Spot on about Villa & Leeds. It seems such a sensible idea to me that (if the budget stretches) signing young players for 500k-£1m. When you consider the numbers we poured into somebody like Wesley Hoedt.
The Athletic had a good piece on Leeds from around a year ago - Their plan after they got promoted was to completely re-vamp their U23's. They even have a "Head of Emerging talent".
I know it's only just happened, but the Simeu & the Abdul trial represent a potential move forward to how we could possibly approach things post-brexit : Slightly older players from big-clubs with a blocked pathway and/or lower-league players who have been missed but have peaked slightly older.
Doh. This stuff happens anyway, but Brexit has ramped this stuff up to the max. Was a good article in the Athletic about City’s academy, if you haven’t seen it, @Dusic.