Wycombe Wanderers have ‘taken steps’ into launching an academy for the 2025/26 season.

The Chairboys, who are now owned by the Georgian-Kazakhstani billionaire Mikhail Lomtadze following his acquisition of the club in May, have ‘formally submitted its intention to apply for a Category 4 Academy Licence’.

This is a model that focuses on the ‘late development’ of aspiring footballers from the Under-17 age group .

Academy Director Jeremy Sauer has written to the EFL to outline the roadmap strategy for the academy, which will underpin the owners’ commitment to youth development by creating a pathway of future professional footballers.

The strategy also details the alignment of the club’s strategy, infrastructure and staffing to meet the requirements not just for Category 4 status, but also with a view of achieving Category 1 status.

The latter focuses on children from under nines to 21-year-olds.

Jeremy Sauer commented: “A Category 1 academy is a core part of the club’s vision for the future and we will work tirelessly towards achieving this goal.

“It is a gradual process and for now our efforts are centred towards preparing our Academy Licence application to begin an academy at Category 4 status.

“We are grateful to the EFL for its guidance to date and look forward to delivering a leading high-performance academy that will contribute positively to both our own and the EFL’s long-term goals.”

Following Lomtadze’s purchase of Wycombe from the Couhigs in the spring, the tycoon is hoping to aid the development of numerous youngsters in England and Kazakhstan, with the project rumoured to cost around £18m.  

Wanderers’ have been without an official academy since the end of the 2011/12 season, due to the club’s then financial situation.

The closure meant they became the first team out of the 72 Football League clubs to function without one.

Notable alumni from Wanderers’ previous academy include names such as Jordon Ibe, Matty Phillips and Roger Johnson.

However, in 2020, Wycombe, under the stewardship of the Couhigs, launched a development squad which helped natured the careers of Anis Mehmeti (now at Bristol City), Ali Al-Hamadi (now at Ipswich Town), and Chris Forino (now at Bolon Wanderers).

Speaking in May, Lomtadze said: “Football is a mass and entertainment sport with great potential for improving sportsmanship, and in many countries, football is a source of great pride.

“I am confident that our football can be taken to a new level using my experience in creating innovative businesses using modern technologies and artificial intelligence.

“I hope that we will be able to train world-class stars for Kazakhstani football.

“The dream of any football academy student is to play in the main team of a football club.

“Therefore, an academy without a football club has no chance of success.

“Simply put, you train and improve your skills in the academy, and there is no opportunity to play in the first team of the club.

“I plan to change it, because the club intends to give opportunities to our graduates, to be a place for them to open the way to big football."

An Academy Licence can only be granted following an audit from the Professional Game Academy Audit Company, which the club expects to take place towards the end of the current season, and after that point the recommendations of the auditors will be carried forward in order to attain the Licence from the Professional Game Board.