Interesting article in The Guardian about football academies, highlighting Zach Fagan, a 21-year old Arsenal academy graduate now plying his trade at Welling Utd.
"Sell-ons" - the graduates every Academy dreams about, the (very rare) ones who are moved on for a substantial profit.
"Bench-warmers and fill-ins" - helping clubs comply with the "homegrown player" rule.
Notable Premier clubs with successful Academies are Southampton and Spurs.
Some Football League clubs have closed their Academies because of the 2011 rule allowing clubs to sign players from anywhere in world and because bigger clubs are "creaming off" the best players as they pass through the Academy system.
http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2016/jan/21/academy-graduates-arsenal-illusion-flawed-system 
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