Football Manager 2024 Best Head of Youth Development
Lists of the best heads of youth development in Football Manager 2024
We cover youth football and we love Football Manager. On this page, we’ve compiled some of the best Heads of Youth Development in Football Manager 2024. Get on in to bolster you recruitment team and streamline the management of your club.
For more FM24 tips, check out our talent lists and player profiles. Scroll down to see our lists.
Pep Boada
- Club: Unemployed
- Qualifications: National A
- Personality: Model Professional
- Preferred Formation: 4-3-3 DM Wide
- Expected wages: €17,000 p/w
- Rating: 3.5 stars
Extensive knowledge of Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium are some of the headlines of Pep Boada’s attributes. If you are willing to pay up, that compliments an excellent array of HoYD stats for he former Barcelona scout and Granada director of football. His 3.5 star reputation means you’ll need to be a well-established club to sign him though.
Ariel Paolorossi
- Club: Colo Colo (CHI)
- Qualifications: Continental Pro
- Personality: Fairly Determined
- Preferred Formation: 4-3-3 DM Wide
- Expected wages: €1,500 p/w
- Rating: 2.5 stars
It would not be Football Manager without including a solid South American option. Ariel Paolorossi has full world knowledge of Argentina and Chile, which is a massive bonus.
Then add to that his strong fundamental attributes, low wage, fairly determined personality, and there’s a top HoYD waiting to be signed at an affordable cost if you can convince him to leave South America for Europe (unless you are doing a South American save of course).
Paolo Morganti
- Club: Juventus (ITA)
- Qualifications: Continental Pro
- Personality: Model Professional
- Preferred Formation: 4-3-3 DM Wide
- Expected wages: €1,300 p/w
- Rating: 2.5 stars
20, 20, 20. That’s Paolo Morganti’s Working With Youngsters, Judging Player Ability, and Judging Player Potential attributes. The current Juventus Head of Youth Development has outrageous stats, extensive knowledge of Italy, and only a 2.5 star reputation. Also, he has a low wage and only requires a €250,000 buyout to relinquish him from his Juve contract. He’s a must get early on in your save.
Maurizio Costanzi
- Club: Atalanta BC (ITA)
- Qualifications: Continental A
- Personality: Perfectionist
- Preferred Formation: 4-3-3 DM Wide
- Expected wages: €17,500 p/w
- Rating: 3 stars
Maurizio Costanzi was Atalanta’s head of youth development for eight years. Now he is a free agent. If you play defensive football, he might be your man. While his tactical preference for Catenaccio is not ideal, his perfectionist personality, preferred formation, and overall attributes are strong. His hefty wage is a bit of a turn-off though.
Sebastián Pait
- Club: River Plate (ARG)
- Qualifications: Continental Pro
- Personality: Perfectionist
- Preferred Formation: 4-2-3-1 DM AM Wide
- Expected wages: €1,700 p/w
- Rating: 2.5 stars
Alongside Ariel Paolorossi, Sebastián Pait is the best budget option for a head of youth development. If you can afford his €275,000 buy-out fee from River, he prefers the 4-2-3-1 formation, with the added bonus of a perfectionist personality and solid knowledge of some key South American countries: Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Colombia.
Helmut Jungheim
- Club: Unemployed
- Qualifications: Continental Pro
- Personality: Professional
- Preferred Formation: 4-4-2
- Expected wages: €2,600 p/w
- Rating: 2.5 stars
He doesn’t come cheap, but Helmut Jungheim has the total package. Professional personality, extensive knowledge of Germany and solid coaching and judging ability attributes.
If you can afford him, the former Bayer Leverkusen head of youth development is a super choice to lead your academy – if you don’t need him as a coach or assistant manager – two additional roles that he can also fulfill.
What does a head of youth development do in Football Manager 2024?
Bringing through youngsters is obviously one of the most satisfying aspects of playing FM, and your Head of Youth Development will be an important cog in setting these talents on a path to success; from recruitment until their introduction into the first team.
Through this process, they will bring you reports on the ongoing development of your youth players, ensuring you know which prospects are approaching first team level, including updates on their current ability and potential ability.
Your head of youth development will also let you know which players are struggling and ‘need attention’ as well as which players are ‘ones to watch’ even if they aren’t yet ready for senior football.
What attributes are important for a head of youth development in Football Manager 2024
The head of youth development is one of the most complex staff roles in the game. Some of the key attributes are, but are not limited to:
- Judging player ability
- Judging player potential
- Working with youngsters
- Personality
- Tactical style
- Preferred formation
- Playing style
- Mental attributes (motivating, level of discipline, determination)
The first three items are the most important, allowing them to accurately assess as well as work alongside your wonderkids. However, the other aspects are crucial as well.
The HOYD’s personality (model citizen is the best, followed by perfectionist) has a tendency to impact the personality of newgens your club recruits. Likewise, the preferred formation will effect what positions your newgens are likely to play. The tactical style and playing style will determine how the academy moulds these regens.
And lastly, the world knowledge of your head of youth development will impact on what country your regens are likely to be recruited from – it is ideal for your HOYD to have knowledge of countries with strong development ratings, like Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France, Spain, England, etc.
What impacts the quality of youth intakes in Football Manager 2024?
One of the most important things that determines the quality of your youth intakes in FM24 is pure luck. But in terms of things you can control, here is the list:
- Youth recruitment rating
- Youth facilities
- Junior coaching
- Club reputation
All of those should be fairly self-explanatory, better training facilities and coaching equals better development, etc. Your club’s reputation being higher will help you attract higher reputation newgens to your youth squad. Without further ado, here is our list of the best heads of youth development in FM24.
Helmut Jungheim is one of the best Heads of Youth Development in Football Manager 2024.
Make the most of the staff search tool, where you can specify your searches to suits your specific needs. Set the minimum Working with Youngsters and Judging Player Potential to 17 to find some of the best Heads of Youth Development in the game.
OUR LISTS OF THE BEST YOUNG TALENTS
