The best football academies and the players they have produced

• Football academies are like factories where young players are trained and then evolve into top professionals
• FC Barcelona’s La Masia is the best academy in the world
• Some of the players to emerge from the academy include Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi and Sergio Busquets 

Football academies are like factories where young players are trained and then evolve into top professionals. While youngsters emerge every season, there are academies which have been amazing when it comes to producing quality footballers over the years.

A perfect example is FC Barcelona’s La Masia which at one point saw three of its graduates (Lionel Messi, Xavi and Andres Iniesta) rank top three in Ballon d’Or ranking. This article will discuss such football talent factories that have produced amazing talents.

5. Chelsea

Mason Mount and Reece James emerged from Chelsea’s Cobham academy. Photo/ Chelsea Football Club.

Cobham academy is one of the best football academies in the world right now. Top talents who have emerged from the academy include Chelsea captain Reece James, Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori, who all shot to the limelight under Frank Lampard.

Others include the legendary John Terry, Declan Rice, Marc Guehi and Trevor Chalobah. The biggest fee the Blues have received by selling an academy product is 55 million euros Manchester United paid to sign Mason Mount last summer.

4. Benfica

Benfica is one of the biggest football clubs in Portugal. As a result, they have been able to attract quality talent from a young age who they nurture at their academy to become the best. Part of the success they have achieved in Portugal and beyond is attributed to the academy graduates they have in their squads.

Some of the players Benfica’s academy has produced over the years include goalkeeper Ederson, Bernardo Silva, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias, Victor Lindelof and Joao Felix. The biggest fee paid for their academy graduate was 113 million euros which Atletico Madrid used to acquire Felix.

3. Real Madrid

It’s almost every player’s dream to play for La Liga giants Real Madrid. From Raul to Ronaldo Nazario to Zinedine Zidane to Cristiano Ronaldo to Vinicius Junior, some of the biggest names in the football world have played for the Los Blancos. Any footballer who can fetch a massive fee tends to be a player they want to sign.

As a result, fans tend to forget how good Real Madrid academy is. Over the years, it has produced stars such as Iker Casillas, Alvaro Morata, Juan Mata, Marcos Alonso, Martin Odegaard, Achraf Hakimi and Sergio Reguilon, among others.

Real Madrid has one of the best football academies in the world. Photo/ Bleacher Report.

Hakimi was their most expensive academy export when Inter Milan paid 37 million euros to acquire him back in 2020.

2. Ajax

No fan can doubt the fact that Ajax has one of the best football academies in the world. Their most famous academy product was Johan Cruyff, a legend who dominated the football world in the 1970s and later went on to revolutionize the game as a coach.

Notable players from Ajax’s academy over the years include Arsenal great Dennis Bergkamp, Rafael van der Vaart, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert and Wesley Sneijder.

In recent years we have seen Frenkie de Jong, Matthijs de Ligt, Ryan Gravenberch, Donny van de Beek and Jurrien Timber emerge from the academy. The biggest fee they have ever received for academy product is the 65 million euros Barcelona paid in 2019 to sign de Jong.

1. La Masia

At the summit of the best football academies in the world is none other than the famous La Masia. The academy has been a constant developer of talent for many years and earned global recognition in the late 2000s when several academy stars made Barcelona the best club in Europe under the guidance of Pep Guardiola. Some of these academy stars also were key members of Spain’s national team that won two Euro tournaments and one World Cup.

La Masia graduates. Photo/ FootTheBall.

Lionel Messi is undoubtedly the greatest talent to emerge from La Masia. The Argentine has won eight Ballon d’Or awards among other prestigious awards. Other Barca academy graduates are Xavi (now manager of Barcelona), Andres Iniesta, Sergio Busquets, Carles Puyol, Pedro and Gerard Pique who formed one of the best teams in the history of the game.

Top players to emerge from the academy in recent years include Ansu Fati, Lamine Yamal, Riqui Puig and Fermin Lopez.