Chelsea Crowned Premier League's Top Club for Developing Young Talent as Global Training Rankings Unveiled

CHELSEA are officially the Premier League’s best team for nurturing young talent.

The Blues have forged a reputation for their academy brimming with young stars – with varied success in breaking into the first team.

Reece James is one of four current Chelsea players who came through the academyCredit: Alamy Cole Palmer was raised at Manchester City but is now with ChelseaCredit: AP

And a study proves that reputation is justified, by the CIES Football Observatory’s “training clubs” rankings.

The Football Observatory defines “training clubs” as the sides where players remained for at least three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21.

And there are 25 players trained by now playing in Europe’s top-five leagues.

That group has played 17,723 minutes of domestic league matches in 2025-26.

Of the 25, four have featured in their own first team this season

They are Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah, Josh Acheampong and Tyrique George.

Incredibly, all four have been with the club since Under-8s level.

Levi Colwill would also be on the list to make it 26 overall but has not featured in the Premier League this season due to an ACL injury.

Barcelona top the overall list with 40 players who have come through the La Masia system, including ten currently in the first team.

Rivals Real Madrid (35) and Champions League winners PSG (31) complete the top three, with both giants fielding six homegrown stars this term.

Stade Rennais (29) and Ajax (27) also come in ahead of Chelsea.

Ironically, though, none of those 27 have represented the Ajax first team this season.

Jorrel Hato, however, is among the 27 – at Chelsea, alongside Barcelona products Marc Guiu and Marc Cucurella.

Real Sociedad are seventh and the rest of the top ten is made up by Prem giants: , Manchester City and Arsenal.

All three English sides have 22 of their academy stars now operating across the top divisions in Europe.

have six in their first team, including Phil Foden and Nico O’Reilly, United have five, such as Kobbie Mainoo, and quartet is headlined by Bukayo Saka – while Cole Palmer came through at the Etihad and is now at Stamford Bridge.

Interestingly, the next English side is Liverpool way down in =48th on ten, one less than Senegalese club AS Generation Foot who count Prem duo Pape Matar Sarr and Ismaila Sarr as well as Al-Nassr forward Sadio Mane among their alumni.

Tottenham do not make the list.

Lyon, Toulouse and Le Havre plus Athletic Bilbao, Valencia, Villarreal and between 11th and 17th.

Juventus have 17 trained players in Europe’s top-five leagues, one more than Inter, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Benfica.

River Plate are the most successful non-European team with 12 youth products totalling more than 10,000 minutes across the Premier League, LaLiga, Ligue 1, Serie A and the Bundesliga.

Real Sociedad (15) and Athletic Bilbao (12) have the highest number of trained players still playing for the clubs with the .

Bukayo Saka is one of Hale End’s most successful productsCredit: Getty Phil Foden has racked up nearly 350 Manchester City appearancesCredit: AFP Kobbie Mainoo has stepped up from Manchester United academy to first teamCredit: Getty