Only 38.8% of our minutes this season have been played by players in their prime years, compared to:
* 67.9% at Chelsea
* 69.1% at City
* 76.3% at Arsenal
Lord_Sesshoumaru77 on
Next season will be JJ’s season.
Rich_Plastic on
Fairly good balance there i think.
Leeds is wild. there are in big trouble though long term. thats crazy.
A1d0taku on
Good to see our team younger than it was a few years ago (ETH era was particularly old iirc). I don’t think the methodlogy of building a great side is to bring in 15 20-year-olds and hoping 5/6 are world class.
A mix of 21,22 y/old starters and 24,25 y/old starters starters brings longevity, energy, experience, and high level execution across the squad.
GRlSAIA on
So if i understand it right, we’re outperforming Chelsea and are overall second in the league for youth minutes? But our overall squad age is higher than Chelsea because we play more experienced aged player like Cas, Maguire etc
Boydcrowde on
Now I get it why chelsea don’t have any leadership
durtmagurt on
A trip to Fulham’s Craven Cottage is like Chelsea players going to their grandparent’s house.
Jump_Hop_Step on
Arsenal’s window is closing
Apprehensive-Raisin3 on
Not a good looking for villa and especially Newcastle. Newcastle are most likely not even getting europe so I dont see how they fix up their squad
lengthyfriend30 on
Losing Case will bring this down a lot. Will be interest to see if we can bring in a end of peak or vet to replace him, as well as an early peak player.
Urgate we need to replace somehow with another peak aged player.
Let Mainoo develop with experience around him, any other youngsters should stay strictly with our graduates for the next 12 months. Avoid splurging on a prodigy in that area, and get some wily heads in.
Lost_Afropick on
I notice that in the two teams above us (with vastly more points) have a much larger proportion of green than we do.
Aadiunited7 on
The core of Lammens, Yoro, Heaven, Mainoo, Dorgu, Amad and Sesko all under under 23 is a great age profile for us.
AJ-Naka-Zayn-Owens on
One thing not to scoff at is that experience is invaluable.
Yes, it’s great to sign the youngsters, and prep for the future, but take a look at Chelsea right now and see how that can backfire.
One thing about the top teams in Europe, Bayern and PSG specifically, is that they have a youngish squad, but with a core group of experienced players. Kane, Kinmich, Marquinhos, etc.
neofederalist on
We improved massively over last summer in this respect. One thing that struck out to me was how poor the general quality of our prime age players (before we brought in Cunha and Mbeumo). It’s still not perfect, but it goes to show how awful our transfer policy and recruitment had been over the last 5 or so years when before this last summer window, the best prime age players we’d bought were guys like de Ligt, and Mazaroui. We had so many players that we bought for a lot of money that are in that age bracket right now that aren’t good enough like Ugarte, Sancho, and Antony. That’s over 100M worth of transfer fees, imagine if we just had bang average PL starters right now instead of those 3.
![[Gradient Sports] A look at every squad in the Premier League this season by weighted age (minutes played, up to GW 32) 📊](https://www.eucup.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/xi9zcoz86kwg1-1229x1536.png "[Gradient Sports] A look at every squad in the Premier League this season by weighted age (minutes played, up to GW 32) 📊")
14 Comments
[Source](https://x.com/Gradient_Sports/status/2046562152513691840)
Only 38.8% of our minutes this season have been played by players in their prime years, compared to:
* 67.9% at Chelsea
* 69.1% at City
* 76.3% at Arsenal
Next season will be JJ’s season.
Fairly good balance there i think.
Leeds is wild. there are in big trouble though long term. thats crazy.
Good to see our team younger than it was a few years ago (ETH era was particularly old iirc). I don’t think the methodlogy of building a great side is to bring in 15 20-year-olds and hoping 5/6 are world class.
A mix of 21,22 y/old starters and 24,25 y/old starters starters brings longevity, energy, experience, and high level execution across the squad.
So if i understand it right, we’re outperforming Chelsea and are overall second in the league for youth minutes? But our overall squad age is higher than Chelsea because we play more experienced aged player like Cas, Maguire etc
Now I get it why chelsea don’t have any leadership
A trip to Fulham’s Craven Cottage is like Chelsea players going to their grandparent’s house.
Arsenal’s window is closing
Not a good looking for villa and especially Newcastle. Newcastle are most likely not even getting europe so I dont see how they fix up their squad
Losing Case will bring this down a lot. Will be interest to see if we can bring in a end of peak or vet to replace him, as well as an early peak player.
Urgate we need to replace somehow with another peak aged player.
Let Mainoo develop with experience around him, any other youngsters should stay strictly with our graduates for the next 12 months. Avoid splurging on a prodigy in that area, and get some wily heads in.
I notice that in the two teams above us (with vastly more points) have a much larger proportion of green than we do.
The core of Lammens, Yoro, Heaven, Mainoo, Dorgu, Amad and Sesko all under under 23 is a great age profile for us.
One thing not to scoff at is that experience is invaluable.
Yes, it’s great to sign the youngsters, and prep for the future, but take a look at Chelsea right now and see how that can backfire.
One thing about the top teams in Europe, Bayern and PSG specifically, is that they have a youngish squad, but with a core group of experienced players. Kane, Kinmich, Marquinhos, etc.
We improved massively over last summer in this respect. One thing that struck out to me was how poor the general quality of our prime age players (before we brought in Cunha and Mbeumo). It’s still not perfect, but it goes to show how awful our transfer policy and recruitment had been over the last 5 or so years when before this last summer window, the best prime age players we’d bought were guys like de Ligt, and Mazaroui. We had so many players that we bought for a lot of money that are in that age bracket right now that aren’t good enough like Ugarte, Sancho, and Antony. That’s over 100M worth of transfer fees, imagine if we just had bang average PL starters right now instead of those 3.