Is it worth having an academy?

It seems like an ongoing debate if an academy can actually develop the next world class player and if that one (player) out of ??? (players) is actually worth the work or money from an economical side (having in mind that in some leagues the clubs must have an academy).

I don’t want to dive too deep into that discussion, but here are some numbers that can frame a picture for having an academy setting.

Below are the numbers of the top 50 of clubs worldwide since July 2015 regarding the transfer of players graduated from their youth academy (…and having been at the club for at least three years between the seasons of their 15th and 21st birthday).

An overview over countries is seen in the figure below.

Having a closer look onto the club level coaches will notice some familiar names.

The Portuguese club SL Benfica leads the table with about 379 mio € and a prominent face of Joao Felix.

Real Madrid (Morata) as second most profitable academy considered 330 mio € and AS Monaco (Kylian Mbappe) completed the podium with 285 mio €.

Below are the number of the top 50 clubs that collected transfers fees for players trained in the club (in € Million, since July 2015, including eventual add-ons)

SL Benfica (POR) – 379 mio € -João Félix
Real Madrid (ESP) – 330 mio € - Álvaro Morata
AS Monaco (FRA) – 285 mio € - Kylian Mbappé
AFC Ajax (NED) – 283 mio € -Matthijs de Ligt
Olympique Lyonnais (FRA) – 270 mio € -Alexandre Lacazette
Bayer Leverkusen (GER) – 213 mio € - Kai Havertz
Atalanta BC (ITA) – 211 mio € -Amad Diallo
Chelsea FC (ENG) – 210 mio € - Tammy Abraham
Sporting CP (POR) – 209 mio € - João Mário
Liverpool FC (ENG) – 171 mio € - Raheem Sterling
Atlético Madrid (ESP) – 167 mio € - Lucas Hernández
FC Barcelona (ESP) – 161 mio € -Pedro Rodríguez
Flamengo (BRA) – 152 mio € - Vinícius Júnior
Athletic Club (ESP) – 148 mio € - Kepa Arrizabalaga
RSC Anderlecht (BEL) – 147 mio € - Jérémy Doku
PSV Eindhoven (NED) – 146 mio € - Memphis Depay
Manchester City (ENG) – 145 mio € - Kelechi Iheanacho
RB Salzburg (AUT) – 140 mio € - Patson Daka
Arsenal FC (ENG) – 139 mio € - Alex Iwobi
FC Schalke 04 (GER) – 136 mio € - Leroy Sané
FC Porto (POR) – 136 mio € - Fábio Silva
Dinamo Zagreb (CRO) – 135 mio € - Dani Olmo
Aston Villa (ENG) – 132 mio € - Jack Grealish
ACF Fiorentina (ITA) – 122 mio € - Federico Chiesa
Paris St-Germain (FRA) – 117 mio € - Moussa Diaby
Stade Rennais (FRA) – 117 mio € - Eduardo Camavinga
River Plate (ARG) – 115 mio € - Sebastián Driussi
Santos FC (BRA) – 113 mio € - Rodrygo Goes
Grêmio (BRA) – 112 mio € - Arthur Melo
Fluminense FC (BRA) – 109 mio € - Gerson Santos
Tottenham Hotspur (ENG) – 108 mio € - Nabil Bentaleb
São Paulo FC (BRA) – 98 mio € - Antony dos Santos
AS St-Etienne (FRA) – 89 mio € - Wesley Fofana
Girondins Bordeaux (FRA) – 84 mio € - Jules Koundé
AS Roma (ITA) – 82 mio € - Alessio Romagnoli
Borussia Dortmund (GER) – 81 mio € - Christian Pulišić
Valencia CF (ESP) – 81 mio € - Ferran Torres
AZ Alkmaar (NED) – 79 mio € - Myron Boadu
Leicester City (ENG) – 74 mio € - Ben Chilwell
Bayern München (GER) – 73 mio € - Mats Hummels
Real Sociedad (ESP) – 72 mio € - Álvaro Odriozola
Juventus FC (ITA) – 72 mio € - Moise Kean
Feyenoord (NED) – 68 mio € - Rick Karsdorp
Toulouse FC (FRA) – 67 mio € - Issa Diop
CA Paranaense (BRA) – 66 mio € - Renan Lodi
Internazionale (ITA) – 66 mio € - Davide Santon
Milan AC (ITA) – 65 mio € - Patrick Cutrone
CR Vasco da Gama (BRA) – 61 mio € - Paulinho Sampaio
Manchester United (ENG – 60 mio € - Sam Johnstone
FC Nantes (FRA) – 60 mio € - Valentin Rongier

Well obviously I did not consider any costs that are involved with having an academy setting, however, I would assume that even a fraction of 60 mio € (FC Nantes last position) should suffice to sustain having an academy.

References

1) https://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2021/wp370/en/