Barcelona, Ajax, Man Utd: What is the best academy in the world?

Academies are the cornerstone of the beautiful game, they shape the abilities and hone the skills of football’s next generational talents.

Clubs have always differed greatly on their approach to achieving success in the game. Some rely on buying power, others like to source home grown talent from within – there’s no one size fits all.

But it’s always nice for a club when they can rely on a regular production line of top talent coming through the ranks to either go straight into the first team or make the club a healthy profit.

It’s become clear over the years that, often, the truly world class players come from the same pool of academies; however, which club has produced the best assortment of icons in the modern era?  

10. Valencia

The Spanish outfit are right up there when it comes to pumping out top talent onto the European scene, especially when it comes to creative players. David Silva, Isco and Paco Alcacer are all recent graduates.

9. Atletico Madrid

Coming in at number nine, it’s another iconic Spanish team, Atletico Madrid. Similarly to Valencia, ‘Los Colchoneros’ have produced a platter of Spanish talent, with Fernando Torres and David De Gea going on to become Premier League stars. Real Madrid also benefitted after picking up Raul Gonzalez from Atletico aged 15, the most capped player in the history of their club.

8. Southampton

The feeder club of the Premier League, Southampton are known for selling all their best players to ‘bigger’ English sides. It’s a fact that must frustrate fans seems as they could only hold onto just one of the many decent players they produced in Matt Le Tissier. Alan Shearer, Gareth Bale, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all abandoned the club for greener pastures.

7. Real