Zaïre-Emery burst onto the scene with PSG last season, his nascent talent a large part of the reason the Ligue 1 Uber Eats champions were willing to sell club legend Marco Verratti to Al-Arabi in the summer.

Still just 17-years-old, Zaïre-Emery has become a mainstay in the Paris midfield under Luis Enrique, and was handed his full France debut as les Bleus thrashed Gibraltar 14-0 last Saturday. He scored, but was injured in the process.

He will now miss the rest of 2023 with a severely sprained ankle, with PSG having to pivot…

Plan A

Enrique began the season with a 4-3-3 formation, but for the last month or so has used a 4-2-2-2, and with impressive results. Since the switch, Paris have won four consecutive games in Ligue 1 Uber Eats, scoring three goals each time.

Zaïre-Emery's most regular partner in the double pivot over that time has been Fabian Ruiz, and he should keep his place alongside the slightly more robust Manuel Ugarte. The Uruguayan's minutes have been restricted of late, but with a 91 per cent pass completion and more than four tackles per game on average, he can be trusted at the heart of midfield.

"He's a young player with a strong character, he's important for us, he gives balance to the team," Enrique said of Ugarte in September. "He's one of the big surprises at the start of the season," and there's no reason to doubt that he'll now be given another chance to shine.

Plan B

Paris may have lost Renato Sanches and Leandro Paredes to Roma around the time Verratti left for Qatar, but they still boast an embarrassment of riches in midfield, with Vitinha used beside Fabian when PSG beat Strasbourg earlier in the month.

But with Carlos Soler, Bradley Barcola and Lee Kang-in also in the books, Paris have a host of players capable of playing wide in a midfield three, and as well as Ugarte, they would also have Danilo Pereira to anchor it.

And that's before Cher Ndour has been considered, the Italian prodigy who joined from Benfica in the summer but has had to be patient for a run in the team so far.

New Year, fresh start

Zaïre-Emery became the youngest player in more than 100 years to score for France when he incurred his injury, at 17 years, eight months and 11 days of age, and Enrique summed up his talent recently.

"Warren's a diamond," he said. "He's still young so naturally, there are still things to improve. He plays in relation to his teammates. He knows where to go on the pitch - it's the sign of a great player. It's easy to coach a player like him with his innate characteristics…"

But PSG can change their personnel and even their system to compensate for his temporary absence. They have the best player in the word up front in Kylian Mbappé, and a host of top players - many of them midfielders - in support of him.

Zaïre-Emery will be missed, but he can expect to come back into a winning team in the New Year.