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A new season of the Premier League gets under way and young footballers across the country, fresh from watching their heroes in the World Cup, will be dreaming of getting a place at one of the Category 1 football academies run by Premier League and top Championship clubs.

After signing at seven or eight, future Jude Bellinghams can, if good enough, continue to full-time academy training when, from 14, they can be offered a Scholarship Agreement. This means they will be taken on as a full-time apprentice at 16. The club will then become responsible for their education as well as their development as players.

Chris Robinson was a Premier League scout at Chelsea for 12 years and is now in charge of academy recruitment at Southampton, where his team are responsible for finding six- to 16-year-olds in the UK. “We’re striving to identify in the eight-year-old what the 19-year-old is going to look like – but of course you can’t,” he says. “I say to my scouts, let’s only project forward two years at a time. When people say ‘I saw Marcus Rashford play at seven and knew he’d play for England’, I always reply, 'Well, you should do my job because I couldn’t do that’.”

Still, Robinson admits it’s the hope of encountering such a generational talent that has kept him going to countless junior games over the years. “You can tell the best and the worst players on the pitch in five minutes,” he says. “But you’ve got to watch 100 kids before you find one that’s really good.”

Some of those kids are very young. “We start by watching six and seven-year-olds. We can't sign them until they're the advanced age of eight years and can play as under-nines but up to that point six, seven, and eight is a bit of a feeding frenzy because it’s the most important recruitment age for any club’s academy. Sign a kid at the under-nines level and they don't cost you anything. You also have them longer; they grow up with you."

During Robinson’s time at Chelsea, several future stars were signed at an early age. “Reece James [Chelsea right-back who played for England at the 2026 World Cup], Mason Mount [now Manchester United], Callum Hudson-Odoi [now Nottingham Forest], Connor Gallagher [now Tottenham Hotspur], all signed at under eight. Look at Jude Bellingham, who went to Birmingham City at seven years old. And of course, they're little kids, so it's very fraught with issues. But that's the most important age.”

As well as skill, scouts are looking for boys who can keep their heads; boys who have mental focus as well as quick feet. “It's tough to make your way in football,’ says Robinson. “And you will need resilience. As scouts, we don't know the kids, so when we watch them we’re also searching for clues about their character. And the clues to me, at a trial, are the kids who turn out on time, who are aware of what is happening around them and who might introduce themselves to their teammates. They're the ones who we notice.”

The potential rewards for boys and their families are dizzying. Especially now, says Robinson, because Premier League clubs are increasingly interested in buying up young homegrown talent. “Some clubs will pay £1 million for a 14-year-old who’s at the top level,” says Robinson. “That’s a lot of money on a kid who’s not finished growing yet. It’s very high risk but that’s where the market is being driven now.”

With such stakes, the pressures from families for boys to succeed can be intense. “You do see the parents who are still coaching their kids from the sidelines, though we actively tell parents they can’t do that,” says Robinson. “I have been at grassroots games where I’ve seen parents fighting with each other on the side of the pitch – and even going on it.”

There are other influences that academies must navigate according to Roy Johnson, academy education manager at Southampton. “We have social media training throughout the season for younger age groups, to try and raise their awareness of their conduct away from the club,” he says.

“When players sign as academy scholars at 16, we become responsible for their education. Professional football seems like a luxurious lifestyle but operating at a high level in elite sport is very challenging. We want our young players to be well-educated but also as resilient and prepared as possible.”

That means teaching the boys about more than football. Johnson oversees an education team of full-time members of staff plus 15 casual staff, including English, maths and science specialist teachers. It also means teaching the parents. “We have workshops for parents,’ says Johnson. “To try and educate them on life in the academy and our expectations of the players and their conduct, but also how they can support around like retain and release decisions, how they can support teenage boys, which can obviously be a very sensitive age.”

But will there be more teenage boys in the future? There can be up to 220 youngsters on the books of a Category 1 club academy, but Robinson says he worries where the next generations of homegrown talent will come from when so many youngsters are being priced out of playing organised football in the United Kingdom. “That is the nightmare,” he says. “I’m concerned that school football has declined and whenever I pass an inner-city block of flats, I think there could be a kid who has real talent living there, but whose parents can’t afford to pay the huge cost of playing in organised football – up to £700 a year. He won’t get the opportunity to play.”

Even if they do make it as far as an academy, there remains the potential heartbreak of what Johnson calls “retain and release decisions”. One of Robinson’s less enjoyable tasks is telling young footballers that they won’t be continuing with the club. “You try and tell them in a considerate way and offer to help with other options, but in elite sport there’s selection, and where there’s selection there’s disappointment.”

Chris Robinson is the author of The Scouting Game: An Insider’s Guide to Talent Spotting Football’s Next Stars.

Robin Parker also spoke to Felix Day, the founder of the Phoenix Foundation, which helps young players released from academies and their families, for Radio Times.

Every year, 10,000 young football players are ‘released’ from training academies – but only 1% of them will make it professionally. After giving up to 16 hours a week to the game in their early teens and training full-time from 16, most leave at 18 with a high risk of joining around 1m so-called NEETs (not in education, employment or training), and it can be a shock to be thrust into adult life. Felix Day, a lifelong Arsenal fan with a background in psychology and advertising, works with released players to help them plot a career pathway.

What traditionally happens when a player is released?

"When contracts end between April and June, they’ll meet with their coach, welfare staff, county manager and parents. They will already have been shown some of the other options, so it’s not a cliff edge. They might bounce around a few different clubs and then decide it's not working, or they pick up injuries. Some might play for a lower league club, some have connections in the industry, but a lot of them are a bit rudderless."

What support do released players typically get?

"Academies are obliged to offer three years of aftercare, but it’s not the same level of support as when you’re in the club. Organisations like the LFE (League Football Education) and the PFA (Professional Footballers’ Association) also help."

How do you work with the young players?

"At such a tender age in such a complex situation, you need a deeper level of support. Your whole life has been encompassed by one thing so it’s hard to talk about what industry you want to work in, or write your first CV. We give a personal, structured next step into two pathways: football coaching or employment in media and marketing at companies that want to hire them at entry level."

What transferable skills do released players have?

"Most jobs require teamwork. In an academy, they’ll have been playing with people from various backgrounds with different personalities, egos and ambitions. They’ll also have been trying to impress, and learn from, older coaches and managers, and will have learned many social skills."

How do you build confidence among young people who feel rejected by their academy?

"We flip their thinking and get them to understand the value of having learned elite levels of dedication and resilience. They have a strong work ethic while being aware there’s a limited chance of success. Their dream can end at any moment. Absorbing constant feedback develops a willingness to learn that carries into other areas of life."

Are they in some ways better prepared for the world of work than kids in regular education?

"Coming from an elite performance environment, you're already ahead of 90% of the general population. Stepping into a new industry, these people aren't necessarily better than you; they've just been doing it for longer. You can be just as good and have a fulfilling career."

Academies provide a positive experience for most kids, but what have they missed out on?

"Success takes sacrifice – in elite sports your best years might end at 35. They’ve given up parties and holidays to train all summer and can’t risk getting injured. Their schedule and diet are strictly controlled. It’s not always fun to train and play under a huge amount of pressure. A lot really cherish the chance to have a ‘normal’ life."

How can players prepare for life beyond the academy and how can parents help them?

"Have a life outside of football – encourage interests and ambitions and other friendships. Take education seriously, so you can step into an aspirational career or go to university, and have a rough plan for if football doesn't work out. For parents, it's tough – we’ve all been teenagers and know they don't want to listen to anyone! Help them find a balance of having an attitude that they’re going to make it, while understanding the back-up options."

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