Huddersfield Town, Brentford approach is helping Wycombe Wanderers build for the future: View | OneFootball

Whilst many clubs in England have their academy, a few have opted to go down the 'B Team' route centred around signing released youngsters.

The B Team approach is becoming a more popular way of developing young players in English football. Wycombe Wanderers were the latest team to undertake this method in 2020, following in the footsteps of Premier League side Brentford and Huddersfield Town.

Now Wycombe Wanderers have moved to the large Harlington Training Ground nestled in the surroundings of Heathrow Airport, the club now has the facilities to revive its academy, following the closure in 2012 due to cost. However, it seems the club will be utilising both models in the future, as B Team coach Sam Grace has continued to identify and add targets to his development squad this summer. Jaiden Bartolo, Jack Matton and Brody Peart are the three latest additions made by Grace this summer, and with plenty of budding young footballers looking to win a contract from trials, they won't be the last.

The important differences between an academy and a B Team

As previously stated, many clubs rely on their homegrown young players to rise through the age groups, developing their skills and subsequently getting their big break in the first-team. This has been the most common way of developing young footballers, with many generational talents being produced in the academies of not only elite clubs but EFL clubs as well.

The traditional academy method can reap huge rewards. League One's Exeter City are a prime example of this. England hero Ollie Watkins came through the Grecians' academy before being sold to Brentford, then Aston Villa. The initial sale to Brentford was reported to be in the region of £1.8 million with a sizable sell-on-clause included. This would come back to bless the Devon-based side, as they received a reportedly whopping £4 million plus £450,000 in add-ons when Watkins moved to Aston Villa in 2020.

But, some clubs don't have the facilities or financial muscle to maintain an academy, with staff needed for different age groups and a facility with enough space to accommodate all the squads. This means that some clubs would rather not take the risk of starting an academy. This was the case for Wycombe Wanderers some 12 years ago when the academy was forced to close due to cost implications, which ultimately led to a young Matty Cash departing the club.

However, thanks to promotion to the Championship and the financial sustainability introduced by former owner, Rob Couhig, the Chairboys were able to open up a brand new B Team. Whilst the B Team was a way to bring through young players, it would operate much differently from the traditional academy approach.

The most notable difference is there are no age groups, all players will play and train for the single B Team squad, with players aged 18-23 being the most common candidates for the B Team squad. The lack of different age groups means that there is no graduation system at the end of each year, players will either remain with the B Team, get released or be moved to the first-team squad.

This is where a club with a B Team can be a saving grace for released academy footballers, offering a chance to go on trial and secure a deal. Young non-league footballers who also fancy their chances in the professional game can also turn up or be invited to partake in trials. Players such as Richard Kone have been successful examples of this.

Rather than a crop of youngsters graduating into the next age group as you would with an academy, a B Team's work begins once the academies have released their unwanted players. This allows a large group of trialists to stake their claim on a contract, with a handful being successful.

High-flying Brentford leads by example

In 2016, Brentford had just closed the doors of their academy. The first step the club took was to make sure they were still able to have a good influx of young players through the door, changing the Development Squad to Brentford B. The squad would play friendly matches against senior, under-23, under-21 and academy squads.

When asked about the change in direction, Bees owner Matthew Benham stated: "The B team seemed like a simpler and more attractive option." The model would be a success in the first year, seeing B Team Player of the Year winner Chris Mepham step up to first-team action. Of course, this would prove to be one of Benham's smartest decisions as his club continued on an upward trajectory, all the way to the Premier League.

Mepham wouldn't be the last success story, as Marcus Forss, Mads Roerslev and Mads Bech Sorensen all graduated from the young Bees over the next couple of years. Whilst Forss and Sorensen have gone on to have solid careers thus far, Roerslev has gone on to make over 100 appearances for Brentford, playing all but four of their Premier League games last term.

The B Team was also seen as a much more practical approach to preparing young footballers for the challenges of the senior game. Strength and conditioning coach, James Purdue said in October 2020: "The games programme tests them more physically and better prepares them for first-team football. It’s also treated a lot more like a first team, so the environment that they’re used to is not dissimilar when they step up. As we’ve seen with our players over the last four years, the transition becomes easier. It doesn’t mean they’re ready to slot straight in all the time, but it means that they understand the requirements."

Brentford's academy reopened in July 2022, but the B Team remains in use with the newly formed under-18's side feeding into the B Team.

Wycombe Wanderers are already enjoying the rewards of their B Team

In the summer of 2020, Huddersfield Town and Wycombe became the second and third professional English clubs to launch a B Team. The Terriers confirmed in September 2017 that their academy had been downgraded from a Category Two to a Category Four status, meaning only an Under-19 and Under-17 team would be operating. The launch of the Yorkshire-based side's B Team came merely a month before Wycombe announced they would be following suit.

Since the introduction of Wycombe's B Team, there have been three notable graduates who are now playing in the Premier League, Championship and League One respectively. The first of those was Anis Mehmeti, a young Albanian attacker formerly of Norwich City.

The Albanian dazzled Gareth Ainsworth with his quick feet in training and made his debut for the Chairboys from the bench in a narrow defeat to Millwall, just mere months after joining the club. The winger went on to make 97 appearances for the Buckinghamshire side, scoring 19 times and stealing the show on many occasions with his exquisite technique.

Bristol City snapped up the young Albanian in the final days of the January 2023 transfer window, for a fee which was believed to be in the region of £1 million, a club record for Wycombe. Whilst it would be heartbreaking for the fans to lose the young starlet, it was more proof that the B Team model could be a huge success.

Another player who left the Chairboys in January 2023 was Ali Al-Hamadi, who didn't hit the ground running at Wycombe. The Iraqi international signed following a successful trial period in November 2021 but had to wait for his shot at the first team.

After a productive loan spell at Bromley, Al-Hamadi returned to Buckinghamshire optimistic about making his break into the first team. He would get his chances, but, Gareth Ainsworth didn't see enough in the striker's performances to warrant the game time he wanted. Determined not to hold back Al-Hamadi's development, Ainsworth allowed him to move to AFC Wimbledon on a free transfer, but with an 'invested interest' included in the deal.

This would prove to be more good news for Wycombe, as the Iraqi striker was scoring for fun for the Dons. When Ipswich Town came calling for the striker's services in January 2024, a reported 25% of the fee paid went to Wycombe, thanks to the sell-on-clause in Al-Hamadi's deal. The fee Ipswich paid to Wimbledon was understood to be just over £1 million with add-ons included in the future, which would've banked Wycombe roughly £250,000. Another tidy profit on a player Wycombe signed for free.

Defender Chris Forino joined the Chairboys ahead of the 2021/22 season. The former Brentford youngster was pursuing his football dream at Loughborough University when he secured a trial at Marlow Road. This proved to be a massive success, as Forino was rewarded with a deal following his trial.

He scored on his first-team debut for Wycombe in a first-round FA Cup tie at Hartlepool United, then built on this with some strong showings towards the end of the season, as the Chairboys made the League One play-offs. Forino was rewarded with a new deal, keeping him at the club until the summer of 2024. During this time, he made 90 appearances for the club and scored eight times.

Wycombe had the opportunity to cash in on the Saint-Lucian last summer, but they held on to him, which saw the defender depart for Bolton when his contract expired. Whilst Wycombe didn't receive a fee for Forino, they certainly got more than their money's worth out of him, during his time with the club.

The future of Wycombe's B Team

When Mikheil Lomtadze took over the club in May 2024, he outlined his intention to bring the academy back. The new Wycombe owner told the club website: "We aim to re-open and build a leading high-performance academy which will become an essential part of our long-term strategy of developing a club that consistently performs at the top level."

Similar to what Brentford have done since their academy reopened, it could be possible that Wycombe keeps the B Team as an equivalent of an Under-23 or Under-21 team. This means that Wycombe can open a new under-19 side which will feed into the B Team.

Then, the academy will be structured as normal, depending on how many squads the club wants, or how many the facilities can accommodate. The B team will certainly continue in some form, as it will be a long time before we see young footballers who start their careers in Wycombe's youth teams anywhere near the B Team.

Wycombe have already added Jaiden Bartolo, Jack Matton and Brody Peart to their ranks so far this summer. It would be safe to assume that these are additions to the B Team, as none of them have yet to experience EFL football. These additions confirm that whilst Wycombe are planning to reopen an academy, the club will still use its traditional method of recruiting released youngsters from a higher level or non-league.