If he's the type of young player who is the standout best in his local team, there is some logic in allowing him to continue there being the star and have him build up his confidence to the level where if he was to move to an academy later on the line, he won't shrivel under the pressure or be moved to much by the level of talent there because he is so used to being the main player week in week out at a lower level.
Confidence plays a huge part in players making it, you have some players who have all the ability but just shrivel when there nerves get to them and play within themselves because they haven't had their mental side nurtured to the point where they can battle the nerves and not feel too disheartened by making mistakes and getting criticised.
A lot of players i played with in younger days actually benefited from being star players at lower levels while their peers accelerated to higher levels at a younger age, they were allowed to cultivate the mentality at lower levels of being the star player better than everyone else so when they would make a mistake, because they were conceivably better than the rest of their peers in the team, seldom would anything really knock their confidence, if they dribble too much, ok, if they misplace a pass ok, this stood them in good stead by the time they were older and ready to make the step up to the academy, they played football uninhibited free and expressed themselves, while those who made the step up faster by that time were over-coached, less raw but with less scope to be brilliant also.
Despite this though i would say because of the age your young lad is at, 8 years of age, there is much benefits in him playing for an academy at that age because the coaching and tactical knowledge he would gain from being there from such a young age would put him above 95% of other players his age, some people aren't even playing football seriously to around 10-11 so he would already be far ahead in terms of understanding of the game.
To counter this though i would say still try to let him play as much football as he can outside of the academy, whether it be in the playground, at the local park for the schools, even though academies frown upon this a lot of the times, the balance gained from playing street football while also being coached by some of the best coaches in the region is a lot of the times the best one, if hes playing for an academy where he may not be the top 20-30 players in his age group, you still have to nurture his self confidence and self belief, where he believes he belongs, and playing football with his peers outside of academy who aren't on his level per se, helps this, belief and confidence is half the game, workrate is the other half.
