Since the first rumours about Kouassi pop up, I've got some thoughts stuck in my head for a couple of days. I personally don't know about a generation with so many talented and already established/up and coming players dominating the leagues in which they play. I've made a list on my own, which I think is going to be interesting to look, as a whole - just to realise and put these names under 1 flag.
As most of you already know, I love to dig deep and to do some research about the players (which was needed here since 50 % of the guys there play in France and they decided to make PSG champions early, early this year - my mind is forgetting some of the talented players which I was watching) and what the hell. These guys are stacked. For the present and for the future.
Names for which I don't have to talk about:
1. Kylian Mbappe;
2. N'golo Kanté;
3. Raphaël Varane;
4. Aymeric Laporte;
5. Antoine Griezmann;
6. Lucas Hernández;
7. Alexandre Lacazette;
8. Anthony Martial;
9. Clément Lenglet;
10. Hugo lloris;
Guys who are one of the best players in their respective teams:
1. Paul Pogba (when he wants to play, of course);
2. Ousmane Dembélé (when he's not injured, of course);
3. Houssem Aouar;
4. Wissam Ben Yedder;
5. Karim Benzema;
6. Samuel Umtiti;
7. Alassane Plea;
8. Nabil Fekir;
9. Ferland Mendy;
10. Benjamin Mendy;
11. Theo Hernandez;
12. Dan-Axel Zagadou;
The role players:
1. Kingsley Coman;
2. Florian Thauvin;
3. Evan N'Dicka;
4. Thomas Lemar;
5. Corentin Tolisso;
6. Benjamin Pavard;
7. Lucas Digne;
8. Presnel Kimpembe;
9. Adrien Rabiot;
10. Tiemoué Bakayoko;
11. Morgan Sanson;
The up and coming stars:
1. Tanguy Ndombélé;
2. Dayot Upamecano;
3. Ibrahima Konaté;
4. Moussa Dembélé;
5. Christopher Nkunku;
6. Boubakary Soumaré;
7. Marcus Thuram;
8. Khéphren Thuram;
9. Jeff Reine-Adélaïde;
10. Jules Koundé;
11. Jean-Philippe Mateta;
12. Abdou Diallo;
The super-talents: (20 years old or under)
1. Eduardo Camavinga;
2. William Saliba;
3. Rayan Cherki;
4. Tanguy Kouassi;
5. Moussa Diaby;
6. Rayan Ait-Nouri;
7. Adil Aouchiche;
The talented kids that can blow off: (everyone is under or 19 years old)
1. Aurélien Tchouaméni;
2. Bafodé Diakité;
3. Yacine Adli;
4. Willem Geubbels;
5. Maxence Caqueret;
Just to remind you guys, there were 52 French-born players present in Russia for the World Cup, making it the fourth successive World Cup at which France has supplied more players than any other competing nation. More than a quarter of the players whose teams reached the semifinals had come through French youth academies, while a study published by the CIES Football Observatory revealed that France is the second-biggest global exporter of professional footballers behind Brazil.
Ligue de Football Professionnel has put the bankability of the country's young stars squarely at the heart of its marketing strategy, announcing last year that Ligue 1's new slogan would be "The League of Talents." And it really is.
The multicultural, densely populated Parisian banlieues align all the elements required for an ideal football breeding ground: an extremely high concentration of young players, a plentiful supply of municipal sports facilities and a culture of fast-paced informal matches on small pitches where technical dexterity and individual expression are allowed to flourish.
"You find lots of players with high technical qualities, in terms of dribbling, tricks and one-on-ones," says Yves Gergaud, a youth coach and recruiter who helped bring through France internationals Coman, Presnel Kimpembé and Ferland Mendy at Paris Saint-Germain. "Most of the time, they're never more than 10 minutes away from a pitch."
So how is the whole thing done? I find the perfect
in Reddit, which explained the final details that I didn't know:
There are 18,165 football clubs in France for 2, 225 595 football players who are all members of the French Football Federation.
About 350,000 of them are between the age of 11 and 14 where detection really begins. The best among them will be allowed to join a special middle school specialized in sports. There are about 500 such schools (all public) in France for about 60,000 students.
Out of these 60,000, only 800 of them will join one of the 25 "pre-training centres" in France, half of which are sponsored by French professional football clubs. Once there, they are no longer schools students who play soccer, they become soccer players who carry on their studies: 5 training sessions a week like the pros. After a year, only 350 of them will be picked by a professional club's youth academy. There are 40 youth academies in France (20 in Ligue 1 20 in Ligue 2 as all clubs in Ligue 1 and 2 must have a youth academy). This training lasts for about 5 years. Each year, these youth academies produce about 70 new professional players.
60,000 at the beginning, 70 at the end. Public money finances most of the process (youth academies do get some public money).
And something extra for the people wanting to learn more:
Behind the scenes at Clairefontaine: How France produced a new generation ready to take on the world
[source]There is one thing for sure - there are going to be a lot of new up-and-coming superstars from France, and we can easily say that they are going to dominate the world of football, at least in terms of talent, at least for the next 10-15 years.
Crazy.
