Sheffield United: Blades academy graduates clocked fifth most minutes in Premier League last season

Sheffield United academy graduate Kyle Walker was part of Manchester City's record-breaking title winning team

Six former Blades players clocked more time in the top flight than graduates from Everton, Southampton and Aston Villa's academies according to a study by Press Association Sport.

United are the highest ranking non-Premier League team in the study and have the fewest graduates playing in the league out of all of the teams in the top ten.

Harry Maguire, Kyle Walker, Phil Jagielka, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Kyle Naughton and Matt Lowton were the six players who all came through at the Steelphalt Academy, and played 16,554 minutes of football between them last term.

The Blades have improved on their eighth place finish in the 2017 list after Calvert-Lewin established his place at Everton and Harry Maguire became indispensable for Leicester City.

Clubs whose academies had the most playing time in the Premier League in the 2017/18 season

1. Manchester United - 32,157 minutes (20 players)

2. Tottenham Hotspur - 22,314 minutes (11 players)

3. Chelsea - 20,453 minutes (11 players)

4. Arsenal - 17,815 minutes (14 players)

5. Sheffield United - 16,554 (6 players)

6. Aston Villa - 13,091 (7 players)

7. Feyenoord - 12,635 minutes (8 players)

8. Everton - 12,375 (7 players)

9. Southampton - 11,426 minutes (16 players)

10. Ajax - 10,315 (7 players)

Tottenham caught up on Manchester United who remain top of the list again this season, as Chelsea climbed from ninth to third.

Dutch clubs Feyenoord and Ajax were the highest ranked foreign clubs on the list, but Portuguese outfit Benfica also performed better than last season as they came 31st in the ranking.