One of the happiest moments for a soccer fan is seeing a young player come through his club's youth system and start playing for the team he is a fan of.
When “one of their own” comes out of nowhere and achieves great success, fans are especially proud. While these stars are treated like royalty by fans, many clubs around the world take advantage of the opportunity to sell them to elite teams around the planet.
Big football institutions like Manchester United and Barcelona are synonymous with successful academies, but these clubs often retain their best talents to promote them to the first team over time.
Taking this into account, here are the ten most profitable football academies in terms of income generated in the last ten years by the transfers of players who spent at least three seasons there between the ages of 15 and 21, according to data from the Observatory of the CIES Football.
Atalanta, the only Serie A representative in the top ten, has done much better with its academy financially than its domestic rivals. Inter is the next most profitable team in Italy, with 134 million euros.
The biggest sale of the youth team was that of Dejan Kulusevski, who cost 32 million pounds to Juventus. They also earned 27 million from the sale of Alessandro Bastoni to Inter, while they took down AC Milan's pants by getting 21 million for Andrea Conti. In addition, Manchester United paid them at least 18 million pounds for Amad Diallo, although this figure could increase due to the numerous add-ons and bonuses of the operation.
Serie A is littered with former Atalanta players, many of them academy graduates who have helped generate this £215m.
The creation of a successful academy has been one of the main projects of the Man City ownership over the years, investing an almost infinite amount of money in training the stars of the
future.
The fruits of their labor are now visible to all. With players like Phil Foden, Micah Hamilton, Oscar Bobb and Rico Lewis in the first team, they have youth talent that would fetch very high prices on the market.
Last summer, Cole Palmer decided his time with the Cityzens was over and was sold to Chelsea for at least £40m. He also got £25 million for Kelechi Iheanacho in 2017.
You already know that every time Man Utd concedes a goal in a cup competition, it turns out that the scorer of the goal came from his academy? Well, City could soon be chased by their former youth stars in the future, having earned £176.5m between 2019 and 2023 from the academy.
Tottenham slips into the top ten after the summer transfer of Harry Kane to Bayern Munich. The initial 86 million pounds they received for the forward make up a large part of their overall balance of 220 million.
Andros Townsend is also a Spurs graduate and fetched almost £13m, but the majority of Tottenham's earnings from the academy have been low-profile deals under £10m. However, it all adds up.
Sporting CP cannot reach the level of their urban rival, Benfica, but they have done a good job getting money from the youth system.
Surprisingly, Joao Mario remains their biggest youth export, thanks to his move to Inter in 2016 for £38.7m, while Nuno Mendes' move to PSG in 2022 for £33m was another big deal.
Players like Gelson Martins, Joao Palhinha, Adrien Silva and Rafael Leao have all contributed to their spot on this list.
Monaco is the team with the fewest players sold in this top ten, pocketing £280 million for just 18 academy graduates. His figures are greatly helped by the millions that PSG paid for Kylian Mbappé in 2018.
Even without Mbappé, they have sold some great players in recent years, although fewer of them come from Monaco's academy than you might think. The big fees for players like Anthony Martial, Aurelien Tchouameni and Thomas Lemar are not taken into account here.
Benoit Badiashile cost £32.7m when he moved to Chelsea, while the Ligue 1 side got £21.5m for Layvin Kurzawa when he signed for PSG. Many of the big names Monaco have sold were actually players he had signed elsewhere at a young age.
Chelsea are next, narrowly beaten by Real Madrid despite both clubs selling 28 players. Interestingly, the Blues only made £35m from 2014 to 2018, but then raked in £264m from 2019 to 2023. It's clear when they started selling academy talent to raise funds for the first team.
The most they have received for an academy graduate was the £55m Manchester United paid for Mason Mount in 2023. The sale of Tammy Abraham to Roma for £34m also helped, as did the sale of Romelu Lukaku to Everton.
Many other well-known names have been sold by Chelsea in recent years. Fikayo Tomori, Marc Guehi, Nathan Ake and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have been transferred for large amounts.
It's a bit surprising that Real Madrid are so high here, given that any player who can reach a massive figure tends to be a player that Real Madrid wants.
Achraf Hakimi was their most expensive export from the academy, costing Inter £37m in 2020. Sergio Reguilón's £28.5m move to Tottenham helped, while players such as Marcos Llorente, Jese Rodríguez and Álvaro Morata have reached decent numbers.
Considering Lyon hasn't featured much in European football in the last decade, barring a Champions League semi-final appearance in 2020, it may be surprising that they are on the podium.
Alexander Lacazette's transfer to Arsenal for £46.5 million was the largest amount received by one of their youth products, while more recently they recovered around £39 million when Bradley Barcola left for PSG and £25.8 million pounds for the transfer of Castello Lukeba to RB Leipzig.
Other signings in recent years have been Malo Gusto for Chelsea, Corentin Tolisso for Bayern Munich and Samuel Umtiti for Barcelona.
Few clubs have an identity as clear and defined as Ajax. Part of that culture is developing wonderful young footballers, many of whom have had careers outside the Netherlands.
Ajax may be the second club that sells the most players, behind Benfica, with around 100 million pounds.
The most Ajax received in the last decade for an academy graduate was the £65m Barcelona paid for Frenkie de Jong in 2019. They also sold Matthijs de Ligt for a similar fee in that lucrative summer, while that others like Jurrien Timber and Donny van de Beek have added to the overall gains.
The magnitude of Ajax's production is also demonstrated by having sold the highest number of academy graduates on this list, with 36, six more than Benfica.
The Dutch giant may be struggling this season, but there is no doubt that it will continue to sell elite talent from its youth system for many years to come.
Undisputed leader, the Benfica youth academy has been producing great talents for years. The club is perfectly situated as the Primeira Liga is respected as a difficult league to play in and it often does not take a huge amount of transition to move from Benfica to one of Europe's elite teams.
The highest price for a player who meets the criteria was Joao Félix's transfer to Atlético de Madrid in 2019, for £113 million. Rubén Dias (£61m to Manchester City) and Gonçalo Ramos (£68m to Paris Saint-Germain) also contributed heavily to that final figure, while many lesser-known players have left Benfica in the last decade for considerable sums.
The Benfica quarry, located in the Lisbon neighborhood of Seixal, is considered one of the most fertile in the world for the training of football talents, whether they are players or coaches.
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