Five most underrated football academies in Europe

Bengaluru, July 21: When we talk about the best football academies in Europe, clubs such as Ajax and Barcelona automatically cross our minds. Almost every top club invest a lot in their academies to unearth the hidden gems and polish them to become future professionals.

Academies are backbones to any successful team and we have seen many clubs dominate their leagues and even Europe with players mostly comprising of their homegrown talents. While academies of Ajax or Barcelona and many others are well renowned for developing world-class talents, there are a few clubs who have gone under the radar but have produced some world-beaters.

Here, we will take a look at the five most underrated academies in Europe who do not get the recognition they deserve.

FC Groningen

In a small country like the Netherlands where there are internationally acclaimed academies like Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord, it is not easy for the other smaller clubs to find promising talents but FC Griongen have done a commendable job themselves in producing some talents over the years.

Some of their biggest crown jewels have been Ronald Koeman, Arjen Robben, Virgil van Dijk and Luis Suarez. They have also produced notable players like Felip Kostic, Dusan Tadic, Marcus Berg and many more which is impressive for such a humble club.

The Eredivisie does not have too many accolades to show for their extensive youth development and research but deserves plenty of credit for the immense job they have been doing since the sixties.

Stade Rennais

The top clubs in France such as PSG, Lyon, AS Monaco, Marseille all have brilliant youth academies but beyond them, there are several other French clubs who have went on to produce some amazing talents over the years and one such clubs is Stade Rennais or simply known as Rennes.

This season, the club have stunned French and European football by finishing third in Ligue 1 and that too with a squad mainly comprising of their homegrown talents. The Brittany-based club have an impressive list of alumni who have been developed at the club such as Mikaël Silvestre, Sylvain Wiltord, Luis Fabiano, Stéphane Mbia, Ousmane Dembélé, Abdoulaye Doucouré, Yoann Gourcuff, Anthony Réveillère, Ismaïla Sarr, Moussa Sow and list goes on.

Eduardo Camavinga is the latest wonderkid to have been produced at the club and he is wanted by almost every top European club at the age of 17 which shows how much trust the club have in their talents.

FC Metz

For a team that have never won the French top division and also not have won any silverware in 25 years, FC Metz have a sensational list of former players who have been developed at the club. One of the biggest talents the club have ever produced is Robert Pires who was developed by the club and then went on to achieve success at Arsenal also being an integral part of their invincibles.

Luis Saha is also another former academy graduate of the club who also went on to become a success at Manchester United. They also produced players like Emmanuel Adebayor and teamed up with Generation Foot academy in Senegal who supplied them talents like Sadio Mane, Papiss Cissé, Diafra Sakho and Kalidou Koulibaly. Another top player Metz produced was Miralem Pjanic who also went on to become of the best midfielders in the world.

K.R.C. Genk

Genk might not be one of the classic Belgian clubs like Standard Liege, Club Brugge and Anderlecht but the work they have done in producing talents especially over the last two decades is truly impressive. Genk have gone on to become the biggest talent producers in Belgium and should be regarded as one of the best academies in world football.

The club has produced players like Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, Christian Benteke, Dennis Praet, Leandro Trossard, Divock Origi, Timothy Castagne, Leon Bailey, Wilfred Ndidi and many more. Belgium's current golden generation is many thanks to the impressive youth development of the country's biggest clubs and Genk have been at the forefront of everything.

Dinamo Zagreb

There are very few teams in Europe who can compete with Croatian giants Dinamo Zagreb in terms of youth development and yet, their academy remain so much underrated. In the Croatia squad that reached the final of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 14 out of the 23 players were from the academy of the Croatian giants which speaks volumes about how good an academy they have.

They have 67 of their alumni of players playing in the top leagues in Europe which is only second to Ajax and much ahead of the likes of Barcelona, Manchester United and Real Madrid. Some of the notable academy graduates of the club are Luka Modric, Mateo Kovacic, Igor Bišćan, Vedran Ćorluka, Eduardo, Andrej Kramarić, Niko Kranjčar, Davor Šuker, Mario Mandzukic, Dejan Lovren, Milan Badelj Marko Pjaca, Dani Olmo, Sime Vrsaljko, Ante Coric, Alen Halilovic and many more.