Real Madrid have often made plenty of money from selling their academy graduates, but especially in recent years.

In fact, each of the top five transfer fees received for La Fabrica products in the club’s history have come in the last four years.

They are Alvaro Morata, Marcos Llorente, Jese Rodriguez, Raul de Tomas and now, after recently completing a move to Inter, Achraf Hakimi.

Morata became the most expensive Real Madrid academy graduate in the club’s history when he was sold to Chelsea for 66 million euros in 2017.

Crystal Palace’s Academy has officially been awarded Category One status by the Premier League

Crystal Palace
have been looking to stamp their mark since making their arrival to the Premier League in 2013.

The redevelopment of Selhurst Park had been at the forefront of Steve Parish‘s mind for a number of seasons. However, due to Palace’s prestigious history of developing local talent, enhancing one of their most valuable assets, the academy, had, in recent years, been a top priority.

 

Chelsea football club has launched a sports nutrition app that draws up meal plans using supplements, energy boosters and bars trialled by its Premier League stars.

The app, called Blue Fuel, is the first is what is expected to be a series of commercial spin outs from its new Chelsea Digital Ventures arm.

It was developed with Stamford Bridge nutritionists and experts and was tested on the first men’s team, older academy players, and women’s teams.

It has been almost four months since Manchester United won at Everton in the Under-18 Premier League in what proved to be the final fixture of the Academy games programme.

THE Premier League will not restart the Academy games programme until 12th September at the earliest following a vote of shareholders last week – and no date has yet been set for a return to training.

It has been almost four months since Manchester United won at Everton in the Under-18 Premier League in what proved to be the final fixture of the Academy games programme.

Renovation work will now commence on the building interiors, creating new classrooms for the 220 young players and office space for staff. A state of the art gym facility will also be prioritised in the coming months, whilst cladding the original pavilion building, and the creation of a new terrace is planned for later in the summer.

Pitch enhancements have also begun, and a contractor has been appointed for the covered pitch, with works due to begin in August.

FORMER Celtic scouting chief John Park has urged the SFA to act quickly to prevent a generation of young Scottish players being thrown onto the scrapheap.

Hibernian are one side with a pedigree for producing young players who have announced they are to mothball their academy during the coronavirus crisis.

SunSport told you earlier this month about fears over Scotland’s reserve and academy game.

Promoters of the Barca Academy in Nigeria, the Blaugrana Group International, have explained that they decided to build world-class training facilities in the country to give their students the same type of structures available to youth footballers in Barcelona.

The academy in Lagos is modeled after the parent club’s facilities in Barcelona and according to the Blaugrana Group, the essence is to ensure that players produced in Nigeria meet the standard set by the Spanish club.

Speaking while inspecting work on the academy’s facilit

June 19 – Italian giants Inter Milan have added their 21st international academy project with the launch of the Inter Academy Turkey in local partnership with 3H Sport Okullari, part of Altun Logisitics.

“The project will provide important support to the development of young local football players and coaches in the country… Turkish children and young people will have the chance to train according to the high technical and ethical standards synonymous with Inter while remaining in their own countries – the perfect place for them to develop as both footballers and human beings,” said an Inter press release.

Even at a young age of 22, Chennaiyin FC’s Anirudh Thapa has established himself as one of the best midfielders in India, with consistent performances for both club and country.

A lot of credit for Thapa’s rise in stature over the years lies with the All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) Elite Academy which identified his talent and gave him an opportunity to fulfill it. Thapa was also sent on a three-month long training stint to Ligue 1 side FC Metz which he feels has been highly beneficial in his growth.

HOW do you judge the success of an Academy?

Nick Cox, who oversees Manchester United’s, admits: “The most obvious measure is helping young people to make debuts and have successful careers as footballers.”

On that marker, United are doing exceptionally well. Homegrown players like Marcus Rashford, Scott McTominay, Axel Tuanzebe, Paul Pogba, Brandon Williams and Jesse Lingard are all regulars in the first team.

The Academy began its activities in July 2017and was the first in the world to be granted PRO status

fter three seasons in operation, Barça Academy PRO New York is changing the way it is managed and during the forthcoming 2020-21 campaign it will be run solely by FC Barcelona. The presence of the Barça offices in the heart of New York City has driven the school in this direction, the aim being for the club to have a greater influence on the development of grassroots soccer in the United States. 

The club are recruiting sleep-in guardians and mentors to help nurture their stars of the future.

Manchester City are on the hunt for ‘houseparents’ to help look after their stars of the future.

The Blues are advertising four roles involving the care and mentioning of some of the club’s dozens of young academy hopefuls.