FM23 Wonderkids: How to Find and Develop Youth Stars

FM 23 Youth Development 2023! All the Ways to Find Wonderkids

Football Manager 2023 (FM23) players know one important truth: developing young players and turning them into stars on the world's biggest stages is one of the most satisfying feelings the game can offer.

But as FM fans also know, when you take over any club you may not inherit a strong youth setup, and you won't always land on a "Golden Generation" for youth development.

At this point, you can work with your board to improve your facilities and youth development chances, but sometimes you'll need to cast a wider net to see tomorrow's stars in your club's colours.

Here are our best tips for youth development in Football Manager 2023.

FM 23 Youth Star Development 2023

1) Strengthen Your Club's Connection to the World

When you're looking for talented young players to strengthen your team, you'll usually find the best value outside your own country. To get the best access and opportunities, you'll need to maximize your coaching staff's World Reputation.

You can visit the Scouting Coverage screen in the Scouting Centre at any time to check your current World Reputation level.

When hiring new staff, especially when focusing on people for your scouting team, add observers from countries other than the one your team is based in, or at least ones with experience working abroad. Hiring people with different knowledge and experience will boost your World Reputation and, in turn, the recommendations you get from your player pool.

You can also make a difference by shaping your own profile. Your nationality affects your scouting knowledge — since you're likely to have good knowledge of the football scene in the country you're from — and picking a second nationality will also give you that country's scouting knowledge. You may want to stay realistic when building your profile, but tweaking your background a little to get to know quality young players in a particular country isn't a bad idea ;)

2) Study Your Scout Reports

Seeing a glowing scout note and jumping straight into a bid is a mistake we've all made. When bringing young talents into the squad, studying the reports in detail and having patience matters.

It's always best to wait for a full report before deciding which players you want to sign. Scout reports can tell you a lot about a player's abilities and traits, their potential ability, hidden attributes and mental state.

Even if their looks are genuinely good, you may want to think twice before signing a player who struggles in big matches and has a money-hungry nature. To get the highest-quality scout reports, you need a strong scouting team. When hiring talent scouts focused on identifying the stars of the future, evaluating potential should be considered the most important trait.

Another thing worth assessing in a scout report is the player's versatility. In some cases, their key attributes may not match their most natural position — in these cases, it's worth considering that you could retrain them in a new position with your coaches' help. Their attributes can sometimes serve you better in a different role, and with that in mind you can sign the player and train them for a new position.

However, don't be fooled by star ratings right away. These depend on several factors, including your team's quality and your staff's ability. Just as elite players can have off days, your scouts won't always get it right either.

3) Use Your Affiliate Clubs Wisely

In FM23, affiliate clubs are useful for youth development.

First, it boosts your scouting team's knowledge. Whether your affiliate club is in your own country or somewhere further afield, this connection gives you deeper knowledge.

This connection can be especially useful when Youth Intake Days happen. If your partnership with a club gives you first refusal on their young players, you can snap up valuable players you might not otherwise have noticed.

You'll also benefit from affiliate club arrangements because in many cases you'll be able to loan your young stars to these clubs as you develop them, giving them professional football experience in a friendly environment and letting you make development deals however you'd like.

What Else Can You Do While Developing and Finding Star Players? FM23

4) Take Advantage of Players' Agents (Representatives)

As well as recommending players to you through the items in the Scouting Centre, the agents you'll deal with can also help you spot talented young stars you should be signing another way.

When you look at the Information page on any player's profile, you can see whether they have an agent and, if so, who that agent is. The agent's name links to their profile, where you can see all their clients.

Here, you can sort the list by age and browse to see who's on it. Taking another look at the players you find is a smart move to get a full picture of their potential.

5) Check the World Transfers Page

There's no fixed approach to spotting great wonderkids and elite Newgens (the fake players the game generates). We've covered how your scouts and agents can help, but another key tool is the World Transfers page in Football Manager.

The default shortcut to go to this page on PC is Ctrl+W, though you can always change it in the preferences menu. On the World Transfers page, if you select Youth Intake instead of All Transfers, you'll see every new generation that has appeared in your current season.

At this point, it's important to know where to look. Some clubs and countries have an outstanding track record of producing great young players. Start with these places and then widen your search further out — transfer values give an estimate of a player, but it's worth scouting a few players before making big investments in the transfer market.

In conclusion, to succeed at youth development in FM 23 it's important to build up your World Reputation, study your Scout Reports carefully, use your affiliate clubs wisely, actively use your agents, and keep an eye on the World Transfers page. These tips will increase your chances of bringing the stars of the future to your team.

6) Explore the "Approach to Sign" Market

In FM23, players who haven't yet reached the age to sign a professional contract show an 'Approach to Sign' option on their profile once that becomes available at their home club or a club where they'll sign a professional contract in the future.

The age at which players can sign professional contracts varies from country to country — in England and Germany it's 17, while in most of South America it's 18.

If you find a player willing to discuss terms with you, your club can sign them just by paying a compensation fee. This can be a great way to move quickly ahead of the big clubs and find someone who could lead your team in the future and bring you a big profit.

7) Customize Your Player Search View

Another shortcut to spotting a wider range of Wonderkids is customizing your Player Search view by adding a column for "Media Description".

These media descriptions appear on every player's profile in the game and reflect how a player is viewed based on their reputation and potential. Since one of these descriptions is 'Wonderkid', sorting the column alphabetically in the Player Search view lets you find every recorded Wonderkid.

Developing young stars and finding the best of them is a lot easier with Gamer Papers. For all the latest Football Manager content, follow Gamer Papers and our social media accounts and don't forget to check out our other articles ;)