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Nice, Looks like he could make it

That should be in six month's time, roughly. I'll wait until the last minute in his contract before he gets to 18, as usual, or even let him run to his 18th.

Just promoted a 90 plus rated youth gk.

Nice surprise as he turned 18 and joined my team


Thats 2 all 90s young goalies I have now.

He looks amazing! Most of his fixed are high 90's, he could be one of the best goalies in the game.

Is that a safe strategy, to let the 18th birthday trigger promotion? Always been too scared to use it!

. If I'm paying attention then I don't risk it, but normally go for 2 days before contract end; but if I've not noted a player's birthday, then he can turn 18. I always take on young youths, so maybe that's why they've still signed up on their 18th. I can't remember the last one that didn't.

Hi I have three strikers in my youth academy how do I train them?

Your youth coach(es) do that for you automatically, so make sure you have youth coaches with the right skills.

Even if you get the right youth coach(es) you will still find that some kids go a while without getting any better then have a spurt of improvements, or some might never improve. Figuring out how to identify those that will improve is part of the skill of running the youth academy - this thread has lots of tips in it though

How will I know if they are training or when they are promoted?

Look under the Squad button/Youth Academy/Youth Players and keep a note of their current ratings. They don't always change, but if you check once a week, you should notice any that do.

Promotions - you will get a message.

How will I know when their birthday is?

The only way I know is to check the academy daily and see when their age goes up

The dilemma I've put myself in...scouts have come back with a well-balanced, good but not mindblowing 14 year old. Do I -

Let the 15 year old who is currently rated higher than the 14 year old go when his contract ends in two days

Try to promote the 16 year old who is a point away from being all 90s stats

Try to promote the 17 year old who should be a decent addition to my squad...but could have a late surge to make him a gem

Let the 14 year old go and hope another one turns up next time

Tempted to let him go but then if one of those three turns out to be a disappointment I'll be annoyed

. Personally, the one thing I wouldn't do is risk losing the 16 year old by trying to promote too early. What did your coaches say about the 17 year old the last time his contract was renewed?

Promoting the 17 year old seems like the best bet, depending on a couple of things...

How long until he turns 18, when his next contract is due (and thus between those two, how long does he have left to improve before being offered promotion), has he had any improvement spurts before and/or what's his 'normal' level of improvement, and lastly how good he is and thus how big the impact would be of losing him by promoting early and getting refused. Unless there are any red flags in those answers I'd go with promoting the 17 year old rather than miss out on the scouted one.

Thanks for the responses! Promoting the 17 year old was probably my second choice.



"Great kid, going to see a lot from him" is what they said. That was 30 days ago and he's improved four points since then, hence I'm wondering whether he's got another spurt in him.



He turned 17 about ten days ago, about 25 days left on his contract. I've had him since 13 and he's had a couple of small jumps and one big leap at 16 (20 points in 25 days), then the four points a few days ago. Now he's 78/81/77.

Both the 16 and 17 year olds are defenders which I have quite a few of so if I got them both to promote I'd be looking to sell one if not both of them. So the main loss is financial...but equally that could be the ticket to a quality new midfielder.

Missed the edit window, but there is one more option...promote the 31-rated 16 year old who's moved one point in two years (!) - he has "potential to improve a lot" and I was hoping he was going to explode before he turned 18 but I'm wondering whether I should give up on him...

Sounds like hes made for burger flipping.