Liverpool sit above Man United, Barcelona with academy profit

Liverpool have generated a healthy academy profit according to data released this week. The Reds sit above key rivals.

CIES Football Observatory put out some interesting data this week as they showed the profits made by clubs' academies over the last decade. It presents some wildly different figures across clubs - across clubs within the same country even.

In fact, some show incredible differences within clubs simply between the 2014/18 seasons and the 2019/2023 seasons. Certain clubs have seen rapid growth over the 10-year period, while others saw profit slow over the course of the decade.

Liverpool are actually one of those. The figures show how the Reds made €18m more across 2014 - 2018 than they have since - their last five years only represent 46 per cent of the total.

Compare that to Aston Villa, who sit one place above Liverpool in the rankings. 93 per cent of their total came in the last five years. Of course, the majority of that was simply through one sale - Jack Grealish to Manchester City for £100m.

But where do Liverpool rank in world football for academy profit? CIES Football Observatory has them in 20th over the last decade, having generated €199m from selling academy players.

It's worth noting, however, that this doesn't actually tell the entire value from the academy as the greatest player to ever come from the academy system, Trent Alexander-Arnold, has not been sold and likely never will be. If Liverpool were to sell him, they'd be competing at the top of the list.

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'20th in world football' doesn't exactly sound great for a club the size of Liverpool but it's a pretty good place to be. They're above Barcelona and Manchester United for instance, and the latter is a sign of progress.

The Reds fell well below United in lists like this before 2014 and to have comfortably climbed above them since then shows real progress in the academy system. Liverpool are fifth for English clubs, too, with only Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Aston Villa ahead of them.

So all in all, it's a figure to be proud of. Liverpool haven't just generated great profit, after all, but also some key first-team players like Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones.