With the “Bayern Campus”, FC Bayern has one of the most modern young talent centers in Europe. The people of Munich have put a lot of money into the campus, but so far the income has been meager. Bayern lag far behind the top European clubs in terms of playing times for their own crops.
In its current issue, the trade magazine “kicker” has analyzed the working times for home-grown crops at the top European clubs. Only players from their own offspring were rated in the squads of the major clubs in Europe who had completed at least 50 percent of the league playing time in the 2020/21 season. Homegrown players are therefore young professionals who have been eligible to play for the respective club for at least three seasons.
Barca rely most on their own talents
The youth ranking is led by FC Barcelona. With Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Lionel Messi and Oscar Mingueza, the Catalans have four players who have played at least 50 percent of the league playing time. Second place goes to Manchester United with three players (Greenwood, McTominay, Rashford). Atletico Madrid (Saul, Koke) and Chelsea FC (James, Mount) share third place.
Like Liverpool, Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, FC Bayern only has one home grown, which has completed 50 percent of the 2020/21 league season – Thomas Müller. It will be exciting to see whether Bayern can improve these statistics in the coming years. Those responsible at Säbener Strasse have recently all emphasized that in the future, they want to enable significantly more of their own talents to break through with the professionals.
It is interesting that at Manchester City, Inter Milan, AC Milan and Juventus there was not a single young player who met this criterion.
Overview of the operating times for home grown clubs at the top European clubs
- FC Barcelona – 4 players
- Manchester United – 3
- FC Chelsea – 2
- Atletico Madrid – 2
- FC Liverpool – 1
- Paris Saint-Germain – 1
- Real Madrid – 1
- FC Bayern – 1
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