5 hours Ago
Mikel Arteta can do better but Julen Lopetegui may be sacked for his reluctance to use youth. Ruben Amorim has inherited solid foundations from Erik ten Hag. It is time to rank Premier League clubs based on the league minutes they have afforded players aged 21 or under this season.
Look away now, Mikel. 1) Brighton – 2614 minutes Jack Hinshelwood (840 minutes across ten appearances) Carlos Baleba (617 minutes across nine appearances) Yasin Ayari (492 minutes across nine appearances) Yankuba Minteh (406 minutes across seven appearances) Evan Ferguson (105 minutes across six appearances) Julio Enciso (91 minutes across seven appearances) Brajan Gruda (63 minutes across four appearances) Their manager is an actual child so this does check out. It’s a lovely spread, too: one proper homegrown product, three fairly inexpensive gems from obscure markets who have matured over a few years, and three more lavish and ambitious purchases who were first-team ready when they signed.
Brighton make talent identification and recruitment look easy. 2) Leicester – 2369 minutes Victor Kristiansen (857 minutes across ten appearances) Facundo Buonanotte (731 minutes across ten appearances) Abdul Fatawu (579 minutes across 11 appearances) Bilal El Khannouss (202 minutes across seven appearances) Brighton can even claim the minutes of loanee Buonanotte if they so wished. But those are genuinely impressive numbers from Leicester, whose position hardly lends itself to trust in youth.
3) Chelsea – 2243 minutes Levi Colwill (989 minutes across 11 appearances) Malo Gusto (726 minutes across nine appearances) Romeo Lavia (337 minutes across six appearances) Renato Veiga (168 minutes across five appearances) Marc Guiu (24 minutes across one appearance) It is no secret which template they are trying to follow. Chelsea have got a similar balance to Brighton of academy graduate, moderate buys and more high-level additions but their strengths lie a little higher in that age range between 22 and 26. Robert Sanchez is coincidentally 27.
4) Manchester United – 1747 minutes Alejandro Garnacho (715 minutes across 11 appearances) Kobbie Mainoo (571 minutes across seven appearances) Rasmus Hojlund (416 minutes across seven appearances) Toby Collyer (45 minutes across one appearance) Erik ten Hag had his faults and even came to lean on it far too heavily, but his commitment to developing young talent at Manchester United was admirable. Ruben Amorim will thank him kindly for those foundations before sacking off the rest of the squad . 5) Bournemouth – 1707 minutes Milos Kerkez (927 minutes across 11 appearances) Ilya Zabarnyi (270 minutes across three appearances) Alex Scott (263 minutes across eight appearances) Dean Huijsen (219 minutes across five appearances) Daniel Jebbison (28 minutes across two appearances) A focus on youth development is but one of the many virtues of Andoni Iraola’s approach to coaching.
Among the many other things it already has and will surely achieve is a move to Liverpool or Manchester United for Kerkez . 6) Ipswich – 1649 minutes Omari Hutchinson (874 minutes across ten appearances) Liam Delap (775 minutes across 11 appearances) Talk about quality over quantity. The second-youngest manager in the Premier League feels no need to chuck cursory, box-ticking minutes just anywhere.
7) Southampton – 1534 minutes Mateus Fernandes (707 minutes across ten appearances) Tyler Dibling (570 minutes across 11 appearances) Lesley Ugochukwu (172 minutes across five appearances) Sam Edozie (65 minutes across two appearances) Samuel Amo-Ameyaw (10 minutes across one appearance) Carlos Alcaraz (10 minutes across one appearance) Chelsea account for the 11 youngest starting XIs named by a Premier League side this season. The Southampton which slumped to defeat against Manchester United in September is 12th. 8) Newcastle – 1508 minutes Lewis Hall (786 minutes across 11 appearances) Tino Livramento (710 minutes across 11 appearances) Will Osula (12 minutes across four appearances) There is a reason Newcastle and indeed England are excited about their long-term full-back future.
The Osula situation could hardly be a starker contrast in terms of how amateurish it has made the Magpies look so far. 9) Tottenham – 1405 minutes Destiny Udogie (915 minutes across 11 appearances) Wilson Odobert (162 minutes across three appearances) Pape Matar Sarr (146 minutes across three appearances) Mikey Moore (85 minutes across four appearances) Lucas Bergvall (51 minutes across five appearances) Archie Gray (46 minutes across five appearances) “Whenever you look at teams that have built and have sustained success, there is a core element of the young players who grow with the team. They’ll take over when the time is right,” Ange Postecoglou said recently.
Those were not empty words. 10) Manchester City – 1389 minutes Rico Lewis (772 minutes across ten appearances) Savio (526 minutes across eight appearances) Jahmai Simpson-Pusey (90 minutes across one appearance) James McAtee (1 minute across one appearance) Pep Guardiola’s hand has been forced to an extent by injuries but Lewis and Savio are fully programmed to the manager’s requirements regardless. 11) Crystal Palace – 796 minutes Adam Wharton (626 minutes across eight appearances) Chadi Riad (90 minutes across one appearance) Justin Devenny (74 minutes across one appearance) Asher Agbinone (4 minutes across two appearances) Caleb Kporha (2 minutes across one appearance) It is a burden so heavy that Wharton’s groin could no longer sustain it and three clearly non-existent players had to be made up just to help out.
12) Nottingham Forest – 599 minutes Elliot Anderson (597 minutes across ten appearances) Eric da Silva Moreira (2 minutes across one appearance) Before he turned 22 on the eve of the November international break, the really quite excellent Anderson carried the can almost single-handedly for Nuno Espirito Santo’s Champions League-bothering Forest. 13) Aston Villa – 553 minutes Jhon Duran (289 minutes across 11 appearances) Lamare Bogarde (168 minutes across two appearances) Kosta Nedeljkovic (96 minutes across three appearances) Early-season issues at right-back presented a limited opportunity for Bogarde and Nedeljkovic to prove their worth as squad options. That is a fight Duran likely deems himself above but the battle to usurp Ollie Watkins continues.
14) Everton – 474 minutes Tim Iroegbunam (383 minutes across six appearances) Roman Dixon (90 minutes across one appearance) Harrison Armstrong (1 minute across one appearance) The most recent of those minutes came on October 5. That is pure, uncut Dyche. 15) Wolves – 298 minutes Carlos Forbs (179 minutes across five appearances) Rodrigo Gomes (119 minutes across five appearances) Wolves are one of only four teams yet to use one of their own academy-trained players in the Premier League this season.
It is precisely the sort of thing which can either not matter at all – see 20) – or is another stick to beat an under-pressure manager and boardroom with. 16) Liverpool – 199 minutes Conor Bradley (146 minutes across six appearances) Jarell Quansah (45 minutes across one appearance) Harvey Elliott (8 minutes across one appearance) There are barely any holes to pick in Arne Slot’s nascent reign but more indications he will blood youth as prolifically as Jurgen Klopp would be welcomed . The return from injury of Elliott will help; poor Quansah still hasn’t been forgiven for that first half on the opening day.
17) Brentford – 197 minutes Yegor Yarmolyuk (144 minutes across seven appearances) Fabio Carvalho (30 minutes across two appearances) Yunus Emre Konak (20 minutes across four appearances) Ryan Trevitt (4 minutes across one appearance) The operation at Brentford in their Premier League era has never felt particularly conducive to youth development – in three-and-a-bit seasons since promotion they have used five teenagers – but Yarmolyuk has broken through from the B team and summer signing Emre Konak has had his chances. 18) Arsenal – 73 minutes Ethan Nwaneri (57 minutes across five appearances) Myles Lewis-Skelly (16 minutes across two appearances) Even the most staunch Mikel Arteta cultist would struggle to defend his policy on academy products. The sales of Emile Smith Rowe and Eddie Nketiah represented a step forward for Arsenal in terms of where they are as a club but it had to open the door for more graduates to push through; Nwaneri impressed in some infuriatingly short cameos but Martin Odegaard’s return blocks that pathway again.
19) West Ham – 13 minutes Luis Guilherme (13 minutes across one appearance) That is one of many sackable charges West Ham supporters have brought against Julen Lopetegui . 20) Fulham – 1 minute Jay Stansfield (1 minute across one appearance) That is objectively funny. Fulham made a concerted effort over the summer to bring the average age of their squad down and frankly whatever they have tried this season has broadly worked.
But their solitary U21 Premier League minute going to a player they soon sold for £20m to a League One side is a great bit..
