Study Shows EPL Side Southampton Has Europe's Most Profitable Academy

A study by the Int'l Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) revealed that EPL side Southampton has "the most profitable youth academy among the top leagues in Europe," according to ESPN. CIES "studied which clubs in the top flights in England, Spain, France, Germany and Italy generated the most money from transfers from players from their academies and discovered Southampton topped the list" at €90.2M since '12. Almost 40% of the Premier League's total "came from Southampton's summer sale of three England internationals:" Adam Lallana to Liverpool (€30M) ($32M), Luke Shaw to ManU (€35M) ($37M) and Calum Chambers (€20M) ($21M) to Arsenal. Lille was second on the list at €76M ($81M) thanks to players including Eden Hazard (€37M) ($39M) to Chelsea and Mathieu Debuchy (€16M) ($17M) to Arsenal, while Real Sociedad's sales of Antoine Griezmann (€30M) to Atlético Madrid and Asier Illarramendi (€32.2M) ($34M) to Real Madrid put it third with €62.2M ($66M) (ESPN, 3/10).

Source: CIES