Once a year in Football Manager 2021, you will receive several youth talents in your academy. They are called newgens/regens (side note: some VERY impressive face packs can fix the look of the base-game regens) and that date is your youth intake day. You may initially assume that the quality of players you get is completely random, and it is to an extent, but it can be affected by several factors that you would be better off knowing.
The youth intake day isn’t consistent across the globe, as it differs in each country and league, and even then, it won’t necessarily be on the same day each year.
The Magic Youth Man
Your go-to guy (or girl) is your Head of Youth Development. He will oversee all of your youth teams below the first team, and is secretly responsible for bringing in those regens on youth intake day every year. It goes without saying, but the higher his job-specific attributes are, – those being working with youngsters and judging potential player ability – the better those ability scores and the more likely you’ll get great talent coming through your academy.
Trump Academies Ltd.
Having a good Head of Youth Development in FM21Â is one thing, but if he has to work in a half-flooded rundown warehouse, he’s not going to be much help. You’ll need to improve your youth facilities first. To do that, you’ll have to speak to your board to request improvements, but it’s no easy task to get them to agree. Whether it’s down to not having enough money in the bank or simply not feeling like approving it, you may have to beg to get them to agree with you, and regardless, you can be sure that the press will be asking questions come the next day. Who leaks this stuff?
Manuel, 17, from Paraguay
It doesn’t matter if you’re the best team in the league or a smaller minnow, you’ll only get as good as the FM21 youth rating for the country you’re in. By opening up your scouting range you’ll be able to spot new talent emerging (something the FM community absolutely loves) and get them coming in from other countries. The scouting budget can be found in the scouting section of the menu, and by increasing the level of your youth scouting network, you’ll have an increased chance of getting some foreign talent on youth intake day.
My Argentinian 2nd Division Team & Me
Another good way of increasing this chance in FM21 is by having affiliate clubs around the world. These are clubs that you can get friendly with to enjoy special privileges, like having the ability to send your youngsters on loan to get valuable playing time. Affiliates are created by, once again, speaking to the board, and, once again, they can be very difficult to successfully negotiate with. If you do manage to get them on a good day, however, it’ll make you more likely to sign good youth prospects from those affiliate clubs come youth intake day.
Other Football Manager 2021 Guides:
- Football Manager 2021 Guide – How to Add Face/Logo Packs
- Football Manager 2021 Guide – How to Scout the Best Wonderkids
- Football Manager 2021 Guide – How to Install Custom Tactics & Views
Having good progress in each of these criteria doesn’t automatically guarantee you success in FM21. It’s still up to you to get the best out of these players. That being said, having better youth means you’ll have a better team, and be able to sell them for more money; it’s an exponential growth once you get it going. If this guide helped you at all in improving your youth’s talents, be sure to let us know in the comments below!