Best Youth Academies in Football Manager 2020

Ranking Football Manager 2020 BEST YOUTH ACADEMIES

Welcome to this years ranking of the clubs with best youth academies in Football Manager 2020. Here we let you discover the top clubs with the best youth training facilities, junior coaching and youth recruitment, their transfer budget and most promising talents.

Our ranking of the best youth academies in Football Manager 2020 lets you find the perfect club for a youth development challenge. It lets you easily discover which clubs with perfect foundation to get the best newgens as possible at the annual youth intake.

The ranking will also show you the clubs with the best foundation to fulfill the potential of their best young talents, as we’ve incorporated each club’s level of training facilities.

Get the ultimate recommendation for clubs to manage in Football Manager 2020 and start a youth development challenge with focus on home grown players.

Background Story

It’s now eight years since the historic moment happened; FC Barcelona fielded an entire line-up of home-grown players. All 11 players graduated from the La Masia youth academy. 7 of them played in the final of the 2010 FIFA World Cup against Holland in South Africa. It was one of the best clubs in the world. A Spanish club with merely Spanish players… or at least players who had lived in the country since the start of their teenage years. Never had a club fielded all home-grown players.

It was one of the odd, but historic moments of football.

I’m not sure if it has happened in professional football in the years that has past, but it was highly remarkable. It was a result of the clubs trust in their own youth academy, La Masia. A result of an overall football philosophy which run throughout the club – all the way down to the youngest age groups. It was the perfect youth academy – the best. Apart from long-term success it offered the club stability. All players were integrated into the same ethos, the same football philosophy and playing style.

For long the La Masia youth academy could be labelled as the best in the world, but much has changed since then. The amount of home grown players in the starting line-up at Barcelona has steadily decreased each season that has past since Pep Guardiola’s departure. The best talents of La Masia have left before turning 16 and being able to sign a professional contract.

In Europe, multi-millionaires have also entered the footballing world willing to spend billions investing in their club. We have new clubs who have taken after FC Barcelona and (re-)discovered the benefits of a strong youth development program. One reason is their ineligibility to follow the rapid rising transfer fees.

The rising power of the best football clubs is changing as we speak, and the gap between the best clubs and the mid-table clubs is rapidly increasing. For clubs with less funds, the future aim must be to invest in their facilities and youth. For that reason, we decided to investigate which clubs in Football Manager 2020 got the best youth academy and training facilities. It could be the ultimate goal for your save to field a full XI of home grown players.

About Passion4FM’s Ranking of Best Youth Academies

Passion4FM’s ranking of best youth academy clubs in Football Manager 2020 is created with the help of the FM20 database [20.4.1]. Here we have sorted by clubs’ level of youth facilities, junior coaching and youth recruitment and used the knowledge of each nations game importance and youth rating and the list of best coaches in Football Manager 2020 to provide you with a list of the top clubs with best training facilities.

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 how well players you may receive from the annual youth intake, and how good they may become in the future with a great development program put on the players.

The rankings of best youth academies for Football Manager 2020 is a bit difference than previous versions. This year the list takes into account all the factors which affects newgens production – the average level of the facilities rather than sorting it firstly by ‘Youth Facilities’, then by ‘Junior Coaching’ and finally ‘Youth Recruitment’. This means that instead of listing the clubs from best to worse youth academies in the world, I want you to look at their chance of producing the best talents within the nation compared to another.

I have also decreased the focus on game importance, youth importance and youth rankings a bit, despite they affect the youth intake and newgens production. The youth rating will influence on the amount of players with an average higher CA or PA level. This means that a nation with lower game importance and youth rating within this list will be de-ranked despite the youth facility or junior coaching can be higher for the specific club.

While this list is highly unofficial, I have tried my best to give you as perfect picture of the Football Manager database and how well the clubs will be at generating youth from the annual youth intakes for the future. For certain clubs we have based this ranking on their level of youth facility and junior coaching compared to the level of youth recruitment.

As you will discover, the list of best youth academies will perhaps give you some surprises. But in fact, the current training facility levels described below is what the current version of the database tells us.
We have deliberately not included academy clubs that’s unplayable (see honorable mentions in the bottom of the article) and some clubs in Asia that either plays in the lower leagues or are not playable without a database extension.

We hope you will enjoy it and that you will find a club you might look to manage for your next save!

Please use the comment field if you have something on your heart regarding the ranking of the clubs with best training facilities in Football Manager.

Top 70 Football Manager 2020 Youth Academies

C.S. Once de Abril

Jicaral Sercoba

[PAR] C Libertad

Altınordu F.K.

FC Dnipro

Servette

Puynik Yerevan

Dinamo Zagreb

The Dinamo Zagreb Academy has placed itself as one of the biggest producers of talents for the past decade. It can pride itself to develop Ballon D’Or winner Luka Modric. Their proven record of producing the best talents in Croatia is based on the simple philosophy of giving their youth a pathway to first team football with the idea that the first team squad shall possess of 50% Academy players.

Each season it aims to move their best players over 21 on to higher levels of football to give place for the new crop of talents.

For the past years the club has netted around €20Mill in income from selling their best players each season with recent departures Dani Olmo to Leipzig, Filip Benkovic to Leicester the year before and Marko Pjaca to Juventus in 2016/17 season which shows how the club has served international footballers with technical gifted players.

Now a new crop of talents are emerging and expectations of Josko Gvardiol, Antonio Marin, Nikola Moro, Lovro Majer and Luka Ivanusec are high! Dinamo Zagreb is truly a role model club for their way of running the club financially and for those who wants to employ a proper youth development plan based on producing local players.

Transfer Budget: €8Mill

Stabæk

Penãrol

Transfer Budget: €31.5K

Defensor Sporting

Transfer Budget: €13.5K

Universidad Catolica

Transfer Budget: €541K

S.S. Lazio

Transfer Budget: €17Mill

FC Nordsjælland

Transfer Budget: €1.3Mill

FC Midtjylland

Transfer Budget: €4Mill

FC Zürich

Grasshopper-Club Zürich

Derby

Transfer Budget: €11.6Mill

Vitesse

Transfer Budget: €453K

Stade Rennais

Transfer Budget: €10Mill

Envigado

Transfer Budget: €712K

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Carlos Ordóñez – 16.06.2002 – DLC – Est. Value €56K
Óscar Sepúlveda – 13.04.2003 – M/AML – Est. Value €54K
Iván Angulo – 22.03.1999 – AMR – Est. Value €725K

FC Porto

Transfer Budget: €8Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Rafael Pereira – 26.05.2001 – MC – Est. Value €16.5K
Diogo Leite – 23.01.1999 – DC – Est. Value €2.9Mill
David Vinhas – 28.03.2003 – DC – Est. Value €22.5K
Diogo Costa – 19.09.1999 – GK – Est. Value €1.7Mill
Romário Baró – 25.01.2000 – MC – Est. Value €3.8Mill
Fabio Silva – 19.07.2002 – ST – Est. Value €1.7Mill

Sporting Clube de Braga

Transfer Budget: €3Mill

AS Monaco

Transfer Budget: €25Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Arthur Zagre – 04.10.2001 – DL – Est. Value €600K
Jonathan Panzo – 25.10.2000 – DLC – Est. Value €475K
Eliot Matazo – 15.02.2002 – MC (DM) – Est. Value €170K
Willem Geubbels – 16.08.2001 – AMRL/ST – Est. Value €525K
Pietro Pellegri – 17.03.2001 – ST – Est. Value €1.2Mill

River Plate

We head over the Atlantic ocean, to the land were the best footballers of all time have been produced. We’re talking about Argentina of course, the country who gave us Lionel Messi and Diego Armando Maradona. With 36 league titles, 10 cup trophies and 16 international tournament wins, it’s one of the most successful clubs in the country.

As one of the leading clubs in the country at youth development we find River Plate. From here, Ariel Ortega, Hernan Crespo, Oscar Más and Alfredo Di Stéfano erupted. All magnificent players with an eye for the goal. But it’s not only forwards they are most known to produce. also some of the best defenders in Argentina have come through the ranks of River Plate; Martin Demichelis, Javier Mascherano and Matias Almeyda.

If we also include players who have played for the club, such as Daniel Passarella, Ubaldo Fillol and Gabriel Batistuta, you can see the River Plate players have made an huge impact on the Argentinian national team.

For a complete history of Club Atlético River Plate, check out this great read.

Transfer Budget: N/A

Athletic Bilbao

Transfer Budget: €25Mill

FC Sochaux-Montbéliard

Transfer Budget: €300K

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Alan Virginius – 03.01.2003 – M/AMR – Est. Value €56K
Jessim Pellissard – 06.11.2002 – AMC/ST – Est. Value €56K
Maxence Lacroix – 06.04.2000 – DC – Est. Value €275K

Suwon Samsung Bluewings

Transfer Budget: €5.2Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Yoo Ju-Ahn – 01.10.1998 – ST – Est. Value €225K
Oh Hyeon-Gyu – 12.04.2001 – ST – Est. Value €110K
Jun Se-Jin – 09.09.1999 – ST – Est. Value €190K

Ulsan Huyndai

Transfer Budget: €11.6Mill

Maccabi Haifa

Transfer Budget: €500K

Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Transfer Budget: €250K

Colo Colo

Transfer Budget: €1.3Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Vicente Pizzaro – 05.11.2002 – DM – Est. Value €550
Luciano Arriagada – 20.04.2002 – ST – Est. Value €575
Branco Provoste – 14.04.2000 – AMC – Est. Value €275K
Carlos Villanueva – 01.07.1999 – AMC – Est. Value €91K

Sturm Graz

Transfer Budget: €1.5Mill

Paris SG

Transfer Budget: €85Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Loïc Mbe Soh – 13.06.2001 – DC – Est. Value €625K
Tanguy Kouassi – 07.06.2002 – DC – Est. Value €300K
Xavi Simons – 21.04.2003 – DM/MC – Est. Value €375K
Adil Aouchiche – 09.09.2002 – DC – Est. Value €275K
Thimothée Pembele – 18.01.2002 – AMR/ST – Est. Value €850K

Arsenal

With 22 years in charge of Arsenal, the impact and influence Arsene Wenger have had on the club and its Academy is unavoidable for us to speak about as he took the club to a whole not level in terms of professionalism in training and signing players. Under his tutelage international stars and English starlets like Cesc Fabregas,

Personally, I’ve always looked at Arsenal as the club developing some of the best defenders in England, perhaps due to Ashley Cole, Armand Traore, Martin Keown, Tony Adams, but they’ve also been the home for Andy Cole, Ray Parlour, Paul Merson and a large range of other notable international stars who entered the club at a young age like Cesc Fabregas, Wojciech Szczesny, Serge Gnabry, Nicklas Bendtner and Héctor Bellerín.

In recent years we’ve seen Bukayo Saka, Reiss Nelson, Eddie Nkietah, Emile Smith-Rowe and Joe Willock come through the Academy. The club has served the Premier League with regular first team players for the past decade and will continue to do so with Mikel Arteta in charge and former players like Steve Bould and Per Mertesacker in the coaching staff who knows what it takes to become a professional footballer, so future looks definitely bright for the Gunners.

Transfer Budget: €6.9Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Tyreece John-Jules – 14.02.2001 – DM/MC – Est. Value €1.1Mill
Emile Smith Rowe – 28.07.2000 – M/AMLC – Est. Value €17.5Mill
Bukayo Saka – 05.09.2001 – AMRL – Est. Value €21Mill
Gabriel Martinelli – 18.06.2001 – AML/ST – Est. Value €23Mill
William Saliba – 24.03.2001 – DC – Est. Value €6.75Mill

Crvena Cvezda

Transfer Budget: €2.8Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Nikola Colic – 05.04.2000 – ST – Est. Value €220K
Nikola Krstovic – 25.06.2003 – ST – Est. Value €30K
Njegos Petrovic – 18.07.1999 – DM/MC – Est. Value €300K
Veljko Nikolic – 29.08.1999 – AMC – Est. Value €160K

FK Partizan

Transfer Budget: €2.8Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Nikola Colic – 17.08.2002 – AMC – Est. Value €44K
Boris Krstic – 25.06.2003 – ST – Est. Value €30K
Luka Cucin – 24.11.1998 – D/WBR – Est. Value €130K
Lazar Pavlovic – 02.11.2001 – AMC – Est. Value €150K
Filip Stevanovic – 25.09.2002 – AMLC – Est. Value €220K

PFK Ludogorets

Transfer Budget: €2.5Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Kiril Yanakiev – 28.01.2001 – WB/M/AML – Est. Value €21.5K
Hidaet Hyusein – 18.08.2002 – M/AMC – Est. Value €26K
Petar Karaangelov – 28.12.2001 – M/AMC – Est. Value €19.75K
Dominik Yankov – 28.07.2000 – M/AMLC – Est. Value €170K

Slavia Prague

Transfer Budget: €9.3Mill

Sparta Prague

Transfer Budget: €7.8Mill

Liverpool

Transfer Budget: €113Mill

A.C. Milan

Transfer Budget: €25Mill

Internazionale

Transfer Budget: €35Mill

Transfer Budget: €7.2Mill

Admira Wacker Mödling

Transfer Budget: €300K

Standard Liege

Transfer Budget: €2Mill

Austria Wien

Transfer Budget: €500K

Atalanta

Atalanta has been the revelation in Serie A and Champions League in the interrupted 2019-2020 season. Currently at 4th ahead of Roma, Napoli and AC Milan, and ready for the Quarter finals of CL if they will be held.

The Nerazzurri past records of producing talents can be rated similar to Southampton and PSV as they have frequently served the Italian National team and been the stepping stone for great Italian footballers. Alessio Tacchinardi, Simone Zaza, Riccardo Montolivo, Simone Padoin, Marco Motta are just some of many who have plyed their way through the Academy and made a remark in Serie A and international football for years.

In recent years, Atalanta has managed to produce some regular Serie A first team players in Alessandro Bastoni, Davide Zappacosta, Musa Barrow and Dejan Kulusevski. Under the last four years under the tutelage of manager Gian Piero Gasperini, Amad Traoré received his first team debut in October 2019 becoming the youngest ever player in Serie A [2].

The amount of players born between 1999 to 2001 with huge potential is highly remarkable. With nearly 15 players with Serie A potential, Atalanta seems to have their future secured, as long as they manage to keep hold of them and progress continues out on loan.

Atalanta must be one of the clubs with the most affiliated clubs and should have every opportunity to attract the interest of the best juniors in Italy with their exceptional youth recruitment and agreements to loan out and poach players with their partnerships.

Transfer Budget: €12Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Filippo Melegoni – 18.02.1999 – DM/MC – Est. Value €1.6Mill
Alessandro Cortinovis – 25.01.2001 – M/AMLC – Est. Value €325K
Ebrima Colley – 01.02.2000 – AML – Est. Value €450K
Amad Traore – 11.07.2002 – AMR/ST – Est. Value €325K
Davide Bettella – 07.04.2000 – DC – Est. Value €1.7Mill

Feyenoord

While Anderlecht and Basel has served the national team of their respective nations, Feyenoord has had close competition from AFC Ajax and PSV to serve the Dutch National team with the next starlet. While Ajax has lead the way and produced some of the best footballers the world ever have seen, Feyenoord was the stepping stone for Wim Jansen, Jordie Clasie, Giovanni van Bronckhorst, Royston Drenthe, Dirk Kuyt and Robin van Persie and have

The Feyenoord Academy (aka Varkenoord) has won the Rinus Michels award for the best academy in the nation multiple times, most recently in 2014. At that time, they won the award for the fifth times in a row. Now their class of 2001-2002 can lead the club to new glories with continued focus on their development.

Transfer Budget: €7Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 18 Football Talents

Tein Troost – 15.01.2002 – GK – Est. Value €120K
Marouan Azarkan – 08.12.2001 – AMRL – Est. Value €350K
Naoufal Bannis – 11.03.2002 – ST/AMRL – Est. Value €350K
Wouter Burger – 16.02.2001 – DM/MC – Est. Value €425K
Orkun Kökcü – 29.12.2000 – MC/AMC – Est. Value €2.6Mill

Olympique Lyonnais

Transfer Budget: €30Mill

Shakhtar Donetsk

Transfer Budget: €9Mill

Ajax Cape Town

Transfer Budget: €243K

Pachuca

Southampton

Current Ralph Hasenhüttl is the perfect fit for Southampton. The former RB Leipzig manager who worked with Naby Keita, Dayot Upamecano, Timo Werner and Lukas Klostermann is used to working with youngsters. Southampton is famed for their Academy and is one of the leading clubs in England. Their current vision of producing at least 50% of the first team from the Academy is highly sustainable in these times.

Southampton, who have seen Alan Shearer, Theo Walcott, Dennis Wise, Matt Le Tissier, Gareth Bale and most recently James Ward-Prowse, Luke Shaw and Calum Chambers come through the ranks, has rose from League One football 10 years ago to establish itself in the Premier League whilst producing notable Premier League players.

Under the management of Edd Vahid and Matt Hale, the Academy is in the best hands to produce some of the best English players for the forseeable future. In FM20 you’ll around around 3 players in each age group from 16 to 18 who all have the potential to reach the top levels of English football league.

Transfer Budget: €11.6Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Jake Vokins – 17.03.2000 – DL – Est. Value €500K
Yan Valery – 12.02.1999 – D/WBR – Est. Value €12.5Mill
Michael Obafemi – 06.07.2000 – ST – Est. Value €4.6Mill
Callum Slattery – 08.02.1999 – M/AMC – Est. Value €1.1Mill

AS Roma

Outside A.C Milan and Internazionale there are few Italian clubs which has been as productive and who have served as many players to the top flights of the Italian football leagues as the Giallorossi academy. While Francesco Totti, Daniele De Rossi and Alessandro Florenzi has come through in recent years, the club has developed National stars like Alberto Aquilani, Angelo Peruzzi, Bruno Conti, Claudio Ranieri and Angelo Di Livio, while Matteo Politano, Luca Pellegrini, Alessio Romagnoli and Davide Frattesi has plyed their way through the ranks.

The future looks bright as a new collection of wonderkids are emerging from the Giallorossi academy in the likes of Nicolo Zaniolo, Alessio Riccardi and Devid Bouah.

Transfer Budget: €18Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Mory Bamba – 01.06.2002 – AMR – Est. Value €93K
Devid Bouah – 13.08.2001 – D/WB/MR – Est. Value €150K
Alessio Riccardi – 03.04.2001 – M/AMC – Est. Value €475K
Nicoló Zaniolo – 02.07.1999 – MC/AMRC – Est. Value €32Mill
Justin Kluivert – 05.05.1999 – M/AMRL – Est. Value €17Mill

KRC Genk

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.

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.

Transfer Budget: €20Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Talents

Vic Chambaere – 10.01.2003 – GK – Est. Value €37.5K
Luca Oyen – 31.03.2003 – MC – Est. Value €60K
Carlos Cuesta – 09.03.1999 – DC/DM – Est. Value €675K
Benjamin Nygren – 08.07.2001 – AMC – Est. Value €1.7Mill
Maarten Vandevoordt – 26.02.2002 – GK – Est. Value €550K

AZ Alkmaar

Transfer Budget: €7Mill

PSV Eindhoven

As 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.

While PSV might not have developed the biggest wonderkids in Netherlands, at least within my knowledge, the club has started to reach the same level as Feyenoord in recent years. While Steven Bergwijn was signed by Tottenham in the winter transfer window of 2020, the latest starlet to emerge is definitely Mohamed Ihattaren! Perhaps not a fairly unknown name for any Football Manager enthusiast as he’s one of the best players in the future in Football Manager 2020.

Transfer Budget: €15Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Talents

Fedde Leysen – 09.07.2003 – D/WB/AML – Est. Value €95K
Mylian Jimenez – 13.01.2003 – MC – Est. Value €100K
Jeremy Antonisse – 29.03.2002 – AML/ST – Est. Value €250K
Donyell Malen – 19.01.1999 – AMRL/ST – Est. Value €10.5Mill
Mohamed Ihattaren – 12.02.2002 – AMLC – Est. Value €5.75Mill

RSC Anderlecht

Just outside the top 10 we find Anderlecht, the most successful club in Belgium with five European competition trophies, 34 championship titles and 9 cup wins. They have served the Belgium national team with some of their best players upon history and are still pushing out wonderkids and talents every season.

In their long and pride history players like Vincent Kompany, Romelu Lukaku, Dries Mertens, Youri Tielemens and Dennis Praet have emerged from the Belgium powerhouse, right in the outskirt of Brussel in the past years. Include former Beligum national players such as Anthony Vanden Borre, Enzo Scifo, Luc Nilis and Walter Baseggio.

With an explicit focus on playing the Anderlecht way, Jean Kindermans, the director of the Anderlecht academy and the clubs scouting network looks to the region of Brussel to track down the best talents within the region of Brussel between the age of 6 to 12.

While the club served 35% of the Belgium national team for the World Cup 2018, future looks promising with the latest players to emerge from the Anderlecht academy; Yari Verschaeren, who’s labelled as the new Eden Hazard and Jeremy Doku – a teenage forward who’s at the age of 17, plays regular first team football and is labelled the next Sadio Mane.

Transfer Budget: €1Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Talents

Alexis Saelemaekers – 27.06.1999 – WB/AMR – Est. Value €2.5Mill
Albert Sambi Lokonga – 01.01.1999 – DM/MC – Est. Value €2.1Mill
Jérémy Doku – 27.05.2002 – AML/ST – Est. Value €1Mill
Marco Kana – 08.08.2002 – DC/DM – Est. Value €1.7Mill
Yari Verschaeren – 12.01.2001 – MC/AMRLC – Est. Value €2.5Mill

FC Basel

Transfer Budget: €907K

Real Madrid

Transfer Budget: €60Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 18 Home Grown Talents

Xavi Sintes – 01.01.2001 – DM/MC – Est. Value €41K
Sergio Arribas – 30.09.2001 – M/AMC – Est. Value €27.5K
Theo – 18.05.2002 – M/AMC – Est. Value €27.5K
Cesar Gelabert – 31.10.2000 – AMC – Est. Value €300K
David de la Vibora – 03.01.2003 – D/WB/ML – Est. Value €16.25K

Club Brugge

Transfer Budget: €15Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 18 Home Grown Talents

Youssouph Badji – 20.12.2001 – ST – Est. Value €500K
Odilon Kossounou – 04.01.2001 – DC (D/WBR) – Est. Value €725K
Charles de Ketelaere – 10.03.2001 – MC (D/WB/ML) – Est. Value €850K
Lois Openda – 16.02.2000 – AMC/ST – Est. Value €2.1Mill
Krépin Diatta – 25.02.1999 – AMRLC – Est. Value €8Mill

Tottenham Hotspur

Transfer Budget: €17.4Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Dermi Lusala – 16.01.2003 – DRC – Est. Value €49.5K
Oliver Skipp – 16.09.2000 – DM/MC – Est. Value €5Mill
Jack Clarke – 23.11.2000 – AMRL – Est. Value €6Mill
Ryan Sessegnon – 18.05.2000 – D/WB/M/AML – Est. Value €23Mill
Troy Parrott – 04.02.2002 – ST – Est. Value €8.25Mill

AFC Ajax

On the top of the list of world clubs where players have departed to reach the five major European leagues ranked by Football Observatory we find AFC Ajax ahead of Benfica and RB Salzburg. 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.

Much anticipation and 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.

Transfer Budget: €75Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Brian Brobbey – 01.02.2002 – ST – Est. Value €350K
Devyne Rensch – 18.01.2003 – DC/DM – Est. Value €145K
Sergiño Dest – 03.11.2000 – D/WBR – Est. Value €5.5Mill
Ryan Gravenberch – 16.05.2002 – M/AMC – Est. Value €3.8Mill
Naci Ünüvar – 18.01.2002 – AMC – Est. Value €850K

Manchester City

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 Morgan Rogers, Liam Delap and Samuel Edozie.

Transfer Budget: €54.5Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Ben Knight – 14.06.2002 – AMC – Est. Value €150K
Eric Garcia – 09.01.2001 – DC – Est. Value €8.25Mill
Morgan Rogers – 26.07.2002 – AMC/ST – Est. Value €525K
Phil Foden – 28.05.2000 – M/AMC – Est. Value €40Mill

Chelsea

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. Tammy Abraham, Andreas Christensen, Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Reece James have all been loaned out and got necessary experience on an higher level than the reserve leagues. Future is definitely looking bright for Chelsea and their youth development program.

Transfer Budget: €146Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Valentino Livramento – 12.12.2002 – D/WBR – Est. Value €150K
Ian Maatsen – 10.03.2002 – D/WBL – Est. Value €300K
Faustino Anjorin – 23.11.2001 – AMC – Est. Value €750K
Reece James – 08.12.1999 – D/WBR – Est. Value €26Mill
Callum Hudson-Odoi – 07.11.2000 – AMRLC – Est. Value €31Mill

Sporting Clube de Lisbon

The youth academy of Sporting can be labelled as a world class institution. Three times award winner of the prestigious Ballon D’Or, Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani, Luis Figo, Eric Dier, 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

Under the tutelage of youth recruitment director Aurelio Pereira he has overseen the development of Portuguese icons like Figo, Paulo Futre, Simão Sabrosa, João Moutinho, Cedric, Ricardo Quaresma and Nani.

We are a small country but we produce the world’s best.
Bruno de Carvalho, President, Sporting Clube de Portugal, 2016¹

While the current squad only features three players coming through the academy, they can always trust their facilities to provide results for the future. Due to their history of producing some of the most technical gifted players in European football and the number of great coaches and backroom staff, I’ve decided to bump the club up to an honorable fifth place, ahead of Tottenham and Ajax.

Transfer Budget: €2Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Goncalo Costa – 18.02.2000 – D/WBL – Est. Value €93K
Joelson Fernandes – 28.02.2003 – AMRL – Est. Value €425K
Bruno Tavares – 16.04.2002 – AMRLC – Est. Value €250K
Bernardo Sousa – 27.03.2000 – AMC – Est. Value €5.75K
Eduardo Quaresma – 02.03.2002 – DC – Est. Value €275K

Manchester United

With Ole Gunnar Solskjær at the wheel, Manchester United has 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 2020, 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.

Transfer Budget: €58Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Angel Gomes – 31.08.2000 – AML – Est. Value €14Mill
Tahith Chong – 04.12.1999 – AMRLC/ST – Est. Value €11.75Mill
Ethan Laird – 04.08.2001 – D/WBR – Est. Value €1Mill
Hannibal Mejbri – 21.01.2003 – M/AMC – Est. Value €575K
Mason Greenwood – 01.10.2003 – AMR/ST – Est. Value €24Mill

FC Red Bull Salzburg

RB Salzburg has really come to one’s attention the past year. 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 has been given a chance for the first team (current average age 24).

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 (in Football Manager 2020) of signing under 20 players for the first team, as well as maintaining the best youth system in the country.

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

Transfer Budget: €20Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Benjamin Sesko – 31.05.2003 – ST – Est. Value €200K
Bryan Okoh – 16.05.2003 – DC – Est. Value €145K
Ousmane Diakite – 25.07.2000 – DM/MC – Est. Value €450K
Antoine Bernede – 26.05.1999 – MC – Est. Value €3.4Mill
Karim Adeyemi – 18.01.2002 – AMR/ST – Est. Value €850K

FC Barcelona

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. Even though the current situation with the lack of La Masia graduates in or around the first team, FC Barcelona’s training and youth facilities can help the club become self-sustaining with world class players in the years to come if they abort the vision of purchasing established players with world class reputation for hundreds of million Euros and give truth in the youth.

The recent star to have emerged from the La Masia academy is Ansu Fati, but we might not be too far away until the next crop of talents breaks through in the likes of Ilaix Moriba, Alejandro Balde and Pedri. The only thing needed is a board and a manager which believes in youth and dares to try instead of focusing on just the finances or solely regaining the Champions League title. Perhaps the Corona virus outbreak can give the club the nudge to find back to their roots … focusing their money and trust on the La Masia academy.

Transfer Budget: €10Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Alejandro Balde – 18.03.2003 – D/WB/M/AML – Est. Value €160K
Riqui Puig – 13.08.1999 – M/AMC – Est. Value €6.5Mill
Ansu Fati – 31.10.2002 – AMRL/ST – Est. Value €4.9Mill
Ilaix Moriba – 19.01.2003 – MC (DM/AMC) – Est. Value €850K
Pedri – 25.11.2002 – MC/AMRLC – Est. Value €975K

S.L. Benfica

Finally, we find Sport Lisboa e Benfica – a Portuguese club with a long and proud history. 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 115 year long history. They won the league last season, is currently topping the table with an average squad age of only 24 and won the double lastly four seasons ago (Primeira Liga and Taca de Portugal 2016-2017).

Current Bordeaux manager Paulo Sousa, Manchester City’s star Bernardo Silva and Lille’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 build around the former Seixal youth academy graduates Rúben Dias, Nuno Tavares, Tomás Tavares, Florentino Luis and Jota, but features also a range of other promising talents to watch, which makes the club an exciting club to try for a Football Manager youth development challenge.

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 Bruno Lage and the coach Minervino Pietra.

Transfer Budget: €70Mill

Ones To Watch – Under 21 Football Talents

Nuno Tavares – 26.01.2000 – D/WB/ML – Est. Value €2Mill
Tomás Tavares – 07.03.2001 – D/WBR – Est. Value €1.5Mill
Diogo Nascimento – 02.11.2002 – DM/MC – Est. Value €6.25K
Ronaldo Camara – 05.01.2003 – M/AMC – Est. Value €525K
Florentino Luis – 19.08.1999 – DM/MC – Est. Value €13.5Mill

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
• FFA Centre of Excellence
• Right to Dream (RTD) Academy (Ghana)
• FC Ebedei
• Dnipro Football Academy
• RGUOR
• Toronto FC Academy
• ASEC Mimosa
• Académie JMG de Bamako
• Australian Institute of Sport
• Escuela Carlos Sarmiento
• FTs Kairat Almaty
• 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