Barcelona's academy La Masia has topped a new survey by the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) for having produced the most players currently plying their trade in a top tier major European league.
The study found there are currently 43 graduates from La Masia in the ‘big five’ of Spain’s La Liga, the English Premier League, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and French Ligue 1.
Manchester United came second in the study with 36 players developed, followed by Real Madrid (34), Olympique Lyon (33) and Paris St Germain (27).
Of Barcelona’s 43 graduates, 13 still play for the Catalan club and 30 ply their trade elsewhere, many achieving success at their new clubs.
La Liga sides Athletic Bilbao and Real Sociedad top the list of the clubs who currently employ homegrown players — with 15 apiece due to their emphasis on nurturing and promoting Basque talent. Athletic have also produced top players now elsewhere including Manchester United’s Ander Herrera, Bayern’s Javi Martinez and Juventus’ Fernando Llorente.
The research also found that Ligue 1 club squads contained the highest proportion of home-grown players [24.6 percent], followed by La Liga [20.4 percent], Bundesliga [16.4 percent], Premier League [13.9 percent] and Serie A [9.6 percent].