There are few better feelings as a football fan than watching a player, developed by your club’s youth coaches, make their debut and establish themselves in the first team.
On October 30, Manchester United marked the 87th anniversary of having a homegrown player in every matchday squad with their 5-2 Carabao Cup win over Leicester City. From Tom Manley and Jackie Wassall in 1937 to the current crop of talents at United’s Carrington training ground, developing young players is a core tenet of their identity.
Since the Class of 92 — United’s most successful academy intake which included David Beckham, Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes among others — provided the core of Sir Alex Ferguson’s dynasty spanning three decades, the outlook on player development in English football has changed significantly.
While local academy graduates hold a special place in a fan’s heart, homegrown players — those who have spent three years in the club between their 15th and 21st birthdays, according to the CIES Football Observatory — can be signed from anywhere in the world.
It’s not just in the transfer market when the wealthiest clubs can flex their muscles; they also sweep up talent at youth levels. Liverpool, who rank second in percentage of minutes played by homegrown players in the Premier League this season, are not just excellent at developing their academy graduates — they have been equally successful in picking up young talent from other clubs.
Harvey Elliott is among the shining examples of why clubs like Liverpool “poach” talent from other clubs. Just months after Elliott became the Premier League’s youngest-ever player (at the time) with Fulham in 2019, Liverpool signed the boyhood fan for a fee, settled in 2021 via tribunal, of around £4million ($5.1m).
Liverpool extended this approach with Conor Bradley, Ben Doak (signed from Celtic and now on loan at Blackburn Rovers) and Bobby Clark, who spent time at Birmingham City and Newcastle before joining Liverpool for £1.5m in 2021, among others. It’s no surprise, then, that when combined with academy graduates like Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones and Jarell Quansah, Liverpool grade so highly for minutes played by homegrown players.
Like Liverpool, who signed Bradley from Northern Ireland’s Dungannon Swifts in 2019, Brighton — who are in the top three for the percentage of minutes played by club-developed players this season — are adept at shopping for young talent in more obscure markets. Republic of Ireland international Evan Ferguson joined the academy after signing from Irish outfit Bohemians and thus counts in these numbers, but Julio Enciso, Simon Adingra or Moises Caicedo (who departed for Chelsea in 2023 for a British-record £115m) do not as they had not spent enough time at Brighton between their 15th and 21st birthdays.
Due to clubs shopping in different markets for young talents, like South America, the overall share of minutes given to homegrown players in the Premier League is declining. These players are often required to spend a period on loan at another European club or become senior internationals before earning enough points to be granted a work permit.
As football becomes more globalised, the definition of “homegrown” is in flux. Manchester United, who have led the league in the use of homegrown players for consecutive seasons, have long been skilled at signing players from abroad at academy level.
In 2020, Alejandro Garnacho signed from Atletico Madrid in La Liga to United’s academy and has since made over 100 club appearances and become a full Argentina international. Jonny Evans, 36, who developed at United’s centre of excellence in Belfast before officially joining the club’s academy in 2004, counts as homegrown. Most recently, they poached promising Denmark youth international Chido Obi-Martin, 16, from Arsenal, who will count towards these statistics should he break through.
These investments make sense on and off the pitch. Due to PSR, academy graduates (or players signed for small fees as youngsters from other clubs) are often the club’s most valuable players, as they can be sold for significant or pure profit. There are several clubs whose sales of academy graduates since 2022-23 have seen their percentage of minutes for homegrown players drop significantly this year.
Harry Kane, who left Tottenham Hotspur to join Bayern Munich in 2023, is the most high-profile homegrown departure in recent seasons, but Spurs also sold first-teamers Oliver Skipp and Japhet Tanganga. As a result, their percentage of minutes played by homegrown players has plummeted from 13.5 per cent in 2022-23 to just 0.8 per cent this season.
This trend is reflected with Wolverhampton Wanderers, who loaned their academy products Hugo Bueno and Nathan Fraser to Feyenoord and Zulte Waregem, respectively, for the season. Like Wolves, West Ham have yet to field a homegrown player this season, a year removed from the sale of Declan Rice to Arsenal.
Perhaps clubs like Wolves, currently 19th in the Premier League, are less likely to take a risk on an academy product. The three sides teetering outside the bottom three — Leicester City, Everton and Ipswich Town — are also among the clubs that have used homegrown players the least.
In a relegation battle, coaches may be more likely to refer to their tried and tested top-flight talent to veer them away from danger rather than a youngster from the academy, as evidenced by the minutes share for homegrown players at Luton Town and Burnley last season.
On the surface, Southampton and Crystal Palace might appear anomalous in this respect, but their homegrown players are some of their most experienced. Adam Lallana, 36, counts as one, having graduated from the Southampton academy in 2006, but he has since made almost 300 Premier League appearances and played 34 times for England.
The same can be said for Crystal Palace full-back Nathaniel Clyne, 33, who broke through at the south London club in 2008 before spending time at several other top-flight teams and winning 14 caps for England. Even Tyrick Mitchell, 25, is an established top-flight player with 142 league appearances for Palace and two caps for the Three Lions.
However, Brentford and Fulham are closer to the race for the top four than the bottom three, proving homegrown players are not essential for success. Brentford disbanded their academy in 2016, and until it was reinstated in 2022, they did not have a traditional path to develop players through the club’s ranks. Technically, they have not used a homegrown player since winning promotion to the Premier League in 2021.
Over that period, they operated a ‘B’ team, which did not compete in a league format until the start of this season, preferring to arrange fixtures independently. Therefore, current first-team player Ryan Trevitt, who was developed in the B system before graduating to the senior side, is not counted in these statistics.
Fulham have built their promising start to the season on players developed elsewhere. In their last league fixture, a 2-0 away win over Crystal Palace, Ryan Sessegnon was the only player in the matchday squad to have graduated from the west London club’s academy.
Alongside Elliott, Sessegnon was considered among the most promising players to come through Fulham’s academy, winning the 2017-18 Championship Player of the Year award at the age of just 17. Injuries have since halted his career and he rejoined Fulham this summer after being released by Tottenham. He is yet to make a league appearance.
Fulham owe a portion of their strong start to Arsenal’s academy, which provided Alex Iwobi (28), Reiss Nelson (24) and Emile Smith Rowe (24), who have all become important players under Marco Silva.
Had Nelson and Smith Rowe not departed for Craven Cottage this summer, Arsenal’s injury problems and indifferent start to the season could have opened the door for more minutes at the Emirates Stadium. As it transpired, homegrown youngsters Ethan Nwaneri (17) and Myles Lewis-Skelly (18) have been the primary beneficiaries, making 14 combined first-team appearances this season.
Given Arteta’s reluctance to hand minutes to youngsters in recent seasons (Arsenal used just two players under the age of 21 last season), Smith Rowe would likely have been ahead of Nwaneri in the pecking order and therefore played a more prominent role this season.
At Manchester United, Kobbie Mainoo may have broken through at some point last season, given his impressive performances in pre-season, but an injury crisis in United’s midfield over the fixture-congested Christmas period helped expedite it. Homegrown opportunities are more often born out of necessity than anything else — reflected in the overall lower share of homegrown minutes across the league at this season’s early stage.
As proven in recent seasons, all it takes is an injury. At the expense of an established first-teamer, perhaps the emergence of your team’s next homegrown hero is around the corner.
(Top image: Artwork by Eamonn Dalton; Photos from Getty Images)
