How to improve your youth intake in FM23

A big part of Football Manager 2023, especially if you’re planning to do a long save game on one club, is nurturing top talent right out of your academy divisions.

But to have a great youth intake in FM23, there are a couple of steps you must follow to make sure your club is doing everything in its power to recruit some of the best young players in every season, or regens, which is how the game calls these generated players.

Some seasoned FM players may already know these steps, but those who are new to the game might not know everything they have to do as the manager. Here’s every single step you must take to increase your odds of having good youth intakes year after year.

Be aware that following these steps doesn’t ensure your club will sign a potential world-class player like Messi and Mbappé every season because the youth intake is randomized after all. What we are showing here is how you can improve your odds.

How to improve your youth intake in Football Manager 2023

Ask the board to improve the youth facilities of the club

This may sound obvious, but it really isn’t. Every soccer club in FM23 has a level of youth facilities and you must ask the board to improve them whenever you can. The board of directors, however, may refuse your request if you’re too new in the club, if you’re not delivering results, or if the club doesn’t have the finances to invest in youth facilities.

To make a request, click on Club Vision on the left side of your FM23 screen and then click on Make Board Request. You’ll see the option to improve your youth facilities if they haven’t been upgraded all the way to the top.

The board will approve or deny your request after a couple of days and you’ll be informed in your inbox. Should they refuse your request, you might get the chance to try convincing them to accept your demand.

Bear in mind that the level of your youth facilities may decrease over time because of new technology that is created year after year.

Make sure you have a great Head of Youth Development on your staff

This is another very important step. The Head of Youth Development is the person who recruits young players for your club every year. What makes one a good Head of Youth Development are the following attributes: Working with Youngsters, Judging Player Ability, and Judging Player Potential. Preferably, you’ll want your Head of Youth Development to have these stats all as close to 20 as possible.

Here’s an example of a great Head of Youth Development.

Other good attributes are having a positive personality, high motivation, and a similar tactical style and formation to your club’s soccer philosophy.

Invest in youth recruitment

Similar to the youth facilities, you must keep pressing the board of directors to increase the budget for youth recruitment. In theory, the higher your youth recruitment is, the better the chances of your staff finding top-level youth talent across the globe. Go once again to Club Vision and click on Make Board Request as you see below.

As we mentioned before, you must be in the club for at least some months before starting to make requests to the board of directors of your club. If they have the finances to increase the budget, they’ll most likely accept your request.

Ensure you have the best youth coaches your club can afford

Every club in FM23 can afford a certain number of youth coaches. This type of staff must have the Working with Youngsters attribute as close to 20 as possible since they’ll be working with the young players. And like any other type of coach in FM23, make sure that they have good Tactical, Attacking, Defending, Technical, and Mental stats so your young players have a five-star practice.

Here’s a good example of a top-level youth coach. This one is specialized in Tactical and Mental.

Like your Head of Youth Development, it also helps if your youth coaches have the same playing style as your club and similar tactical preferences.

Max out your junior coaching whenever it’s possible

Like the youth facilities and youth recruitment, this is part of the structure in FM23. The higher your junior coaching is, the more likely your club will have a good flow of young players joining. Once again, you must head to Club Vision and click on Make Board Request.

If you want to increase the odds of your club having a great youth intake, your club must have exceptional junior coaching, exceptional youth recruitment, and top youth facilities. That may not be possible overnight, depending on the club you chose to manage.

Work on the reputation of your club

This step is as important as any other one on this list, but it’s one that takes a long time to change if you have chosen to train a smaller club in the bottom divisions. A soccer club with a regional or national reputation won’t get to attract the best youth talent in FM23 like clubs with a worldwide reputation can.

The only way to improve the reputation of your club if it isn’t worldwide yet is to keep playing the game and winning matches, and subsequently trophies. This way, the reputation of your club will increase over time and the best youth players will want to join your club and therefore be recruited.