Manchester United's academy made the single biggest contribution to last season's Premier League of any youth set-up, a Press Association Sport study has found. Their graduates racked up more than twice as many top-flight minutes played as the next best academy. Players who finished their youth careers in the United academy were on the field for a total of 44,055 minutes in the study. The study, using publicly available data, shows that the United academy is still the number one producer of top-flight talent in England. Kelechi Iheanacho (526 minutes) was the only City youth product to feature in their first team in the Premier League under Pep Guardiola all season.
Report: Sheffield United best outside Premier League in producing top flight talent
Sheffield United's homegrown players have made a bigger contribution to the Premier League than any other club outside the top flight, and their success is no surprise to former academy boss Ron Reid. "A good model or programme is only as good as the coaches and Sheffield United were very fortunate to have such talented staff," he said. "Obviously the proudest moments are when you're watching England play (against Ukraine in a World Cup qualifier in 2013) and two of the back four (Walker and Jagielka) are from Sheffield United's academy. "We worked on the 'Balyi model' of long-term development, a programme which was age-related and we worked solidly at it. Reid, 70, joined the Blades' youth set-up in 2000 and by the time he left his position as academy director in 2009, 42 of his graduates had gone on to appear in either the Premier League or Football League.This content may collect you by Max Nolan
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