The ‘Lamine effect’ reshapes Europe’s market: clubs back teenagers

European football is changing the way it invests. The biggest clubs have increasingly started looking toward teenage talent, and the new UEFA report confirms a growing trend: betting on young players has become one of the market’s main strategies.

Last summer, European clubs spent €1.2 billion on signing teenagers, a record figure. In addition, 56% of total spending on new signings went to players aged 23 or younger.

The phenomenon has both a sporting and an economic explanation. Clubs are looking for players who can contribute right away, but also for footballers whose value could multiply over the years.

Lamine Yamal drives a new trend

The impact of Lamine Yamal is one of the clearest examples of this transformation. The Barcelona forward has become a global reference despite his young age, and his rise has reinforced the idea that backing a star early can turn into a huge sporting and financial success.

His development, together with the investments made by European clubs in youngsters such as Diomande, Bouaddi, and Estevao, has led many teams to move ahead of the market in an attempt to secure the next big talents before their prices soar.

UEFA, however, warns that this race also carries risks.

The Premier League plays in a different financial league

The report points to a growing gap between Europe’s biggest markets, especially because of the financial power of English clubs.

The Premier League spent around €4.6 billion during the last summer transfer window, a figure higher than the combined total of the eight European markets behind it.

More than 60% of the total value of deals involved English clubs, and the average fee for their signings was around €24 million. In Europe’s other major leagues, the average stood at roughly between four and five million.

The result is a market operating at practically two speeds, with England clearly ahead in investment capacity.

Europe reaches record spending

The scale of the market was also reflected in overall spending. Last summer, approximately €10 billion in transfers was reached, pushing annual spending up to €11.7 billion.

Never before had European clubs invested so much in new signings.

But this evolution is also changing the role of homegrown players. In the 2024-25 season, they accounted for 49% of minutes played, while in 2025-26 that figure fell to 47%.

Norway and Spain appear among the countries giving the most minutes to local talent, with shares of 65% and 63%, respectively. In this area, UEFA especially highlights the Athletic Club model, based on a policy of developing and using local players.

Promotions, relegations, and new champions

Despite the growing economic concentration, the UEFA report also highlights the competitiveness of European football.

36 of the continent’s 55 men’s leagues had a different champion from the previous season, while six clubs won their national league title for the first time.

They included Sabah FC in Azerbaijan, ML Vitebsk in Belarus, Kauno Žalgiris in Lithuania, FC Atert Bissen in Luxembourg, FC Thun in Switzerland, and Mjällby AIF in Sweden.

Two of those teams had also won promotion the previous season, a fact UEFA uses to highlight how the European promotion and relegation system works.

Stadiums are also seeing growth

Interest in European football continues to be reflected in the stands. During the 2025-26 season, club and national team matches drew 242 million spectators to stadiums, marking the fourth consecutive season of growth.

England led top-flight attendance with 15.8 million spectators, followed by Germany with 13 million. Spain recorded 11.8 million, ahead of Italy and France.

Women’s football is also continuing to grow. Its competitions surpassed five million total spectators across Europe, with Arsenal Women as the club with the highest aggregate attendance and Barcelona once again among the leading draws in the Champions League.

UEFA warns of a system increasingly dependent on the market

Behind the record figures, UEFA identifies several risks for the future.

Clubs are increasingly relying on deferred payments to finance transfers, depending on future sales to balance their books, and accumulating higher levels of transfer-related debt.

As long as the value of the market continues to grow, the model may remain balanced. However, a major slowdown could expose the financial weaknesses of some clubs.

The concentration of talent, the growing dependence on the transfer market, and the Premier League’s enormous financial power thus appear as some of the main challenges.

More players, less stability on the bench

The report also reveals a game that is becoming increasingly changeable within the teams themselves. Clubs used an average of more than 31 players during the season, while the dugout was not especially stable either.

In total, there were 738 managerial changes in Europe, and 63% of clubs replaced their coach at least once.

Only 19% of coaches managed to stay in the job for more than two seasons, and just 3% reached five years.

In this context, Spain provides one of the most positive figures: Spanish coaches are the most sought-after outside their own borders, followed by Portuguese and Italian managers.

The report thus paints a picture of a European football landscape in full transformation: more money, more young talent, and higher attendance, but also a growing dependence on the market and an increasingly pronounced financial gap between the leading leagues.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.