World Football: Europe-Based Teams with Best Youth Academies

Nowadays it's all about how much money you have. Many of the big teams in the 21st century have found success by buying players. However, there are a few great teams out there, such as FC Barcelona, that have found a way to make a squad of both academy and purchased players. It may be hard to "grow" your own players but it usually ends up paying off.

Here's a list of five European teams that have the best youth academies and produce the best players: 

Bayern Munich

Notable Youth Academy Graduates: Thomas Mueller, Bastian Shweinsteiger, Philip Lahm, Andreas Ottl, Thomas Hitzlesperger (with Aston Villa's youth too), Holger Bastuber, Toni Kroos, Zvjezdan Misimovic, Paolo Guerrero    

Liverpool

Notable Youth Academy Graduates: Jamie Carragher, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Stephen Warnock, Steven Gerrard, Jason Koumas, Steve McManaman

Arsenal

Notable Youth Academy Graduates: Jack Wilshere, Ashley Cole, Andy Cole, Johan Djourou, Sebastian Larsson, Wojciech Szczeny, Kieran Gibbs

Olympique Lyonnais

Notable Youth Academy Graduates: Steed Malbranque, Ludovic Giuly, Sydney Govou, Karim Benzema, Hatem Ben Arfa, Florent Balmont, Raymond Domenech, Frederic Kanoute, Remi Garde, Loic, Remy, Francois Clerc, Jeremy Clement

Crewe Alexandra

Notable Youth Academy Graduates: Dean Ashton, Neil Lennon, David Platt, Danny Murphy, Rob Jones

Aston Villa

Notable Youth Academy Graduates: Thomas Hitzlsperger, Gabriel Aglonbahor, Ciaran Clark, Gary Cahill, Craig Gardner, Gareth Barry, Darius Vassell, Liam Ridgewell

Leeds United

Notable Youth Academy Graduates: Aaron Lennon, Alan Smith, Scott Carson, James Milner, Paul Robinson, Harry Kewell, Fabian Delph

Middlesbrough

Notable Youth Academy Graduates: Christ Brunt, Adam Johnson, Stewart Downing, James Morrison, Luke Wilkshire, Andrew Taylor

Notable Youth Academy Graduates: Xavi, Victor Valdes, Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Pedro Rodriguez, Sergio Busquets, Pepe Reina, Cesc Fabregas

There's no way Barcelona would not be on this list. The Blaugrana have always been known for their ability to build amazing players from their youth system. In the current Barcelona main team, Xavi, Iniesta, Messi, Busquets, Pedro, Puyol, Valdes, and Jeffren all came from their youth academy. Despite all these players being "free of cost" for Barcelona, the team has found itself very much in debt after some very unintelligent transfers were made (i.e. Ibrahimovich and Chygrynskiy). 

Pep Guardiola and the Board certainly understand the financial situation and are seemingly trying to spend money wisely now (though they just spent $42+ million on Alexis Sanchez). But if they spend over $50 million on Fabregas when they have Thiago Alcantara waiting to have a chance, Barcelona's reputation of "building from the youth" may decrease. 

Notable Youth Academy Graduates: Cristiano Ronaldo, Simao, Nani, Rui Patricio, Yannick Djalo, Simao, Ricardo Quaresma, Nuno Valiente, Dani Carvalho, Luis Figo

Sporting CP aren't one of the most known clubs in Europe but they do have a great youth academy. Both Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani started out in Lisbon before being sold to Manchester United. There's no doubt that Sporting now regrets making these deals as they obtained a combined total of approximately $58 million (35 million pounds) for the pair. Ronaldo was sold from United to Real Madrid for $132 million. But, like in Ajax's case, Sporting have also made some good sales, such as Hugo Viana to Newcastle for $17 million. 

At the moment, Sporting CP has a bunch of youth academy graduates on their main team. Rui Patricio (23), Yannick Djalo (25), Bruno Pereirinha (23), and Daniel Carrico (22) are all great young players who have already been or will soon be targeted by bigger European clubs. It's up to Sporting to decide if they want to be more like Ajax or Barcelona with their youth system alumni.   

Notable Youth Academy Graduates: Johan Cruyff, Dennis Bergkamp, Frank Rijkaard, Clarence Seedorf, Patrick Kluivert, Rafael Van Der Vaart, Wesley Sneijder, Maarten Stekelenburg, Gregory Van Der Wiel, Thomas Vermaelan

Jong Ajax, the name of Ajax's youth system, is known for producing superb Dutch players as shown on the list above. Then why aren't Ajax a world class team at the moment? Unlike Barcelona, Ajax always sells their good players. In some cases, they get great deals like the one for Sneijder ($39 million to Real Madrid). But they end up also being robbed of their players, as they did for Rafael Van Der Vaart ($8 million to Hamburg). It seems that youth system graduates Maarten Stekelenburg and Gregory Van Der Wiel will also be leaving the club sooner or later, though Ajax would be receiving lots of money for these deals.

Ajax have always been superb in the Eredivisie but haven't been a European powerhouse for a long time. They may produce great players but keeping them is important too.    

Notable Youth Academy Graduates: Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville, Bobby Charlton, David Beckham, George Best, Phil Bardsley, Fraizer Campbell, Bobby Charlton, Sylvan Ebanks-Blake, Danny Welbeck, Giuseppe Rossi, Ryan Shawcross, Jonathan Spector, Kieran Richardson, Phil Neville, Mark Hughes

This summer, United haven't really followed their tradition of promoting their youth. Sir Alex Ferguson has chosen to purchase Phil Jones, Ashley Young, and David de Gea for a combined total of more than $80 million. But, despite very few notable graduates coming out of United's academy recently, there's no doubt that they have a superb youth system. Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes, as well as David Beckham, are great examples of that.

Barcelona may have taken away United's reputation as the world's best youth academy promoters, but the Red Devils still are able to build their youngsters and will keep doing so in the future.     

Notable Youth Academy Graduates: Mark Noble, Frank Lampard, Paul Ince, Rio Ferdinand, Bobby Zamora, Kieran Richardson, Glen Johnson, Jermain Defoe, Joe Cole, John Terry, Bobby Moore, Harry Redknapp

West Ham have been nicknamed the "Academy of Football" and are known for producing great British players. As you see on the list above, many of the great former and current England internationals started at West Ham. Unfortunately for the Hammers, most of these players were sold at young ages and for fees that are considerd rip-offs now.  

The "Academy of Football" label may have been given to West Ham some time ago but the tag is still completely valid at the moment. West Ham keep producing new British youngsters, with Jack Collison, Mark Noble, Freddie Sears, James Tomkins, and others all recent youth system graduates who are still with the team.