Portuguese academies are the most profitable in world football. Only Manchester City is in the top ten of the Premier League

Portuguese academies are the most profitable in world football and Manchester City is the only Premier League club in the top ten, according to a new study by social investment platform eToro in collaboration with Transfermarkt.

The report shows that Portugal has become the hub of the football world when it comes to developing young talent and profiting from them. The country’s three biggest clubs – Benfica, Sporting Lisbon and Porto – have made a combined €1.2 billion from the sale of homegrown players over the past decade.

Benfica Lisbon top the list, having made €543 million since the 2013/14 season through the sale of stars such as João Félix, Ruben Dias and Ederson.

That’s far more than Ajax, the second most profitable academy in the world, which has made €376 million over the same period, with its biggest individual sale coming from graduate Matthijs de Ligt.

In fourth place, with 363 million euros, is Sporting Lisbon, where Cristiano Ronaldo, among others, has made a name for himself, and in seventh place is Porto, which has earned 287 million euros over the last ten years thanks to the sales of its young stars.

Clubs with the highest revenues from the sale of domestic players since the 2013/14 season

Benfica and Ajax are the most profitable clubs in the world based on transfer fees alone, with no Premier League team in the top ten

In addition to academy revenues, eToro’s analysis also looked at which clubs have been the most profitable in recent years based on fees from all transfers. Benfica also topped the list, generating €356 million in transfers since the start of the 2018/2019 season.

In second and third place are Ajax and Lille, who have generated profits of €308 million and €283 million respectively, with the French side’s profitable sales including the transfer of Nicolas Pépé to Arsenal in the 2019/20 season for €80 million. No Premier League team broke into the top 10.

Sam North, an analyst at eToro, commented on the report’s findings: ‘ThePremier League is the richest league in the world, but it is not nearly as profitable on transfer fees alone, nor is it as prolific in terms of huge fees for academy stars.

One of the areas where Premier League clubs are doing well is in increasing the value of their players through top-quality coaching and consistency at the highest level. Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool are among the top ten teams in terms of team value growth.”

Premier League teams are among the best when it comes to return on investment on the pitch

When it comes to growth in squad value, Premier League teams are doing well – Tottenham, Arsenal and Liverpool are in the top ten.

The value of Spurs’ current squad is estimated at €711 million, with the club spending €390 million on it, an increase in value of €321 million.

It’s slightly less the case for Arsenal’s current squad, which is worth €271 million more than what the players originally cost the club – the value of a number of young stars such as academy graduate Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard, who signed a contract in 2021, has skyrocketed this season.

Source:: eToro, Transfermarkt