At all levels, from training centers to the amateur world, French teenagers are acclaimed for their multiple qualities.
By Adrien Mathieu Warren Zaire-Emery is one of the earliest talents in PSG and French football. © HERVIO JEAN-MARIE / KMSP / KMSP via AFP Published on 08/09/2023 at 08:00
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It is a pool that seems inexhaustible. Every year in French football, from Ligue 1 to the more minor championships, we see the emergence of talented players without complex who come to play in the big leagues. Last season, we saw Warren Zaire-Emery, Eliesse Ben Seghir, Désiré Doué and even Leny Yoro hatch.
An adaptation to any type of championship
For a decade, French football has been able to capitalize on its training to once again become a stronghold of international football, culminating in the coronation of 2018. For Enzo Djebali, educational director of Formation Football and former recruiter in Reims, the dynamic can be explained by the adversity encountered before turning professional. “Even if the French model is not optimal, it is effective because it is versatile: it allows young people to face adults thanks to our reserves to toughen up through intensity, but they can also assert themselves as U19 executives. French clubs are therefore used to using their young people to post-train and bring them to the first team. »
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And this famous versatility allows French players to travel well. There are currently 31 French people in the Bundesliga, 28 in the Premier League, 27 in Serie A, and 19 in La Liga. The Frenchman is less homesick than an Englishman or an Italian. “There is an exacerbated modernity in French game profiles,” says Enzo Djebali. For example, Evan Ndicka (AS Roma) has the motor skills of a left-back, while measuring 1.92m, Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea) has the technical ability of a number 10 while having the game without the ball of a forward -center. “The two players mentioned have passed through the Bundesliga. Germany with concrete projects and a very open championship on the ground has thus become an essential step for young players from France to grow up.
And to go further in the analysis, the recruiter finds another factor in this French success and this variation of roles. “All this is due to a positive mix: our French cultural model brings a crossbreeding and this is then transmitted to the French training model which is effective. This interbreeding which brings the best of several cultures exists elsewhere and brings modern players too, to the Netherlands for example. »
“Ile-de-France has passed the São Paulo region”
It’s not just the professional world and its fabulous transfers where the fashion for the young French player is exercised. In amateur clubs and its structures, more and more doors are opening. For example, from the U15s, the Red Bull group – which notably owns the teams from Leipzig and Salzburg – carefully monitors what is happening on the grounds of Île-de-France.
Footsider, an application launched at the beginning of the year by Ronaldinho and Yacine Brahimi, organizes detection days for these players from more modest teams, or sometimes failed training centers. Sami Benchebana is responsible for recruitment for this structure, and he defines Paris and its surroundings as a new El Dorado. “Amateur football has grown incredibly in recent years. These young people are hungry to achieve their goals. Paris and its suburbs have become the number one breeding ground in the world today, we have passed Brazil and São Paulo. »
Without going through the classic stages in professional clubs, these young people have the right to a new opportunity. One of them thus won a contract in Bologna, while another was able to be tested at Fiorentina. The label of the young French player is undeniably attractive. “The French player is athletically ahead, continues Sami Benchebana. We have already seen younger elements being dominant in teams with seniors. When we bring together elements with high potential, even while passing under the radar, all this competition is emulation and everyone pulls out of the game afterwards. »
Young people ready for any sacrifice
Beyond the physical characteristics, it is also in the head that these players stand out. In a sport that has become a world of unforgiving sharks, you have to have a strong mind to bounce back, as the Footsider recruiter explains. “All these young people are making huge sacrifices. I am in contact with some of them, they are ready to drop everything, take a ticket at the last minute for a club in the suburbs of London, even a sixth division team. We can say it: the young French player is hungry! »
READ ALSOWhat you need to know about Gonçalo Ramos, the new PSG strikerIf the results are not always there in the selections of young people, like the Espoirs or the U20s in recent weeks, France can count for several more years on individuals formatted for the high level. “I now hope that the transition from Ligue 1 to 18 will not lead clubs to fear young people, because in the medium and long term, it is a win for the quality of the team and for their valuation. We have gold in our hands and sometimes emotion pushes those who lead to put brass on the ground, ”concludes Enzo Djebali. All that remains is to wait for future generations to take over, always with overflowing ambition, regardless of where they come from.
Halfway between LinkedIn and Tinder for football, Footsider is an application that wants to connect players without a contract or who have failed training centers with clubs, in particular by organizing detection days. The clubs thus have free access to a database provided and can select the appropriate profiles in order to put them to the test. On February 24, 115 players were observed during a scouting day in Paris by 45 clubs, including RC Lens and AS Monaco.
