Liverpool’s Academy is renowned for having produced some world-class talents over the years from Steve McManaman to Trent Alexander-Arnold.
More recently, as James Pearce has aptly pointed out, it has become an integral part of the club’s revenue-making process.
“The running costs of the academy exceed £10 million per year but no one could question whether the set-up is providing value for money given the conveyor belt of talent,” the journalist wrote for The Athletic.
“Remarkably, the departure of Wilson means that over the past five years Liverpool have generated £120 millions in sales from youngsters they have either brought through the ranks from the under-nines or snapped up from other academies before taking them to the next level.
“And that figure could soon grow further given that Nat Phillips is attracting interest from a host of Premier League clubs.”
The Merseysiders still have some way to go before catching up with Chelsea’s successful model of buying and selling young talent, though it’s to the credit of the side that it is finding a way to raise funds even when dealing with the financial ramifications of COVID-19.
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Given that we’re far from possessing the wealth available to clubs like Manchester City and Chelsea, seeking unorthodox revenue streams will be one way of keeping up with our rivals.
When it comes to Nathaniel Phillips, however, we’d hope that the Englishman will favour staying at Anfield, selfishly on our part, in consideration of the prior injury crisis that rocked our season last term.
Nonetheless, should the defender opt for more regular playing time elsewhere, as is his prerogative, it’s impressive to think that we will have generated potentially over £135m just from Academy sales.
This does not include the loan fee’s & wages saved during all of the loans prior to being sold by Liverpool FC.