Manchester City And Chelsea Turning Youth Teams Into Profit Factories

Anyone reading the back pages of the local Hampshire newspapers would be forgiven for thinking Southampton had signed one of Manchester City’s superstars.

The Saints’ two most expensive signings so far this summer have both come from their “transfer raid” of Manchester City.

But unlike Phil Foden or Kevin De Bruyne, Southampton’s new signings have a total of 97 minutes of first team soccer between them for Pep Guardiola’s side, and those minutes were against Swindon Town and Wycombe Wanderers.

Ireland international goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu and Belgian Under-21 international Romeo Lavia were signed from Manchester City for a combined total of more than $26 million.

That’s almost $270,000 per minute in the first team.

20-year-old Bazunu, who has never played for City’s first team, spent the past two seasons on loan at Rochdale and the Saints’ local rivals Portsmouth in England’s third tier. But the young goalkeeper already has ten caps for Ireland, and his more expansive style could help him push Alex McCarthy for the No. 1 spot should Southampton want to play a high defensive line.

Along with 18-year-old defensive midfielder Lavia, he reflects the south-coast club’s desire for young players. And Southampton’s interest in 21-year-old wingback Issa Kabore might mean their “raid” of Manchester City youth prospects is not over yet.

It’s a high-risk strategy, but given the success of Tino Livramento and Armando Broja, the two Chelsea youth players Southampton had last season, it might well pay off. Livramento was one of the breakout stars of last season, while Broja’s performances on loan at Saint Mary’s have started a bidding war among other Premier League sides.

Southampton aren’t the only mid-table Premier League team who have benefited from signing youth players from the top sides: Patrick Viera’s successful start as Crystal Palace boss came largely on the back of Marc Guehi and Conor Gallagher, both brought in from Chelsea. One of Leeds United’s signings this summer was 18-year-old Darko Gyabi from Manchester City, who they hope will be as big a hit as their previous City signing Jack Harrison.

But while mid-table teams might be benefiting from these talented youngsters, the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool are earning a fortune from selling such players.

Last summer when Chelsea signed Romelu Lukaku, many people pointed out that his club-record transfer fee was paid for by the sales of Guehi, Livramento, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori – all players who came up through Chelsea’s youth system. Chelsea might have wasted a fortune on Lukaku, but that fortune was made on the training grounds of Cobham.

Or was it?

Chelsea might have the best youth players, but that’s partly due to the way youth soccer is structured in England under the Elite Player Performance Programme.

Category One academies like Chelsea can recruit from further afield and can sweep up talented players from smaller clubs after paying a relatively small fee in compensation. This might ensure the best prospects get the best coaching and facilities, and has been credited for England’s recent success on the national stage, but it also means that smaller clubs struggle to make any profit from their youth academies.

The situation in London got so dire that Brentford even closed their academy in 2016, although now they are now reopening it due to a Premier League rule change. When Brentford closed their academy, they said “in a football environment where the biggest Premier League clubs seek to sign the best young players before they can graduate through an Academy system, the challenge of developing value through that system is extremely difficult.”

Manchester City have another advantage when it comes to getting the best youngsters. City Football Group’s extensive system of clubs stretching from Montevideo to Melbourne means they can acquire players more easily from around the world, and can loan them to these clubs to manage their development. Issa Kabore is one such player; he spent last season on loan at Manchester City’s French subsidiary club Troyes.

When it comes to net spend and financial fair play rules, the money made from these youth products can help the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea balance the books, effectively giving them tens of millions of dollars extra in their transfer budgets.

If that comes solely from developing players then fair enough, but if it comes at the expense of smaller clubs nearby, then that just adds to the growing divide between soccer’s haves and have nots.

The next Chelsea player to follow in the steps of Guehi and Livramento could be Levi Colwill.

The center-back is originally from the south coast and impressed on loan at Huddersfield Town last season. He has been attracting a lot of interest from Premier League clubs, and given the success of Chelsea youth players recently, that interest comes as no surprise.

With Chelsea looking to sign another defender, they could let Colwill go, and whoever buys him can expect him to become another former Chelsea youth player thriving in the Premier League.

For Chelsea, Colwill’s transfer fee will be seen as another youth team success story.