Article written by Football Benchmark

The Premier League is recognised worldwide as the most competitive and lucrative domestic competition. Alongside its record revenues, the league and English football more broadly have accelerated their progress in youth development in recent years. England’s U21 side secured its second successive UEFA U21 EURO title this summer, while players such as Liverpool’s Rio Ngumoha and Arsenal’s Max Dowman are making first-team debuts before turning 17. At the same time, at the highest level of the game, clubs are committing major resources to youth development, a central pillar of club strategic planning.

At industry level, youth football’s importance is only growing. On the pitch, younger players are now contributing more minutes than ever before, while off the pitch, they represent valuable assets, both in terms of transfer value and their role in long-term squad planning. These developments make it essential for clubs to balance immediate competitiveness with investment in the future. While exceptional talent can be unearthed across the world, domestic player development systems remain decisive in shaping pathways, with investment, opportunity and structured frameworks all influencing long-term success.

This article assesses the evolution of playing opportunities of U21 players in the Premier League, the differences between clubs, and the share of minutes given to domestic players. The central question is whether the league has found the right balance between short-term success and long-term development.

Evolution at league level

Recent regulatory changes have reshaped the environment for young players in the Premier League. The introduction of the five-substitution rule, new Governing Body Endorsement (GBE) criteria following Brexit, tighter enforcement of domestic financial sustainability rules, and mounting fixture congestion have all prompted clubs to reconsider their approach to squad planning. Combined with the systemic trends behind the growing importance of young players in general, these changes have created conditions in which younger players are gaining more opportunities.

The trend is clear in the data. U21 players accounted for 9.9% of total league minutes in 2020/21, with 98 different players featuring. By 2023/24, this figure had risen to 13.9% of minutes and 145 players, before settling slightly lower at 12.8% and 128 players in 2024/25.

Three key factors drive the peak of 2023/24. First, matches became significantly longer following the introduction of stricter stoppage-time rules. According to Premier League data, the average game time increased, creating a significant number of additional minutes across the season. A large share of these were allocated late in matches, often to younger players, giving them more opportunities than in previous years.

Second, the rise reflects the convergence of the new, expanded substitution rules (resulting in the expansion of the playing squad used for longer first team matches), the impact of Brexit (limitations in foreign recruitment) and growing financial constraints. While none of these happened directly before the season, it took time for clubs to catch up with this new market reality.

Third, playing time was heavily influenced by the presence of a select group of extraordinary young players who became core starters for their clubs. The 30 most-used U21 players collectively played more than 10,000 additional minutes compared with 2022/23. On the one hand, this highlights how “playing opportunities” cannot simply be measured by minutes statistics, but instead should be cross-analysed with the number of different players who receive these opportunities. On the other hand, it also shows a recent increase in the number of exceptional talents flowing into the Premier League, who are trusted with minutes, even with high competitive expectations.

Comparisons across clubs

At club level, we can observe mixed strategies. While several clubs have made U21 integration a consistent part of squad planning, others have relied almost exclusively on established senior players. On average, only around 1.5 U21 players per club have reached 1,000 minutes of playing time in a season, highlighting the limited availability of meaningful opportunities.

Brighton and Chelsea stand out clearly at the top in terms of playing opportunities. Brighton allocated 44,880 minutes to U21 players across the five seasons analysed, equivalent to 21.6% of their total league minutes, while Chelsea followed closely with 41,232 minutes or 19.9%. Together, they are the only two clubs to consistently allocate around one-fifth of their minutes to U21 players, averaging more than 8,000 minutes per season. They are followed by Arsenal (31,485 minutes, 15.3%), Manchester United (27,036 minutes, 13.1%), Wolves (25,339 minutes, 12.2%), Crystal Palace (22,948 minutes, 11.2%) and Tottenham (22,906 minutes, 11.1%). Interestingly, four of the “Big Six” clubs appear in the top half of this ranking.

At the other end of the scale, Aston Villa (10,620 minutes, 5.1%) and West Ham United (6,669 minutes, 3.2%) provided the least U21 playing time, with Newcastle United (16,011 minutes, 7.7%) also sitting near the bottom. In these clubs, the scarcity of opportunities reflects both limited minutes and a narrow distribution of playing time, with fewer than three youth players featuring per season on average.

The breadth of opportunity also varies significantly. Brighton fielded 32 different U21 players over this period and Chelsea 35, far ahead of most of their peers. By contrast, Arsenal’s 15.3% share of U21 minutes was overwhelmingly concentrated in a handful of exceptional talents: Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli, Emile Smith Rowe and William Saliba together accounted for close to 80% of the total. At Crystal Palace, five players were responsible for 88% of the club’s U21 minutes.

While clubs like Brighton and Chelsea have created a genuine breadth of opportunity, with multiple players gaining meaningful exposure, others have relied on a small core of high-performing young players, generating strong headline numbers but offering fewer chances for wider groups of talent. The broader trend reinforces the reality of the Premier League: the very best young players can accumulate significant playing time, but for most others, opportunities remain limited.

Domestic vs. international talent

Another key question when evaluating league-wide development success is to determine who exactly these minutes go to. A crucial part of any domestic development system is the ability to identify local talent and enhance the competitiveness of national teams.

Looking at the data, while the overall volume of U21 playing time has grown, the share allocated to English players has actually declined. In 2020/21 and 2021/22, domestic players accounted for a majority of U21 minutes, peaking at 63.9%. However, in 2022/23, English players represented just 26.8% of U21 minutes, recovering slightly to 37% in 2023/24 and 32.5% in 2024/25. By contrast, international players accounted for more than two-thirds of all U21 minutes last season.

This shift reflects the Premier League’s unmatched capacity to attract elite young talent from abroad. Clubs are increasingly turning to young international recruits, either by signing those who had already broken into first teams abroad or by promoting foreign players who spent part of their development in English academies. The GBE system, introduced after Brexit, was intended to manage the flow of overseas players. Yet, in practice, the combination of high level of competitiveness, global scouting reach, strong financial resources, and the appeal of the Premier League has ensured that international players continue to secure a large share of opportunities.

In 2024/25, 12 Premier League clubs gave less than half of their U21 minutes to domestic players, and two clubs (Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest) did not provide any first-team minutes to English U21 players at all. At the same time, the England U21 national team continues to perform at a high level, but the shrinking proportion of domestic playing time at club level raises questions about sustainability in the long term.

A market-driven youth boom

Opportunities for U21 players in the Premier League are increasing, but challenges around youth development in the league remain. Much of the growth has been market-driven, shaped by rising player values, fixture congestion, substitution rules, GBE restrictions and financial regulations, rather than a philosophical change in approach. The peak in 2023/24 showed how much figures depend on a small group of exceptional players, many of whom are not English.

Even so, the trajectory is positive. Premier League clubs’ strong commitment and investment in youth development, combined with England’s Elite Player Performance Plan, has built one of the strongest national development systems in Europe, producing increasingly more success stories than a decade ago. The country’s U21 EURO title and the emergence of top-end talent underline the strength of the domestic pathway. At the same time, clubs such as Brighton and Chelsea show how youth integration can provide both competitive strength and financial sustainability within the Premier League’s regulatory and financial environment.

Viewed in a European context, according to UEFA’s Club Talent and Competition Landscape report, the Premier League sits slightly below the continental average in youth minutes but compares favourably with its closest peers, ranking behind only France among the “Big Five” leagues. The sharper contrast is with developer leagues such as those in Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark, Switzerland, and Austria, which systematically provide more opportunities at younger ages. These leagues serve as transitional markets feeding talent into England, while the Premier League itself remains a destination for proven young players rather than a platform for early breakthroughs.

The Premier League’s youth development story is therefore one of progress without perfection: a system that produces more talent than ever and offers strategic opportunities for clubs, but where competition ensures that playing time remains concentrated and heavily shaped by exceptional individuals.

At Football Benchmark, we support clubs, leagues, and investors in understanding the strategic role of youth development and its impact on sporting and financial performance. Through our data platforms and advisory work, we help clients assess pathways, benchmark strategies against peers, and identify opportunities for sustainable growth in a market where youth development has quickly become a decisive factor both on and off the pitch.