The 13 most profitable youth academies in the world since 2015

Youth academies are a fundamental part of any football club as they help young players develop and potentially become good enough to command a big fee – which these 13 clubs have done successfully since 2015.

Some clubs are insistent that players in the academy are given a fair chance alongside their expensive recruits, whilst others loan and often sell their biggest talents in favour of a huge signing.

Clubs such as Ajax and Benfica focus heavily on their academy for both reasons, as they proudly introduce graduates into their team and accept that they could make a move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs for a fee which would help them fund their entire transfer window.

We’ve listed the 13 most profitable youth academies worldwide since 2015 based on the transfer profit they’ve made from their star graduates leaving, with data from CIES Football Observatory.

The Brazilian club have had a number of talents come through that made big moves to Europe and the biggest recent success is that of Real Madrid star Vinicius Junior, who departed for a massive €45million as a teenager.

With a €152million profit over the last seven years, Flamengo have prospered thanks to Real Madrid paying big money for Vinicius and also Reinier Jesus. Current Lyon star Lucas Paqueta first moved to Europe with AC Milan in 2019 for around €40million.

Flamengo are the only South American side to make this list and there is an acceptance on the continent that the very best talents will end up moving to Europe at a young age.

Barcelona are famed for the success of their La Masia academy producing world-class talents such as Carlos Puyol, Xavi and Andres Iniesta, and right now graduates such as Gavi and Nico Gonzalez are thriving in the first team.

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