One of the most often done exercises for fanalysts in the public sphere is analyzing Ligue 1 prospects. It makes sense considering both the long list of successful young talents to emerge within French football in the past, and the reality of many Ligue 1 clubs having to sell heavily due to lacking robust TV rights. For clubs outside of France, especially in the Premier League, there’s always value to be had.

Just over a year ago, I looked at some possible underrated gems in Ligue 1. Looking back, the results are interesting. Sidiki Cherif made a surprising move to Fenerbahçe at the beginning of February, before another permanent move to Coventry City this past summer. Matias Fernandez-Pardo had the highest profile transfer, leaving in a big money move for Newcastle. In the case of Arthur Avom and Samson Baidoo, they remain with Lorient and Lens respectively, although Avom’s contract reportedly expires next summer which would make him a fascinating free agent.

We’ll be doing a similar exercise to last season. The three players chosen are all in their age 22 or younger season, using FBref’s designation. Each selection will cover a third of the pitch to make it a bit more holistic.

Rennes have seen their fair share of high-end prospects use the club as a stepping stone, before making the next step up. In recent years, you had Jérémy Doku and Désiré Doué as electric wingers who had high upside on the ball. Most recently was Jérémy Jacquet in January, who has seemingly gone from strength to strength in a short time span.

The next one up might be Abdelhamid Aït Boudlal. He’s been known in scouting circles as one to watch for a couple of years, so he’s not an unknown talent. He’s steadily gained minutes over the past 12 months, playing in either a back four or back five, and now he’s a solidified starter within Rennes’ backline.

For someone as young as he is, he often looks composed while defending in various situations. When Rennes tries to press, he’ll try to juggle between going man-to-man versus staying within the defensive line and has so far won those battles more than lost. The same thing occurs while defending in a mid-block. In general, he’s good at recognizing runs from opponents while patrolling his own third. His long frame also helps him get in position for defensive actions when around his own box, which helps explain why Scout Lab had him in the 98th percentile among qualified center-backs in Europe’s big 5 leagues for Valuing Actions by Estimating Probabilities from defensive actions.

What Aït Boudlal does on the ball is more of a question mark at the moment. When he and Jacquet were part of the back 3/5 set up with Rennes, it was Jacquet who did considerably more progressive passing. Among Ligue 1 CBs with 1200 or more minutes played last year, Aït Boudlal was 37th out of 58th in line breaking passes per 90 according to Statsbomb. Scout Lab had him in the 25th percentile for progressive passes. The Moroccan defender can be guilty of not being decisive enough and forgoing possible passing options, allowing incoming pressure to impact his accuracy.

The interesting thing with Aït Boudlal is for however timid he might be as a passer, the ball-carrying is a lot more aggressive. Scout Lab had him in the 77th percentile for progressive carries and 66th in fields gained by carries. There’s less indecisiveness from him when trying to move it forward himself, and there’ve occasionally been moments of brilliance from him where he combines both the passing and carrying to help change the tempo of the play.

There were transfer rumors involving Aït Boudlal over the summer, including a rejected £20 million bid from Fulham. He’s certainly not the finished article, with questions surrounding his willingness to attempt daring passes, the potential of providing extra value with underlapping runs within a back five, and how well he grades out defending in 1v1 situations out wide. However, the building blocks are there to grow into a really good CB, so don’t be surprised if a club makes a massive bet on him this summer.

Even though Strasbourg have acted as an incubator for BlueCo’s young talent since 2023, the numbers remain stunning. Their average age when weighted by minutes played was an astonishing 21.5 years old last season according to FBref, which was the youngest in Ligue 1 and across Europe’s big 5 leagues by 2.1 years over 2nd place Paris FC. Trying to create a side good enough to contend for Europe with almost all the players being pre-peak is not an easy task.

One of their interesting prospects at the moment is Pape Demba Diop. The past couple of years for him have seen their ups and downs. He earned a move to Strasbourg following an impressive 2024-25 campaign with Zulte Waregem in Belgian football’s second division. However, the first half of last season saw him have limited minutes in Germany before another loan to Toulouse in January. It was there where he found stability, starting 13 out of 15 matches.

What’s been clear with Diop since the loan spell with Toulouse is the activity he shows out of possession. He can cover a ton of ground either within the mid-block or when venturing out of his zonal role to help with the press. Scout Lab had him in the 93rd percentile among midfielders for ball recoveries last season. When on his game, he can come from the blindside on unsuspecting opponents and win possession back in the middle third. There’s also extra value Diop might be able to bring in terms of helping slow down transition opportunities through his awareness and athleticism.

In contrast, Diop is more understated with the ball. He doesn’t tend to hold onto it for too long, often releasing the pass with his second touch. The downside is he can be guilty of not being daring enough to try and carry into space to provoke the opposing defensive block. This doesn’t necessarily mean he’ll merely recycle possession from side to side, as he can get it forward to open teammates in space. Diop was above average in various passing metrics (progressive passes, passes to final third, deep completions) according to Scout Lab. Meanwhile, Statsbomb had him 13th among Ligue 1 midfielders for line breaking passes.

It’ll be interesting to see how Diop grows in-possession as the season progresses. This includes becoming more consistent with the weighting of the passes when trying to thread the needle to teammates, and playing under pressure in general. There might also be some potential for him to make late runs into the box and be a bigger factor going forward.

Just a few years ago, it looked like the world was Paris Brunner’s oyster. He won player of the tournament in both the 2023 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, and the 2023 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Goalscoring came very easy to him at youth levels for Dortmund, and it seemed like he’d be the next one to break into the first team squad at a very young age. However, disciplinary issues eventually led to him leaving for Monaco in the summer of 2024. A loan to Cercle Brugge for the following season only amounted to two league starts, partly due to injuries.

With Folarin Balogun out of the lineup to begin the season, there was an opening for Brunner to stamp his case as Monaco’s starting striker. The early results suggest it might be his spot to lose. He’s tied for the lead in Ligue 1 goals with four, while registering a very healthy shot per 90 rate.

Brunner’s motor off the ball has arguably been his claim to fame over the five starts. He’s so far shown the willingness to make plenty of channel runs vs mid-blocks. If a teammate receives in the halfspace, the hips will be quickly flipped to prepare for a quick dash in-behind. There’ve also been a couple of instances of him slyly returning from an offside position and finding himself in a dangerous position just a few seconds later. The penalty box movement has not shone yet, tending to wait at the back post for crosses and banking on his leaping ability to win in those situations.

Since Brunner only averages just 11.3 passes per 90, we’ve not seen much of him playing in deeper positions. There were a couple of moments versus Lens in the 2-1 win where he cleanly received in pockets of space and then quickly made a positive action. While he has shown to be a battler when receiving with his back to goal, the technique can be erratic. It also remains to see how much of a dribble and carry threat he actually grades out to be. Perhaps the burst to push the ball forward will make up for potentially having less wiggle to shake opponents

The standout performance so far was against Marseille in Monaco’s 2-0 victory in the second week of the season. Granted, it’s a Marseille side that’s struggling mightily so far, but what Brunner did remains impressive. There was a solid volume of attempted runs in behind, finding different angles to crash the box, and scoring two goals. The second of which came was a great solo goal which started by him expertly spinning away from Geoffrey Kondogbia into space (2:33 in the vid below).

4.6 90s does not make a career, so there’ll certainly be stumbling blocks going forward. Having Balogun back in the fold will help in Monaco not having to rely on a 20 year old to start all the time. I’m curious what Brunner can provide when operating between the lines over a greater sample size, and whether he ends up best situated as a low touch off-ball heavy striker. That will help in further solidifying the caliber of prospect he’ll be.

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