Premier League clubs ranked as Man Utd left in the dust by rivals cashing in on academies

View 2 Images

Manchester United have been left trailing Chelsea , Manchester City and Aston Villa after new figures on academy sales were released. United ’s academy has become renowned over the years for producing some of the best talent in the world .

However, former manager Ruben Amorim was critical of the academy talents coming through despite the emergence of the likes of Kobbie Mainoo , JJ Gabriel, Ayden Heaven and Chido Obi over the last few years - and when it comes to making profit off their young players, the club are far behind some of their rivals.

Selling academy products has become an important process for Premier League clubs, as they are treated as pure profit under the Profitability and Sustainability Regulations (PSR). Therefore, any fee from the sale of a player who has come from the academy can be recorded in full on the club's books, which is a boost when complying with the rules.

Despite the positive reputation around the United academy, the latest weekly post from the CIES Football Observatory has the club in 19th place among clubs worldwide that have made the most profit from the sale of academy players over the last 10 years. In terms of Premier League clubs, United are in fourth, behind Chelsea , City and Villa.

If just looking at English clubs, Chelsea lead the way with the most money made from sales of academy products. The Blues have brought in £386million through 33 sales, with Mason Mount' s exit to United accounting for 16 per cent of that .

Behind Chelsea are Man City with a total of £353m raised from 35 sales. Their biggest sale was Cole Palmer moving to Chelsea, which accounted for 12 per cent of the total.

The next Premier League club is Aston Villa, although they have only made 13 sales; Jack Grealish ’s move to Manchester City accounted for 39 per cent of their £265m total.

Manchester United are the fourth English club on the list, having earned £237m from 30 sales from the academy. Alejandro Garnacho ’s move to Chelsea back in the summer was the biggest of those moves, accounting for 17%.

JOIN US ON FACEBOOK! Latest news, analysis and much more on Mirror Football's Facebook page

Just behind United are Arsenal , with a total of £236m. Like United, that total is from 20 sales, with Alex Iwobi’s move to Everton in 2019 bringing in the most from a single sale.

Tottenham are not far behind. Spurs have made £234m over the last 10 years. That comes from 19 sales, with Harry Kane ’s move to Bayern Munich accounting for 45 per cent of the total.

Liverpool are slightly further down the list, having made £194m from 22 sales. The biggest of those was Jarell Quansah’s move to Bayer Leverkusen back in the summer.

View 2 Images

When looking at the list as a whole, Benfica top it, having banked a staggering £514m through 38 sales. Their biggest sale was Joao Felix’s transfer to Atletico Madrid in 2019.

Ajax are second on the list, with a total of £396m from 43 sales. Their biggest fee received was from United for defender Matthijs de Ligt .

Chelsea are then in third place on the list. Lyon, Sporting CP, Real Madrid , AS Monaco, Pakmeiras and Bayer Leverkusen also all appear in the top 10.

If the filter is changed to the last five years, then Chelsea, City and Villa take the top three spots, having made £320m, £278m and £256m respectively. United are seventh on the list, having made £192m.

Chelsea - £386m

Man City - £353m

Aston Villa - £265m

Man United - £237m

Arsenal - £236m

Tottenham - £234m

Liverpool - £194m

West Ham - £148m

Leicester City - £148m

Leeds United - £144m

Chelsea - £320m

Man City - £278m

Aston Villa - £256m

Man United - £193m

Tottenham - £162m

Arsenal - £150m

Liverpool - £121m

West Ham - £115m

Brighton - £90m

Leicester City - £86m