5 Common Mistakes Young Footballers Make That Kill Their Chances

Everyone wants to make it in football.

But the truth is, most players are making mistakes that kill their chances long before they are anywhere near a professional trial.

If you are serious about standing out and giving yourself a real shot, you need to know what is holding you back, not just what drills to do or what boots to wear.

In this article, I am breaking down the five most common mistakes I see young footballers make. These are not theory. These are mistakes I have watched ruin real potential.

Knowing what not to do is just as important as knowing what to do.

Before we get into it, a quick intro.

My name is Alan Deriard. I am a full time football agent and co founder of Elite Football Agency, Australia’s largest player agency. I have helped hundreds of players with representation, helped amateurs step into the professional space, and worked with more than twenty five professional clubs across Europe, South America and the UAE.

Let’s talk about the mistakes that matter.

A few honourable mentions

These did not make the top five list, but they are still important.

Focusing only on talent and not work ethic

A lot of players massively underestimate how much work, repetition and training it takes to even be noticed. Talent without daily effort is just potential that never goes anywhere.

Ignoring nutrition and fitness

You cannot perform at your best if you are gassed after thirty or forty five minutes. If your brain wants to do more but your legs cannot keep up, you have a physical problem, not a technical one.

Nutrition, sleep and conditioning are boring topics, but they are often the difference between lasting ninety minutes or fading out.

Not having the right connections

This is the obvious one, and the reason I did not include it in the main list. You can be the best player in your area, but if nobody with decision making power ever sees you, nothing happens.

Connections and representation matter more than people think, but since I run an agency, I will park that point and focus on the behaviours you can control directly.

Now, onto the five big ones.

Mistake 1, Getting into the wrong relationship at the wrong time

Relationships, especially romantic ones, are one of the most underrated performance blockers for young players.

Most of the players I work with are teenagers between 13 and 19. At that age, emotions are intense. It is normal to want a boyfriend or girlfriend, and some people will tell you it keeps them motivated.

The reality is different when it is time to leave home.

When a player goes interstate or overseas for a trial, the thing they miss most is often not their parents or friends. It is their partner. The emotional pull to go home, to check the phone, to stay connected, can be stronger than their desire to stay and push through discomfort.

If you are a parent, think about how much you miss your partner on a short work trip as an adult. Now imagine that amplified in a teenager who has never left home before.

If you are a player, here is the blunt version.

If you are genuinely serious about making it, a relationship in your teenage years is usually a distraction you cannot afford. Yes, there are rare exceptions, but for most players, it splits their focus and makes it harder to commit to the sacrifices required.

You have your whole life for relationships. You do not get a second run at your development years.

Mistake 2, Not going all in

A lot of players say they want to be professional, but their actions show something different.

They want to:

• pursue football

• do school or uni with full focus

• work a casual job

• keep a big social life

• fit everything in at once

The reality is, big outcomes rarely come from half efforts.

If you are chasing something that only a tiny percentage of people achieve, you have to be willing to do what the 99 percent will not. That means making choices that most of your friends will not understand.

If your family situation means you must work to help with bills, that is a different conversation. But if the job is simply for extra spending money, new boots or going out, ask yourself honestly if that time would be better spent:

• training

• recovering

• studying your game

• improving your body and mind

You can achieve big things, but the cost is usually everything else.

Many players think they are giving everything, when in reality they are at 70 to 80 percent. That extra 20 to 30 percent is where the difference lies.

Mistake 3, Letting ego block constructive criticism

Football requires confidence. You need to believe you are capable, or you will not perform on match day.

The problem is when that confidence turns into a barrier to honest feedback.

Many young players:

• think they played better than they did

• ignore feedback from coaches, parents or agents

• get defensive when given specific areas to work on

In professional environments, one of the biggest red flags is a player who is hard to coach. If a coach feels you do not want to learn, you will be pushed aside quickly, no matter how talented you are.

Being coachable is a superpower.

After every game or session, ask yourself:

• What did I do well?

• What did I struggle with?

• What did others notice?

Ask your coach. Ask your parents. Someone in your life is probably brutally honest. Use that. You do not have to agree with every word, but you do have to be willing to reflect and adjust.

Mistake 4, Staying in the wrong environment

You can be a very good player in the wrong situation.

If you are in a team where:

• the coach does not rate you

• you are constantly on the bench

• the environment is negative or draining

then your development will stall, even if the club has a big name.

In your formative years, roughly up to 16 or 17, your priorities should be:

• playing regular minutes

• developing under real pressure

• enjoying the game enough to keep pushing

Game time will always beat status. Sitting on the bench at a strong club is not better than playing ninety minutes for a slightly smaller one.

If you are paying thousands of dollars a season and not playing, it may be time to move. You can always:

• drop a level

• get more minutes

• reinvest some of the saved money into targeted coaching

Do not stay somewhere just because your friends are there, or because it looks good on paper. Your development and mental state matter more.

Mistake 5, Not promoting yourself

This one surprises people.

A lot of players are scared or embarrassed to share their football publicly. They do not want to post highlight videos or clips because:

• they are worried about what people will say

• they do not want to look like they are “trying too hard”

• they assume someone will magically find them anyway

But here is the truth, almost nobody is randomly discovering players in the modern game. Scouts and agents are busy. Most are not at grassroots games every weekend.

Self promotion, done the right way, is not arrogance. It is smart.

That means:

• filming your matches when possible

• building simple highlight videos

• sharing them with clubs, coaches and agents

• being present on social media in a way that reflects your goals

Connections matter, and people move around constantly in football. A coach who sees your clips now may end up at a different club in two years and remember you.

You want to be on the radar, not invisible.

Final thoughts

Most young players focus on talent, drills and highlight moments. Those things matter, but the quiet decisions off the field often matter more.

To recap:

1. Be very careful with relationships that pull your focus at the wrong time.

2. If you are serious, go all in and cut the non essential distractions.

3. Let your ego fuel your belief, not block the feedback that will make you better.

4. Choose environments that give you minutes and growth, not just a fancy badge.

5. Do not hide. Promote yourself, build connections and let people see your game.

You cannot control everything in football. You can control these five areas.

If you want more guidance on pathways, trials and how to position yourself for real opportunities, that is what we do every day at Elite Football Agency.

Tap here to book a free consultation with our team

And if you found even one useful idea in this article, share it with a player or parent who needs to hear it. Sometimes one mindset shift at the right time changes everything.