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Study Finds Which Football Academies Produce The Best Players

Study Finds Which Football Academies Produce The Best Players

A study has found which clubs produce the most players in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1.

Ryan Sidle

Ryan Sidle

A study has found which clubs in Europe are producing the most players currently playing in the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and Ligue 1.

Every fan loves to see a youth academy prospect rise through the ranks and play for the first team. Local players and players who care about the team is something special, especially in an age of less loyalty.

On top of that fans love to brag that their success was earned rather than bought and building academy prospects up is also cheaper.

Now a study has been done to find the academies that are producing the most players for the top five leagues, although not necessarily for the teams they started at.

According to research by bettingodds.com, Barcelona lead the way with 38 players around Europe's 'big five' having graduated from La Masia, although only seven of them are in the current Barca squad.

Barcelona - 38

Messi and Sergi Roberto are amongst the players who graduated from Barcelona's academy. Image: PA Images
Messi and Sergi Roberto are amongst the players who graduated from Barcelona's academy. Image: PA Images

PSG - 33

Real Madrid - 31

Lyon - 25

Rennes - 24

Valencia - 23

Atalanta - 22

Chelsea - 20

Ajax - 20

Manchester United - 19

AS Saint-Etienne - 19

RC Lens - 19

Sporting CP - 19

AC Milan - 18

Athletic Bilbao - 17

FC Koln - 17

Manchester City - 17

Stuttgart - 17

Atletico Madrid - 17

Sevilla - 17

Roma - 17

Bordeaux - 16

AS Monaco - 16

Celta Vigo - 15

Benfica - 15

From that top 25, many of the same names feature again when it comes to the squads with the most academy graduates in their current squad.

This time it's Athletic Bilbao who lead the way, with 10 members of their current first team squad coming from their academy. That, in some ways, is no surprise considering they only pick players from the Basque region.

From the Premier League, West Brom, Liverpool and Southampton all feature despite not being on the previous list.

Athletic Bilbao - 10

Celta Vigo - 10

Nimes - 9

Rennes - 8

Manchester United - 8

Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood are amongst the United graduates in the current squad. Image: PA Images
Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood are amongst the United graduates in the current squad. Image: PA Images

AS Saint-Etienne - 8

FC Koln - 8

West Ham - 8

Barcelona - 7

Montpellier - 7

Osasuna - 7

Chelsea - 6

AC Milan - 6

Donnarumma made his Milan debut at just 16 years old. Image: PA Images
Donnarumma made his Milan debut at just 16 years old. Image: PA Images

Schalke 04 - 6

Genoa - 6

Lyon - 5

Valencia - 5

Atalanta - 5

RC Lens - 5

Manchester City - 5

Stuttgart - 5

Bordeaux - 5

West Brom - 5

Southampton - 4

Liverpool - 4

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: Football News, Chelsea, Manchester United, Barcelona, Serie A, Ligue 1, PSG, Premier League, Real Madrid, La Liga, Bundesliga