The Premier League have confirmed a new Under-21 competition for this season that will bridge the gap between academies and first teams.
Teams from 17 Premier League clubs and six Championship teams will be divided into three groups. From January onwards, they will be divided into another three groups based on their performance, which will lead to a knockout stage and final.
The national competition will launch on August 17 with Manchester City visiting Chelsea, and West Ham hosting Reading.
Each team will be allowed to field three outfield players over the age of 21 as well as an overage goalkeeper, in a similar style to Olympic football but with a lower age barrier.
Off-Topic:
For anyone who cares, I'm officially back on this site, since there seems to be an actual moderator looking after it again. I was gonna wait until Newsboiler implemented the network upgrade to return in a meaningful way but since Cat is moderating things here now I decided to return earlier. I've been on this network since the very first News4Gamers (it was a while before I created an official account on the site, used to just scan through and read without commenting) and have been familiar with how Cat works since she first started working on the network, so my confidence in this site has been restored. I just hope she doesn't get overworked. :)
On-Topic:
Intriguing...this plus the NextGen Series and U-19 Champions League competitions will definitely make clubs take youth development more seriously in England.
Good competition, will develop youth better than the current system. I only worry though that some clubs will begin to pay outrageous prices for kids that perform really well