Sheffield United are currently in the midst of a promotion battle as they seek to return to the Premier League at the first time of asking this season.
The Blades were held to a 1-1 draw by Bristol City on Tuesday night and maintained their place in the automatic promotion spots, two points ahead of Burnley in third.
Chris Wilder has built a team with a good blend of youth and experience, as academy graduates Sydie Peck and Femi Seriki both started against the Robins.
They will both be hoping to go on and enjoy successful careers at the top level, hopefully with the Blades, and join the numerous academy stars who have gone on to thrive after coming through that set-up.
Sheffield United's most valuable former academy stars
Many impressive young players have come through at Sheffield United in recent years, and several of them have even gone on to play for England - including the likes of Kyle Walker and Harry Maguire.
Maguire
The Blades sold Maguire to Hull City for a fee of £2.5m in the summer of 2014 and he went on to become an £80m world-record signing for Manchester United five years later.
|Sheffield United's most valuable former academy players|
|Player|Market valuation|
|---|
|Dominic Calvert-Lewin|£18.5m|
|Aaron Ramsdale|£16.8m|
|Iliman Ndiaye|£15.2m|
|Harry Maguire|£12.6m|
|Kyle Walker|£8.4m|
|Valuations via Transfermarkt|
At the time of writing, four of the five most valuable former Blades academy stars have played for England, whilst Iliman Ndiaye is a Senegal international.
Sheffield United may, however, regret how they handled some of them when they were at Bramall Lane, as they did not get much value out of Dominic Calvert-Lewin, in particular.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin's soaring value
The English centre-forward came up through the academy system and made 12 first-team appearances for the Blades, who were in League One at the time, before Everton came calling in the summer of 2016.
Everton's Dominic Calvert-Lewin celebrates scoring their first goal
Calvert-Lewin was sold to the Toffees for a reported fee of £1.5m, which seemed a reasonable fee at the time given their status in the third tier, but Sheffield United may look back on that and regret that they did not get more back in return for the England U20 international.
To date, the striker has scored 71 goals in 269 appearances in all competitions for Everton, along with four goals in 11 caps for England, and his value has soared as a result of his performances at the top level.
Calvert-Lewin's physicality has played a significant role in his emergence as a Premier League regular over the years. Former teammate Richarlison once hailed his athleticism, saying: "He must be a nightmare to play against and he has an incredible leap on him like Cristiano Ronaldo.”
That has helped his value to soar since he was sold to Everton for £1.5m. Earlier this season, Sky Sports reported that the Toffees value the striker at a whopping £40m, amid interest from Newcastle United.
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This, along with his goal return for the Blues, shows that Sheffield United did not get to see the best of Calvert-Lewin, as his value has soared by a staggering 2,566% since his departure from Yorkshire.
The Blades must, therefore, regret selling him when they did, and for how much, as they may wonder how much they could have got out of the forward if they had kept hold of him for a couple more years.
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