Premier League clubs do not all follow the same strategy when developing young talent.
Data from the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) for the 2025-26 season indicates that academy-trained players contributed 16.2% of Manchester City’s league minutes. Chelsea ranked next with 15.5%, while Brighton recorded 12.5%.
CIES considers a player club-trained if they were registered with their present team for at least three complete seasons, or 36 months, between the ages of 15 and 21. As a result, an 18-year-old signed from an EFL academy may still meet the criteria after spending the following three seasons at the Premier League club.
At the opposite end of the rankings, home-developed players contributed only 0.1% of Tottenham’s league minutes, while Bournemouth, Brentford and Burnley registered no minutes in this category.
Signing prospects from EFL and Scottish academies therefore provides clubs with an alternative route for strengthening their talent pathways.
Instead of depending entirely on footballers who joined during childhood, a Premier League team can recruit talent developed by another academy at 17, 18 or 19, place them in its under-21 setup and oversee the remaining phase of their progression.
The available figures do not point to continuous growth. There were 18 transfers of this kind in 2023-24, so the 14 completed this summer do not represent a record.
However, the strong focus on 18-year-olds and footballers from League One indicates that recruitment teams are narrowing their search toward increasingly specific profiles.
This trend leaves EFL teams facing uncertainty about how long they can realistically keep their most promising young players.
Premier League sides face a different decision. Another player capable of following the path of Watkins, Eze, Wharton or Semenyo could already be competing in the lower divisions. The key is identifying that talent before rival clubs do.
What do you feel about this post?
Like
Love
Happy
Haha
Sad
