I agree that the academy nerf was rough, but as the devs said, it's not the place where you should look for op player, but for young talent.
Devs should add a "potential" stat, and the money invested in academy would reflecton this stat instead of the others in my opinion.
Anyways you should get some mediocre or good coaches (6-8 / 8-10) and spend as much time for training as possible. My players currently get +1(Main position)/+1 (Tech) per day with 12 sessions (10 main role + 2 tech). Honestly they even get +1 in nearly everything (even lead and aggro).