Ligue 1 clubs made more money from transfers than the other major leagues in Europe. GettyImages

Southampton have the most profitable youth academy among the top leagues in Europe, according to a study by the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES).

CIES studied which clubs in the top flights in England, Spain, France, Germany and Italy generated the most money from transfers from players from their academies and discovered Southampton topped the list at €90.2m since 2012.

Almost 40 percent of the Premier League's total came from Southampton's summer sale of three England internationals: Adam Lallana to Liverpool (€30m), Luke Shaw to Manchester United (€35m) and Calum Chambers (€20m) to Arsenal.

Lille were second on the list at €76m thanks to players including Eden Hazard (€37m to Chelsea) and Mathieu Debuchy (€16m to Arsenal), while Real Sociedad's sales of Antoine Griezmann (€30m to Atletico Madrid) and Asier Illarramendi (€32.2m to Real Madrid) put them third with €62.2m.

At €43m, Real Madrid -- Jose María Callejon, Daniel Carvajal, Esteban Granero, Alvaro Morata -- pipped rivals Barcelona (€38.8m euros) -- Thiago Alcantara, Jonathan dos Santos, Andreu Fontas, Bojan Krkic, Antonio Sanabria -- for sixth.

The next Premier League club on the list was Swansea City at No. 11 (€31.6m) after the sales of Joe Allen and Ben Davies followed by Manchester United at No. 13 (€28.7m) after they let a host of young players go: Michael Keane, Robert Brady, Matt James, Joshua King and Danny Welbeck (€20m to Arsenal.)

Other European powerhouses include 12th placed Bayern Munich (€31.1m) who made some money back from the sales of Emre Can, Diego Contento, Raif Husic and Toni Kroos; Paris Saint-German recouped €25.2m from Clement Chantome, Antoine Conte, Mamadou Sakho, Ilan Boccara and finished 14th in the table.

With Rennes (€33.6m), Montpellier (€33.5m) and St Etienne (€32.8m) in eighth, ninth and 10th places, Ligue 1 clubs generated the most transfer fees of the five leagues at €292 million, slightly ahead of La Liga with €276 million, and the Premier League at €227 million.