Written by
Ian Westbrook
July 30, 2025
Wolves and Brentford did not give a single minute’s Premier League action to any homegrown players last season, according to data from the CIES Football Observatory.
The CIES define a homegrown – or club-trained – player as one for whom the club is their first and where they have played for at least three seasons between the ages of 15 and 21. Brentford only reopened their Academy at the start of the 2022/23 season.
Premier League rules state that clubs can have no more than 17 non-homegrown players in their 25-man squad list, which is submitted after the current transfer window closes on September 1st. Under-21 players, whether homegrown or not, are not included in the list but can play in the league.
The highest percentage of minutes given to homegrown players in the Premier League last season was at champions Liverpool, with 16.6%. Chelsea (14.6%) and Manchester United (14.2%) were not far behind.
Everton had the lowest percentage of the clubs who did field homegrown players with 0.4% of minutes on the pitch.
Photo credit: CIES
The Premier League side with the youngest average age last season was Chelsea with 24.1, which is backed up by their recruitment strategy of signing young players on long contracts.
Despite their lack of homegrown players, Brentford fielded the seventh youngest side (26.2), while the oldest was West Ham United (28.6).
Photo credit: CIES
The CIES Football Observatory, which was created in 2005, specialises in the statistical analysis of football.
It is a research group within the International Centre for Sports Studies, an independent study centre based in Neuchatel, Switzerland, and comprises three researchers and a collaborator, who gathers the data.
On its website, it says its mission is “to advance the frontiers of knowledge for the sustainable development of football worldwide”.
It regularly works with governing bodies FIFA and UEFA as well as top clubs such as Arsenal and Chelsea.
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