Southampton TOP ahead of Swansea and Man Utd as Chelsea and Liverpool stars aid Lille

THE excellence of Southampton's youth set-up is no secret.

Southampton's Summer Exodus

Real Madrid ace Gareth Bale and Arsenal stars Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Theo Walcott all rolled off the Saints production line in recent years.

And the continued excellence of the youth set-up on the south coast has now seen Southampton top the table for fees generated by homegrown sales Europe-wide.

A study carried out by the CIES Football Observatory shows that the Saints have earned more than any other club from selling youth academy graduates since 2012.

Adam LallanaGETTY

Adam Lallana helped Southampton top the table

Southampton have benefitted from selling homegrown stars

Calum Chambers, Adam Lallana and Luke Shaw earned Southampton £64.4million as they moved to Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United respectively at the end of last season.

The next best Premier League team - Swansea - rank 11th on the list, thanks to the sale of Joe Allen (to Liverpool) and Ben Davies (to Tottenham).

Manchester United's sale of Danny Welbeck, Michael Keane, Robbie Brady, Matt James and Josh King saw them finish 13th, while Everton rank 16th after letting Victor Anichebe, Jack Rodwell and Shane Duffy depart.

Study resultsCIES

Ligue 1 club Lille rank second overall on the list - benefitting hugely from the sales of Eden Hazard (Chelsea), Divock Origi (Liverpool) and Mathieu Debuchy (Newcastle).

David Moyes' new club, Real Sociedad finish third, with Spanish side Sevilla and German giants Borussia Dortmund rounding out the top five.

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