France has made two World Cup finals in a row. They won one in 2018, and were a penalty shootout away from winning in 2022. While only 3 of France’s outfield players in their 2022 World Cup squad were in their 30s, they seem to have another Golden Generation of talent coming through their ranks. Here are some of the players France have between the ages of 23 and 25:
Kylian Mbappé
Christopher Nkunku
Ousmane Dembélé
Theo Hernandez
Dayot Upamecano
Jules Kounde
Moussa Diaby
Amine Gouiri
Randal Kolo Muani
Ibrahima Konate
Marcus Thuram
Evan Ndicka
France’s players between the ages of 17-19 have the potential to be better than that group of players I just mentioned. Let me take you through the highlights.
Soumaila Coulibaly and Abdoulaye Kamara
It may seem weird that I’m grouping two players into one spot, but these two have pretty much the same bio. Representing France with Guinean roots, they both came through the PSG academy, rising the youth ranks at the same time and being lured away in 2021 to join Dortmund.
I suppose with Kamara (18), Guinean “roots” is an understatement as he was born in the country, but he represents France and is waiting for a call-up to the youth teams. Coulibaly, 11 months older than Kamara, has represented France’s youth setup 6 times at 3 different levels, the U16, U17, and U20 teams.
Coulibaly has also debuted for Dortmund in a 17-minute cameo against Copenhagen in the Champions League, while he has yet to play against German opposition. Both are regulars for the B-Team in the 3. Liga, however.
Abdoullah Ba
Abdoullah Ba is unique on my list because he’s the only one of these players to play in England. He joined Championship Sunderland on Deadline Day in the summer of 2022, from Le Havre in Ligue 2.
The 19-year-old Ba played 26 times in Ligue 2, scoring once and making his debut in May 2021 against Toulouse. He has played 20 times for Sunderland in the Championship, although he’s only made 4 starts. He’s also played 3 times in the FA Cup and, interestingly, has Mauritanian roots.
Andy Diouf
Rennes has an amazing youth capacity, and Andy Diouf is just one of a Golden Generation passing through their ranks. He is 19 and can be deployed anywhere in the center of midfield. However, before Rennes, Diouf was part of PSG’s ranks for 3 years before leaving in 2015 and joining Rennes in 2018. He’s shot up the ranks and made his Ligue 1 debut in 2020-21 at the age of 17.
Since then, he’s played 6 times for Rennes’ senior team and went out on loan to Basel for this season. He’s been a regular for Basel, amassing 79% of minutes that Basel have played this season in the Swiss Super League and playing all of Basel’s Conference League games this season too. He’s also played 25 times for France’s underage teams, with 18 of those appearances coming for the U19 team. He’s most recently played 5 games and scored twice in the U20 side.
El Chadaille Bitshiabu
Making headlines in 2017 at the La Liga promises tournament for towering over everybody, Bitshiabu is now 6’5” at the age of just 17. He has in a way got put into the spotlight recently, playing 45 minutes in PSG’s 2-0 loss against Bayern. He has made some substitute appearances for PSG in Ligue 1, making the squad at least consistently since mid-September.
The Centre-back can represent DR Congo, but has 20 youth caps for France, with his highest level being the U19 level, where he’s played three times.
The question now for Bitshiabu is whether PSG can make him work for the club over his career and become a club legend, like Presnel Kimpembe, or is he destined to be yet another PSG academy graduate set to haunt the club on another team?
Leny Yoro
Getting 27% of Lille’s minutes in Ligue 1 this season at just 17, Leny Yoro is arguably the most promising of France’s talented group of young Centre-Backs. Of 8 appearances, Yoro has made 6 starts in the French top tier this season, the most recent of which being a full 90 minutes in a 3-3 draw with Lyon in which Lille choked a 3-1 lead with 7 minutes left. Not a good look, but very promising at just 17 years and 5 months old. It was also his fourth full 90 played this season.
At international level, Yoro has been overlooked, getting only 2 youth caps for France. This could be an opportunity for the Cote D’Ivoire national team to snatch him up. If he stays representing France, however, they could have a serviceable player for the next 15 years.
Matthis Abline
The second of a whopping four Rennes players we will be covering on this list, Matthis Abline is currently playing for Auxerre on a 6-month loan. He has played in every game he has been eligible for Auxerre, scoring 3 times and assisting twice in 12 matches.
At international level, Abline can only represent France. He has played at 5 youth levels all the way up to U21 level, making a total of 26 appearances for the entirety of France’s youth setup.
At this point, it seems a matter of if, not when, for him leading the line for Rennes and getting a big move as well as French senior call-ups.
Lesley Ugochukwu
Lesley Ugochukwu is the definition of everything Rennes. Born there, joining Rennes at the age of 8, and at only 18 years old, having 50 appearances for the club.
Having Nigerian roots, Ugochukwu could choose to represent the Super Eagles. However, having 15 youth caps for France, that doesn’t seem like a serious option at the moment.
He’s played 25 games for Rennes so far this season, with a total of 1500 minutes played. He has been deployed either as a defensive midfielder or center midfielder, being more defensively minded.
Wilson Odobert
This season has been amazing for Wilson Odobert. He made a very difficult decision of leaving PSG last summer for Troyes, and it was the right one. He has been a regular in the side this season, picking up 24 league appearances, his only senior games, and slowly but surely embedding himself in French football.
National team wise, he isn’t close to representing anyone but France, getting 10 youth caps. He has 6 U19 caps, getting his debut in September 2022.
Odobert, coming up through PSG’s academy, could come back to haunt them once again, as it did with the likes of Kingsley Coman, Mike Maignan, and Christopher Nkunku.
Lucas Gourna-Douath
Although the plan was to stay at ASSE until a big move happened, financial troubles saw Lucas Gourna-Douath having to leave the club to RB Salzburg for 13 million euros. Not a bad compromise, going to the club which helped Erling Haaland, Sadio Mané, and Dayot Upamecano reach wonderkid status.
Having played 31 Ligue 1 games last season, Gourna-Douath has been a familiar face for RB Salzburg this season, playing in 13 Austrian Bundesliga games as well as all 6 Champions League group stage games.
Gourna-Douath is also eligible for the Central African Republic, but for France he has 25 youth caps, the first one all the way back in 2018. He’s been on France’s radar for a while, and he’s finally ready to take the big leap.
Gourna-Douath has been a regular the last two seasons for ASSE and RB Salzburg, and a move back to a top 5 league surely is imminent.
Momo Cho
It’s been an unfortunate season for Mohamed-Ali “Momo” Cho. After being a regular for Angers in the 20-21 and 21-22 seasons, ankle and hamstring injuries have prevented the striker from truly shining at Real Sociedad this season.
His career so far has been more storied than most, moving to England at 1-week-old and played in the Everton and PSG youth academies before moving to Angers. He is eligible for not just France and England, but also Morocco and the Ivory Coast. He is the only person on the list so far who has represented someone other than France. Cho made two England U16 appearances before switching allegiances to France in and around 2020.
For such a promising wonderkid, this season has been underwhelming, hopefully he can make a comeback next season and become a star man for Sociedad.
Malo Gusto
The crème de la crème of young French defenders, Gusto has already made his big move after joining Chelsea in January, although he stays at Lyon for the rest of the season.
Having played 17 games in the league for Lyon this season, Gusto has been a regular for Lyon for the last 2 seasons. He’s played 57 times for Lyon’s senior team, getting no goals and 6 assists from right back.
Gusto is also eligible for Portugal if he chooses, but has made 13 underage France caps, scoring once. He has made 7 U21 appearances, and is only a couple of levels away from getting into the senior squad.
Next season will be make-or-break for Gusto. Can he fit into the Chelsea system and maybe even become rotated with Reece James, will he waste away on the bench every week, or will he struggle to find a home in Chelsea’s loan army? Only time will tell.
Desire Doue
Despite being born in Angers, Desire Doue is Rennes through and through, joining in 2011 at the age of 6 and never stopping. This season has seen his breakthrough, getting 20 appearances in Ligue 1 with 3 goals and 1 assist. He also got 7 Europa League appearances for the French side.
With 21 French youth caps, the vast majority coming for the U17 side, Doue seems content playing for France, although he’s eligible for the Ivory Coast National Team.
Being Ligue 1’s breakout wonderkid of the year, Doue has been truly impressive at the age of 17, but I think one or two more seasons at Rennes before the big move is the play for him, as you shouldn’t abandon the club that brought you to where you are the moment you’re a hot commodity.
Rayan Cherki
While his progress has started to stagnate in recent years, Rayan Cherki is certainly not gone yet. Making his debut in 2019 at the age of 16 for Lyon, Cherki has been one of the most watched wonderkids in French football for the last few years.
While a metatarsal fracture ruined his 21-22 season, he’s back in full force this season, getting 25 games already, nearly double the league minutes he’s ever got in one season, and he’s made 12 starts with 4 full 90s.
Despite all the accolades at club level, Cherki has only made 15 French youth caps, with 7 in the U21 team. If he decides to not represent France, Algeria can also get his talents.
Although the narrative is that he’s stagnating, in reality this is Cherki’s best season yet, and the winger could be close to a big move with PSG already probing.
Warren Zaire-Emery
If anyone could challenge Desire Doue for breakout Ligue 1 wonderkid of the season, it’s Warren Zaïre-Emery. Only turning 17 on the 8th of March, Zaïre-Emery already has 20 appearances for PSG, scoring twice in Ligue 1.
The Central Midfielder has 16 youth caps for France, playing most of his caps for the U17 team, while his services have most recently been used in the U19 side. While he is also eligible for the Martinique team, I don’t think that’s an avenue that will be particularly useful to him.
Zaïre-Emery, part of PSG’s academy, will have a choice to make in upcoming seasons, as all PSG youth academy players do: take an offer from another club in an effort to get more senior game time in prospect of a big move, like Kingsley Coman, Christopher Nkunku, and Mike Maignan, or stay at the club, slowly move your way up the ranks and become a club legend, like Presnel Kimpembe or Alphonse Areola?
Mathys Tel
The cream of France’s crop, Mathys Tel first made an appearance on this blog back in 2021, when he was 16 and on the fringes of Rennes’ team. Since then, he played a season for Rennes, making 10 appearances, and it was somehow enough to convince Bayern to splash 20 million euros on the striker, whose market value at the time was only 2 million euros.
Now though, he is up to 20 million, and is still only 17, turning 18 at the end of April. Since then, he’s played 15 Bundesliga games, usually 10-30 minute cameos off the bench. He’s still scored 5 goals in all competitions.
At youth level for France, Tel has been amazing. He’s played 21 games for France’s youth teams, and scored 15. In 6 games for both France’s U18 and U19 teams, he’s got 5 goals for both.
The best that France has to offer so far, the world is now at the feet of Mathys Tel. Let’s see how he goes from here.
That’s all for this post. From this post, you can obviously see that France isn’t done yet. Their youth talents are just crazy. The team that made it to back-to-back World Cup finals is young, and they have another wave of players ready to take the reins from this current team once their heyday is done. For now, though, I’m Jim James, until next time.