Manchester City Reap the Rewards of Selling Academy Starlets as Youth Team Sales Rake in Over £70m

A report has revealed that Manchester City have made over £70m from selling academy starlets in the last four years, including England international Jadon Sancho's move to Borussia Dortmund.

City netted £8m in compensation when BVB moved for wonderkid Sancho, while the sale of Angus Gunn to Southampton last summer brought in another £13m. In addition to these sales, prospects such as Rony Lopes, Pablo Maffeo, Rodney Kongolo, Olivier Ntcham and Seko Fofana have also been sold in recent years.

David Goddard/GettyImages

According to the Mirror, the Citizens' £200m youth academy has proven to be a lucrative money spinner, with players developed at the club bringing in some big money of late. The state of the art Etihad Campus facilities opened in 2014, and have allowed the club to develop young players before selling them on.

While this is good for the club on a financial level, with the high investment in the academy starting to pay dividends, City fans may be frustrated with the lack of youth players breaking into the first team. Midfielder Phil Foden remains the club's brightest youth prospect, but he has struggled to hold down a regular place in Pep Guardiola's first team.

PAUL ELLIS/GettyImages

City are not alone in their youth policy, with their Premier League title rivals Chelsea also renowned for arguably treating young players as investments rather than prospects for the club's future. Spurs and Arsenal also fall into this camp, having brought in a combined £23.4m from academy prospects over the last four years.

Meanwhile, Guardiola has lavished midfield duo Fernandinho and Riyad Mahrez with praise, following their performances in his side's 5-0 Premier League thrashing of Burnley on Saturday. The former Barcelona boss claimed that the pair's performance was integral in the win, which saw City keep pace with the likes of Liverpool and Chelsea in the title race.