Just read an article on the BBC detailing how many minutes graduates from our academy (and other academies) played in the PL last season. We came top by some distance. We might not always produce players that are good enough to play for our first team, but we should be very proud of the number of players that do go on to have decent careers in and around the top flight.
Slightly surprisingly, 2 Portuguese teams make the top 10!
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Manchester United's academy graduates played more than 27,000 minutes during the 2018-19 Premier League season - almost 10,000 more than any other club.
According to research by PA Sport, 20 players who finished playing youth football at the club featured in the top flight during last season.
Including the likes of Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard, they accumulated 27,395 minutes.
Tottenham are second with their 13 graduates amassing 17,903 minutes.
Meanwhile, 16 Southampton academy graduates, including United's Luke Shaw and Fulham's Calum Chambers, played 15,964 minutes, putting them just ahead of Chelsea in the standings in third.
Portuguese sides were the only clubs from outside English football to reach the top 10.
Club Total minutes (number of players)
Manchester United 27,395 (20)
Tottenham 17,903 (13)
Southampton 15,964 (16)
Chelsea 15,870 (9)
Manchester City 13,605 (8)
Sheffield United 12,400 (6)
Liverpool 12,104 (6)
Benfica 11,032 (5)
West Ham 10,608 (8)
Sporting Lisbon 10,127 (5)
It is the third year in a row that United have topped the standings as the "leading developers of Premier League talent", according to PA Sport's data, despite their graduates' playing time dropping year on year.
More than a third of United's minutes were accumulated by players still at the club, who helped Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team finish sixth in the league.
In addition, Joshua King, Michael Keane and Craig Cathcart played more than 3,000 minutes for Bournemouth, Everton and Watford respectively, while Burnley trio Tom Heaton, Phil Bardsley and Robbie Brady - who all began their careers at Old Trafford - amassed more than 4,400 minutes.
Consistent Blades and the rise of the Portuguese
Sheffield United have been a permanent fixture in the top 10 of the standings for the last three seasons, placing eighth in 2016-17 and fifth the following season - despite only being promoted to the Premier League themselves this summer.
They placed sixth in the 2018-19 study, largely helped by Wales midfielder David Brooks playing 2,400 minutes for Bournemouth.
Kyle Walker, Harry Maguire, Phil Jagielka, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Matt Lowton and Kyle Naughton also contributed to the Blades' statistics.
Elsewhere, Coventry jumped 113 places to reach the top 20 with Leicester midfielder James Maddison, Wolves defender Cyrus Christie and Bournemouth striker Callum Wilson all playing regularly for their clubs.
While Ajax and Feyenoord have previously been the best represented clubs from outside Europe, last season was the turn of Portuguese sides to enter the top 10 with Benfica and Sporting Lisbon's graduates amassing 11,032 and 10,127 Premier League minutes respectively.
Manchester City's Ederson and Bernardo Silva, in addition to Wolves pair Helder Costa and Ivan Cavaleiro and Everton's Andre Gomes are Benfica academy products, while Wolves' Rui Patricio and Joao Moutinho graduated from Sporting's academy.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49156788
The success of our academy
posted on 30/7/19
I thought United bought Rooney from Everton?
posted on 30/7/19
Manchester United signed 28year old Peter Schmeichel on 6 August 1991 for £505,000 from UEFA Cup Semi finalist Brondby
posted on 30/7/19
comment by Bluewoji (U16428)
posted 2 minutes ago
Manchester United signed 28year old Peter Schmeichel on 6 August 1991 for £505,000 from UEFA Cup Semi finalist Brondby
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Yeah, but he played a couple of warm up games for our youth team to get his fitness up before he played for the 1st team.
Therefore he qualifies as a youth product.
posted on 30/7/19
Whilst this a great stat, the club need to turn that into profit.
Our products are proven to be of good standard are generally very professional too.
So why do we not make any money from this investment?
posted on 30/7/19
comment by Bluewoji (U16428)
posted 34 minutes ago
I thought United bought Rooney from Everton?
...............
You have been Barry'd.
posted on 30/7/19
Whats counts as an academy product in terms of years at the club, does sterling for example count for us or qpr?
posted on 30/7/19
Including Pogba is a bit of a stretch!
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It is really. He only spent three years at our academy.
posted on 30/7/19
comment by Winston (U16525)
posted 1 hour, 54 minutes ago
comment by Kamikaze Blue (U7450)
posted 29 seconds ago
Another way to look at it is the failure of your signings. If they were any good you wouldn't have to play the kids.
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There speaks a modern fan
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I assumed the "blue" in his username was Chelsea after reading that comment, not that City do much better in their own team.
posted on 30/7/19
comment by Ji Sung Park's Cousin - Ole's joy squids (U2958)
posted 14 minutes ago
comment by Winston (U16525)
posted 1 hour, 54 minutes ago
comment by Kamikaze Blue (U7450)
posted 29 seconds ago
Another way to look at it is the failure of your signings. If they were any good you wouldn't have to play the kids.
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There speaks a modern fan
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I assumed the "blue" in his username was Chelsea after reading that comment, not that City do much better in their own team.
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If I were a City or a Chelsea fan, I'd be ashamed of their lack of commitment to youth development.
They may not admit it publicly, but it's very poor.
That may well change with Lampard now at Chelsea, but I can't see many signs of City changing their approach much. Foden is the only one that looks likely, although he's been a bench player for two years now.
posted on 30/7/19
Don't Chelsea have over 100 million young players out on loan at clubs in other countries that they also own?