United's academy leaves rivals trailing in its wake
A Press Association Sport study reports that players that came through Manchester United's academy player more minutes in the Premier League last season than those who came from rival youth setups.
United youth products racked up an impressive 44,055 minutes of game time in the Premier League, with Tottenham Hotspur finishing a distant second in the study with 21,668 minutes, less than half United's total.
The stats show that 35 United academy products played in the Premier League last season, including the likes of Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard, who are still with the club, Stoke's Ryan Shawcross, Middlesbrough's Fabio, West Brom pair Darren Fletcher and Jonny Evans, Burnley's England international duo Tom Heaton and Michael Keane (now of Everton) and Leicester's Danny Drinkwater and Danny Simpson,
United have a long history of producing young talent, going all the way back to the 'Busby Babes' in the 1950s, though modern fans may be more au fait with the 'Class of 92' who helped propel the club to glory in the 90s.
Spurs' stats were dominated by homegrown hero Harry Kane, who amassed 2,536 minutes of game time.
Interestingly, Manchester City had just one youth team player appear for the first team last season: striker Kelechi Iheanacho.
Southampton's much-vaunted academy came fourth in the study with 14,340 minutes, closely followed by West Ham with 13,907.
Ajax were the only non-English team to make the top 10 finishing 10th, whilst Barcelona came in 12th.