The 10 most valuable academies in the world have been revealed, showing which clubs make the most money from their young players.
There are few things in football that fans love more than seeing someone come from a club's academy to make a big difference to the first team.
Most clubs have some variation on the "he's one of us" chant, which is associated with Harry Kane today, at one time or another.
Manchester United take their academy so seriously that at least one player who graduated from it has featured in every squad for the past 85 years.
The club's most prominent academy graduates are all from the famous '92nd class' but even in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final against Brighton, Marcus Rashford played a huge role and some another is currently on Erik ten Hag's team. However, Premier League teams are not very good at selling their players for such large sums of money, and it looks like the same thing happens when they go to the academy.
Statistically, they are not in the top 10 most valuable academies, when players earn the most, while their top three rivals are in the UK.
According to the CIES Observatory, Chelsea, Manchester City and Arsenal are all better at selling their young stars, although they are all lagging behind one of Europe's top exporters.
10. Arsenal - 400 million euros
9. Flamengo - 438 million euros
8. Santos - 445 million euros
Selling Neymar definitely helps Santos make the list. Image:
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7. Sao Paulo - 475 million euros
6. Paris Saint-Germain - 490 million euros
5. Manchester City - 510 million euros
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4. Ajax - 555 million euros
Frenkie de Jong has made a name for himself at Ajax. Image:
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3. Barcelona - 580 million euros
2.. Chelsea - 630 million euros
1. Benfica - 670 million euros
Joao Felix alone brought in 127 million euros for the old team. Image:
alamy
Benfica certainly have a knack for selling their players for money, whether it's an academy graduate or a player they buy for much less than the sale price.
Joao Felix was sold for 127 million euros, while Enzo Fernandez made a record in the UK last January, just six months after the club signed him for around 10 million euros.
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