Nearly all clubs run pre academy age groups, for outstanding young players aged from as young as 6 up to the age of 9. At this stage, these very young players can play for multiple different football clubs if they want to. They are not tied to one club in any way.
The age that players can be offered an official place at an academy, and become a registered player with a club, is in their U9’s season. So, towards the end of a player’s U8’s season, clubs may offer the player registration for the U9’s season ahead. They then sign what is called a schoolboy contract, which can be renewed every year or every two years, right up to the age of U15’s. This only happens if the club is happy with the progress the player is making, and they feel he is still worth his place. Players can get released at any age if the club thinks they are not good enough, and if this is the case, then their schoolboy contract will not be renewed.
Importantly, there are now strict rules as regarding where a player must live relative to a club in order to be allowed to sign a schoolboy contract. From U9’s to U11’s a player must live within a 60 minute drive of the club. From U12’s to U15’s this increases to 90 minutes. From U16’s onwards, these distance rules no longer apply
We know personally of a case when a really promising young player was not allowed to join the Chelsea academy (which is one of the best in the world) because he lived 63 minutes away from the Academy. It is the FA who determines this journey time, not the club or the player’s parents.
Once the player has signed a schoolboy contract as an U9, this is when any grassroots football or indeed football for any other club or team comes to an end. Once he has joined the club’s academy, he officially becomes a registered player of that club.