Playing a significant number of matches from the start of a professional career is a key success factor for football players. Issue number 126 of the Weekly Post unveils the rankings of teams who played the most important role in the development of current big-5 league players. At the head of the European table is Real Madrid Castilla. Southampton contributed most to the development of English Premier League footballers.

Issue number 125 of the Weekly Post presents the rankings of clubs who have trained the most players under contract with teams in the five major European leagues. At the top of the table is Barcelona (44 players), ahead of Olympique Lyonnais (35) and Real Madrid (34). Munich 1860 heads the rankings of non-big-5 league clubs (18 players). The second division German club outranks River Plate (17) and Lens (16).

Issue number 124 of the Weekly Post reveals the rankings of the best performing players since the start of the big-5 league season. At the head of the tables for the five outfield positions considered are Otamendi (centre backs), Aurier (full backs), Cazorla (defensive midfielders), Özil (attacking midfielders) and Lewandowski (forwards). The rankings are based on a purely data-driven and objective methodology developed by the CIES Football Observatory research team.

Tottenham Hotspur tops the Premier League table of clubs who fielded on average the youngest players: 24.7 years. This is the fourth lowest figure at big-5 league level after Nice (24.1), Valencia (24.5) and Bayer Leverkusen (24.5). In second and third positions in the English Premier League rankings are Liverpool (25.5 years) and Newcastle (25.6). The data for all teams is available in issue number 123 of the Weekly Post.

Since the start of the season, 105 French footballers were fielded by foreign big-5 league clubs in domestic league matches. The second most represented origin abroad is Brazil (104 players). The most numerous contingent of French expatriates is to be found in England. Since the start of the season, 40 players from France have played in the English Premier League. All data is available in issue number 122 of the Weekly Post.

Issue number 121 of the Weekly Post shows that Chelsea FC is currently ranked thirteen positions below the ranking that transfer expenditure in signing squad members would have suggested. This is the biggest negative gap at both English Premier League and big-5 league level. Conversely, the most positive difference so far between financial and sporting ranking was measured by Leicester City: +12.