Brentford Development Squad Manager Jon De Souza said the fact only three players were taken on as first-year professionals for 2014/15 showed the players what level was required to progress at Griffin Park.
Brentford offered contracts to Lionel Stone and Montell Moore from the 2013/14 Under-18 group and also signed Mark Smith after he left Queens Park Rangers.
Jon, during an end-of-season interview with Bees Player, said Brentford would only sign players with the potential to play in The Championship, the level The Bees were now at.
He added the players that would complete their scholarships in the summer of 2015 now knew what it would take to become a professional footballer at Brentford.
“We need to produce players that are good enough to play in The Championship,” said Jon.
“That we only took on three Under-18s as professionals, and two from our ranks, it shows where the bar is.
“We can’t afford to sign players that don’t have that potential.
“We have signed three that we believe can get better but the current first years will now see how hard it is to get a contract.”
Jon said he had watched a Sky Bet Championship Play-Off match between Queens Park Rangers and Wigan Athletic and it had reiterated what level Brentford would be playing at next season.
“It is a hard business,” he said.
“The Championship is a good level.
“I went to the QPR v Wigan Play-Off game and the tempo and intensity was exceptional.
“That is the quality our club is going in to.
“We have to have players that can play at that level.
“It is not personal, we need to take on players we believe can play at that level.”
Jon said Brentford winning promotion from League One to The Championship would make it harder for players to come through.
But he added the Academy was looking to produce Champions League players so promotion did not alter that aim.
He said with Academy Director Ose Aibangee and Head of Academy Recruitment Shaun O’Connor now in place for four years, the Club was starting to see players coming through.
“Promotion does make it harder for us,” said Jon.
“We now have to produce players that are good enough to play in The Championship.
“It is not a short fix, it takes years to produce players.
“I have been here for three years, Ose and Shaun have been here four years.
“We are starting to reap the rewards.
“We have always aimed to produce players that can play in the Premier League, if not higher.
“Although promotion does make it harder, our aim has never been to produce League One footballers.
“We want players that are good enough to play for Brentford, progress with Brentford and, if needs be, be sold on to Premier League and Champions League clubs.”
Jon admitted promotion would make it easier to recruit players.
“Being in The Championship does change things for us,” he said.
“Not so much with players at non-league clubs but with players being released from the top clubs.
“There are a lot of London teams that previously would have been able to pull rank on us in terms of league position – Fulham, Charlton, Millwall – that now can’t.
“We can match them in terms of league position and let our staff do the talking.”
A full end-of-season interview with Jon De Souza is available on Bees Player.