Transfers: Should you be buying that youth player?

Don't pay for youth if you aren't prepared to properly develop it

I remember when I first started playing I was very much infatuated with the allure of signing every "The next so-and-so" that I ended up wasting huge chunks of my budgets and ended up stunting many of their developments because I was never able to find first team experience for them.  There are a few major requisites that I now use as a guideline for what sort of youngsters I bring into my clubs.

Adequate coaching

This to me means having at least four stars in every category because if, for instance, you are taking a player from a weaker team where he'll actually receive first team appearances and putting him in your reserves you had better have remarkably better coaching than his previous team otherwise you'll not be doing him or or self any favors.  

A realistic plan for him in the first team

But, even if you have a full five star coaching staff and the the weaker side who'll give him real playing time has a 3 star staff, he'll likely still develop more efficiently at the weaker club because first team exposure is the most important in a player's development.  So my suggestion is this:

-If he's less than 18/19 years old and it looks like he'll be getting regular playing time there, let him stay and add him to your short list indefinitely so you'll always know if another bigger club comes looking to sign him at which time you will forced to try as well before losing your chance for good.  Consider it like sort of loaning him there for a while but with the likelihood you'll have to give him higher wages if another club comes snooping around.

-If he's 18/19 or older AND he is good enough to be a backup to your first choice then sign him and rotate him in when necessary. A good example of this is Sime Vrsalijko.  He starts off aged 18 and is fully capable of playing RB in league games every once and while and starting every cup match (He is also able to play LB, DM and MC with decent effectiveness so that's a bonus in case your midfield's really plagued with injuries).

There are of course a few exceptions to this as there will be some 14-16 year olds on big-medium size clubs who likely have the same to offer the player as you do (Great coaching but very limited first team exposure).  These guys would be OK to sign right off the bat assuming they don't break the bank because you must also keep in mind that you need to get, on average, one or two youth players a year under the age of 17 in order for them to have Home Grown eligibility later on down the road when you've either sold all your current Home Growns or they've retired.

Always question your scouts' judgement

In my experience the scouting of very young regens is never very accurate.  This is due in part to the fact many regens have oddly high/low attributes that don't really translate in them being good at their position but still enhance a scouts view on their potential.  One of the most common examples I see is midfielders having 18 or 19 Penalty abilities at the age 15.  This makes no sense in the real world but for some reason if that midfielder had a clone who had every one of the same ratings in other categories but an 8 in Penalties, the first one would likely be a half star or so better than the second.

Remember

When you intake new youth players, so does every other club.  So, once you receive word that your new players have arrived you should immediately have your scouts look at the major nations' for player 16 and under because there is now a whole new crop of players.  It is very important to do this as early as possible because if you get to them in time you can sign them and only have to pay a compensation fee rather than a transfer fee that'll likely be many times that.