Manchester United`s academy is 5th in the world when it comes to producing players for the "big 5" divisions in Europe according to a report by Sportingintelligence. English teams in the top 50 5 Man Utd 13 Arsenal 24 Aston Villa 29 Spurs 35 West Ham 41 Newcstle Utd I am surprised Villa and West Ham don`t do as well in the league as they certainly have a good set-up and continually churn out god players from their youth. I also thought it was interesting to note the absence of Liverpool in the top 50, as i remember reading a thread on their board recently where their fans reckoned their academy was only bettered by Barcalona. The full article: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...-Uniteds-academy-fifth-best-world-Rennes.html
where is the fake clubs .? chelsea and city? didn't Chelsea bragged alot about their sophisticated hi-end academy? where is that gone ? even WH are ahead of them .. tbh we aside from chelsea fans, everyone knew that was a bull****
I wonder what percentage of these exports are British as most British players prefer to play here. This is good stuff, lol at the scousers saying only the Barcelona academy was better than theirs. I bet the City Sheik will see this and pressure his new ££££ academy to do one better than United by next year.
No clue why Villa has been so poor, I don't recall a lot of their academy being sold to other clubs. West Ham on the other hand seem to sell most of their best prospects.
Remember that the figures also refer to players still at the club, and making appearances even if they are irregular. That's one of the main reasons Villa, and arguably Newcastle, are so high in the academy rankings, but also relatively poor on the pitch, relative to their position in the youth rankings. Financial issus recently have meant they have had to rely on their average youth players rather than buying better players so their squad as a whole is fairly weak. Villa's current squad, for example, has 11 or 12 youth products in it, but only Albrighton and Agbonlahor are really all that good, with Weimann doing pretty well this year. The rest are largely making up the numbers in the squad, leaving them very thin on the ground whenever the best players are injured or off form. That's also the reason Rennes are so high up - loads of their youth players play in the French league for Rennes, or for other clubs without the money or clout to attract better players.
I think there is a distinct lack of talent coming through all the academies at the moment.. West ham have t produced a decent player for years.. We only produce one every couple of years.. Cleverly is the only one who has really broke into the side.
Wellbeck much? Tbh I think we're still producing talented players, it's just that the need to complete with the likes of City and Chelsea's mega bucks means they aren't quite talented enough. Players like Macheda, Shawcross, Bardsley and Campbell could have been the Nicky Butts and Phil Nevilles of the current generation, but they didn't quite measure up when City have £20 million players filling the same role in their squads.