Do we make any effort as a group to fully upgrade the Youth Academy when finances allow.

It seems this may be best from an individual point of view as well as a patriotic one - what's the go?

faulcon wrote: I do that anyway because I'm too lazy to search the markets and rely on my youth squad for decent players

words from the supercoach..

It saves training as random starting skills are higher and also you're more likely to pick ones with better physicals (meaning you have to train them less and they're likely to cap higher).

Other than that though, it's still a piss shoot in terms of talent, which is pretty key. As we've seen in the past, really mediocre players (size, intel, physicals) but with reasonably high skills (thanks to talent) do a serviceable job in various teams.

Or, you can, you know.. pull 10+ 3.5-5* youth talents like me and have ONE (off the top of my head) cap at a decent level and sell another that looks to be a long term prospect at the Bucs now. That said, I've been pulling badly recently, so hopefully this means the few Aussie talents I have left cap high!

EDIT: I found a second youth product that ended up with good physicals!!1one!1

Firstly it costs you $1,370,000 to build and $20k per week for a fully upgraded YA. Thus, the advantages (more likely to be able to get a 16yo, better physicals, better initial skills) are never actually free.

Secondly, it's one talent per week and there is no guarantee he's any good (both talent and physicals). This is free without a YA, but still very slow going if you're not extremely lucky or a very old team that has had many pulls. One only needs to visit the Youth Pulls thread in General Discussion to see the incredibly bad streaks people get.

Thirdly, you are able to narrow down your search according to your required criteria within the market. Height, intelligence, consistency, physicals, talent, and a combination of all those things are things you now have more control over. A YA can increase the likelyhood of higher physical caps, but is no guarantee. So unless you don't really care for much other than footballing skill levels (limited by talent), building using just youthpulls is tricky or requires incredible luck. You not only have to be lucky enough to get high talent levels, but hope they are of appropriate height, intel, consistency and cap physically appropriately.

Fourthly, the market is very inconsistent and this works both ways. Search and you can find great talents with already good physicals for cheap. Or, you can drop a load of money if you wish also (though I tend to avoid the trend of spending lots on fresh youthpulls with no sort of physical development already). However, because it's inconsistent, you cannot rely on selling youth pulls as a solid form of income. The youth academy does NOTHING to affect the biggest selling point (talent), and so you're at the mercy of the RNG.

I'll say it again, don't ever budget for any income from the youth academy.

I made $288K from my last 12 months worth of youth pulls I sold. Only 3.5*+ 16+ INT CON TW are worth $100+.

So how many 4.0* 16 CON players are you willing to sell to make your money required?

I'm in a position to sell some due to having a array for youth, but newer teams don't have that luxury.

I'd also not look at getting a YA until you have got 13.5K+ seats and everything else you can buy. So maybe 3-4 seasons away.