The ‘Big Six’ academy wars: How the Premier League elite turned on each other and why that’s a problem

The uneasy truce is over between the biggest academies in England.

For many years, there was an unofficial agreement between the big clubs in the Premier League that they would not try to sign players from each others’ academies. It was an agreement that was occasionally violated, but the ‘Big Six’ co-existed relatively peacefully. For many in the academy world, this seemed like a good thing, allowing players to focus on their development instead of possible transfers.

Now, no player is off the table.

Some point to Rhian Brewster’s move from Chelsea to Liverpool in 2015 as the first major crack. Others cite Charlie McNeill’s move from Manchester City to Manchester United in 2021. Everyone, however, agrees that Rio Ngumoha’s switch from Chelsea to Liverpool in 2024 was the game-changer. 

The £2.8million fee Liverpool were eventually required by a tribunal to pay Chelsea for 16-year-old Ngumoha after the two clubs failed to agree a figure between themselves — which could rise to £6.8m depending on performance — was initially viewed as a deterrent to shopping at that age bracket, but Ngumoha has proven to be worth significantly more.

The Athletic has spoken to dozens of sources inside English academies and at player agencies to find out what is happening in academy recruitment and why there has been such an upsurge in players moving between big clubs. These sources spoke on condition of anonymity to protect relationships and because they had not been authorised to speak by their clubs.

“There’s a big scramble now,” says a scout at a major club. “Everyone has realised that, yes, £1m or £2m sounds really expensive as a fee when you sign an academy player, but they just have to be Championship level or above and you could make a huge profit. It’s a business within a business.”

At under-16 level this summer, Manchester United are set to sign David Eze and Karim Cassim after they turned down a scholarship at Manchester City. City signed Mishel Nduka from Arsenal. Arsenal signed Elijah Upson from Tottenham Hotspur and Vincent Joseph from Liverpool. Spurs signed George Jobling from Chelsea. Chelsea, serving a nine-month youth-transfer ban, will need to wait until December before they can bite back.

These kinds of deals are not new, and comply with the existing rules. But the scale at which players are being traded, the commercialisation of a process involving such young players, and the ways in which the system is open to abuse by the unscrupulous has raised questions about whether these rules are fit for purpose. Many sources The Athletic spoke to for this story believe the guardrails around young players need bolstering.

An important factor in the rise in moves between Premier League clubs and the increasing commercialisation of academy transfers is Brexit. Players are not allowed to transfer internationally before 18, but players with EU passports have always been permitted to move between EU countries from 16-18 because of an exception.

But in 2021, Premier League clubs lost access to that exception and this shrunk the market by 95 per cent. Suddenly, the best players on the market under 18 were all at rival English clubs.

That has led to increased moves between senior UK clubs. So too has the recent increase in the number of category one academies. In 2012-13 there were 20. That number has risen to 31 in 2026-27.

Aston Villa are widely cited by various academy chiefs and agents as being ahead of the game, shopping in category two and three academies at younger ages rather than waiting until later teenage years.

The proactive strategy of Manchester City in the south of England, where they have signed 16-year-old talents like Divine Mukasa from West Ham United, Ryan McAidoo from Chelsea and Dexter Oliver from Spurs is cited as another driver in the increased competition. Clubs like Sheffield United, Leeds United and Wolverhampton Wanderers now have a dedicated London scout to sweep up talent.

Ryan McAidoo is one of a number of players Manchester City have recruited from London clubs (Kate McShane/Getty Images)

Spurs have not traditionally been as active in these markets but have gone on a flurry this summer between the ages of 12 and 16, spending millions on youth players across the age groups. They are closing on the signings of two West Ham under-14 players, both of whom are expected to cost high six-figure fees.

Southampton are expecting to lose a 14-year-old midfielder to Manchester City. The compensation due is around £400,000 but the south coast club are expected to take it to a tribunal rather than accept the compensation offered, arguing for a fee closer to £1m given the player was offered an early scholarship and had private schooling provided.

Selling homegrown talent has become more lucrative. It counted as pure profit in the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR), which were introduced in 2013-14, and this has incentivised signing players at a younger age and the cheapest price possible.

“This model comes all the way from the top,” says an agent. “If you sell the academy player at the top of the tree it cleans the books, but that then creates such pressure down the chain as you need the next one ready in case you have another financial hole or need to raise funds to buy.”

It is part of the reason Manchester City were prepared to pay £12.5m to beat Arsenal in the race for Leicester’s 17-year-old Jeremy Monga. Not many clubs can afford that level of investment, however.

How does the English youth market work?

Grassroots football used to start at age five or six. Now there are children joining private academies from the age of three. It is a result of parents wanting to have their children placed on a path to professional academies, the youth teams run by professional football clubs, which can sign players at under-nine level. Since the creation of the Elite Player Performance Plan (EPPP) in 2011, there have been four categories of academies, each requiring an ascending level of investment and support staff.

Professional academies start scouting players as young as five. They will approach their local clubs to find out their details and add them to their database. Even at that age, it is described by an academy recruitment chief as a “dog-eat-dog” environment. The biggest clubs have dozens of part-time and casual scouts scouring local clubs at young age groups.

Many children will train at three or four of the ‘pre-academy’ centres run by professional clubs to ascertain a preference before choosing which club to officially join at under-nine. The boys can only sign to professional academies on a rolling annual basis until under-12 when it becomes a two-year commitment.

Between under-nine and under-11, clubs can only sign players from within an hour’s travel of their training base. As soon as a good player is identified, coaches will quickly log onto the Premier League’s iFAS mapping system to check if their address is within the catchment area. “The Bible,” is how a category one recruitment chief describes the mapping system.

There is an appeal process which allows the catchment area to be extended by another 15 minutes. Three academy chiefs say they are aware of examples in which a talented player living outside of the radius suddenly moves in with an extended family member or a parent has a new job — and address — inside the boundary.

At 14, the catchment area extends to 90 minutes, but there are exceptions for category one clubs — Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Tottenham, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Southampton and Wolves — who are able to guarantee local accommodation, pastoral care, and full-time education. It is a huge investment with several academy chiefs explaining that funding private education costs around £30k per player, per year.

In the final two weeks of May, at the end of their under-12, under-14 and under-16 years, players can de-register from their academy and explore their options at other clubs. A family must email their club and the Premier League to notify them. The rules require a youth player to have de-registered before a club can start talking to an academy player.

How is the system being exploited?

Academy chiefs The Athletic spoke to raised a number of different concerns about how the system operates.

The lack of transparency around what incentives a youth player is receiving from interested parties has been a long-standing issue but many now suspect the de-registration process is being abused and that a player’s next move is sometimes already sorted out by the time the de-registration letters are sent.

They point to the EPPP compensation matrix, which is used to determine the compensation a club has to pay when an academy player moves. This streamlined process was designed to help the best players move to higher category academies and play together in elite environments at an earlier age.

“What they never envisaged was that players would be going from cat one to cat one like this,” says a category one head of recruitment. 

“They spoke about banning it at the time, but they felt there wasn’t a need to put in a rule as hardly anyone would do it.”

Several leading figures in smaller academies told The Athletic that they feel that compensation levels do not act as a sufficient deterrent, which is forcing them to find creative ways to defend the value of their investment in these young players.

For example, the offering of early scholarships — two-year formal agreements given to academy prospects when they leave school, transitioning them from schoolboys to full-time apprentice players — is a move many clubs are making now to protect the value of their best young talents.

First-team debuts are being handed to players ahead of time. It is one of the most effective ways to enhance a player’s value in a potential tribunal as it is a sign that they are on the pathway to a successful career.

The Athletic has been told by three academy chiefs at different clubs that among various rule changes around transparency discussed at meetings, one suggestion made was that early scholarship offers are automatically included in any compensation calculations from 14 onwards to remove the need for this practice.

The situation creates what another category one head of recruitment describes as “an artificial market dominated by the big spenders”.

The five-step process

The English academy system includes more than 14,000 registered players and the Premier League has extensive youth development rules in place to act as a safeguarding framework in the movement of youth players. It is aimed at promoting the best interests of the child, enabling players and families to identify the development environment best suited to their individual needs, and ensuring academies are appropriately recognised and protected for the significant investments they make.

Every transfer needs to be ratified by the Premier League’s five-step process, detailed between sections 254 to 261 of the youth development rules. This was set up in 2016 to protect academy players from ‘tapping up’, which is not permitted in the youth setup any more than it is in the adult game. It was expanded to apply to all player movements where compensation is payable, rather than just category one players’ movements.

It is usually outsourced to third-party law firms, which investigate the origin of the interest, when contact was first made with the family and how they approached their parent club. It is there to act as a form of safeguarding and is paid for by the buying club.

The five-step process usually involves an online interview with those involved in the transfer. The two clubs and the player’s parents need to sign a declaration that no financial or value-in-kind inducements have been utilised as a part of the move. If there is suspected wrongdoing, requests can be made for work mobiles and laptops to be handed in.

Some clubs provide educational workshops to parents on the processes involved and highlighting the potential pitfalls of being caught breaking Premier League and/or FA rules. The Premier League reminds parents at the start of each season about the risks of their son being frozen out for a considerable period of time if they de-register and the five-step investigation drags on.

However, the insights and experiences of dozens of sources highlight that some individuals and clubs are finding ways to game the system, raising questions over the efficacy of the existing rules and the five-step process. They describe a widespread apathy in the game that anything can be done to stop these practices being carried out by an aggressive minority.

Multiple academy chiefs and agents explained to The Athletic how parents are briefed on what they should tell the investigation so as to avoid any suspicion of tapping up. To help sell the pretence that there had been no prior communication, the parents will email a range of top academies to ask if they are interested in signing their son, even though he has already agreed to move elsewhere. The correspondence makes it look like they did not know their next move when they de-registered.

Manchester City beat Arsenal to the signing of Leicester City’s Jeremy Monga (Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images)

There are some players who are genuinely de-registering to explore their options. Last month, a category one academy director received emails from parents of 14-year-olds asking if the club would be interested in their son. Some even attached statistics selling their child’s potential. This can be parents being genuinely entrepreneurial rather than driven by an agent.

“All that is happening now is parents are more educated on what they can do,” says a category one head of academy recruitment.

“Years ago they were scared to speak up and challenge people. Now they know what good looks like. It is turning parents into mercenaries but clubs are accountable to them now.”

Several scouts who worked at a major club told The Athletic that, as a way of navigating the five-step process, they were under strict instructions not to ever mention any youth players on emails or phone messages as the investigator would follow up on how the player was identified and assessed. By eliminating a paper trail, this particular recruitment chief would be the sole point of contact in the investigation. It was seen as a way of defanging any potential investigation. Multiple academy chiefs and agents explain that the use of burner phones and intermediaries makes it unlikely for rule breaches to be caught.

Although fines and suspended bans have been handed out to clubs, and some boys have been frozen out of the game for months until being cleared, few transfers have ever been banned by the five-step process.

At the Premier League’s semi-regular meetings between heads of recruitment some have argued that the five-step process is outdated and unfit for purpose. The Premier League confirmed it monitors the effectiveness of the process and is conscious of the impact the process has on players with the average time taken for an investigation to complete this summer down to 13 days.

Its player care and education team contact the player’s family to outline the range of services that can be provided and arrange a call to discuss how the player can be supported, including educational support, remote and in-person performance support and mental and emotional wellbeing support.