For whatever reason players aged 16 never seem to join until they have already signed a professional contract with their club. There is probably a reason it's been implemented like this I just don't know what it is.
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One thing that I have noticed, is that it is very expensive to buy 16/17 year olds
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That appears to depend on the players reputation, the clubs reputation and how the AI manager evaluates the player. I signed two players that my scout said had the potential to be leading premiership players, both aged 17. One came from a Primera Liga Spanish side cost me 1.2m and the one from an English League 2 side cost me 110K.
It seems to be that if a player has played games for a first team side that has a division he is more likely to cost more as the AI manager sees a higher 'perceived CA/PA'. In the above example the Spanish kid had played a few games for the B team in the lower division but the English kid had made no appearances at either the reserve team or first team level.
If the AI teams have the same tools as us to judge players then lower league teams are pretty much screwed because the quality of their staff in judging player potential will determine how accurately they can assess the potential of a player. Thus leading to my ability to sign a potential world beater for such a low price. Then again I might discover as these players develop, or don't develop as the case may be, that my scout is an idiot.
I can't comment on the realism of it as I have limited knowledge but there are always counter arguments for both sides. Why did Barcelona let Fabregas go? or How come in real life with players with great potential, such as Cofie recently, does there seem to be a general consensus in the footballing world about a player's potential but this isn't accurately reflected in FM? etc. etc. It's a tough balance to find without it becoming too obviously skewed in one direction.
Buying Youth 
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