potential ability than the clubs with poor training facilities.

Our ranking of the best youth academies in Football Manager 2024 lets you find the perfect club for a youth development challenge. It lets you easily discover which clubs with the perfect foundation to get the best newgens as possible at the annual youth intake, so you can get an golden generation season after season.

Since most of the clubs got exceptional youth recruitment they are more likely to have their youth intake in the first stages of the nations’ youth intake – meaning you can easily go talent hunting at these clubs to identify promising talents that’s not yet signed a professional contract. To know when to check each teams youth intake, you can use our overview of Football Manager 2024 youth intake dates and set up reminders in your Managers notebook.


About Passion4FM’s Ranking of Best Youth Academies in Football Manager 2024

Passion4FM’s ranking of best youth academy clubs in Football Manager is sorted by clubs’ level of youth facilities, junior coaching and youth recruitment. With the knowledge of each nations game importance and youth rating and where the best coaches in Football Manager are found, we have compiled the list of the top clubs with the best training facilities in Football Manager.

The four training facilities that’s showed, influences on the set current ability (CA) and potential ability (PA) level at the annual youth intake and the future progression of the CA / PA level, which gives you a hint of the quality of newgen players generated at youth intake day, and how good they may become in the future with a great development program put on the players.

When we have compiled our list of Football Manager 2024 best youth academies, we have deliberately not included academy clubs that are unplayable, such as playing in lower leagues or in a nation that requires a database extension. In regard to this matter, we can recommend the Around the World League Megapack which will unlock new playable nations and more divisions in Football Manager.

Which teams has the best youth academies in FM24?

To answer the question on which teams has the best youth academies on Football Manager 2024, we give you the top 120 Football Manager 2024 Youth Academies. Our ranking looks at each club’s youth facilities, Academy coaching and Youth recruitment to determine which clubs will have the best chance to produce quality newgens at the annual youth intake. Here you’ll be able to discover the clubs that are most likely to develop wonderkids in the future on Football Manager based on their excellent youth facilities.

Top 100 Best Youth Academies

The best youth academies in Football Manager 2024 except the top 10 clubs. Our list of youth academy clubs is filtered by the club's youth facilties before taking Academy Coaching and youth recruitment into account.

CLUB DIVISION TRAINING YOUTH ACADEMY COACHING YOUTH RECR. TRANSFER BUDGETS
Malmø FF Allsvenskan Excellent Great Good Good €2.5M
Palmeiras Brasileiro Assai Superb Great Good Excellent €13.1M
Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bundesliga Excellent Great Good Excellent €8M
Envigado BetPlay Dimayor Good Great Good Exceptional €93.3K
Grasshoppers Super League Great Great Excellent Excellent €0
Defensor Sporting Campeonato Uruguay Adequate Great Excellent Exceptional €14K
FC København 3F Superliga Great Great Excellent Exceptional €11.39M
Club Olimpia Copa TIGO Great Excellent Good Good €2.9M
Suwon K League 1 Great Excellent Good Good €3.4M
Souchaux-Montbeliard Championnat National Great Excellent Good Good €691K
Sturm Graz Admiral Bundesliga Great Excellent Good Good €1.49M
Celta Vigo La Liga Excellent Excellent Good Good €40M
Sporting Gijon La Liga Excellent Excellent Good Good €0
Pachuca Liga MX Excellent Excellent Good Good €4.66M
Sevilla La Liga Excellent Excellent Good Good €5M
Braga Liga Portugal Superb Excellent Good Good €3.99M
Real Sociedad La Liga Superb Superb Good Good €1.49M
Banik Ostrava Fortuna:Liga Excellent Superb Good Good €1.64M
Monaco Ligue 1 Superb Superb Good Good €30M
RB Leipzig Bundesliga Excellent Superb Good Good €15M
Middlesbrough Championship Superb Superb Good Good €1.16M
OGC Nice Ligue 1 Excellent Excellent Good Good €5.2M
Ludogorets 1945 efBet Liga Excellent Excellent Good Excellent €2M
Botev Plovdiv efBet Liga Excellent Excellent Good Excellent €100K
Cerro Porteño Copa TIGO Great Excellent Good Excellent €2.5M
Pohang Steelers K League 1 Excellent Excellent Good Excellent €5.8M
Maccabi Haifa Ligat One Zero Great Excellent Good Excellent €500K
Universidad de Chile AFP PlanVital Excellent Excellent Good Excellent €910K
Universidad Católica AFP PlanVital Excellent Excellent Good Excellent €579K
At. Madrid La Liga Excellent Excellent Good Excellent €5M
FC Midtjylland 3F Superliga Great Excellent Good Exceptional €4.2M
Stabæk Eliteserien Great Excellent Good Exceptional €873K
Farul Constanta Superliga Great Excellent Good Exceptional €199.99K
Colo Colo Campeonato Betsson Excellent Excellent Good Exceptional €706K
Flyeralarm Admira 2. Liga Excellent Superb Good Excellent €1
Everton Premier League Superb Superb Good Excellent €1.16M
Dynamo Kyiv Premier Liha Superb Superb Good Excellent €0
Velez Sarsfield Liga Profesional Excellent Superb Good Excellent €1.8M
Aston Villa Premier League State of the Art Superb Good Excellent €3.49M
River Plate Liga Profesional Excellent Excellent Good Exceptional €7M
Crvena Cvezda Super Liga Excellent Excellent Good Exceptional €2.49M
Partizan Superliga Excellent Excellent Good Exceptional €1.55M
Slavia Prague Fortuna:Liga Excellent Excellent Excellent Good €9.03M
Espanyol La Liga Excellent Excellent Excellent Good €5M
Schalke 04 Bundesliga Excellent Excellent Excellent Good €500K
Club Libertad Primera TIGO Excellent Excellent Excellent Good €2.3M
Arsenal Premier League Superb Excellent Excellent Good €5.8M
Ulsan K League 1 Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent €11.6M
Hibernian cinch Premiership Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent €99K
Bodø/Glimt Eliteserien Great Excellent Excellent Excellent €5.2M
Maccabi Tel-Aviv Ligat One Zero Great Excellent Excellent Excellent €999K
FC Nordsjælland 3F Superliga Great Excellent Excellent Excellent €8M
Valencia La Liga Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent €2M
Villarreal La Liga Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent €15M
Feyenoord Eredivisie Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent €5M
Stade Rennais Ligue 1 Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent €15M
Sparta Prague Fortuna:Liga Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent €8.2M
Austria Wien Bundesliga Excellent Excellent Excellent Excellent €1
Vålerenga Eliteserien Excellent Excellent Excellent Exceptional €655K
Atletico Nacional BetPlay Dimayor Excellent Excellent Excellent Exceptional €1
Dinamo Zagreb 1. HNL Great Excellent Excellent Exceptional €8.99M
Basel Credit Suisse Excellent Excellent Excellent Exceptional €2.8M
Athletic Bilbao La Liga Superb Superb Excellent Good €25M
Olympique Lyon Ligue 1 Excellent Superb Good Excellent €3.5M
Southampton Premier League Superb Superb Good Excellent €23.3M
Bayern München Bundesliga Superb Superb Good Excellent €40M
Bor. Dortmund Bundesliga Superb Superb Good Excellent €10M
Legia Warzawa Ekstraklasa Superb Superb Good Exceptional €43.4K
Lech Poznan Ekstraklasa Superb Superb Good Exceptional €434K
Inter Milan Serie A Superb Superb Good Exceptional €15M
Independiente del Valle Liga Pro Betcris Great Excellent Exceptional Exceptional €354K
Atalanta Serie A Excellent Excellent Excellent Exceptional €20M
Anderlecht Jupiler Pro Superb Excellent Excellent Exceptional €10M
Standard Liege Jupiler Pro Excellent Superb Excellent Excellent €1.49M
AZ Alkmaar Eredivisie Superb Superb Excellent Excellent €8M
FC Liefering Admiral 2.Liga Superb Superb Excellent Exceptional €1
Tottenham Premier League State of the Art State of the Art Good Good €22.6M
Paris SG Ligue 1 State of the Art State of the Art Excellent Excellent €30M

Top 15 Youth Academies on FM24

Club Brugge / Belgium

Training Facilities

State of Art

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Youth Facilities

State of Art

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Junior Coaching

Good

4 star rating | Football Manager PA range 130 to 160

Youth Recruitment

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Division: Jupiler Pro
Transfer Budget: €18.5Mill

Real Madrid / Spain

Training Facilities

Superb

4 star rating | Football Manager PA range 130 to 160

Youth Facilities

Superb

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Junior Coaching

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Recruitment

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Division: La Liga
Transfer Budget: €25Mill


Manchester United / England

Training Facilities

Excellent

4 star rating | Football Manager PA range 130 to 160

Youth Facilities

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Junior Coaching

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Recruitment

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Under Ole Gunnar Solskjær, Manchester United changed directions back to focusing on developing youth and signing promising talents for the future. The summer of 2019 saw 7 new promising talents enter the gates of Aon Training Complex including youngsters from France and Holland, who where wanted by bigger clubs.

Looking back on the history, Manchester United has really been a leading force when developing home grown talents. From the class of ’92 featuring the one with the most club appearances, Ryan Giggs, to current Premier League players Dwight McNeil and Marcus Rashford. Marcus Rashford put himself in the history books in January 2020 becoming the fourth-youngest player in history to make 200 appearances for Manchester United!

In Football Manager, Manchester United has the training and youth facilities to expect a wide range of newgens coming through the annual youth intake and if you manage to develop all the under-21 talents that’s currently coming through, the club is destined for restoring their glory.

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents
  • Kobbie Mainoo – 19.04.2005 – DM/M/AMC – €12.5-18.5M
  • Shea Lacey – 14.04.2007 – ST – €22-33M
  • Jayce Fitzgerald – 09-05.2007 – DRC – €15.5-23M
  • Jack Fletcher – 19.03.2007 – M/AMC – €17-20M
  • Harry Amass – 16.03.2007 – D/WBL – €27-34M

Division: Premier League
Transfer Budget: €6.99Mill

AFC Ajax / Holland

Training Facilities

Superb

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Facilities

Excellent

4 star rating | Football Manager PA range 130 to 160

Junior Coaching

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Recruitment

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

AFC Ajax has done a remarkable job of producing players for the top five European leagues. In February 2023, CIES Football Observatory ranked Ajax as the fourth best club to produce players between 15 and 21 based on their total estimated transfer value of their youth graduates.

Their records of departing 22 players to one of the major European leagues tells us their the best stepping stone club in Europe by March 2020.

From their ranks Dutch legends and fantastic players who have taken the world with storm has been pushed out on a regular basis. From Rinus Michels, Johan Cruyff, Ruud Krol and the Total Football era, to Frank Rijkaard, Dennis Bergkamp, Marco van Basten, Frank de Boer, Edgar Davids and Patrick Kluivert, to more rising heroes in Matthijs de Ligt, Justin Kluivert and Donny van den Beek.

A lot of expectations lies on the shoulders of De Toekomst graduates. We all expect to see tactical and technical gifted players emerge every season. It’s truly remarkable what they manage to achieve! Perhaps the key lies in a persistant training philosophy, playing identity and spending focus and money on youth development and forming the players from a young age into the identity of the club as the football philosophy goes all the way back to the Under-7 teams; the Ajax TIPS Model.

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents
  • Skye Vink – 01.07.2006 – ST – €5-6M
  • Amourricho van Axel Dongen – 29.09.2004 – AML
  • Ethan Butera – 16.04.2006 – DC – €7-9M
  • Gabriel Misehouy – 18.07.2005 – M/AMC – €14.5-18M
  • Jorrel Hato – 07.03.2006 – DLC – €75M
  • Lucas Jetten – 07.06.2007 – DL (DC(WBL) – €8-11M

Division: Eredivisie
Transfer Budget: €35Mill

KRC Genk / Belgium

To the East of Brussel, close to the border of Germany, we find the Limburg region with the former Jupiler Pro league champions KRC Genk. Famed for developing Kevin de Bruyne into the current world’s best playmaker, one of the top 10 goalkeepers in the world Thibaut Courtois, Leicester’s N’Golo Kante, Wilfred Ndidi, as well as Atletico Madrid starlet Yannick Carrasco and Liverpool’s Divock Origi.

Include great footballers who have used KRC Genk as their stepping stone, such as Kalidou Koulibaly who’s one of the most wanted defenders in world football today, Wesley Sonck, Steven Defour, Didier Zokora and Christian Benteke who have had two spells for the club as a youngster before later kicking off his career at Aston Villa and Liverpool.

Training Facilities

Superb

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Facilities

Superb

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Junior Coaching

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Recruitment

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Their records has managed to increase the interest for players in Scandinavia and outside Europe, such as African and South American players to use the club as their stepping stone for Premier League football or reaching the top level of football.

Latest players to emerge from the Genk academy is goalkeeper Maarten Vandevoordt, who received his first team debut December 7th 2019 against Cercle Brugge and three days later becoming the youngest ever Champions League goalkeeper debutant (17) against Napoli, and Luca Oyen.

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents
  • Luca Oyen – 14.03.2003 – AMLC/ST – €350K-3.5M
  • Bilal el Khannouss – 10.05.2004 – M/AMLC – €21-31M
  • Christopher Bonsu Baah – 14.12.2004 – AMRL – €425K-3.5M
  • Lino Decresson – 14.03.2007 – ST – €6-7M
  • Tijn van Ingeldom – 05.03.2007 – GK – €450K-4.4M

Division: Jupiler Pro
Transfer Budget: € 5Mill

PSV / Holland

Training Facilities

Superb

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Facilities

Superb

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Junior Coaching

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Recruitment

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

While AFC Ajax has lead the way of producing some of the best Dutch footballers in Europe, PSV has acted like a stepping stone for a range of players who have taken the international level. Kevin Strootman, who later moved to AS Roma, Jaap Stam (Manchester United), Ruud van Nistelrooy who scored 62 goals in 67 appearances for PSV and was thereby signed by Manchester United, Ibrahim Afellay who was caught by Barcelona and Ronald Koeman who went from Groningen through Ajax before ending up at Barcelona, as well as Arjen Robben (Chelsea), are just some of the names profitted from the training setup of PSV.

PSV might not have developed the biggest wonderkids in Netherlands throughout the history, but the club has started to reach the same level as Ajax and Feyenoord in recent years with more and more Dutch wonderkids coming through. Here I’m mainly thinking about the club’s 2005 and 2006 generation.
The latest starlet to emerge is definitely Cody Gakpo – now at Liverpool, or Donyell Malen (Borussia Dortmund)!

Within the youth ranks, PSV got a number of promising talents to watch for the future… So check out the PSV Academy to identify the next Dutch starlets!

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents
  • Tygo Land – 11.01.2006 – DM/MC – €12-17.5M
  • Jevon Simons – 31.07.2005 – AMRC – €10.5-15.5M
  • Jason van Duiven – 24.02.2005 – ST – €21-31M
  • Isaac Babadi – 05.04.2005 – M/AMC (AMRL) – €20-30M

Division: Eredivisie
Transfer Budget: €15Mill

Sporting / Portugal

Training Facilities

State of Art

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Youth Facilities

Superb

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Junior Coaching

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Recruitment

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

The youth academy of Sporting Lisbon can be labeled as a world class institution. Three times award winner of the prestigious Ballon D’Or, Cristiano Ronaldo, together with a long range of Portuguese international susperstars such as Nani, Luis Figo, Paulo Futre, Simão Sabrosa, Luis Boa Morte and Ricardo Quaresma are just some of the fortunate players who have received their football education at the Sporting Clube de Portugal Youth and Academy.

In fact, eight of eleven players who started for Portugal in the Euro 2016 final was a product of Sporting CP.

Sporting Lisbon is the only club in the world that has developed and trained two FIFA World Players of the year, Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Diogo Matos, Head of Youth academy, Sporting Clube de Portugal, 20121

Much of the credit must go to former youth recruitment director Aurelio Pereira who has overseen the development of Portuguese icons like Figo, Paulo Futre, Simão Sabrosa, João Moutinho, Cedric, Ricardo Quaresma and Nani.

In the youth teams of the Portuguese national teams, Sporting competes against Benfica and Porto to have the most players called-up but for the Portuguese U19 and U18 there are only two. However, the future is looking bright as they have some amazing talents coming through for the Portuguese U16 national team with João Simões and Geovany Quenda as two of their stars.

We are a small country but we produce the world’s best.

Bruno de Carvalho, President, Sporting Clube de Portugal, 20161
Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents
  • Gabriel Silva – 09.04.2007 – ST (AMR) – €2.5-4.5M
  • Afonso Moreira – 19.03.2005 – AML – €15.5-19.5M
  • Guilherme Santos – 06.02.2005 – M/AMC – €160K-1.6M
  • Dário Essugo – 14.03.2005 – DM/MC – €5-7M
  • João Simões – 06.01.2007 – AMC (MC) – €150K-1.5M

Division: Liga Portugal
Transfer Budget: €8Mill

RB Salzburg / Austria

Training Facilities

Superb

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Facilities

Superb

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Junior Coaching

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Recruitment

Exceptional

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

RB Salzburg has really come to everyone’s attention the past years. Here we must accredit the purchase of Erling Braut Haaaland, his goal scoring records and their fine achievements in Champions League and Europa League for the past two seasons. Under the tutelage of up and coming American manager, Jesse Marsch, a host of under-21 talents was been given a chance for the first team (average age 24). Since then, RB Salzburg has continues their focus on signing Under-21 talents with lots of unfulfilled potential and requires trust and attention to finally break through on the international scene.

In difference to Benfica or Tottenham, the club have become famous for swooping up talents with their exceptional scouting range and knowledge of Red Bull GmbH and their ownership of football clubs such as RB Leipzig. Players like Sadio Mané, Naby Keita, Stefan Lainer, Martin Hinteregger, Valentino Lazaro, Xaver Schlager and most recently Takumi Minamino, the club has used scouting as a tool to improve their finances by scouring after talents who have for a number of reasons not been able to reach the highest level, develop them and sell for quite a turnover.

RB Salzburg is one the top 10 clubs in Europe who focuses a great deal on youth development and have even a club vision of signing under 20 players for the first team, as well as maintaining the best youth system in the country.

In the process of developing players, RB Salzburg is fortunate to have FC Liefering who competes in the Austrian 2.Liga as a farm club, which enables them to send players out on loan to. Their facilities are of equal quality of RB Salzburg. Scouting them can help you find wonderkids newgens in the future as well.

For the 2023-24 season, the RB Salzburg squad is packed with players of 25 different foreigners. Some would argue it affects the development of Austrian talents, but I beg to differ as they will be able to develop their skills by competing against better players on a daily basis.

Read more about why Red Bull Salzburg is one of the best run club in the modern world of football.

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Talents
  • Oscar Gloukh – 01.04.2004 – AMC – €19-23M
  • Leandro Morgalla – 13.09.2004 – DC – €7.5-9M
  • Dijon Kameri – 20.04.2004 – AMC – 13-19M
  • Karim Konaté – 21.03.2004 – ST – €19-23M
  • Lucas Gourna-Douath – 05.08.2003 – DM/MC – €16-19M

Division: Bundesliga
Transfer Budget: €7Mill

Barcelona / Spain

Training Facilities

Superb

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Facilities

Superb

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Junior Coaching

Exceptional

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Youth Recruitment

Exceptional

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

I’m not lying if I say no other clubs have produced as many players for the European top leagues than Barcelona over the past 20 years.

Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Pedro, Cesc Fabregas, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets… I could have gone on and on. For 4 decades, hundreds of children from all over the world including local Spanish footballers have been inaugurated into the La Masia Academy. Over 40 players have reached the first team, and despite some criticism for purchasing foreign kids under the age of 16 and moving them from Africa or South America to Barcelona, the academy is run with a clear philosophy of educating the players not only as footballers but also as humans.

The players needs to get good grades in order to play matches for the Juvenile squads and follows a strict schedule to develop into future footballers.

This eye of a needle has both bare the fruits and become the curse for FC Barcelona. In recent years, after Josep Maria Bartomeu became the president, the club has moved further away from what brought success 10 years ago under the managerial tenure of Josep Guardiola which has forced many of the most promising talents of La Masia to seek first team opportunity else where. Perhaps this will all change under the new President, Jon Laporta, and Xavi coming back taking the managerial seat.

We all know the FC Barcelona’s training and youth facilities can help the club become self-sustaining with world class players in the years to come as long as they dare to put faith in the youth.

Now it’s the time to find back to their roots … focusing their money and trust on the La Masia academy to get out of their financial crisis.

Division: La Liga
Transfer Budget: €2.49M

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Talents
  • Lamine Yamal – 13.07.2007 – AMR – €40-51M
  • Noah Darvich – 25.09.2006 – M/AMC – €17-23M
  • Hector Fort – 02.08.2006 – D/WBR – €9-11M
  • Marc Bernal – 25.05.2007 – DM/MC – €14K-150K
  • Marc Guiu – 04.01.2006 – ST – €7.5-12M

Liverpool / England

Training Facilities

State of Art

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Youth Facilities

State of Art

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Junior Coaching

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Recruitment

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Liverpool opened their state-of-the-art training facilities in 1998 and enabled the Reds to professionalize their focus on youth development. A long list of English international superstars has come through the Liverpool Academy. Alexander Trent-Arnold, Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman, Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen is probably the most famous, but they have also produced players that has managed to break thorugh within the Premier League for other teams, such as Jack Harrison (Everton), Anthony Gordon (Newcastle) or Tom Ince (Watford).

In the past years, Liverpool has bear fruits from their extensive scouting network and enrolling wonderful talents within their youth academy from a young age. Lots of these amazing talents that have been bought from Scotland, Wales and from other English football clubs are on the verge of breaking through for the first team. The excitement of Ben Doak, Harvey Elliott, Kaide Gordon and Stefan Bajceticis evident for all Reds fans as the future is looking so bright!


Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents
  • Kaide Gordon – 05.10.2004 – AMRL – €18-21M
  • Stefan Bajcetic – 22.10.2004 – DC/DM – €23-34M
  • Ben Doak – 11.11.2005 – AMR – €35-52M
  • Bobby Clark – 07.02.2005 – MC/AMLC – €140K-1.4M

Division: Premier League
Transfer Budget: €74.6Mill

Paris SG / France

As one of the richest footnall clubs in the world, Paris Saint-Germain got every opportunity to spend huge resources on their Academy whilst being competitive in Ligue 1. the French club has a long and pride history of developing French football players. Due to their global reputation, the club has managed to attract players to their youth Academy from all the corners of Paris plus neighbouring countries.

Over the last 10 years, Paris SG has managed to develop some of the best French players by using their Academy as a pathway to international football. Players like Moussa Diaby, Christopher Nkunku, Ferland Mendy, Adrien Rabiot and Alphonse Areola has graduated from the PSG Academy before being loaned out to gain experience, or given first team football. Patrice Evra, Nicolas Anelka and Kingsley Coman are other French legends that can thank Paris SG for their State of the Art youth training facilities.

If you’re hunting for the best best newgens on Football Manager, don’t forget to visit the Paris SG youth team once the French youth intake has happened!

Training Facilities

State of Art

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Youth Facilities

State of Art

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Academy Coaching

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Recruitment

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Ones To Watch – Under 20 Football Talents
  • Warren Zaire-Emery – 08.03.2006 – DM/MC – €38-57M
  • Ismaël Gharbi – 10.04.2004 – AMC – €3-6M
  • Ayman Kari – 19.11.2004 – MC – €8-9M
  • Noah Lemina – 17.06.2005 – AML (AMR) €200K-6M *On loan at Sampdoria
  • Ethan Mbappe – 29.12.2006 – DM/MC – €325K-3.5M

Division: Ligue 1
Transfer Budget: €30Mill

Manchester City / England

Training Facilities

State of Art

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Youth Facilities

State of Art

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Junior Coaching

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Recruitment

Exceptional

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Manchester City’s new City Football Academy is one of the newest football academies in top football. Officially opened in 2014, the latest State of the Art training facility costed £200Mill according to Mirror. The billionaire owner, Sheikh Mansour, have invested heavily to make the club the best in the world. If we look at the clubs’ youth facilities and training facilities the club are on their way to put AFC Ajax, FC Barcelona and the Portuguese trio down from their throne, but quite not there yet. But this is something Pep Guardiola and his entrusted team of former Barcelona staff will revolutionize in the following years.

While the list of Manchester City graduates who have taken the world stage is currently minimal the reality for us Football Manager fans will be quite different in the following seasons. With state of the art youth facilities we can expect a range of promising talents and future wonderkids coming through the youth intake in the years to follow. For now, you are fortunate to get excited about tenth of promising talents, some highlighted below, who have the potential to take the Premier League with storm in the near future.

Here it’s important to mention that most of the best talents within their youth ranks have been bought after the age of 16 from clubs that are re-known for producing top talents as well (e.g. Paris SG and Barcelona).

For the past seasons, Manchester City has also spend lots of effort picking up young talents with lots of potential within UK, such as Cole Palmer, Liam Delap and Samuel Edozie. This continious focus of picking up the best young talents under the age of 18 is something Man City will prosper from in the years to come as they have a hugely talented youth coaching staff to develop these hot prospects into wonderkids.


Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents
  • Callum Doyle – 03.10.2003 – DLC – €39-59M *On loan at Leicester
  • Liam Delap – 08.02.2003 – ST – €12.5-15.5M *On loan at Hull
  • Joel Ndala – 31.05.2006 – AMRL – €12.5-15M
  • Spike Brits – 24.06.2007 – GK – €18-27M

Division: Premier League
Transfer Budget: €41.75Mill

Chelsea / England

Training Facilities

State of Art

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Youth Facilities

State of Art

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Junior Coaching

Exceptional

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Recruitment

Excellent

4 star rating | Football Manager PA range 130 to 160

A number of English legends has come through the Chelsea academy over the past 40 years. Even though the biggest legends are John Terry, Graeme Le Saux and Ian Pearce, Chelsea have served the Premier League with some great players in recent years. Declan Rice, Dominik Solanke, Eddie Nketiah and Domingos Quina are just a few players who have come through the academy.

The youth recruitment policy of Chelsea has both been applauded and criticized for the past years. Their focus on swooping up under-18 talents from around the globe has definitely raised some eyebrows. Even though the club received a transfer ban in May 2019 for transferring and registering overseas players under 18, the transfer ban is now lifted by FIFA.

Looking back of the past 5 years, Chelsea have had a large pool of players and been smart using their affiliate clubs and network to loan out their breakthrough players. Now it’s starting to bear fruits. Callum Hudson-Odoi, Levi Colwill, Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Reece James have all been loaned out and got necessary experience on an higher level than the reserve leagues before being brought back.

This summer a number of potential wonderkids was brought in that might give Chelsea an edge over their opponents as they are likely to be sold for huge fees. Their rebuild process has resulted in having one of the youngest squads in Premier League at 23.1.

Future is definitely looking bright for Chelsea and their youth development program.


Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents
  • Leo Castledine – 20.08.2005 – MC/AMRC – €6.5-9.5M
  • Jimmy Jay-Morgan – 21.01.2006 – ST – €18-22M
  • Travis Akomeah – 01.06.2006 – DC – €5.5-8M
  • Kiano Dyer – 21.11.2006 – DM/MC – €425K-8M
  • Michael Golding – 23.05.2006 – DM/MC – €4.3-6M

Division: Premier League
Transfer Budget: €6.99Mill

Benfica / Portugal

Training Facilities

State of Art

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Youth Facilities

State of Art

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Junior Coaching

Excellent

4.5 gold star rating - Football Manager PA range 150 to 180

Youth Recruitment

Exceptional

5 Star Rating - Football Manager Pa range 170 to 200

Sport Lisboa e Benfica is one of the clubs with a long and proud history in producing top class Portuguese players. The Benfica youth academy, also known as the Seixal after the region it is located, features a State of the Art Training facilities and has served Europe with a range of talents, while also leading the club to become the most successful club in Portugal with 83 trophies in their 117 year long history. They won the Portuguese league last time in 2018-19.

Current Salernitana manager Paulo Sousa, Manchester City’s star Bernardo Silva and Paris SG’s Renato Sanches are some of the graduates of the Seixal academy, while former Ballon D’Or and two times European Golden Boot winner Eusebio stands out as their biggest star of all time. He too can also be described as a Benfica product since he entered the gates of Estádio da Luz at the age of 18. Other former talents who have been part of the youth academy of Benfica at some point are; Rui Costa, Angel di Maria, Andre Gomes and profilic striker Nuno Gomes.

The current Benfica squad is bolstered with talents. From Portuguese international Antonio Silva to recent break through wonderkids João Neves, Rafael Luís, Joâo Rêgo and João Veloso who is destined for a great career and which we will hear lots more in the future!

Benfica’s training and youth facilities can only be described as phenomenal. With an exceptional youth recruitment and excellent junior coaching it has the best foundation for receiving a wealth of promising talents at the annual youth intake, while also being able to develop them into future world class players with state of the art youth facilities and a large pool of 5 star coaches and backroom staff in the likes of head of youth development Pedro Mil Homens, manager Roger Schmidt and the coaches Javi Garcia, Luis Tralhão and Pedro Valido.

There you have it! Benfica has the best youth facilities in FM24 and could be labelled as the best youth academy in the world!

In FM24, Benfica will constantly produce wonderkids and their current youth team is filled with both well-known and hidden wonderkids!

Division: Liga Portugal
Transfer Budget: €12Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents
  • Rafael Luís – 18.02.2005 – DM/MC – €7.5-11.5M
  • João Neves – 27.09.2004 – DM/M/AMC – €70-100M
  • João Veloso – 26.06.2005 – M/AMC – €13.5-20M
  • Tiago Parente – 12.06.2006 – D/WBL – €700K-9.4M
  • Goncalo Moreira – 03.01.2006 – AMRL – €700K-5M
  • Tiago Freitas – 17.08.2006 – M/AMC – €375K-3.5M

Honorable Mentions

While this list includes mostly playable clubs, or clubs that can be playable by downloading a lower league database or unlocking an additional tier or two within the editor, there are a host of real youth academies around the world that’s not included.

These youth academies may be beneficial to pay attention to, for example around the dates of the annual youth intake for the country to check whether new promising talents has been added. The youth academies I pay attention to are;

  • FCB Juniors Luján
  • INF Clairefontaine – France
  • FFA Centre of Excellence – Australia
  • Right to Dream Academy – Ghana
  • Akademie St. Pölten – Austria
  • FC Ebedei – Nigeria
  • FC Dnipro – Ukraine
  • Dynamo-3 Kyiv – Ukraine
  • RGUOR Minsk – Belarus
  • Toronto FC Academy – Canada
  • UKS SMS Lodz – Poland
  • ASEC Mimosas – Ivory Coast
  • Académie JMG de Bamako – Mali
  • Academia Esther Grande de Bentin – Peru
  • Australian Institute of Sport – Australia
  • Escuela Carlos Sarmiento
  • FTs Qairat Almaty – Kazakhstan
  • Etoil Sportive du Sahel

Sources & Credit

1# How Sporting CP’s youth academy has shaped Portugal, 2016 by Maya Mahadevan, Sportskeeda.com
2# Atalanta Starlet youngest in Serie A, 2020, football-italia.net

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