Warren Zaire-Emery, Senny Mayulu, Yoram Zague and Ethan Mbappé are the four players from the PSG academy to have played this season in Ligue 1 Uber Eats.
Crowned champion of Ligue 1 Uber Eats for the 12th time in its history this season, Paris Saint-Germain has experienced a hectic end to the season between Ligue 1 Uber Eats, a great run in the UEFA Champions League and a Coupe de France final to come the end of May. Faced with a busy schedule, coach Luis Enrique did not hesitate to call on a few young players trained at the club, while Warren Zaire-Emery has already established himself in midfield at just 18 years old.
Since the first Parisian title of the QSI era, in 2012/13, many "Titis" or academy players have made their contributions, with some seasons more marked than others. But where does the 2023/24 season sit in relation to its predecessors? Here's the answer by the numbers.
Thomas Tuchel led the way
With the explosion of Warren Zaire-Emery this season, whether at PSG or with the French national team, the Parisian academy has once again made headlines. Including the young prodigy, launched into the deep end by Christophe Galtier in August 2022, there are four Titis to have been used this season by Luis Enrique. Full-back Yoram Zague (17 years old, 180 minutes) and midfielder Ethan Mbappé (17 years old, 18 minutes) appeared twice in the league, while versatile midfielder Senny Mayulu (17 years old) played in five matches (215 minutes).
The leader of this generation, Zaire-Emery played 1872 minutes (25 matches). It's a remarkable total a only Presnel Kimpembe has done better over the last three seasons among these graduates used (2579 minutes in 2021/22). This season, players trained at the club played 7% of the minutes available and scored 3% of the Ile-de-France's sides goals.
🏆🔥 Best youngster in #Ligue1
— Paris Saint-Germain (@PSG_English) May 13, 2024
Warren Zaire-Emery is elected best youngster of the 2023/2024 season in #Ligue1! 👏❤️💙#UNFPTrophies ✨ pic.twitter.com/RuXDccaLBe
Of the ten titles won in Ligue 1 Uber Eats during the QSI era, that is to say since 2012/13, this vintage is a little below average (7 players used, 11% of minutes played, 4% of goals) but finishes strong with the recent appearances of Zague, E. Mbappé and Mayulu.
To find the title on which the Parisian Titis had the biggest impact, we have to go back to Thomas Tuchel's first season on the bench of the capital club. During the 2018/19 season 12 players trained at PSG were used by the German coach, including Kimpembe, Alphonse Areola, Christopher Nkunku, Moussa Diaby, Adrien Rabiot and Colin Dagba. During this run, the Titis played 25% of the minutes played and scored 9% of the goals. They had thus beaten the record established the previous season, under the command of Unai Emery. In 2017/18, only eight players featured up but with good playing time for three of them in Areola (3060 minutes), Kimpembe (2425 minutes) and Rabiot (2365 minutes).
Against Nice tonight, we may see those numbers increase as Enrique could play a young team in his side's next-to-last match of the league season.
