Manchester United's academy made the single biggest contribution to last season's Premier League of any youth set-up, a Press Association Sport study has found.

Their graduates racked up more than twice as many top-flight minutes played as the next best academy.

Players who finished their youth careers in the United academy were on the field for a total of 44,055 minutes in the study. Tottenham were second, with a total of 19,995.

Paul Pogba racked up 2,609 minutes in the Premier League after rejoining Manchester United

England international Marcus Rashford played 1,702 minutes last season

The Red Devils' reputation for developing home-grown talent extends back to the 'Busby Babes' of the 1950s and continued through the 'Class of '92' group which played a part in the United side that dominated domestic football in the 1990s and won the treble in 1999.

Our study shows that the United academy is still the No 1 producer of top-flight talent in England.

In their own line-up, France midfielder Paul Pogba - who rejoined United last summer in an £89million deal - racked up 2,609 minutes while England internationals Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard played 1,702 and 1,367 minutes respectively.

Other non-United players to make significant contributions to the Red Devils academy total included Burnley duo Michael Keane and Tom Heaton, who each played 3,150 minutes. England defender Keane has since joined Everton.

Former United youth player Michael Keane played 3,150 minutes for Burnley last season

Former United youngster Joshua King played 2,721 minutes for Bournemouth last year

Bournemouth striker Joshua King played 2,721 minutes, while Leicester pair Danny Simpson (2,990) and Danny Drinkwater (2,466) were also key to the high total for United.

Stoke defender Ryan Shawcross played 3,150 minutes while relegated Sunderland used five United academy products during the season - John O'Shea, Donald Love, Paddy McNair, Darron Gibson and Adnan Januzaj. West Brom duo Jonny Evans (2,638) and Darren Fletcher (3,235) also came through the United system.

The biggest contributor to Tottenham's total who still plays for the club was Harry Kane, with 2,536 minutes played in a season disrupted by injury.

Spurs graduates Charlie Daniels and Adam Smith each played over 3,000 minutes for Bournemouth, and Andros Townsend played 2,528 minutes for Crystal Palace.

Harry Kane played 2,536 minutes for Tottenham despite an injury-disrupted season

2016-17 PL MINUTES BY ACADEMY 1 Manchester United 44,055 2 Tottenham 19,995 3 Manchester City 16,226 4 Southampton 14,340 5 West Ham 13,907 6 Everton 13,855 7 Arsenal 13,599 8 Sheffield United 13,564 9 Chelsea 13,445 10 Ajax 12,617 11 Feyenoord 12,589 12 Barcelona 10,858 13 Crystal Palace 10,851 14 Aston Villa 10,686 15 Middlesbrough 10,487 16 Genk 9,263 17 Liverpool 8,753 18 Sporting Lisbon 8,499 19 Derby 7,240 20 Schalke 7,090 Advertisement

Manchester City graduates managed 16,226 minutes to place the club third, but almost all of those were played by players who have moved on from the Etihad Stadium.

Kelechi Iheanacho (526 minutes) was the only City youth product to feature in their first team in the Premier League under Pep Guardiola all season.

City graduate Ben Mee at Burnley played 3,016 minutes while Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel featured for 2,667 minutes.

Adam Clayton at Middlesbrough, another City youth player, played 2,806 minutes and Stoke midfielder Glenn Whelan played 2,278.

Southampton finished fourth in the study, with 14,340 minutes, while West Ham were fifth on 13,907.

Of last season's European qualifiers from the Premier League, Liverpool are the only one not to feature in the top 10, ranking 17th in the study with 8,753 minutes.

League One champions Sheffield United made a surprise appearance in the top 10, finishing eighth on 13,564 minutes - one place and 119 minutes ahead of Chelsea.

Glenn Whelan was one of many Manchester City graduates playing at another top-flight club

KEY FINDINGS Manchester United academy graduates played a total of 44,055 Premier League minutes in the 2016-17 season, more than double the number of minutes for any other academy That total featured contributions from 34 players, with West Brom midfielder Darren Fletcher the single biggest contributor with 3,235 minutes. Angel Gomes - who played two minutes in United's victory over Crystal Palace in the last league game of the season - became the first player born in the 21st century to play in the Premier League Tottenham were second in the list, with Harry Kane contributing 2,536 minutes Ajax's reputation for producing young talent was underlined by their academy being 10th overall in our study - the highest placing of any academy outside of England Sheffield United were the biggest English contributor from outside the top flight, with 13,564 minutes. That put them eighth overall. Of the teams finishing in the top six in the Premier League last season, Liverpool's academy made the smallest contribution, with 8,753 minutes overall. That placed them 17th, one place behind Belgian side Genk. Hull's 501 minutes was the lowest total of any top-flight academy, over 1,000 minutes adrift of the next-lowest ranked (Watford on 1,513) and also the only one accounted for solely by their own first-team players, with no Tigers graduate appearing for a different Premier League club. Among clubs outside of Europe, Argentina's River Plate were comfortably the biggest contributors with four players - Manuel Lanzini, Ramiro Funes Mori, Roberto Pereyra and Erik Lamela - racking up 5,883 minutes, led by Lanzini's 2,715 for West Ham. Advertisement

Full backs Kyle Walker (2,704 minutes) and Kyle Naughton (2,718) featured extensively for Tottenham and Swansea respectively, with Harry Maguire playing 2,306 minutes for Hull and fellow centre back Phil Jagielka 2,250 for Everton.

The only club from outside England to feature in the top 10 were Dutch side Ajax, who were 10th.

Graduates from Barcelona's La Masia finishing school made the 12th-biggest contribution, while the largest representation from outside Europe came from the youth set-up at Argentinian giants River Plate.

At the other end of the scale, relegated Hull produced the fewest minutes of any Premier League team - just 501, shared between their own players Josh Tymon (325) and Jarrod Bowen (176).

The Tigers were the only club not to have a graduate feature for any other top-flight team and their youth products also lagged over 1,000 total minutes behind those of Watford, the second-lowest ranked Premier League club in the study with 1,513 minutes.

Almost exactly half of the Hornets' total came from Manchester United winger Ashley Young (757 minutes), with the rest from their own players led by Adrian Mariappa (561).