Real Madrid and Barca top developed youth player charts, Man Utd fifth

October 24 - AFC Ajax is the engine room of Europe in terms of developing young talent capable of playing at the top level in the domestic league.

Ajax have produced 85 players who currently play in the top domestic divisions of European leagues. Training clubs are defined as those where the player has been active for at least three years between his 15th and 21st birthday seasons.

Ajax are ahead of SL Benfica (73 players) and Dinamo kyiv (72 players).

When it comes to the Big 5 leagues, Real Madrid top the table (43 players) ahead of Barcelona (38 players), followed by Paris St-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais (34 players each).

"Sporting CP lead the ranking of non-big-5 league clubs having trained the most footballers currently playing in the big five leagues (24), with River Plate at the top for teams outside of Europe (14)", concludes the authors of the report.

Premier League clubs, more widely recognized for their high spending on new players, occupy a reasonably high place in the rankings. Manchester United are ranked fifth (28 players), Chelsea and Arsenal are ninth (23 players) and Manchester City are 18th (19 players).

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