Three PL sides in top 10 

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With the 2024/25 club season now over in Europe’s top-five leagues, we can take a breath and look back on some of the statistics of an exciting and enthralling campaign across the top divisions. Liverpool won the Premier League title in Arne Slot’s first season in charge, Napoli won Serie A against the odds under Antonio Conte, Barcelona were victorious again in LaLiga, PSG stormed Ligue 1, whilst Bayern Munich wrestled the Bundesliga title back from Bayer Leverkusen. But which teams favoured their young guns the most across the season? At Transfermarkt, we have calculated which top-five league teams handed the most league minutes to U18 players in the 2024/25 campaign, and it’s provided us with some fascinating insights.

Which top-5 league clubs gave most minutes to U18 players?

Leading the way were LaLiga champions Barcelona. The Catalan side handed out a grand total of 6,307 minutes to four U18 players across the season. These minutes came from Lamine Yamal (2,864), Pau Cubarsí (2,621), Hector Fort (578), and Marc Bernal (244). In second place are Champions League and Ligue 1 winners PSG, who gave out a total of 2,903 minutes to six teenagers across the campaign. In third place come Arsenal, who gave 2,260 minutes to the teenage pair of Myles Lewis-Skelly (1,371) and Ethan Nwaneri (889). In fourth place are the Gunners’ North London rivals Tottenham who gave out 2,063 minutes to three U18 players.

In fifth come LaLiga’s bottom-placed outfit Real Valladolid, who gave 1,941 minutes to four U18 players across the 2024/25 season. In sixth are another relegated side in the Premier League’s 20th-placed team Southampton, who handed out 1,438 minutes to four youngsters – most of which were to Tyler Dibling (1,265). In seventh and eighth are two Ligue 1 sides in Lille (1,366) and Stade Reims (1,232). It’s then two Serie A sides that complete the top 10, with Parma (1,205) in ninth and Genoa (1,192) in 10th.