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#3 Athletic Bilbao | Spain
For a club that has a strict policy of signing only players from the Basque regions of Spain and France for its first team, the youth academy is the single most important entity that sustains the existence of Athletic Bilbao as a football club.
In recent times, Bilbao have produced some outstanding players who have gone on to big clubs in the rest of Europe, and won the biggest trophies available to win.
Javi Martinez has won a host of trophies in Germany with Bayern Munich. Ander Herrera has also won a few things since his move to Manchester United and subsequently PSG.
But the success story of Athletic Bilbao comes from how seamlessly they manage to replace their departing players with talents coming out of their youth academy.
For example, Kepa Arrizabalaga left for Chelsea for a world-record fee in the summer of 2018. But Bilbao have hardly felt the loss, with Unai Simon stepping up brilliantly and now even staking a claim to be in the Spanish National Team.
The likes of Iker Muniain and Inaki Williams still remain with the Athletic Bilbao first team and are their best players right now.
#2 FC Barcelona | Spain
When the talk of the youth academies around the world arises, the one name that never fails to get a mention is La Masia. The youth academy of Barcelona has been the pillar on which the golden era of the club under Pep Guardiola was built. And it has carried on to the current squad as well.
Lionel Messi will always remain La Masia's crown jewel. But what it can take even more credit for is producing the bulk of the squad of players that so wonderfully enabled Messi during the reigns of Guardiola and Luis Enrique.
Xavi and Iniesta, who were the bedrock of the Guardiola side, came through the La Masia system. In 2012, La Masia had its proudest moment, when Tito Vilanova named a starting XI entirely consisting of players from La Masia.
Even in the current team, La Masia graduates Riqui Puig and Ansu Fati have made a significant impact, especially the young winger Fati. Puig came to the limelight under Quique Setien, and will also be hoping to make his big step up when Ronald Koeman takes charge for the new season.
#1 AFC Ajax | Netherlands
The Dutch giants have always taken pride in their ability to produce talents from their youth academy to play for the first team, ever since the days of Johan Cruyff.
The Ajax production line really has not shown any signs of stopping any time soon. Their scouting network at the youth level ensures that their geographic reach is not just restricted to Amsterdam or the Netherlands. This enables them to have a wider reach of players to bring in and develop.
The 2018-19 run into the Champions League semi-final was built on Ajax academy players, as well. The likes of Matthijs de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong, and Donny van de Beek were also joined by the more experienced and older academy graduates like Daley Blind and Klaas Jan Huntelaar to produce a fabulous run.
Ajax's fairytale journey saw them knock out European heavyweights like Juventus and Real Madrid were knocked out.
Ajax's inability to keep their biggest youth academy stars at the club, though, does not prove any kind of hindrance. The robustness of their youth system mostly ensures that they are able to replace their outgoing stars with fresh academy players at all times.
Notable Mentions - Manchester United & Liverpool
Manchester United have gone more than 4000 games now with a youth academy player in the matchday squad for the first team. In the current squad, the likes of Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood played a massive part in the club finishing third in the Premier League, scoring 17 and 10 Premier League goals respectively.
For Liverpool, the emergence of Trent Alexander-Arnold as the best right-back in the world was a big testimony the work done at the youth academy. In Neco Williams, Rhian Brewster, and Curtis Jones, the club also has a few more youngsters of whom Jurgen Klopp expects big things.
