There are few clubs in European football that have as productive a youth system as Chelsea. First-team stars Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Conor Gallagher, Mason Mount and Armando Broja were schooled at Cobham. Countless others are plying their trade at various levels across the world.
It's why, according to the CIES Football Observatory, the players whose talents were honed in Chelsea's academy are valued at an estimated €630million (£559.1million). It's a staggering figure but there is one club whose academy graduates are collectively worth more: Portuguese giants Benfica.
There are, based on CIES' research, more than 100 Benfica-taught players in the global game – and several of them represent Premier League clubs. Manchester City benefit through Ederson, Ruben Dias, and Bernardo Silva. Wolverhampton Wanderers own Jose Sa and Goncalo Guedes, although the latter is now back on loan at Benfica.
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Chelsea secured arguably the most talented of the lot in January when a loan move for Joao Felix was completed. The 23-year-old has thus far made five appearances for Graham Potter's side and has impressed despite the Blues' wretched form in the top flight.
But is the secret to Benfica's success? Rodrigo Magalhaes, the club's academy technical coordinator, explained to football.london last month. He said: "Our focus is the player first, not the team. We have a long-term player development process and it makes a big difference in comparison with other clubs in Europe.
"Everyone from the medical department, psychologist, physiologist, the schooling department, works together on the player. Of course, we compete and we try to win always – victory is in our minds – but our first focus is to get players into our first team.
"A good example of this is Antonio Silva, who is one of the best young centre-backs in the world and played for Portugal at the World Cup. He had some difficulties at Under-14s and Under-15s but we believed in his high potential and we waited for him. We created strategies to give him comfort and stability to show his potential.
"When we speak to coaches they highlight our players have the ability to player in many different roles in the same game – and these are best-value market players. We believe in our methodology and we understand with this kind of work we can develop players to play in different systems, different positions, and that will help them make transitions to different leagues."
Such is the increasingly competitive nature of the European transfer market, Benfica rarely have the opportunity to keep hold of a high-potential academy graduate. Felix, for example, was only a member of the first-team squad for one season before he signed for Atletico Madrid in a deal worth £113million.
It's why Benfica ensure every homegrown talent is prepared for the pressure that comes with playing for the senior side. Talent alone is not enough. "We don't develop only the technical or tactical part of the player," Magalhaes said. "We try to develop with other departments the personality of our players.
"They need a high level of mental strength to handle the pressure of everything around them: agents, management, things outside of football. At 18 years old a player can look over their shoulder and their best friend is going out, drinking beers, and going to bed at 4am. But the player has to say no, understand the need to rest, to sleep eight hours, to stay on the nutritional plan.
"That can be really difficult. We have departments that prepare the players to fight against bad opportunities that people can give them – and for a talented player there are always people knocking on the door."
While Chelsea spent much of January in regular dialogue with Benfica over a move for Enzo Fernandez – who used the Portuguese giants as a gateway to the European game – another English club completed a deal for an academy graduate. Striker Henrique Araujo joined Watford on loan until the summer and Magalhaes highlighted that is becoming a regular pathway.
"The opportunity to play in the Championship, which is a tough league, is a good experience for these players," he said. "Henrique is a wonderful guy, so humble. He played 60 games for our B team and is Benfica's best-ever scorer in the second tier with 29 goals. He won the Under-17 Championship and was a finalist in the UEFA Youth League.
"He is a very intelligent player. His movement between defenders is really very clever. I think he is going to be helpful to Watford this season."
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