LaLiga Academy success: Real Madrid & Barcelona grads dominate in Europe; Athletic Bilbao a model to follow

The CIES Football Observatory has carried out a study reviewing the clubs whose academies are contributing the most players to the various football leagues.

In this report, clubs such as Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Athletic Club and Valencia CF have been highlighted as doing a particularly good job in this respect. As for the parameters used to measure the success of each youth academy, the study was based on players who spent at least three seasons at a training club between the ages of 15 and 21.

The clubs with the most homegrown players in their own first-team squads

Thanks to a tradition and culture of developing talents, LALIGA EA SPORTS clubs have always been among the most committed to retaining talent from their own youth academies. With the CIES report, there are six LALIGA clubs near the top of the ranking for teams in the five major European leagues who have the most homegrown players in their current first-team squads.

At the very top of this list is Athletic Club, as they have 16 players who passed through their Lezama academy in the current squad. In other words, no other club in Europe's major leagues has more academy graduates in the first team. This is hardly surprising given the club's philosophy of playing only with players who have grown up in the Basque Country.

After Athletic Club, there is another team from the Basque Country, as Real Sociedad are the second club on this ranking as they have 12 players from their own academy in this season's first-team squad. Third in the ranking is another Spanish team, as Valencia CF have 11, while CA Osasuna and UD Las Palmas are fifth and sixth on this continental ranking with nine academy alumni each. Barça, meanwhile, have eight former academy players