Ligue 1 - 5 Must-Watch Players
From legends proving they can still deliver to footballers kicking off their careers - here are five must-watch players in Ligue 1 this season.
Headline-busting transfers along with Neymar and Kylian Mbappe already on the books means that there are a gazillion choices for a PSG player to watch. But while the supreme end product for those two, as well as newcomers like Gianluigi Donnarumma are predictable, the same cannot be said for Sergio Ramos.
The free transfer of the 35-year-old legendary defender made waves in the media, but there are doubts on if there will be mere ripples on the pitch. It's all done to three 'F's.
Fitness - while the former Real Madrid man is heavy on Instagram shots of him working out, athletic feats on the pitch have been rare. Ramos made just 15 starts in LaLiga last season, missed Euro 2020, and has been absent from PSG's pre-season games due to ongoing injuries.
Friendships - Ramos has a big personality having won some big prizes, but he is no longer captain of his club - Marquinhos has that honor - and will be competing with some heavyweight players for a starting spot. The Spaniard needs to make friends, not foes in the locker room.
Football - Ligue 1 is fast and furious and Ramos will need to keep up with some of the most exciting attacking talent in the world running at him. Injuries and age will push the PSG defender to the limit.
The American winger's career to date has been completely upside down. Normally a soccer player builds a reputation as a top performer at a club before moving on to represent their country. However, Marseille's Konrad de la Fuente has build a reputation as a player with the USMNT first due to being restricted to appearances for Barcelona's second team last season.
A career-changing move to Marseille this summer now puts Konrad in a position to get his club cleats dirty as the 20-year-old becomes part of a reboot under Jorge Sampaoli.
Timothy Weah falls into the same bracket as his American colleague, Konrad. The 21-year-old forward has only made 14 league starts in his career so far at PSG, Celtic and Lille, due to both injury and having more prolific forwards ahead of him in the poaching pecking order.
Last season was certainly an improvement for the American who made 28 appearances in total for the Ligue 1 champions. But his minutes were restricted by the prolific forward form of Burak Yilmaz and Jonathan David. The potential sale of rival attacking talent such as Jonathan Bamba and Luiz Araujo might well give Weah the week in-week out consistency that the footballer badly needs.
Last summer, Eduardo Camavinga's name was being linked with every big club in the world after a breakthrough year with Rennes. Unfortunately, a troubled season for both the 18-year-old midfielder and Rennes as a club saw the footballer's progress stall. Being linked on a daily basis with teams such as Real Madrid and PSG seemed to be too much for the all-action footballer who produced just one goal and two assists in 35 Ligue 1 appearances.
The new campaign for Camavinga sees a reboot for the player. Bruno Genesio took over as coach at Rennes late last season and quickly managed to turn around the team's form. Although the transfer rumors will not go away any time soon, the French midfielder will be looking for a peaceful year of both consolidation and growth at Rennes.
There was a Harry Potter Sorting Hat moment trying to make a pick for a player to watch at Lyon. The club is in such a flux with a new coach and players wanting to follow Memphis Depay out of the exit door.
Replacing Depay's goals is key for Lyon succeeding or failing this season and this is where Karl Toko Ekambi fits in. The 28-year-old Cameroon striker has vast experience for both club and country but is now the go-to guy for Lyon's goals. Toko Ekambi's first full season for Lyon after a move from Villarreal was a promising one with 14 goals and six assists from 35 games. That production will need to improve by a third in the new campaign.
Lyon boss, Peter Bosz, bets on his striker doing it. "You can see straight away that he's a very good player," praises Bosz, "a very intelligent player."
