Just three academy graduates—Wayne Zaire-Emery, Ethan Mbappe, and Presnel Kimpembe—are included in PSG’s Champions League team, as per Transfermarkt’s study. This is in contrast to Real Sociedad, where there were 13, the most of any remaining team in the league.
The match on Wednesday, the first leg of the round of 16, is a step closer to PSG’s goal of winning in Europe—a goal the team has had for nearly as long as it has watched young, gifted Parisians elude them.
Primarily, Kingsley Coman stands out. He scored the game-winning goal before being released to Juventus, making him the club’s youngest-ever player.
as Bayern Munich defeated PSG in their lone Champions League final in 2020.
Former PSG players of note include Timothy Weah of Juventus, Ferland Mendy of Real Madrid, Aston Villa’s Moussa Diaby, AC Milan’s goalkeeper Mike Maignan, and Christopher Nkunku of Chelsea.
This is true even though La Real’s home city of San Sebastian has less players than Paris’ municipal league, the Ligue de Paris Ile-de-France.
The “flashy, bling-bling” period at PSG, according to club owner Nasser Al-Khelaifi, is supposedly finished. If that’s the case, he could do worse than observe how the team’s opponents in the round of 16 have developed into one of Europe’s leading talent generators.
