Portsmouth fall down academy rankings for Premier League player success

New research from the Press Association shows that products of the club’s academy played 6,065 minutes of last season's Premier League.

It makes them the 31st best academy overall for minutes played in the English top flight, and the 19th top club academy in England.

The minutes were shared between three players, with Matt Ritchie featuring most – 3,130 minutes - for Newcastle United last season. Asmir Begovic, at Bournemouth, and Crystal Palace's Joel Ward featured in second and third place respectively.

Despite the playing time, the club dropped in the rankings last season. In 2017-18, their academy products clocked 8,367 minutes of Premier League action, ranking them 18th overall.

Manchester United’s academy produced the most Premier League players last season. Between them, 20 players – including Watford regular Craig Cathcart, Paul Pogba at United and Everton's Michael Keane – racked up more than 27,000 minutes of league time.

That was more than 50 per cent more than Tottenham's academy, their nearest challengers, from which 13 academy products played 18,000 minutes.

Southampton’s youth setup came third, with the academies at Chelsea, Manchester City and Premier League newcomers Sheffield United following.

The rankings also show the English top flight’s reliance on products of European academies – though the focus has shifted south, from Holland to Portugal.

Whereas last year’s rankings featured Feyenoord and Ajax in seventh and 10th place respectively, this year sees Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, at eighth and 10th, feature as the only two continental sides in the top 10.

Wolves' promotion to the top flight, and their links with the Portuguese market, was a key factor – they gave minutes to six players trained in Portugal last year.

Outside of the top flight, Leeds United were the biggest English producers of Premier League players. As well as Charlie Taylor at Burnley, products of their academy included relative veterans James Milner and Aaron Lennon.

League One's Coventry City were next, with two players on the fringe of the England squad – James Maddison and Callum Wilson – gaining the most minutes.

The top ten academies, ranked by minutes their players played in the Premier League last season, were:

Manchester United: 20 players, 27,395 minutes (Craig Cathcart, at Watford, played most)

Tottenham: 13 players, 17,903 mins (Andros Townsend, Crystal Palace)

Southampton: 16 players, 15,964 mins (Luke Shaw, Manchester United)

Chelsea: nine players, 15,870 mins (Nathan Ake, Bournemouth)

Manchester City: eight players, 13,605 mins (Ben Mee, Burnley)

Sheffield United: six players, 12,400 mins (Kyle Walker, Manchester City)

Liverpool: six players, 12,104 mins (Conor Coady, Wolves)

Benfica: five players, 11,032 mins (Ederson, Manchester City)

West Ham: eight players, 10,608 mins (Declan Rice, West Ham)

Sporting Lisbon: five players, 10,127 mins (Rui Patricio, Wolves)