First of all, I've seen one 18-year old player going to the FA. For your information, this player was so good that he was sold $6,000,000! The 19-year old player I saw was sold for over $1,000,000. Both of them were awesome players when they went into the FA.
I agreed with you when you criticized the announcement which was made and wrote that what happens is not what was announced. Even though I don't understand how the FA mechanism works, I share your feeling. That being said, I do not agree with the rest of your statement. You basically complain that there are not enough young players saved from retiring. You are right but this is how it works, the lack of talented young players make them very expensive, that's a fact. What else is there to say about it? You don't like it, we can all understand you and as a U21 NT manager, I share your feeling but that's how it is.
For your information, I have some numbers to provide: over the past 3/4 weeks, I saw 34 players between 21 and 23 who went to the FA, 23 of these 34 players would have retired if the new FA mechanism was not there.