Hidden academy statistic in Man City annual report shows club's growing influence in Europe

Manchester City's record-breaking £712m annual revenue will grab the headlines today, as will the club-record £80m profits, and eye-watering £422m wage bill (another club high).

City's annual report contains plenty of impressive figures as it is designed to - from the financial side, to their growing reach in the digital world - with 25 million average monthly users on YouTube, and 1.5billions engagements across Instagram, Facebook, X and Tiktok, with 132m followers across the club's main social media accounts. There were almost seven billion video views across the club's social media accounts, the report says.

The report is a chance for City to showcase their successes, and the treble campaign and record financial figures are at the forefront of those highlights. For example, there is passing mention to the women's team's disappointing finish last season (CEO Ferran Soriano insists the team are on the right path), and very limited reference to the Premier League charges levelled at the club. The record wage bill is only mentioned after all the record revenues and profits.

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One statistic mentioned by chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, however, is just as impressive as the rest.

After praising the academy for their third straight Premier League 2 title and fourth straight Under-18 Premier League title, the chairman noted that last season, 64 City academy graduates were playing for teams in the top five European Leagues and the professional English Football Leagues – 13 in the Premier League.

That figure will have grown this season, with more players like