Homegrown heroes, heavyweight fees: Inside the top 10 clubs minting millions from academy sales since 2016
Homegrown heroes, heavyweight fees: Inside the top 10 clubs minting millions from academy sales since 2016 In an era where financial regulations make it more difficult than ever for clubs to compete with the super-rich, producing profit from academy players is the best bet to thrive. But which clubs have generated the most money from homegrown heroes across the last decade? Benfica top the list having made more than half a billion (£510m) from the sales of academy players since 2016 alone.
The £113m made from Joao Felix's sale to Atletico Madrid is Benfica's biggest sale, while names including Ruben Dias, Joao Neves and Goncalo Ramos were also nurtured in Lisbon before leaving for massive fees. Benfica have been a money-making machine in recent years, with their £510 brought in not including huge fees recouped for signings-turned-sales such as Darwin Nunez and Enzo Fernandez. Ajax rank second, with one of football's most notorious football factories continuing to churn out top talent.
Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt and Jorel Hato have all contributed to £393 banked from academy sales by the Dutch side. Chelsea are the highest English team on the list, at third. Premier League Profit and Sustainability rules (PSR) have been criticised for incentivising the sale of academy players, who count as 'pure profit' on balance sheets.
The Blues have used that to their advantage, banking almost £400m from the sale of starlets developed at Cobham. Manchester City are the only other Premier League team to make the top 10. The club's highest academy sale remains the £45m deal that took Cole Palmer to Chelsea in 2023.
Palmeiras , meanwhile, are the only non-European team on the list. The Brazilian side have brought in massive fees for Endrick, Estevao Willian, Vitor Reis and Gabriel Jesus, among others, to European clubs. The clubs to make the most money made from academy sales since 2016