Manchester United has always been proud of the youth training system, but the latest survey data shows that although the Red Devils academy is still one of the successful examples of international football, there is still a significant gap compared to the top youth training, and in the Premier League, it is not as good as Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Leicester City, Tottenham Hotspur, and even less than crystal palace, Fulham, Sheffield United and other middle and lower reaches of the team.
The Swiss "CIES Football Observatory" has selected the 50 most profitable youth academies in the world. The list takes into account the income generated by players who have graduated from the club's youth academy since July 2015, and Manchester United was successfully selected but not ranked high.
Monaco has generated €246 million in revenue through nine transfers over the past few years, of which Mbappe's move to Paris Saint-Germain accounted for 73% of that. But even excluding Mbappe's €180 million transfer fee, the team's revenue from the sale of academy players is much higher than that of Manchester United.
Real Madrid followed suit, earning €236 million from 11 transfers, while another Ligue 1 side, Lyon, finished third with 228 million from 14 transfers. Ajax (€211 million on 10 transfers) and Benfica (€202 million on 7 transfers) also made it into the top five.
The highest-ranked team in the Premier League is Liverpool, who are in the top ten, earning €131 million through eight transfers of youth players, with Sterling alone accounting for 54%. Manchester City are the second-most profitable club in Premier League academy but are already far behind Liverpool, with Blue Moon selling academy players 10 times bringing in €78 million, while Chelsea and Arsenal both reap €75m with seven transfers.
United, meanwhile, have received €42 million in just four youth player transfers since 2015, with goalkeeper Sam Johnstone moving to West Brom for €11 million, the largest source of revenue, accounting for 27% of total revenue.
In the Premier League youth sellout list, Manchester United are also behind Leicester City (71 million euros), Crystal Palace (56 million euros), Fulham (53 million euros), Sheffield United (50 million euros) and Tottenham Hotspur (48 million euros).
The reason why Manchester United is low in the ranking is mainly related to the poor level of the club in selling players. Not only the academy players, all the players buy high and sell low, which is the norm in the Red Devils transfer market. In addition, United's hesitation in selling some of their academy players has also affected the level of income.
Last summer, the club could have earned £20m if they sold Jesse Lingard, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer left him as a substitute, and at the end of the season, Lin Will be free to transfer and United will not receive a penny.
On the other side, the youth players who remain in The Manchester United squad are also generally high and low, and people like Rashford, Mason Greenwood and Lingard have lost their main positions. At present, United's stable youth players are only striker Anthony Erlanga and back-back Scott McTomine.
Top 10 of the world's most profitable academies since 2015:
1. Monaco, 246 million euros
2. Real Madrid, 236 million euros
3. Lyon, 228 million euros
4. Ajax, 211 million euros
5. Benfica, 202 million euros
6. Atlanta, 182 million euros
7. Bayer Leverkusen, €177 million
8. PSV Eindhoven, 142 million euros
9. Liverpool, 131 million euros
10. Schalke 04, 126 million euros