I personally don't see value in the academy player.

You can get a (albeit fast) 2 star academy player for 12/18 tokens, or you could get a slower, but still great 5 star player off the auction, more often than not for less than 10 tokens - where you won't have to train him to get him 5 star.

I know a lot of people keep and develop their academy players but for me, its not the most economical use of tokens. You could get a player 1 cone off scout off the negotiations for between 10-15 tokens - the same price you would pay for an academy player, but without having to feed them 75/80 cones to get them to that level.