Small correction: Frenkie de Jong isn't an Ajax academy graduate. He was bought from Willem II, and only played for 'Jong Ajax' (Ajax's highest youth team) for half a year.
With the oligarch money coming in they basically hoover up everyone in Croatia, probably the number 1 country on earth for player quality per capita given their tiny population.
Hey Alfie, I'd like to see a video on the most influential people on football as we know it, in all senses of the word. Could be related to the game itself, as a player or coach, or even from a managerial point of view, or on the 'football environment' as a whole, for the lack of a better word. This could also involve critical notes on finances and corruption which affect the current footballing environment. I think it'd be a very unique video, and could provide some interesting talking points!
Hertha Berlin is arguably doing the best academy work in Germany right now. Also most of their players are actually full products of their academy unlike Leverkusen or especially Bayern
I do respect Hertha Berlin's academy. But if many of the young players have remained at the club, it means they are unfortunately spending their developing years or their peak years at a team struggling with relegation battles, while young players from clubs like Leverkusen and Bayern are consistently playing European competitions and pushing for titles.
@Juan Carlos Avendaño Hertha‘s development as a club with such an incredible academy has been very recent so most of those prospects are still very young and will probably not stay at Hertha for that much longer if they don’t get their act together soon. Luca Netz already moved although his hopes of playing international football haven’t been fulfilled at Mönchengladbach because they’ve also been struggling. Lukas Ullrich who is an incredibly gifted left back and the captain of their U19 team has also been linked with a move to different German clubs My point was just that all those young players at Leverkusen and Bayern playing international football aren’t true products of their academies. The last one at Leverkusen was Havertz and for Bayern you have to go all the way back to Müller.
@@flixrus9473 last one was Havertz? Oh, sorry, I didn't realize that Wirtz is a 32 year old. Also, the fact that Berlin's academy doing great work is only recent supports the point that the other German academies that have being doing a good job for a longer time would deserve the honorable mention more than Hertha. Again, I do respect Hertha and I thought they were quite an exciting team to watch several seasons ago when they were pushing for European competition places, and I do hope they can improve and avoid relegation, and their youngsters to help the team and earn more recognition, but saying that their academy is the best in Germany is just a bit much.
@Juan Carlos Avendaño Leverkusen bought Wirtz from Köln when he was 17 years old and he literally only played 4 games for their academy. The video is about the best youth academies in this moment in time and right now I’d say Hertha has the best. Historically they obviously don’t stand a chance against other German clubs like Stuttgart or Schalke
South America is definitely worth a mention considering the amount of stars from their that have moved onto success at the top sides in Europe of course during Pele's playing career virtually all the best South American players played within their own domestic leagues in fact the entire Brazil 1970 WC winning team played their club football exclusively in Brazil which would be a complete impossibility these days
They only stood out as they had control of the entire south coast, Portsmouth were in financial trouble and both Bournemouth and Brighton are league 1 clubs. JWP is from Portsmouth and grew up as a fan of them
VIDEO SUGGESTION: What is going on at Southend United? They're less than 2 weeks from potential liquidation and there's very little mainstream coverage of this
Don't forget Gazelec Ajaccio. They just got liquidated from the French football several days ago only 7 years after played in the Ligue 1 for the first time in 63 years history of the club.
Pedri and gavi and before that Andres Iniesta messi and xavi were all la masia graduates how he put chelsea over barcelona is beyond me Chelsea fans tell me which players are better then the aforementioned players I said That's right no one only hazard is close and he's from llie academy
I'm already looking forward to 7 nations punching above their weight. I imagine Croatia, Uruguay and Iceland would make the shortlist. Keep up the entertaining deep dives !
As a Benfica fan, I think that sometimes our academy gets a little overrated by the media, at least here in Portugal, as everytime a young player even starts for us he features on every newspaper’s first page, but, still, it is undeniable that our youth ranks are very impressive and I guess not everyone can be João Félix or Rúben Dias.
I think Barca academy is fairly rated due to the fact of our history with players like Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Pique, Fabrigas, Captain Puyol and many others. The thing is we're going through harsh times. But still we have incredible players like Ansu Fati, Pedri, Gavi.
Im a big Dinamo Zagreb fan, but im so proud in our academy and our rivals deserves some praise, Hajduk Split, also have one of the best acadamies for sure
Arsenal is a fascinating case because many of its best youth players were loaded into the first team from the start - notably, Fabregas, Walcott, and Bellerín, who all factor for other academies - when they could have been fed through Hale End. Recently, Gabriel Martinelli, Sambi Lokonga, and William Saliba have shared the same fate; Saliba spent what could have been academy years on loan in France, and Martinelli was already too good for U-20 football when he arrived from Ituano. Marquinhos almost fell into this category too, having been purchased from Sao Paulo, but has shuttled between the first team and the U-23s and was loaned out to Norwich after Trossard arrived in January.
These weren't academy players: they bought Walcott from Southampton, Lokonga , Martinelli and Saliba were also bought. They just scouted and bought good young talent to add to the academy players like Saka.
Even though it’s not a huge powerhouse like those on the list, Ecuador’s Independiente Del Valle has had an amazing track record of producing amazing Ecuadorian talents like those you see in Brighton. They’re even known as the “mata gigantes” aka Giant KiIIer thanks to their performances in continental championships
It should be noted that Benfica did fall out of the UEFA Youth League this season in the group stage already. But ultimately, Benfica, Chelsea, Barca and Salzburg (probably in that order even) are the most successful clubs in that particular competition.
Benfica and Porto are bound to be up there I mean an awful lot of their players have gone on to huge success at other clubs and if it wasn't for the financial constraints of Portuguese football both could well be as successful as the most successful sides in Europe
The problem with portuguese football is also how Jorge Mendes influence the transfers of players in the portuguese league. Promising players like Samuel Lino and Vitinha tend to leave to coincidentally other clubs that have ties with Mendes (PSG, Valencia, Wolves, Monaco, Atletico Madrid) even tho the club or fans of those portuguese clubs still wanted those players to stay.
@@areebsiddiqui758 As of now Benfica and Porto are clearly ahead from Sporting as they haven't produced many good players from their academy in the last couple years (I'd say Matheus Nunes is an exception) as even some players such as Daniel Bragança, Jovane Cabral and even Gonçalo Inácio I feel like they shouldn't have developed more as they been playing in the first team for a while. Right now I would even put Braga ahead
3:36 - Fun Fact: the current Manager of the Arsenal Academy is Per Mertesacker, former Arsenal Captain and World Cup Winner with Germany at the 2014 FIFA World Cup!!
A big reason that big clubs not in top 5 leagues have really good academies is because it's basically crucial to compete in Europe since they can't sign players already good since they are out of their price range already. That said I'm confused on why Benfica has such low wage budgets(typically half of Ajax) despite the massive money they make from transfers and constant presence in UCL.
Could be that they're being prudent with their spending? Transfers and a UCL berth are hardly something that's guaranteed (well, maybe less so for the UCL berth given Benfica's typical standing), whereas wage bills typically stay the same one year and the next.
@@awijaya2116 Ajax is being prudent, Benfica is like on another scale to the point it's probably to do with the owner taking chunks of money for themselves because it doesn't add up.
@@DabDabGoose I believe it has more to do with the more restrictive Portuguese tax system rather than the club itself not wanting to pay higher salaries. I think he mentions something about it in this video if I am not wrong.
@@DabDabGoose Benfica doesnt have an owner. The club is owned by the fans. However the wage bill is much lower because the president doesn't offer big wages in order to not create precendents. Either the players renew their contract or they are sold. Grimaldo's case is special because he doesn't want to renew his contract, although he probably will but if he doesn't then he'll leave on a free. That's very unsual.
Santos academy has featured the likes of: Pele Zito Coutinho Pepe And more modern players like Elano Robinho Diego Ribas Neymar Rodrygo Lucas Veríssimo Emerson Felipe Anderson And many others who aren’t european household names but shine in the Brazilian league like Gabriel Barbosa. Academies like River, Boca, Palmeiras, São Paulo also deserve a shout.
As the 2022 World Cup has already finished, and we will look forward to the 2026 WC, could you start preparing for videos on the best player of every national team? I remember you did that during the time between the 2018 and the 2022 World Cup
Benfica indeed,have the strongest respective academy ever and I fully hope they continue producing more talents from their ranks in near future,good friends!!!LONG LIVE BENFICA!!!🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️
How is it the best ever if they have never produced one player who won a Balon D Or. Sporting CO developed two world players of the year. 4 of the 5 best players in Portuguese history are from Sporting academy. In fact if you look at the top 20 Portuguese players ever a overwhelming majority is from Sporting. Benfica is nowhere near that level. However they have improved their academy a lot in recent years.
@@Sporting-tz4ei sounds like u didnt watch the video , he was totally clear about sporting academy , he also said most of what u just said , u still ended up in 7th for a reason
@@OnyHipHopMusic You said "strongest academy ever" that is 100% wrong. Benfica academy have improved a lot but they are nowhere near Sporting, Ajax etc. Benfica might not ever produce a Balon D or player.
@@Sporting-tz4ei os lagartos tinham que vir aziar... quantas finais tem o Benfica na youth league? Quem ganhou o ano passado? Quantos jogadores da formação do Benfica ganharam a champios este ano? Quem vende melhor? O Sporting tem uma excelente academia, mas ultimamente tem lançado jogadores banais, excepto o Leão. Ja foi a melhor, ,mas neste momento não é.
What about Dinamo Zagreb? I personally think that Dinamo should be at least in the top 10, especially if we take into account that the population of Croatia is less than 4 million, and the pool of players and the money they have are probably 10 times less than most of these clubs on the list, and the players they produce are the top class play in the strongest clubs in Europe, wining the Champions Leagues and some of them now have 2 medals won at the world cups. Just some of the players from Diamo Academy are: Modric Kovacic Manzukic Boban Brozovic Prosinecki Eduardo da Silva Dani Olmo Čorluka Lovren Kramaric Kranjcar Majer Sosa Vrsaljko etc.
Alfie is there any chance you can do some concacaf content? 7 best concacaf clubs? Big CD Olimpia supporter here...I'm not saying we'd make the 7 lol just wishful thinking. Maybe 7 best central American clubs?
How Hertha Berlin doesnt Feature is insane. Over the past 10-15 years over 35 academy players have made it into the professional team, and many still play pro. This past weekend 3 of the 4 goal scorers against Gladbach were academy players and 6 players in the squad that day were academy graduates. It doesn’t matter how famous the products of the academy became but whether or not they made a professional career from that academy
but it does matter , the title of the video is the best academies , academies that produces players on the level that Benfica does consistently will always mean its a better academy then the one that gets to keep all the players they get from theyr academy in theyr professional team. If Benfica didnt have the need to sell because of the financial constrictions of portuguese football , it would win the champions league more consistently then Real Madrid with the level of players that come out of theyr academy , if they could keep them ofc
Just an addendum comment: in your list of great Ajax academy graduates you missed Ruud Krol, the anchor of the great Ajax and Holland teams of the 70s who gave Cruyff, Haan, Rep and Keizer with Ajax and van Hanegem and Rensenbrink with Holland the freedom to go do their thing. He captained Holland to the 78 world cup final and was Franco Baresi's childhood defensive hero (football365 article). Also, don't know if they count as actual graduates but the Dane Christian Eriksen and the Belgians Toby Alderwereld, Jan Vertonghen and Thomas Vermaelen also all graduated from the Ajax academy.
a documentary on the afc Wimbledon on the nine promotions in eleven years, how they’re a fan own club and how they have a stadium in plough lane now. The story of they lost the club, how the F A allowed that and won’t allow that anymore. How they were very close to moving to ireland How they went up the English football leagues. It would be a good documentary video if you can do this. #thepeopleschannel
Not sure I agree with your statement on Chelsea's transfer business regarding Koulibaly. Half the centre-backs coming out of Chelsea's academy have been mediocre, whereas Koulibaly was widely regarded and sought after as one of the best centre backs in the world. It hasn't worked out, but you can't call it bad business in the moment.
@@blast473 i mean i hope he makes it to the top level and if he does his/(and mine aswell)favorite team is Barca because our family is from there but him playing for Arsenal would be very sick if he can go on to be a professional
Well he missed by a little on the map , should have gona bit more to the center of Lisbon to the Red side 😂 still congrats on getting the spot , its still one of the 3 greats of Portugal 😁
Great video, love the footballer names puns. And since you have been including a few more on recent videos (not just Adu) I'd like to suggest a couple more. Australian midfielder DANNY INVINCIBLE played for Swindon, Kilmarnock and St Johnstone between 2000 and 2011. Ghanian-English defender NORTEI NORTEY (pronounced NAUGHATY NAUGHATAY) spend several years in Chelsea academy before moving around different English lower leagues teams, and now plays in the United States third division. Nigerian defender DANNY SHITTU who played most of his career in different Premierl League and Footbal League teams, such as QPR, Watford and Milwall. And Zimbabwean midfielder DANGER FOURPENCE who played all his career in Zimbabwe with CAPs United and Kiglon.
If you think about it, everyone praises Barcelona’s youth academy but never praise Real Madrid’s youth academy. Is there a problem in youth development at Real? Barcelona have many more good players produced in their academy while Real have only Raul, Butragueno, Casillas, Chendo (maybe Carvajal and Parejo) while a list of La Masia graduates would take ages and if two XIs of these players in their primes played against each other, I think Barca would win easily. Maybe it was just the Galacticos era?
Regarding Manchester City and their salaries. I do believe both Manchester United and Chelsea pay higher salaries according to a decent amount of sources?
I think real Madrid castilla is really underated because of the signings the club masks and that most players don't make the first team but is just as good as lamasia
They produce good footballers that are la liga level and have good careers but how many go on to represent Real Madrid? Very very few - although you could argue Real is the hardest ten in the world to get into
How can Manchester United miss out 😯 on of the best or the best academy group of players the Bubsy babes or the class of 92, to Pogba, Lingard, McNeil, Danny Drinkwater, Danny Simpson, Danny Welbeck mind u the Danny’s have all won the prem. To Rashford, McTominay, Gernacho, I could name a lot more but it’s all good tho.
He's ranking them in the present. So past players who've already retired don't count towards the criteria. Otherwise Barcelona would obviously have been first with Ajax second.
Yeah problem is that we are massively under invested in youth in recent years (thanks Glazers) and CIty's facilities and coaching is a mile ahead of ours right now. Historically, we are a mile ahead but even former United stars are sending their sons to City's academy, including: Peter Schmeichel, Viv Anderson, Darren Fletcher, Wayne Rooney and Andy Cole
Claiming Gnabry as an Arsenal academy graduate is odd he moved from Stuttgart age 16 just like Kimmich and Timo Werner. I'd consider those players Stuttgart graduates.
Eehhh, you forget Clairefontaine academy. Built in 1988, opened in 1994. It's the best academy in the world, surpassing even the mighty academies like La Masia or even South American academies. Yet the best academy in France was not mentioned.
It's complicated to rank academies nowadays because it's not always about 100% homegrown talent since scouting plays a massive role in this process. If Santos or River develops a kid till 15 and he moves to Benfica, is it fair to say he's a Benfica developed talent when he makes the move to a pro career? I think if we do a top in scouting, a lot of the same teams would be in the ranking.
Since he was mentioned in this video, Gavin Bazunu is a perfect example of this. He started his senior career at Shamrock Rovers in Ireland and I think was only at city a couple of months before he went out on loan.
Why are you using Benfica as an example? From all the players mentioned only Ederson is Brazilian and I dont even remember a single argentinian playing for our academy ever. All the other players are Portuguese (yes we have a lot of black people who are born and raised in Portugal).
messi is a good example, only 3 argies have ever trained in la massia he was scouted because he was a massive talent in a desperate situation. A lot of big euro teams can buy youth players one way or the other.
Yeah it is fair , from 15 to 18 wich is the usual age to go pro if ur really good , a lot can happen. Benfica has a TV Series about its academy , and you can see for yourself that only a small percentage of kids can actually get featured on the main squad , so only the cream of the crop will achieve it. Ederson came young to Benfica around that age , but he in the series himself says that he had to work his ass off to be able to make a mark in the youth teams to get called up. What i mean is most of the players development hapens around that time , and if they are not in the correct enviornment to evolve the correct way, they will not achieve world class level. And think about this , a team like Santos wouldnt just let a Neymar just go fly to lisbon to go try it out at Benfica, if they spot a pure genius it does not matter what team it is , if it has some power they will hold him for how long they can, so yeah its totally fair to be considered Benfica developed talent , since Benfica was the one who believed and helped the kid reach greater heights
Can you make the list of 7 clubs who do the best when it comes to scouting young talents and make them superstar, teams like Dortmund, Brighton, Shakhtar Donetsk,...
I’m a bit surprised that Athletic Bilbao didn’t get an honorable mention. I don’t know much about their academy but if they only sign basque players and their probably the biggest club in the region, and have never been relegated I figured their academy must be fairly productive.
Is Bazunu really a Man city academy graduate? He's had the same career path as Seamie Coleman and James McClean, started his career as a League of Ireland youngster with his performances earning him a big move to the premier league (for Shamrock Rovers when he was 16, played at least half a season there before city signed him)
Olympique Lyon ? Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa, Nabil Fekir, Anthony Martial, Lacazette, Tolisso, Umtiti, Malo Gusto, Houssem Aouar, Rayan Cherki and many more
your list lost all the meaning when you included a team like Manchester City in this list instead of countless of South American or Spanish or German academies who have been producing better athletes than a team which produced just under a short of 25 or maybe even less good players.
@@reintaler6355 as a man who works in this industry as a scout for talent in spain and Portugal i find it hard to agree to this kind of comments about a club who does nothing but snatch these kids and present them to the world as theirs without any proper recognition. So yes i am angry.
@@shadowSephiroth What Spanish and Portuguese clubs have Man City snatched players from and claimed as their own product? What kind of fans don't recognize where Ruben Dias or Rodri came from? Stay mad Mr. Know-it-all Scout
Best German players in the premier league of all time. (Day 461) I will not give up until the video is made or Alfie himself tells me to stop. Everyone else telling me that will be ignored. If you don't believe my number, just go back to the previous videos. I'm at the bottom most of the time, but I'm there.
4:05 is I just me that sees a guy that looks exactly like Smith Rowe, could that be him? Because the picture is showing when you talk about a “quieter” period for arsenals academy
Surely Liverpool at least deserved to be mentioned. From the 90s you had Fowler, Owen, Carragher and Gerrard. More recently there have been Sterling, Trent, Jones, Kelleher, Wilson, Bajcetic, Phillips and a few others currently out on loan. If this list is made based primarily on how the academy is performing at this time, then surely Liverpool is one of the best. Is it as prolific as Chelsea, Manchester united, Benfica or Ajax? No. But I feel it is harsh to not even mention some of the players who have come out of Liverpool's academy
The processing on that photo is terrible. They masked the players and bumped the sharpness and the exposure. Oh, and they cut an arm to the guy standing next to the keeper. 😄
Don't Benfica buy a lot of talented young players from South America and particularly Brazil so they shouldn't count as homegrown academy players. IMO if we're looking at output then Ajax, Barcelona and Chelsea have the best academies in Europe right now and nobody else is even close.
Not really, because most of the talent that was homegrown has been from Seixal, Benficas academy... We had Ederson and few others as well but can't remember them
apart from the obvious, there are two teams that ill be disappointed if they dont feature. West Ham the literal academy of football (historically) and Benfica
Small correction: Frenkie de Jong isn't an Ajax academy graduate. He was bought from Willem II, and only played for 'Jong Ajax' (Ajax's highest youth team) for half a year.
same for fabregas. he was la masia and joined arsenal u18. thats not an academy graduate imo
@@HarryPeppy he stayed at La Masia for at least 3 years so it counts
Similar to Cesc Fabrigas I believe
Nah he also played with the u19s
@@zurimondesir2995 He never played for Ajax U19
Dinamo Zagreb is also constantly producing the next generation of world class youngsters
With the oligarch money coming in they basically hoover up everyone in Croatia, probably the number 1 country on earth for player quality per capita given their tiny population.
yeah but not top 7 not even top 15
@stipe I heard from my croatian friend that hajduk split has an amazing academy, maybe even better than dinamo academy
@@stipe1615 Dinamo Zagrebs academy is top 5 in the world and there are several sources for it
@@DabDabGoose Not oil money its tax money😂😁👍
Hey Alfie, I'd like to see a video on the most influential people on football as we know it, in all senses of the word. Could be related to the game itself, as a player or coach, or even from a managerial point of view, or on the 'football environment' as a whole, for the lack of a better word. This could also involve critical notes on finances and corruption which affect the current footballing environment. I think it'd be a very unique video, and could provide some interesting talking points!
Gavin Bazunu came through Shamrock Rovers academy and made his senior debut for rovers at 16
Hertha Berlin is arguably doing the best academy work in Germany right now. Also most of their players are actually full products of their academy unlike Leverkusen or especially Bayern
Bayern's academy is the bundesliga.
I do respect Hertha Berlin's academy. But if many of the young players have remained at the club, it means they are unfortunately spending their developing years or their peak years at a team struggling with relegation battles, while young players from clubs like Leverkusen and Bayern are consistently playing European competitions and pushing for titles.
@Juan Carlos Avendaño Hertha‘s development as a club with such an incredible academy has been very recent so most of those prospects are still very young and will probably not stay at Hertha for that much longer if they don’t get their act together soon. Luca Netz already moved although his hopes of playing international football haven’t been fulfilled at Mönchengladbach because they’ve also been struggling.
Lukas Ullrich who is an incredibly gifted left back and the captain of their U19 team has also been linked with a move to different German clubs
My point was just that all those young players at Leverkusen and Bayern playing international football aren’t true products of their academies. The last one at Leverkusen was Havertz and for Bayern you have to go all the way back to Müller.
@@flixrus9473 last one was Havertz? Oh, sorry, I didn't realize that Wirtz is a 32 year old. Also, the fact that Berlin's academy doing great work is only recent supports the point that the other German academies that have being doing a good job for a longer time would deserve the honorable mention more than Hertha. Again, I do respect Hertha and I thought they were quite an exciting team to watch several seasons ago when they were pushing for European competition places, and I do hope they can improve and avoid relegation, and their youngsters to help the team and earn more recognition, but saying that their academy is the best in Germany is just a bit much.
@Juan Carlos Avendaño Leverkusen bought Wirtz from Köln when he was 17 years old and he literally only played 4 games for their academy.
The video is about the best youth academies in this moment in time and right now I’d say Hertha has the best.
Historically they obviously don’t stand a chance against other German clubs like Stuttgart or Schalke
South America is definitely worth a mention considering the amount of stars from their that have moved onto success at the top sides in Europe of course during Pele's playing career virtually all the best South American players played within their own domestic leagues in fact the entire Brazil 1970 WC winning team played their club football exclusively in Brazil which would be a complete impossibility these days
Agree
??? Is South America one club? Because players from South America that come thru to Europe dont develop in only one club there.
Historically speaking River Plate and Santos absolutely deserve to be in this list
Which part?
South America FC ??
Must admit I was watching this expecting Southampton to at least get a mention. Their output over the last 20 years or so has been remarkable.
Nah, the Southampton academy has dried up big time. Their only great academy graduate in recent years is JWP. Other than that it's been pretty barren.
British people lol
Southampton is more about young players they signed and developed for profit, not the players that come through
They only stood out as they had control of the entire south coast, Portsmouth were in financial trouble and both Bournemouth and Brighton are league 1 clubs. JWP is from Portsmouth and grew up as a fan of them
It's their scouting that's good not the academy
VIDEO SUGGESTION:
What is going on at Southend United? They're less than 2 weeks from potential liquidation and there's very little mainstream coverage of this
Don't forget Gazelec Ajaccio. They just got liquidated from the French football several days ago only 7 years after played in the Ligue 1 for the first time in 63 years history of the club.
Although they aren‘t in a good form, Schalke 04 is a team worth mentioning.
With graduates like:
Manuel Neuer, Leroy Sané etc.
I miss the days when Schalke 04 used to play in the Champions League/Europa League.
Unfortunately they are habing some sort of dip in potential right now, otherwise surely up there
Ozil
@@roselineukpanah1222 It’s too bad Ozil retired a few weeks ago, he definitely could’ve played another 2 years if he went to MLS.
@@matthewhernandez8342 He just decided to go back to his homeland
Jamal Musiala also developed in Chelsea‘s academy before he left for Bayern
Still can’t believe they let him go so easily. Shows how stupid Chelsea really is
Pedri and gavi and before that Andres Iniesta messi and xavi were all la masia graduates how he put chelsea over barcelona is beyond me
Chelsea fans tell me which players are better then the aforementioned players I said
That's right no one only hazard is close and he's from llie academy
@@LarryStylinson-tg2cvdont cry. He clearly says this is about current academies.
@@LarryStylinson-tg2cv are you an idiot? Pedri isnt from la masia, he was bought from las palmas in 2020..... check your facts bro
@@LarryStylinson-tg2cvchealsea academy is better in making more players
I'm already looking forward to 7 nations punching above their weight. I imagine Croatia, Uruguay and Iceland would make the shortlist. Keep up the entertaining deep dives !
He will omit Croatia, he's an Englishman so he's still probably salty about 2018. He didn't even mention Dinamo's academy here
As a Benfica fan, I think that sometimes our academy gets a little overrated by the media, at least here in Portugal, as everytime a young player even starts for us he features on every newspaper’s first page, but, still, it is undeniable that our youth ranks are very impressive and I guess not everyone can be João Félix or Rúben Dias.
I think Barca academy is fairly rated due to the fact of our history with players like Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets, Pique, Fabrigas, Captain Puyol and many others.
The thing is we're going through harsh times. But still we have incredible players like Ansu Fati, Pedri, Gavi.
@@Blue-ib7mou know I always thought pedri came from las palmas academy…but I guess I was wrong
My god that Emi Martinez photo with the golden globe is gonna become iconic right?
I will be able to tell my children I saw it happen live ^^
How he had the audacity to do it in front of all those people well he was high af
@@divhead3521 in an Arab country no less. I love Argentina because of that, they don't give a F***
It was amazing when he did it, had a good laugh about it 😂
Plz don't tell them till they are 16
Im a big Dinamo Zagreb fan, but im so proud in our academy and our rivals deserves some praise, Hajduk Split, also have one of the best acadamies for sure
Arsenal is a fascinating case because many of its best youth players were loaded into the first team from the start - notably, Fabregas, Walcott, and Bellerín, who all factor for other academies - when they could have been fed through Hale End. Recently, Gabriel Martinelli, Sambi Lokonga, and William Saliba have shared the same fate; Saliba spent what could have been academy years on loan in France, and Martinelli was already too good for U-20 football when he arrived from Ituano. Marquinhos almost fell into this category too, having been purchased from Sao Paulo, but has shuttled between the first team and the U-23s and was loaned out to Norwich after Trossard arrived in January.
These weren't academy players: they bought Walcott from Southampton, Lokonga , Martinelli and Saliba were also bought. They just scouted and bought good young talent to add to the academy players like Saka.
For Chelsea you didn't mention Declan Rice and Jamal Musiala.
Even though it’s not a huge powerhouse like those on the list, Ecuador’s Independiente Del Valle has had an amazing track record of producing amazing Ecuadorian talents like those you see in Brighton. They’re even known as the “mata gigantes” aka Giant KiIIer thanks to their performances in continental championships
It should be noted that Benfica did fall out of the UEFA Youth League this season in the group stage already. But ultimately, Benfica, Chelsea, Barca and Salzburg (probably in that order even) are the most successful clubs in that particular competition.
They were also runners up in the previous tournament, but yes they had a bad go at it this season, but still plenty of great talent there.
Who many finals for Benfica?
You didn't have to be so ruthless with Freddy Adu like that in the intro
Benfica and Porto are bound to be up there I mean an awful lot of their players have gone on to huge success at other clubs and if it wasn't for the financial constraints of Portuguese football both could well be as successful as the most successful sides in Europe
Porto's academy was never that great. Sporting and Benfica academies clearly top them both historically and in the present day.
The problem with portuguese football is also how Jorge Mendes influence the transfers of players in the portuguese league. Promising players like Samuel Lino and Vitinha tend to leave to coincidentally other clubs that have ties with Mendes (PSG, Valencia, Wolves, Monaco, Atletico Madrid) even tho the club or fans of those portuguese clubs still wanted those players to stay.
I don't get people who comment before watching the vid
Porto's academy is nowhere near as good as that of Benfica or Sporting.
@@areebsiddiqui758 As of now Benfica and Porto are clearly ahead from Sporting as they haven't produced many good players from their academy in the last couple years (I'd say Matheus Nunes is an exception) as even some players such as Daniel Bragança, Jovane Cabral and even Gonçalo Inácio I feel like they shouldn't have developed more as they been playing in the first team for a while. Right now I would even put Braga ahead
Gavin Bazunu came through at Shamrock Rovers, and purchased by Man City
Still loving the Adu references
3:36 - Fun Fact: the current Manager of the Arsenal Academy is Per Mertesacker, former Arsenal Captain and World Cup Winner with Germany at the 2014 FIFA World Cup!!
best footballing nation per capita would be an amazing video I'm sure you're already working on it but please do if youre not
A big reason that big clubs not in top 5 leagues have really good academies is because it's basically crucial to compete in Europe since they can't sign players already good since they are out of their price range already.
That said I'm confused on why Benfica has such low wage budgets(typically half of Ajax) despite the massive money they make from transfers and constant presence in UCL.
Could be that they're being prudent with their spending? Transfers and a UCL berth are hardly something that's guaranteed (well, maybe less so for the UCL berth given Benfica's typical standing), whereas wage bills typically stay the same one year and the next.
@@awijaya2116 Ajax is being prudent, Benfica is like on another scale to the point it's probably to do with the owner taking chunks of money for themselves because it doesn't add up.
@@DabDabGoose I believe it has more to do with the more restrictive Portuguese tax system rather than the club itself not wanting to pay higher salaries. I think he mentions something about it in this video if I am not wrong.
Portugal is just in general lower cost than the Netherlands
@@DabDabGoose Benfica doesnt have an owner. The club is owned by the fans. However the wage bill is much lower because the president doesn't offer big wages in order to not create precendents. Either the players renew their contract or they are sold. Grimaldo's case is special because he doesn't want to renew his contract, although he probably will but if he doesn't then he'll leave on a free. That's very unsual.
Could you do a video on the problems at Southend United?
They seem to be on the verge of folding? Interesting because I check the standings and they are doing fine albeit in the National League.
Santos academy has featured the likes of:
Pele
Zito
Coutinho
Pepe
And more modern players like
Elano
Robinho
Diego Ribas
Neymar
Rodrygo
Lucas Veríssimo
Emerson
Felipe Anderson
And many others who aren’t european household names but shine in the Brazilian league like Gabriel Barbosa.
Academies like River, Boca, Palmeiras, São Paulo also deserve a shout.
As the 2022 World Cup has already finished, and we will look forward to the 2026 WC, could you start preparing for videos on the best player of every national team?
I remember you did that during the time between the 2018 and the 2022 World Cup
the fact dortmund didn't even get mentioned blew my mind
alot of the young players they bring into the first team where bought from other teams not academy players like Haaland, Sancho, Bellingham.
@@DabDabGoose true
Name the Dortmund academy products
@@fishyfish6510 rüdiger, götze, reus, pulisic
How about a video of the 7 best academies of evry continent…. North America South America Europe Africa Asia that would be really good suggestion 👍🏻
Beautiful to see Benfica in this list
Benfica indeed,have the strongest respective academy ever and I fully hope they continue producing more talents from their ranks in near future,good friends!!!LONG LIVE BENFICA!!!🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️🏋♂️
🔴⚪🦅❤❤❤
How is it the best ever if they have never produced one player who won a Balon D Or. Sporting CO developed two world players of the year.
4 of the 5 best players in Portuguese history are from Sporting academy. In fact if you look at the top 20 Portuguese players ever a overwhelming majority is from Sporting.
Benfica is nowhere near that level. However they have improved their academy a lot in recent years.
@@Sporting-tz4ei sounds like u didnt watch the video , he was totally clear about sporting academy , he also said most of what u just said , u still ended up in 7th for a reason
@@OnyHipHopMusic You said "strongest academy ever" that is 100% wrong. Benfica academy have improved a lot but they are nowhere near Sporting, Ajax etc. Benfica might not ever produce a Balon D or player.
@@Sporting-tz4ei os lagartos tinham que vir aziar... quantas finais tem o Benfica na youth league? Quem ganhou o ano passado? Quantos jogadores da formação do Benfica ganharam a champios este ano? Quem vende melhor? O Sporting tem uma excelente academia, mas ultimamente tem lançado jogadores banais, excepto o Leão. Ja foi a melhor, ,mas neste momento não é.
What about Dinamo Zagreb? I personally think that Dinamo should be at least in the top 10, especially if we take into account that the population of Croatia is less than 4 million, and the pool of players and the money they have are probably 10 times less than most of these clubs on the list, and the players they produce are the top class play in the strongest clubs in Europe, wining the Champions Leagues and some of them now have 2 medals won at the world cups. Just some of the players from Diamo Academy are: Modric Kovacic Manzukic Boban Brozovic Prosinecki Eduardo da Silva Dani Olmo Čorluka Lovren Kramaric Kranjcar Majer Sosa Vrsaljko etc.
Dani Olmo is from La Masia
Alfie is there any chance you can do some concacaf content? 7 best concacaf clubs? Big CD Olimpia supporter here...I'm not saying we'd make the 7 lol just wishful thinking. Maybe 7 best central American clubs?
I was 100% convinced the longer this video got that United will be nr1.
The only team that had a class 😂
The only player of note that United have produced in the last 30 years is Rashford so they definitely don't deserve to be on this list
How Hertha Berlin doesnt Feature is insane. Over the past 10-15 years over 35 academy players have made it into the professional team, and many still play pro. This past weekend 3 of the 4 goal scorers against Gladbach were academy players and 6 players in the squad that day were academy graduates. It doesn’t matter how famous the products of the academy became but whether or not they made a professional career from that academy
but it does matter , the title of the video is the best academies , academies that produces players on the level that Benfica does consistently will always mean its a better academy then the one that gets to keep all the players they get from theyr academy in theyr professional team. If Benfica didnt have the need to sell because of the financial constrictions of portuguese football , it would win the champions league more consistently then Real Madrid with the level of players that come out of theyr academy , if they could keep them ofc
Just an addendum comment: in your list of great Ajax academy graduates you missed Ruud Krol, the anchor of the great Ajax and Holland teams of the 70s who gave Cruyff, Haan, Rep and Keizer with Ajax and van Hanegem and Rensenbrink with Holland the freedom to go do their thing. He captained Holland to the 78 world cup final and was Franco Baresi's childhood defensive hero (football365 article). Also, don't know if they count as actual graduates but the Dane Christian Eriksen and the Belgians Toby Alderwereld, Jan Vertonghen and Thomas Vermaelen also all graduated from the Ajax academy.
a documentary on the afc Wimbledon on the nine promotions in eleven years, how they’re a fan own club and how they have a stadium in plough lane now.
The story of they lost the club, how the F A allowed that and won’t allow that anymore.
How they were very close to moving to ireland
How they went up the English football leagues.
It would be a good documentary video if you can do this. #thepeopleschannel
There's still a million full length documentaries about it. Why rehash shit that was overdone at the time?
@@kieronparr3403 a updated one about the new stadium would be good and one from Alfie would be good
His recent Indonesia documentary was good
I can’t find one. 😮
Not sure I agree with your statement on Chelsea's transfer business regarding Koulibaly. Half the centre-backs coming out of Chelsea's academy have been mediocre, whereas Koulibaly was widely regarded and sought after as one of the best centre backs in the world. It hasn't worked out, but you can't call it bad business in the moment.
My cousin actually got accepted to Sportings Youth Academy 1 week ago😀💪
Congratulations
Now go and fill his mind with greatness of Arsenal so that he dreams and ends up joining them one day.
Jk
@@blast473 i mean i hope he makes it to the top level and if he does his/(and mine aswell)favorite team is Barca because our family is from there but him playing for Arsenal would be very sick if he can go on to be a professional
Well he missed by a little on the map , should have gona bit more to the center of Lisbon to the Red side 😂 still congrats on getting the spot , its still one of the 3 greats of Portugal 😁
Not a MU fan, but the Class of 92 is certainly one of the most successful academy products
Great video! As a CFC supporter, I cannot fault you.
Great video, love the footballer names puns. And since you have been including a few more on recent videos (not just Adu) I'd like to suggest a couple more. Australian midfielder DANNY INVINCIBLE played for Swindon, Kilmarnock and St Johnstone between 2000 and 2011. Ghanian-English defender NORTEI NORTEY (pronounced NAUGHATY NAUGHATAY) spend several years in Chelsea academy before moving around different English lower leagues teams, and now plays in the United States third division. Nigerian defender DANNY SHITTU who played most of his career in different Premierl League and Footbal League teams, such as QPR, Watford and Milwall. And Zimbabwean midfielder DANGER FOURPENCE who played all his career in Zimbabwe with CAPs United and Kiglon.
Those are fantastic names! Thank you for providing them!
Yes it would make an interesting video Alfie...
KRC Genk? Few weeks ago they beat 3 youth teams of Ajax...
Best sporting or footballing countries per capita would be a really good fideo
Argentina & Brazil youth academies should be on the list with no doubt.
Fabregas is a product of Barcelona's academy not Arsenal
If you think about it, everyone praises Barcelona’s youth academy but never praise Real Madrid’s youth academy. Is there a problem in youth development at Real? Barcelona have many more good players produced in their academy while Real have only Raul, Butragueno, Casillas, Chendo (maybe Carvajal and Parejo) while a list of La Masia graduates would take ages and if two XIs of these players in their primes played against each other, I think Barca would win easily. Maybe it was just the Galacticos era?
La fabrica is one of the best in the world but La masia is the best
Peñarol from Uruguay has one of the best academys of South America, they are current champions of U20 Libertadores
Regarding Manchester City and their salaries. I do believe both Manchester United and Chelsea pay higher salaries according to a decent amount of sources?
That's true but this channel has always been bitter towards City so what do you expect?
Good list, but you forgot to mention arguably Chelsea's greatest academy success: Jamal Musiala
Lol. Chelsea fans claim everything
@@Kal-el087 what are you talking about? He spent most of his academy career at Chelsea before moving to Bayern
You should do Top 5 academies in every continent.
1 year later… la masia introduced the world to Lamine Yamal, Pau Cubarsi, Marc Casado and to an extent, Dani Olmo
This video should have been a Top 20 to prevent controversies and allow people to focus on what truly matters: the best academies
Missed out other La Masia graduates like Xavi Simons and Takefusa Kubo
I think real Madrid castilla is really underated because of the signings the club masks and that most players don't make the first team but is just as good as lamasia
They produce good footballers that are la liga level and have good careers but how many go on to represent Real Madrid? Very very few - although you could argue Real is the hardest ten in the world to get into
@@karlclifford1176 real madrid academy graduate suffer from galacticos
How Complicated do you want this to be?
Alfie: YES!
How can Manchester United miss out 😯 on of the best or the best academy group of players the Bubsy babes or the class of 92, to Pogba, Lingard, McNeil, Danny Drinkwater, Danny Simpson, Danny Welbeck mind u the Danny’s have all won the prem. To Rashford, McTominay, Gernacho, I could name a lot more but it’s all good tho.
He's ranking them in the present. So past players who've already retired don't count towards the criteria. Otherwise Barcelona would obviously have been first with Ajax second.
Yeah problem is that we are massively under invested in youth in recent years (thanks Glazers) and CIty's facilities and coaching is a mile ahead of ours right now. Historically, we are a mile ahead but even former United stars are sending their sons to City's academy, including: Peter Schmeichel, Viv Anderson, Darren Fletcher, Wayne Rooney and Andy Cole
@@mgramsdalewayne Rooney kid is not at man city
Claiming Gnabry as an Arsenal academy graduate is odd he moved from Stuttgart age 16 just like Kimmich and Timo Werner. I'd consider those players Stuttgart graduates.
Eehhh, you forget Clairefontaine academy. Built in 1988, opened in 1994. It's the best academy in the world, surpassing even the mighty academies like La Masia or even South American academies. Yet the best academy in France was not mentioned.
I believe at this time you’re long overdue for an one on one interview with Freddy
It's complicated to rank academies nowadays because it's not always about 100% homegrown talent since scouting plays a massive role in this process. If Santos or River develops a kid till 15 and he moves to Benfica, is it fair to say he's a Benfica developed talent when he makes the move to a pro career? I think if we do a top in scouting, a lot of the same teams would be in the ranking.
Since he was mentioned in this video, Gavin Bazunu is a perfect example of this. He started his senior career at Shamrock Rovers in Ireland and I think was only at city a couple of months before he went out on loan.
Why are you using Benfica as an example? From all the players mentioned only Ederson is Brazilian and I dont even remember a single argentinian playing for our academy ever. All the other players are Portuguese (yes we have a lot of black people who are born and raised in Portugal).
messi is a good example, only 3 argies have ever trained in la massia he was scouted because he was a massive talent in a desperate situation. A lot of big euro teams can buy youth players one way or the other.
Yeah it is fair , from 15 to 18 wich is the usual age to go pro if ur really good , a lot can happen. Benfica has a TV Series about its academy , and you can see for yourself that only a small percentage of kids can actually get featured on the main squad , so only the cream of the crop will achieve it. Ederson came young to Benfica around that age , but he in the series himself says that he had to work his ass off to be able to make a mark in the youth teams to get called up. What i mean is most of the players development hapens around that time , and if they are not in the correct enviornment to evolve the correct way, they will not achieve world class level. And think about this , a team like Santos wouldnt just let a Neymar just go fly to lisbon to go try it out at Benfica, if they spot a pure genius it does not matter what team it is , if it has some power they will hold him for how long they can, so yeah its totally fair to be considered Benfica developed talent , since Benfica was the one who believed and helped the kid reach greater heights
Gavin Bazunu came through shamrock rovers academy and played for their first team
Can you do a Video on gazelec ajacco because they just dissloved And they were run by a mafia
Timber and de Jong are not from the Ajaxacademy. De Jong is from Willem 2, and Timber from Feyenoord.
Day 395: Indonesia XI If All Eligible Players Had Declared For Them.
Keep dreaming bocah
Can you make the list of 7 clubs who do the best when it comes to scouting young talents and make them superstar, teams like Dortmund, Brighton, Shakhtar Donetsk,...
You should make a 7 best football academies outside europe
can you do the worst?
Was hoping for Anderlecht
Benfica deserves to be number 1 simply for the sheer money it's generated for the club 🤯
I’m a bit surprised that Athletic Bilbao didn’t get an honorable mention. I don’t know much about their academy but if they only sign basque players and their probably the biggest club in the region, and have never been relegated I figured their academy must be fairly productive.
I agree but do to that limitation their talent pull is minimal and they rarely produce a big big player like Larporte Fx.
Best academy graduates for each premier league team might be a good idea
Is Bazunu really a Man city academy graduate? He's had the same career path as Seamie Coleman and James McClean, started his career as a League of Ireland youngster with his performances earning him a big move to the premier league (for Shamrock Rovers when he was 16, played at least half a season there before city signed him)
I would love to see the Nathan Jones video you hinted at on your twitter.
Argentinos Juniors should've been given at least an honorary mention. Producing Maradona and Riquelme is quite noteworthy.
'per capita basis' lol..... love it
Dortmund and liverpool deserved at least a mention.
Let's have a top 7 English football academies 👍
Fluminense's academy is also one of the best in the world, producing players like Marcelo, Thiago Silva, Fabinho and so on...
Thought Alfie would get trapped into mentioning Pedri lol.
Props for a better pronounciation of Leão. You can be excused for the ão part but you got rid of the J in the middle of the word.
I'll say Barcelona is no 1
Frenkie de Jong you mean the guy from the Willem 2 and RKC academy or some other Frenkie de Jong?
Olympique Lyon ? Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa, Nabil Fekir, Anthony Martial, Lacazette, Tolisso, Umtiti, Malo Gusto, Houssem Aouar, Rayan Cherki and many more
fabregas is a product of la masia, you cant put saka, cole and what could have been wilshere ahead of ronaldo and figo….
Video idea:
7 clubs who are using the wrong formation.
your list lost all the meaning when you included a team like Manchester City in this list instead of countless of South American or Spanish or German academies who have been producing better athletes than a team which produced just under a short of 25 or maybe even less good players.
It's about the best academies RIGHT NOW, not all time
@@reintaler6355 then the video creator should have mentioned the best "famous" club academies of the year xxxx.
@@shadowSephiroth or you're too dense to understand that for yourself.
@@reintaler6355 as a man who works in this industry as a scout for talent in spain and Portugal i find it hard to agree to this kind of comments about a club who does nothing but snatch these kids and present them to the world as theirs without any proper recognition. So yes i am angry.
@@shadowSephiroth What Spanish and Portuguese clubs have Man City snatched players from and claimed as their own product? What kind of fans don't recognize where Ruben Dias or Rodri came from? Stay mad Mr. Know-it-all Scout
How did not borrussia Dortmund wasnt in there they literally had sancho,reyna,dembele,reus,gundogan,pulisic,adeyemi,moukoko and so many more
Best German players in the premier league of all time. (Day 461)
I will not give up until the video is made or Alfie himself tells me to stop. Everyone else telling me that will be ignored.
If you don't believe my number, just go back to the previous videos. I'm at the bottom most of the time, but I'm there.
4:05 is I just me that sees a guy that looks exactly like Smith Rowe, could that be him? Because the picture is showing when you talk about a “quieter” period for arsenals academy
Surely Liverpool at least deserved to be mentioned. From the 90s you had Fowler, Owen, Carragher and Gerrard. More recently there have been Sterling, Trent, Jones, Kelleher, Wilson, Bajcetic, Phillips and a few others currently out on loan.
If this list is made based primarily on how the academy is performing at this time, then surely Liverpool is one of the best. Is it as prolific as Chelsea, Manchester united, Benfica or Ajax? No. But I feel it is harsh to not even mention some of the players who have come out of Liverpool's academy
In this video there are no Ajax and Dortmund academies, right? it's one of the best too.
that juventus picture during the intro all the players look like computer renders, none of them look real
The processing on that photo is terrible. They masked the players and bumped the sharpness and the exposure. Oh, and they cut an arm to the guy standing next to the keeper. 😄
Don't Benfica buy a lot of talented young players from South America and particularly Brazil so they shouldn't count as homegrown academy players. IMO if we're looking at output then Ajax, Barcelona and Chelsea have the best academies in Europe right now and nobody else is even close.
Not really. Lately only Ederson (who came in at 17 or 18 years old, I think) is South American. Take a look at the names mentioned in the video.
bernardo silva, ruben dias, renato sanches, joão cancelo, lots of big names that were in benfica academy all along, since 10/11 years old or less
Not really, because most of the talent that was homegrown has been from Seixal, Benficas academy... We had Ederson and few others as well but can't remember them
I agree, benfica buy cheap and hype up players and sell them for big money, then they go to these teams and become flops! Felix ,darwin,enzo,
@@danalmeida5380 Not sure if you've actually watched a Chelsea game this season. Enzo Fernandez is amazing, he's a world class star in the waiting.
Probably the best , should be sponsored by carlsberg
apart from the obvious, there are two teams that ill be disappointed if they dont feature. West Ham the literal academy of football (historically) and Benfica
i wanna go to benfica academy my mom just has to approve tho
FC Nordsjælland should have on the honourable mentions