Huge Nottingham Forest transfer profit revealed as they compete with Man Utd, Tottenham and Leeds

Nottingham Forest have one of the most profitable academies in the world, according to figures from a new study.

The Reds have a proud history of developing talented youngsters and bringing them up through the ranks. And that continues to this day, with the likes of Joe Worrall, Ryan Yates, Brennan Johnson and Alex Mighten starring in the first-team.

The International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) Football Observatory Weekly Post has looked at the clubs whose academies have generated the most income from the transfer of graduates since July 2015, and Forest are in the top 50 worldwide.

The Reds are 46th in the list, ahead of German giants Bayern Munich and Premier League Leeds United, and only just below heavyweights such as Manchester United, Porto, Lazio and Tottenham Hotspur.

According to the report, Forest have made 39 million euros from academy graduate player sales in the last seven years, courtesy of some significant transfers.

Matty Cash’s big-money move to Aston Villa, for a fee in the region of £14m, in September 2020 makes up a large chunk of that profit.

Arvin Appiah left the City Ground for Almeria the year before that, while Ben Brereton joined Blackburn Rovers in January 2019 and Oliver Burke departed for RB Leipzig in the summer of 2016.

AS Monaco have made the most money from academy graduates, thanks in no small part to Kylian Mbappe’s record transfer to PSG, which contributed to the 246m euros in fees generated since 2015.

Real Madrid are second in the list, with 236m euros made from the transfers of 11 academy graduates.

Other English teams joining Forest in the top 50 are Liverpool (131m euros), Manchester City (78m), Chelsea (75m), Arsenal (75m), Leicester City (71m), Crystal Palace (56m), Fulham