Which Academies and Countries Systems are Behind the World's Top Under 23 Players?

I have always been interested by youth academies and how they develop talent at various stages of the athlete's career. I think what fascinates me the most are the stories that we often hear of clubs releasing players at various ages for various reasons, only for those players to find their way to a different clubs that sees them as gems. The saying of "what's one man's trash is another man's treasure" is pretty much the defining phrase of the youth football world. However, some clubs and country systems are getting it right and investing into the youth that will be the players of tomorrow's game.

In an attempt to identify those top developmental clubs and countries through numbers, I've identified the top 100 Under 23 players by market value (latest values from TransferMarkt) and the academies that formed them before their jump into the senior level.

For the sake of this analysis, if a player spent time at multiple academies before his senior level debut, more weight was given to the club that he spent the most time at. So lets take a look at what the data showed.

Academy Producing the Most Value: Monaco (Arguably PSG)

I am particularly fond of the Monaco youth academy set-up, particularly for their differentiated approach. Monaco, unlike many other clubs that have grassroots programs for as young as age 9, does not select players until the U14 age groups. By taking more time to select players, Monaco is able to make sure prospective candidates are adequate and prepared, choosing not to remove kids from their homes at too much of an early age. However, the rankings here are slightly misleading, given that Monaco's #1 spot is due mainly to one player: Kylian Mbappe. If the Monaco set-up has produced Kylian Mbappe and the legendary Thirerry Henry, they must be on to something.

However, arguably from this data, we could say PSG is the best in talent development, having produced five players in the top 100 (the most of any club) or €164M of player value.

The five PSG graduates are: Jonathan Iknoe (Forward, Lille), Christopher Nkunku (Midfielder, RB Leipizg), Matteo Guendouzi (Midfielder, Arsenal), Moussa Diaby (Forward, Bayern Leverkusen) and Dan-Axel Zagadou (Defender, Borussia Dortmund). All French players, each with a current value of ~€33M. Whats interesting to see is that none of these graduates play for PSG today and this is highly due to the youth football philosophy at PSG today. In 2019, PSG took the decision to scrap their reserve team and only have a U19 team. They believe that at age 20 a player is either good enough for the first team or isn't and thus can be sold. This has ultimately created a situation in which the PSG academy has become one of the best in Europe despite the first team hardly benefiting from it. Clear evidence of this can be seen from this past year's Champions League Final, where the sole goalscorer for Bayern Munich was none other than PSG's own graduate Kingsley Coman (excluded from this analysis list as the player is over 23).

Country System Producing the Most Value: England

When we look at the value created metric on a country-system basis, England emerges as the #1 player. Its by no coincidence either as the Premier League is home to some of the greatest clubs (and academies) in world football. Just by looking at the top 10 highest valued players we can already get a sense of this, as three players of the top 10 were formed in English academies and two of those three are actually in the top 3: Jadon Sancho (Watford / Manchester City, €117M at #2), Trent Alexander-Arnold (Liverpool, €110M at #3) and Marcus Rashford (Manchester United, €80M at #6).

Perhaps one of the latest biggest drivers in the English system's success was the introduction of the EPPP in 2012. EPPP stands for Elite Player Performance Plan and is a Premier League led strategy to improve the quality and quantity of home grown players. So how does it work? The EPPP is based around an independent audit process, where clubs are assessed into categories and given a status of 1 through 4, with 1 being the highest status. The club clubs are assessed on different key areas such as: productivity rates, training facilities, coaching, education and welfare provisions. With the given rating assigned, the EPPP can ensure that more money is invested by the FA and Premier League into English Youth Development, with a tiered approach of investment available across the football academy categories. This approach ultimately means that category one academies can be rewarded for their investment and naturally create a multi-tier pool of talent where players can compete and develop by consistently playing against similar-level opponents.

Nationality Producing the Most Value: France

Its no coincidence that France were the recent World Cup winners and Euro Cup finalists. The amount of quality young French players out there is frightening, arguably enough to form two national teams and still have each be equally competitive. And if we take a look at the rankings that's indeed true, as nearly 20% of the top 100 U23 players are of French nationality. Its no surprise that a study published by the CIES Football Observatory confirmed that France is the second-biggest global exporter of professional footballers behind Brazil.

There were 52 French-born players present in Russia for 2018 World Cup, making it the fourth successive World Cup at which France has supplied more tournament players than any other competing nation. In addition, more than a quarter of the players whose teams reached the semifinals had come through French youth academies.

So what makes France so ideal to create talent? Several reasons. At the most basic level, Paris is arguably a city made for breeding footballers. The multicultural and densely populated city contain many key elements: a high number of youth players, a solid supply of recreational sports facilities and perhaps the most important, a legendary culture of street football on small pitches where technical ability and individuality are not only encouraged but required for players to truly excel.

External forces have also played a critical role in the formation of the French footballer upbringing. The first was in 1973 when the French Professional Charter came out and required all professional clubs in France to establish youth academies, a move that truly shows how dedicated France is to the formation of their youth.

The second major impact to the French system only happened recently in-between 2008 and 2012, at the height of the Spanish football reign. Which caused the French federation to open its eyes to the importance of forming technical players above all else. French players have always naturally been very athletic and now they are being given the chance to develop technically. The result? Top footballers capable of adapting to various styles of football throughout the world.

Conclusion

There is no single path to optimal youth development and many systems and clubs around the world continue to alter and adapt their approaches. At the center of this pursuit, clubs and coaches must constantly have the well-being of the player in mind, helping to develop the players as people and encouraging them to grow into their individuality. Add in a first class football education focused on true ball mastery and the opportunity to compete in safe but challenging environments, the formation of strong-minded elite footballers can be a consistent target for many clubs and academy systems throughout the world.

The game is revolutionized by the players we formed yesterday, so that the youth of today can continue to do so tomorrow.