Next Up: Euro 2024’s potential breakout stars

Warren Zaire-Emery

Nation: France
Age: 18
Position: Central midfielder
Caps: 3 (1 goal)
Club: Paris Saint-Germain

Paris Saint-Germain believe Warren Zaire-Emery is their present and future. It’s difficult to see a world in which that is not soon the case for France, too.

Losing Paul Pogba, banned until 2027 for a doping violation, and seeing N’Golo Kante transfer to Saudi Arabia, often the death knell for a player’s career at the top level, has opened the door to the next generation of France’s midfielders.

Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga are next in line, but Zaire-Emery isn’t far behind. He has started most of PSG’s matches this season and shown a maturity in midfield that belies his years, helping his boyhood club to a domestic double.

The teenager became France’s third-youngest player and second-youngest goalscorer in November when he scored 16 minutes into his international debut, a 14-0 win over Gibraltar, and has gone from strength to strength since then.

Zaire-Emery, a ball-playing midfielder, has been pulling the strings in Ligue 1 and ended the season with the highest passing accuracy of all midfielders in the division (92.4 per cent).

He is likely to be an impact player at Euro 2024 with Didier Deschamps sticking with the old guard for now, but could elevate himself in the camp with a few impressive cameos this summer.