Swansea City, Leeds United and Nottingham Forest named in top 50 most profitable youth academies in the world

Swansea City have been named in the top 50 most profitable academies in world football.

Respected football finance site CIES Football Observatory have put together a list of the top 50 clubs worldwide which generated the most incomes since July 2015 from the transfer of players who graduated from their youth academy.

Swansea's production line has produced some stellar talent over the years, from Joe Allen and Ben Davies to more recent graduates such as Daniel James, Oli McBurnie and Joe Rodon.

The Swans have been placed 49th on the list, one place above Leeds United and not far behind giants Manchester United in 44th position.

According to the report, Swansea have made €38million from academy graduate player sales in the last seven years.

McBurnie left SA1 for Sheffield United for £20million in the summer of 2019, with James heading to Old Trafford during the same window for £15million. Rodon departed for Tottenham a year later for a fee of around £12million.

Other British teams joining Swansea in the illustrious list are Liverpool (€131million), Manchester City (€78million), Chelsea (€75million), Arsenal (€75million), Leicester City (€71million), Crystal Palace (€56million), Fulham (€53million), Sheffield United (€50million), Spurs (€48million), Manchester United (€42million), Sunderland (€40million), Nottingham Forest (€39million) and Leeds United (€37million).

The great and the good of European football all feature on the illustrious list, with Monaco, Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax and Benfica making up the top five spots.

Kylian Mbappe's huge €246million transfer from Monaco to PSG puts the south of France club top of the pile.

With €1.17billion, French clubs generated the most money from the transfer of youth academy