2026-05-11, 10:59 AM - Word count:
Nine games played. Five remaining.
The academy season somehow feels both nearly finished and still completely undecided at the same time.
This is usually the point where conversations around the draft stop being polite and start becoming honest. Early in the season everybody likes everybody. Everybody has “potential”. Everybody is “one to watch”. Once you get this deep into the schedule though, opinions start hardening properly. Organizations begin separating players into categories internally. Guys they absolutely want. Guys they like but would only take at the right spot. Guys they think are getting overrated publicly. Guys they think could become steals.
And honestly, this class might end up causing one of the messiest draft nights in a while because I genuinely don’t think there’s consensus anywhere.
Usually by game nine you can already feel the shape of the board forming. There’s normally a clear top player or maybe a clear top three where most people roughly agree on the order even if they argue over specifics. This class feels completely different. The top of the class is packed together so tightly that one strong week or one quiet stretch could genuinely shift entire conversations.
Barry McGlynn currently leads the class on 380 TPE with Reece Munro right there alongside the very top group, followed closely by S Sei, STAR SCREAM and several others all stacked together. The gap between a lot of these players is tiny. Once margins become that small, organizations stop looking purely at numbers and start focusing heavily on projection, positional importance, long term activity and tactical fit.
That’s where things become really interesting.
Because if you asked ten different OMs to build a draft board from this class, I honestly think you’d get ten very different answers.
Some organizations are going to look at this class and immediately prioritize midfielders because midfielders tend to age well inside sim leagues. Others are going to chase pure attacking upside because elite forwards are difficult to find. Some organizations are probably desperate for wingbacks. Others may already have systems built around certain roles and will target players that fit those systems specifically rather than simply taking the “best” player available.
That’s why mock drafts usually collapse the second the real draft actually starts.
People massively underestimate how much organizational context matters.
A rebuilding organization drafts completely differently to a contender.
A patient OM drafts differently to somebody under pressure to win immediately.
A tactically rigid system drafts differently to a flexible one.
And honestly, activity culture probably matters more than people publicly admit too.
There are some organizations that absolutely value consistent activity and locker room presence over pure theoretical ceilings. Others will gamble on upside every single time. Neither approach is necessarily wrong either because both strategies have worked before.
Looking through this academy tracker properly though, what stands out most is how healthy the overall class feels.
There are quality players across multiple positions.
There are active users near the top.
There are difficult evaluations.
There are obvious names.
There are hidden value names.
There are players with massive ceilings and players who feel incredibly safe.
That combination usually creates entertaining drafts because organizations end up prioritising completely different things.
For me personally, Reece Munro feels like one of the safest picks in the entire class. Not necessarily because the player is the flashiest prospect available, but because central midfielders with consistent development paths become ridiculously valuable over time.
People always obsess over explosive attackers during academy seasons because goals and highlights dominate discussions. But if you actually look at long term successful organizations across sim leagues, they nearly always have strong midfield foundations underneath everything else.
Reliable midfielders age incredibly well.
Systems survive because of midfield control.
You can build around midfielders for multiple seasons to come.
And importantly, good midfielders tend to adapt across multiple tactical systems far easier than certain specialist attacking roles do. That versatility matters massively once organizations start planning for the future instead of just immediate hype.
S Sei is another player that I honestly think organizations will love far more than public discussions currently suggest.
Defensive midfielders almost always become undervalued during academy discussions because casual conversations naturally drift towards attacking numbers instead. But genuinely elite CDMs completely transform teams.
A strong defensive midfielder allows attacking players more freedom.
They stabilise transitions.
They protect weaker defensive lines.
They allow tactical flexibility.
They create balance.
If an organisation already has stars but lacks structure, somebody like Sei suddenly becomes massively important. I could absolutely see a scenario where a team quietly rates that profile much higher internally than people expect publicly.
STAR SCREAM is probably one of the hardest evaluations in the class for me because the profile is obviously strong from a numbers perspective. The interesting part is trying to project exactly what organizations believe the long term role becomes.
Some front offices love adaptable midfielders because they can shift systems around them over time. Others prefer specialists who dominate a single role at elite level instead of being versatile. That philosophical split probably changes where players like STAR SCREAM end up landing.
And honestly, that’s something people rarely talk about enough during draft conversations.
Different organisations literally value football differently.
One OM might watch a player and see tactical freedom.
Another OM might watch the exact same player and see positional uncertainty.
That’s why public rankings always end up looking silly once the real draft happens.
Joshua Homme III Esquire Limited is another player I keep coming back to the more I think about this class.
Firstly, unbelievable name. Instantly memorable. That genuinely matters more than people pretend it does.
Secondly though, active wingbacks are becoming absurdly valuable in modern setups. Fullbacks are no longer just defenders who occasionally overlap. In loads of systems now they basically function as transition engines.
Teams want width.
Teams want overlapping support.
Teams want recovery pace.
Teams want crossing.
Teams want defensive reliability mixed with attacking contribution.
If organizations believe somebody can develop into a complete wingback profile then suddenly they become far more valuable than raw public rankings might suggest.
Walter Blanco falls into a similar category for me as well. Maybe not receiving as much hype as some bigger attacking names, but definitely somebody I could imagine becoming one of those “how did he fall that far?” players a couple of seasons from now.
That happens literally every draft.
There are always players who become victims of hype cycles.
Early in academy seasons certain names dominate conversations constantly. Then people get bored, move onto newer storylines and quietly ignore steady builders who continue progressing without drama.
Those steady builders often become amazing value picks later.
I think this striker class is going to cause chaos as well because there are so many interesting profiles available. Dennis van Huntelrooy, Dante Von Wolfe, Owen Goal, Blaise N'Kufo, Nacho Kusora, Leonardo Stone and several others all bring different things to the table.
The problem with deep striker classes is that organizations suddenly become extremely selective.
If there are only one or two quality forwards available, teams panic early. If there are loads of good forwards available, organizations start convincing themselves they can wait longer.
That creates weird draft movement.
Some strikers rise massively because teams fear missing the run once it starts.
Others unexpectedly slide because organizations think “we can grab another attacking option later”.
Dante Von Wolfe feels like somebody who could massively benefit from organizations chasing ceiling late in the first round.
Every draft eventually reaches the point where OMs stop thinking safely and start imagining possibilities instead.
That’s where ceiling prospects rise.
Teams start picturing what players could become after two or three seasons inside strong developmental environments.
Owen Goal is another interesting case because even the name alone guarantees attention. And honestly, narrative absolutely affects perception whether people admit it or not.
Some names stick in your head.
Some players become memorable.
Some players naturally generate discussion.
That matters.
Humans run organizations, not robots.
There are also players sitting slightly lower down the tracker that I think organizations are probably monitoring far more closely than public conversations suggest.
Jayson Bryzski stands out immediately to me.
Arsene Cardinet as well.
Every time I scroll through the tracker I end up stopping at Cardinet’s profile because it just feels undervalued compared to surrounding discussions. Maybe it’s because there are so many midfielders available this class. Maybe it’s because bigger personalities dominate conversations elsewhere. But that type of player is exactly how organizations end up quietly stealing value.
The public talks about stars.
Good organizations find efficiency.
Jack Pow interests me for similar reasons.
Bruce McAllister too.
Not necessarily guaranteed headline-grabbing prospects, but definitely the type of players where you could imagine certain organizations internally being much higher on them than public draft boards currently are.
And honestly, those are usually the names worth watching closest.
The obvious stars are obvious.
The really interesting draft stories usually happen slightly underneath that top layer.
The goalkeeper discussion this class is fascinating too because opinions around drafting goalkeepers vary massively between organizations.
Moew enBach and Umaq Yupanqui clearly stand out immediately from a TPE perspective. But goalkeeper evaluation always becomes philosophical.
Some OMs hate spending early picks on keepers unless they genuinely believe the prospect is elite.
Other organizations value long term stability at goalkeeper massively and would rather solve the position early than gamble later.
It only takes one organization falling in love with a goalkeeper prospect for draft boards to suddenly shift completely.
And once one goalkeeper goes earlier than expected, panic starts.
Because now organizations that planned on waiting suddenly realize the position might disappear quickly.
That’s how draft chaos starts.
One thing I genuinely think is helping this class overall is activity.
Usually by game nine there are several highly ranked players already carrying serious inactivity concerns. This class the top of the tracker still looks impressively active overall which makes evaluations much harder.
Organizations can’t eliminate people as easily.
Now they actually have to choose.
That’s harder.
There are probably front offices already building giant internal comparison boards trying to separate players with almost identical TPE totals and similar activity levels. Once classes become this balanced, tiny details suddenly matter loads.
Positional scarcity matters.
Personality matters.
Consistency matters.
Fit matters.
Projected longevity matters.
Even timing matters.
Some players are peaking at the perfect moment while others maybe feel quieter heading into the final stretch.
And these final five games genuinely matter more than people realize.
Momentum completely changes perception near draft season.
A player sitting around middle-round discussions right now could absolutely explode into first round conversations with a huge finish.
Equally, somebody currently sitting comfortably near the top could create doubts if activity suddenly dips at the wrong time.
People remember endings.
Scouts remember momentum.
Organizations remember who kept showing up.
That’s especially important in long-term sim environments where reliability matters almost as much as talent.
There are also a few names further down the board that I think could become sneaky value selections depending on where they land.
Saba Kvekvetsia interests me.
Maurjiro Rivers interests me too.
Emmanuel Ofusu also feels like somebody who could quietly outperform expectations because active wide players nearly always end up useful in modern tactical systems somewhere.
The other thing people forget is that organizations aren’t just drafting players. They’re drafting timelines.
Some teams can afford patience.
Others desperately need contributors quickly.
That changes evaluations massively.
A rebuilding organization might happily gamble on raw upside because they know they have time.
A contender may prefer safer, adaptable players who can slot into existing systems sooner.
Again, that’s why universal draft boards don’t really exist internally.
Public rankings are entertainment.
Private rankings are strategy.
I also think some organizations are going to massively overthink this class.
Every single class there are teams that convince themselves they’re being clever by trying to outsmart the room instead of simply taking really good active players sitting directly in front of them.
Sometimes the obvious picks are obvious because they’re genuinely good.
At the same time though, some organizations absolutely will uncover hidden value because there’s enough depth in this class for strong scouting departments to separate themselves.
And honestly, that’s probably the biggest compliment you can give an academy season.
This draft doesn’t feel scripted.
It doesn’t feel solved.
It feels open.
It feels messy.
It feels debatable.
And that usually means the academy has done its job properly.
Five games remaining probably sounds like nothing to some people.
In reality, those five games might completely reshape how this class gets remembered.
The academy season somehow feels both nearly finished and still completely undecided at the same time.
This is usually the point where conversations around the draft stop being polite and start becoming honest. Early in the season everybody likes everybody. Everybody has “potential”. Everybody is “one to watch”. Once you get this deep into the schedule though, opinions start hardening properly. Organizations begin separating players into categories internally. Guys they absolutely want. Guys they like but would only take at the right spot. Guys they think are getting overrated publicly. Guys they think could become steals.
And honestly, this class might end up causing one of the messiest draft nights in a while because I genuinely don’t think there’s consensus anywhere.
Usually by game nine you can already feel the shape of the board forming. There’s normally a clear top player or maybe a clear top three where most people roughly agree on the order even if they argue over specifics. This class feels completely different. The top of the class is packed together so tightly that one strong week or one quiet stretch could genuinely shift entire conversations.
Barry McGlynn currently leads the class on 380 TPE with Reece Munro right there alongside the very top group, followed closely by S Sei, STAR SCREAM and several others all stacked together. The gap between a lot of these players is tiny. Once margins become that small, organizations stop looking purely at numbers and start focusing heavily on projection, positional importance, long term activity and tactical fit.
That’s where things become really interesting.
Because if you asked ten different OMs to build a draft board from this class, I honestly think you’d get ten very different answers.
Some organizations are going to look at this class and immediately prioritize midfielders because midfielders tend to age well inside sim leagues. Others are going to chase pure attacking upside because elite forwards are difficult to find. Some organizations are probably desperate for wingbacks. Others may already have systems built around certain roles and will target players that fit those systems specifically rather than simply taking the “best” player available.
That’s why mock drafts usually collapse the second the real draft actually starts.
People massively underestimate how much organizational context matters.
A rebuilding organization drafts completely differently to a contender.
A patient OM drafts differently to somebody under pressure to win immediately.
A tactically rigid system drafts differently to a flexible one.
And honestly, activity culture probably matters more than people publicly admit too.
There are some organizations that absolutely value consistent activity and locker room presence over pure theoretical ceilings. Others will gamble on upside every single time. Neither approach is necessarily wrong either because both strategies have worked before.
Looking through this academy tracker properly though, what stands out most is how healthy the overall class feels.
There are quality players across multiple positions.
There are active users near the top.
There are difficult evaluations.
There are obvious names.
There are hidden value names.
There are players with massive ceilings and players who feel incredibly safe.
That combination usually creates entertaining drafts because organizations end up prioritising completely different things.
For me personally, Reece Munro feels like one of the safest picks in the entire class. Not necessarily because the player is the flashiest prospect available, but because central midfielders with consistent development paths become ridiculously valuable over time.
People always obsess over explosive attackers during academy seasons because goals and highlights dominate discussions. But if you actually look at long term successful organizations across sim leagues, they nearly always have strong midfield foundations underneath everything else.
Reliable midfielders age incredibly well.
Systems survive because of midfield control.
You can build around midfielders for multiple seasons to come.
And importantly, good midfielders tend to adapt across multiple tactical systems far easier than certain specialist attacking roles do. That versatility matters massively once organizations start planning for the future instead of just immediate hype.
S Sei is another player that I honestly think organizations will love far more than public discussions currently suggest.
Defensive midfielders almost always become undervalued during academy discussions because casual conversations naturally drift towards attacking numbers instead. But genuinely elite CDMs completely transform teams.
A strong defensive midfielder allows attacking players more freedom.
They stabilise transitions.
They protect weaker defensive lines.
They allow tactical flexibility.
They create balance.
If an organisation already has stars but lacks structure, somebody like Sei suddenly becomes massively important. I could absolutely see a scenario where a team quietly rates that profile much higher internally than people expect publicly.
STAR SCREAM is probably one of the hardest evaluations in the class for me because the profile is obviously strong from a numbers perspective. The interesting part is trying to project exactly what organizations believe the long term role becomes.
Some front offices love adaptable midfielders because they can shift systems around them over time. Others prefer specialists who dominate a single role at elite level instead of being versatile. That philosophical split probably changes where players like STAR SCREAM end up landing.
And honestly, that’s something people rarely talk about enough during draft conversations.
Different organisations literally value football differently.
One OM might watch a player and see tactical freedom.
Another OM might watch the exact same player and see positional uncertainty.
That’s why public rankings always end up looking silly once the real draft happens.
Joshua Homme III Esquire Limited is another player I keep coming back to the more I think about this class.
Firstly, unbelievable name. Instantly memorable. That genuinely matters more than people pretend it does.
Secondly though, active wingbacks are becoming absurdly valuable in modern setups. Fullbacks are no longer just defenders who occasionally overlap. In loads of systems now they basically function as transition engines.
Teams want width.
Teams want overlapping support.
Teams want recovery pace.
Teams want crossing.
Teams want defensive reliability mixed with attacking contribution.
If organizations believe somebody can develop into a complete wingback profile then suddenly they become far more valuable than raw public rankings might suggest.
Walter Blanco falls into a similar category for me as well. Maybe not receiving as much hype as some bigger attacking names, but definitely somebody I could imagine becoming one of those “how did he fall that far?” players a couple of seasons from now.
That happens literally every draft.
There are always players who become victims of hype cycles.
Early in academy seasons certain names dominate conversations constantly. Then people get bored, move onto newer storylines and quietly ignore steady builders who continue progressing without drama.
Those steady builders often become amazing value picks later.
I think this striker class is going to cause chaos as well because there are so many interesting profiles available. Dennis van Huntelrooy, Dante Von Wolfe, Owen Goal, Blaise N'Kufo, Nacho Kusora, Leonardo Stone and several others all bring different things to the table.
The problem with deep striker classes is that organizations suddenly become extremely selective.
If there are only one or two quality forwards available, teams panic early. If there are loads of good forwards available, organizations start convincing themselves they can wait longer.
That creates weird draft movement.
Some strikers rise massively because teams fear missing the run once it starts.
Others unexpectedly slide because organizations think “we can grab another attacking option later”.
Dante Von Wolfe feels like somebody who could massively benefit from organizations chasing ceiling late in the first round.
Every draft eventually reaches the point where OMs stop thinking safely and start imagining possibilities instead.
That’s where ceiling prospects rise.
Teams start picturing what players could become after two or three seasons inside strong developmental environments.
Owen Goal is another interesting case because even the name alone guarantees attention. And honestly, narrative absolutely affects perception whether people admit it or not.
Some names stick in your head.
Some players become memorable.
Some players naturally generate discussion.
That matters.
Humans run organizations, not robots.
There are also players sitting slightly lower down the tracker that I think organizations are probably monitoring far more closely than public conversations suggest.
Jayson Bryzski stands out immediately to me.
Arsene Cardinet as well.
Every time I scroll through the tracker I end up stopping at Cardinet’s profile because it just feels undervalued compared to surrounding discussions. Maybe it’s because there are so many midfielders available this class. Maybe it’s because bigger personalities dominate conversations elsewhere. But that type of player is exactly how organizations end up quietly stealing value.
The public talks about stars.
Good organizations find efficiency.
Jack Pow interests me for similar reasons.
Bruce McAllister too.
Not necessarily guaranteed headline-grabbing prospects, but definitely the type of players where you could imagine certain organizations internally being much higher on them than public draft boards currently are.
And honestly, those are usually the names worth watching closest.
The obvious stars are obvious.
The really interesting draft stories usually happen slightly underneath that top layer.
The goalkeeper discussion this class is fascinating too because opinions around drafting goalkeepers vary massively between organizations.
Moew enBach and Umaq Yupanqui clearly stand out immediately from a TPE perspective. But goalkeeper evaluation always becomes philosophical.
Some OMs hate spending early picks on keepers unless they genuinely believe the prospect is elite.
Other organizations value long term stability at goalkeeper massively and would rather solve the position early than gamble later.
It only takes one organization falling in love with a goalkeeper prospect for draft boards to suddenly shift completely.
And once one goalkeeper goes earlier than expected, panic starts.
Because now organizations that planned on waiting suddenly realize the position might disappear quickly.
That’s how draft chaos starts.
One thing I genuinely think is helping this class overall is activity.
Usually by game nine there are several highly ranked players already carrying serious inactivity concerns. This class the top of the tracker still looks impressively active overall which makes evaluations much harder.
Organizations can’t eliminate people as easily.
Now they actually have to choose.
That’s harder.
There are probably front offices already building giant internal comparison boards trying to separate players with almost identical TPE totals and similar activity levels. Once classes become this balanced, tiny details suddenly matter loads.
Positional scarcity matters.
Personality matters.
Consistency matters.
Fit matters.
Projected longevity matters.
Even timing matters.
Some players are peaking at the perfect moment while others maybe feel quieter heading into the final stretch.
And these final five games genuinely matter more than people realize.
Momentum completely changes perception near draft season.
A player sitting around middle-round discussions right now could absolutely explode into first round conversations with a huge finish.
Equally, somebody currently sitting comfortably near the top could create doubts if activity suddenly dips at the wrong time.
People remember endings.
Scouts remember momentum.
Organizations remember who kept showing up.
That’s especially important in long-term sim environments where reliability matters almost as much as talent.
There are also a few names further down the board that I think could become sneaky value selections depending on where they land.
Saba Kvekvetsia interests me.
Maurjiro Rivers interests me too.
Emmanuel Ofusu also feels like somebody who could quietly outperform expectations because active wide players nearly always end up useful in modern tactical systems somewhere.
The other thing people forget is that organizations aren’t just drafting players. They’re drafting timelines.
Some teams can afford patience.
Others desperately need contributors quickly.
That changes evaluations massively.
A rebuilding organization might happily gamble on raw upside because they know they have time.
A contender may prefer safer, adaptable players who can slot into existing systems sooner.
Again, that’s why universal draft boards don’t really exist internally.
Public rankings are entertainment.
Private rankings are strategy.
I also think some organizations are going to massively overthink this class.
Every single class there are teams that convince themselves they’re being clever by trying to outsmart the room instead of simply taking really good active players sitting directly in front of them.
Sometimes the obvious picks are obvious because they’re genuinely good.
At the same time though, some organizations absolutely will uncover hidden value because there’s enough depth in this class for strong scouting departments to separate themselves.
And honestly, that’s probably the biggest compliment you can give an academy season.
This draft doesn’t feel scripted.
It doesn’t feel solved.
It feels open.
It feels messy.
It feels debatable.
And that usually means the academy has done its job properly.
Five games remaining probably sounds like nothing to some people.
In reality, those five games might completely reshape how this class gets remembered.
![[Image: c7f8aa70-fe07-4d3a-9a43-591d7ca448e5.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/0QJdTHDV/c7f8aa70-fe07-4d3a-9a43-591d7ca448e5.png)
![[Image: Barry-Mc-Glynn-Downscale-Sig.png]](https://i.postimg.cc/1X4wkhs1/Barry-Mc-Glynn-Downscale-Sig.png)
