The 2024/25 Premier League is now almost a fifth of the way through, meaning most clubs have settled on their squads. While the league is renowned for spending huge sums on foreign signings, some of the Premier League’s biggest clubs still pride themselves on developing young players and promoting them to the first team.

So which Premier League clubs have used the most academy players so far in the 2024/25 season?

First of all, Liverpool. New coach Arne Slot has not only made a strong impression by helping The Reds top the Premier League table after 7 rounds, but he has also paid attention to a number of players from the club’s youth academy in many different forms.

After 7 rounds, Slot has used no less than 8 players from Liverpool’s youth team. The most prominent name is none other than Trent Alexander-Arnold, along with players who regularly appear in the first team such as Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott and Jarell Quansah. 

Only one other Premier League side has used as many academy players this season as Liverpool – Manchester United. Although Ten Hag has struggled in his third season at Old Trafford, there is no denying that the Dutchman has paid close attention to academy talent.

In addition to relying on experienced players like Marcus Rashford and Jonny Evans, both of whom came through the United academy, Ten Hag has also given significant playing opportunities to young talents including Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo.

In total, eight academy graduates have featured in United’s squad this season, a significantly higher number than Man City, who have just five academy graduates in their squad. And of course, United’s numbers are also much higher than Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Aston Villa, who each have just three academy graduates in their current squad.

At the bottom of the table are some unsurprising sides. They have undergone major changes to their squads in recent years and are under pressure to get results to avoid relegation. That may be why there are only three clubs with just one academy player each: Fulham (Ryan Sessegnon), Wolves (Luke Cundle) and West Ham (Kaelan Casey). Notably, the latter two have only made a handful of appearances this season.

However, the only club yet to feature any academy players this season is Brentford, which is perhaps no surprise to the Bees fans, who are used to their team being busy in the transfer window and often relying on shrewd signings rather than academy players.

In terms of value, the most valuable academy player – according to Transfermarkt – is Man City midfielder Phil Foden at €150m. Just behind Foden is Arsenal star Bukayo Saka, whose market value is almost the same at €140m.

Following these two players in the Top 5 are Trent Alexander-Arnold (70 million euros), Marcus Rashford (60 million euros) and Kobbie Mainoo (55 million euros).