With the majority of money being pumped into the Premier League and their academies, Football League clubs often end up bringing in unproven Premier League academy players, often neglecting the young gems that they have in their own academy.
With the likes of Dele Alli, Jamie Vardy and Chris Smalling all coming out of Football League academies, should FL managers start turning to their own academies and young players instead of PL youngsters?
Southend United last season turned to Sam McQueen and Glen Kamara from Southampton and Arsenal respectively, with neither setting Sky Bet League One alight, whereas academy graduate, Jack Payne, finished top scorer with 9 goals.
Football League World writer Luke Garner takes a look at 3 young academy stars who Phil Brown MUST use during the 2016/17 campaign.
Jack Bridge
The 20 year old made his debut for the Blues at the end of last season after graduating from the academy in the 1-0 defeat to Bradford after an impressive loan spell at Conference South side Chelmsford City, where he scored 7 goals in 4 games.
The central midfielder excels in passing and leadership, after captaining the Southend United U21 to a cup victory side in their inaugural season last year.
Bridge should have the chance to prove himself in the number 10 role by Phil Brown following the departure of top scorer Jack Payne, after Bridge's impressive two appearances at the end of the 2015/16 campaign.
Jason Williams
The 20 year old striker has made 6 appearances for the Shrimpers since graduating from the academy, however has yet to start a game, despite his impressive form on loan at Chelmsford City in the Conference South last season,where he scored 6 goals in 3 games.
Williams made a name for himself at Chelmsford with the fans excited by his tremendous pace and strength, and expressed their disappointment when Southend United recalled him at the end of last season, however he did not feature once for the League One side.
Williams should be given a start by Brown, as he is yet to be given a chance to show what he can do at a higher level, which would also help Southend's need for pace in attack after the departure of Myles Weston.
Ted Smith
The 20 year old goalkeeper graduated from the Southend United academy in 2015 and has been in the shadow of Blues' number one Daniel Bentley for the whole of his career. After Bentley expressed his desire to leave the League One outfit, Smith got a run of 3 games in the team taking his appearances for Southend up to 7.
Smith specialises in shot-stopping and has huge potential to be a quality goalkeeper, as Benfleet-born keeper has represented England U18 and 19's and is currently in the U20 squad.
Smith should become the Shrimper's number one in the 2016/17 season, as the departure of Bentley seems inevitable and Smith proved he is up to League One standard after his relatively impressive performances at the end of the 2015/16 campaign.