Real Madrid 9th & Chelsea 8th - Which clubs hand U21 stars most minutes?

French club top 

There’s few feelings better for supporters than witnessing a talented youngster progress through the academy before developing into a first-team star. It’s also arguably never been as important for clubs to develop youngsters and entrust them with opportunities due to financial regulations. Academy graduates represent pure profit when sold for Premier League PSR rules with several English top-flight clubs capitalising on that to balance books.

Every club, however, has different motivations for signing or playing younger players. Smaller European clubs’ business models revolve around unearthing talents with massive potential before developing them with the aim of selling them for vast profits. Major clubs are naturally willing to invest in younger talents in the hope they become world-class players and crucially, they maintain market value. While some clubs develop their own youngsters and others acquire prodigious talents, managers still need to show faith and hand them ample opportunities. Therefore, we’ve analysed which clubs have handed the most minutes to U21 players this season?

Which clubs have handed most minutes to U21 players?

There’s been copious amounts of criticism for BlueCo’s business model with, firstly, Chelsea and Strasbourg but their philosophy with the French club is clear. Their strategy revolves around developing youngsters in a league where emerging talents gain more opportunities than any other top European league. Incredibly, Strasbourg have provided more than double the amount of minutes to U21 talents than any other top five league season.

 Liam Rosenior has also utilised more U21 players (15) than any other club and they’ve totalled 5,785 minutes across all competitions. Strasbourg also topped this category last season, narrowly beating Barcelona to top spot. Three further Ligue 1 clubs feature in the top ten list with Nice in second and PSG in fifth. Interestingly, Chelsea also feature in eighth, which is a clear indication of BlueCo’s onus on younger players. All top five leagues are represented in the top ten list with Real Madrid in ninth, Frankfurt in sixth and Como third.