Tottenham overtake Manchester United as the Premier League side with most academy products

Tottenham Hotspur have overtaken Manchester United as the Premier League side with most academy products in the first-team squad, after the impressive breakthrough of Harry Kane and Ryan Mason last season, a study revealed. Sunderland and Bournemouth, meanwhile, appear in the bottom rank as Dick Advocaat and Eddie Howe don't have any players from their youth systems registered in their first-team squads.

Mauricio Pochettino has proved his trust in the England talents since arriving in the Premier League in 2013 as replacement for Nigel Adkins at Southampton. Having overseen the progress of Luke Shaw, Adam Lallana, James Ward-Prowse and Calum Chambers at the Saints, he replicated the same methods in his first year at White Hart Lane.

And the Argentinian boss looks ready to do the same in the current season, having opted against spending too much during the summer transfer window, instead handing chances to Alex Pritchard and Tom Carroll. With Andros Townsend and Danny Rose also in Pochettino's squad, the Soccerex Transfer Review 2016 revealed that Spurs have six academy products in the first team.

"Tottenham have taken over from Manchester United as the side with the most homegrown players in first team squad (six). However, the Premier League continues to have the lowest number of national players (just 32%). On the opposite side, Spanish La Liga has the highest (58%)," the study revealed.

Spurs also have young Englishmen Eric Dier, Kyle Walker, Dele Alli and new signing Kevin Trippier in the first team, although they are not included on the list as they are not youth team graduates. The study, meanwhile, points out the climb in prices for English players due to the Champions League homegrown quota, after Raheem Sterling overtook Andy Carroll as the priciest Englishman to date.

"Raheem Sterling stands out as the most expensive English player ever in the Premier League," the study added. "Premier League sides hunting for English talent has resulted in the average cost of homegrown players climbing to €6.7m (£4.9m, $7.5m) – the highest amount ever (+67% on last year's average)."