Most successful academy in England?
It is not every season that new talent is found in football academies in England, but in 2019/2020 every single club in England used at least one academy graduate, a player formed and shaped at the club. Some major examples of such players include Marcus Rashford at Manchester United, Bukaya Saka at Arsenal and Trent Alexander-Arnold at Liverpool.
Here we are going to discuss some of the top football academies in England
- Manchester United Academy
It is not only one of the finest and top academies in England, but it is also one of the top academies in the world. The class of 92’ made up of six players from the academy including David Beckam was what the manager at the time Sir Alex Furguson relied on for a large part of his success. Alan Hansel once sad=id, “You cannot win anything with kids.” But United’s academy graduates have been proving this wrong for decades and are still doing so.
- Arsenal Academy
Arsenal is another famous club which is ranked among the topmost clubs in England and has been producing talented players out of its academy. Tony Adams, also known as Mr Arsenal, dedicated his whole career to the club that made him. Some other names that are known as legends of premier league such as Ray Parlour, Martin Keown and Andy Cole were part of the notorious Arsenal Academy. Some other players who were a product of Arsenal Academy and showed their value while performing across europe include Wojciech Szczensy at Juvetus. The club holds football trials when recruiting for new talent to join their academy. Once they are done with that, the selected candidates are then again tested for one final time and then the main training starts. The young talent that has been recruited are put under strong observation and whoever performs are then given a chance in the main starting 11 squad.
- Southampton FC Academy
While not being that much popular, southampton has got one of the best football academies in the world and has helped shaped some on the most famous names in the football history. Alan Shearer, a legend and top scorer of the premier league was formed at this club’s academy Moreover, this academy’s players are still making headlines while in 2021 with their performances. Some southampton graduates with major performances for their team are Tyrone Mings at Aston Villa, Luke Shaw at Manchester United and Gareth Bale at Tottenham Hotspur. Southampton has been continuously contributing some quality players for some time now and will be doing so in the future as well.
- Manchester City Academy
Manchester city has also contributed a lot in making great players through its academy. One such example is Phil Foden who is wrecking havoc in the premier league right now with his skills and masterclass passes. After giving football trials and getting accepted into the academy, he had to compete with players like Kevin DeBruyne, Gundogan and Bernardo Silva to make his position into the first team squad. The academy has also produced players who are representing the academy overseas such as Angelino is a key player for RB Leipzig, Denayar is a major player for Lyon and Trippier for Athlectico Madrid.
Manchester City offers more than just football at their camp with option to continue your studies along with football practice. There is an option for the players to learn english while being there but one thing is for certain and that is everyone who gets accepted will have an experience of a lifetime.
- Liverpool FC Academy
Liverpool has one of the richest football history and has helped in creating some of the most iconic names in football. It has been named as one of the most successful team both domestically and in Europe. Some of the names which the academy has produced and which are known all over the world due to their play making and football skills are:
- Robie Fowler
- Jamie Carragher
- Michael Owen
- Steven Gerrard
- Phil Thompson
- Raheem Sterling
While some of these names have retired from the sport, names such as Raheem Sterling are still going strong and making their club proud by contributing to the football world with their skills and passion. Although nowadays, the academy has been slow to produce iconinc names but within time some players are showing potential to come up and rack up the names again for the clubs history such as Pedro Chirivella, Conor Randall, Cameron Brannagan etc.
So there we have some of the most successful clubs in the history of English football. While all of these clubs have produced exclusive players but the most successful club which has the best chance of breaking through to the first team is Southampton FC Academy.