The most profitable club academies in world football - ranked
One of the most joyous moments as a football fan is seeing a young player come through the academy of your club and start bossing it for the team they support. It creates a special feeling of pride for fanbases when 'one of their own' emerges from nowhere and enjoys great success. While those stars are often treated like royalty by supporters while they are still performing well, a lot of clubs worldwide often jump at the chance to sell them on for huge profits to elite sides around the globe. Great footballing institutions like Manchester United and Barcelona are synonymous with successful academy set-ups, but those clubs often keep their best talents to instead promote them into the first team over time. With that in mind, here are the ten most profitable football academies in terms of revenue generated over the last ten years by the transfers of players who spent at least three seasons there between the ages of 15 and 21, as generated by the CIES Football Observatory. 1. Ben...