Few eyebrows were raised in seeing Kylian Mbappé at the top of the goal-scoring charts or Paris Saint-Germain teammate Angel Di Maria leading the way for assists by the close of play, but how many would have predicted the following star-turns?
 
Ligue1.com looks at the five players who lit up the season, rather against the odds…
 
1. Renato Sanches
 
Then: Sanches won the Golden Boy award in 2016 after helping Portugal lift that summer's UEFA European Championship with victory over France in Paris. Alongside Cristiano Ronaldo, the then 18-year-old had been Portugal's best player, and hopes were high when he left Benfica for Bayern Munich. Ten league starts in four seasons later - which included the ignominy of passing to an advertising billboard whilst on loan at Swansea - and expectations had been tempered by the time Sanches arrived in Lille at the start of this campaign, even if he still commanded a significant transfer fee.
 
Now: Sanches once again looks like the player who lit up the continent in his teens. Now 22, the midfielder has featured in 19 of LOSC's 28 games, be it through the middle or on the right. The pace, power and ball control remain, but Sanches's confidence is back alongside his raw ability. Three goals and an assist are a respectable season return for the midfield dynamo, but his effervescence also opens up gaps for teammates to exploit. Sanches's first goal - in the Round 18 2-1 win over Montpellier Hérault SC - came in a game in which he also won the ball back on eight occasions and beat his marker one-on-one a league-record 10 times.
 
Watch: Sanches's star-turn against Montpellier

2. Islam Slimani

Then: Something of a hero among Algeria fans by virtue of his 29 goals in 68 caps for his country, Slimani has nonetheless had a less-than-smooth journey at club level. Since his first international outing in 2012, Slimani has played for six clubs in five different countries. Surprise English Premier League champions Leicester City paid big money to acquire the striker from Sporting Lisbon in 2016 following his 27-goal season in Portugal the previous campaign, but it had been three years since he had passed double figures for goals by the time he arrived in the principality. Would Monaco discover something in this loan spell that Newcastle and Fenerbahce had previously missed?
 
Now: Slimani has formed an electric strike partnership with Wissam Ben Yedder at the Stade Louis II. Although it's the diminutive Frenchman who ended the season alongside Mbappé on 18 goals, Slimani's all-round play was second to none. The Algerian's combination of strength, mobility and vision helped him to add a league second-best eight assists alongside seven strikes of his own. Taken together, Slimani had a hand in a goal every 80 minutes he played in the league for Monaco this term. He may turn 32 in June, but Slimani seems to be aging like wine, and Les Rouges et Blancs would do well to at least extend his loan deal beyond this summer.
 
Watch: Slimani bags a goal and THREE assists against Brest in Round 8

3. Axel Disasi

Then: A Paris FC youth product who once spurred an international tug-of-war between France and DR Congo at youth level, the 1.90m- or 6'3"-tall Disasi had long been viewed as a promising defensive prospect, but his progress looked to be petering out at Stade de Reims having arrived at the Champagne club in 2016. Julian Jeanvier had partnered Yunis Abdelhamid in central defence for most of Reims' promotion campaign in 2017-18, while Bjorn Engels invariably got the nod beside the Morocco international during their first season back in the top flight. While Jeanvier and Engels left for England - for Brentford and Aston Villa respectively - in consecutive seasons, Disasi, even at 21, could have been forgiven for wondering when he would get his chance.
 
Now: Disasi played 27 of Reims' 28 league games this term, and was central - quite literally - to them boasting the meanest defence in the division. Reims only conceded 21 goals, three fewer than champions PSG, and enjoyed 12 clean sheets, one of them against the champions, Neymar Jr. et al. Whilst Serbia goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic has impressed behind him, Disasi has nonetheless been the stand-out member of Reims' rear-guard and put in a man-of-the-match performance when David Guion's side beat PSG 2-0 at the Parc des Princes in Round 7. Regular first-team for the France U20 international is now guaranteed for the foreseeable - assuming, of course, that Reims can hold onto their defensive diamond.
 
Watch: Highlights of Reims' 2-0 win at PSG

4. Yoann Court

Then: An Olympique Lyonnais academy graduate like Karim Benzema, Alexandre Lacazette and Nabil Fekir, that was where the similarities between that France international trio and Court ended heading into this season. The 30-year-old midfielder had played just 25 minutes of Ligue 1 Conforama football before the current campaign - for ESTAC Troyes in 2015-16 when the club from the Grand Est region finished rock bottom. Although he was a regular for Stade Brestois 29 when they won promotion last term, it was Gaëtan Charbonnier who grabbed most of the headlines with his 27 goals. Court scored six and assisted another five, but fellow midfielder Mathias Autret had beaten him by three in each column, and stepping back up to the top flight aged 30 might have been daunting for some.
 
Now: Court has been Brest's most potent attacking force this season. The left-footed attacking midfielder scored a brace as Reims held his one-time employers Lyon to a 2-2 draw in Round 7, and he concluded the campaign with another goal - scored in a 5-2 win at Toulouse FC - as well as some seven assists. Court may not be the fastest runner, but that extra yard in his head has meant that only the aforementioned Di Maria (14) and Slimani (8) have laid on more goals. "I tell Gaëtan Charbonnier that if we're two on one in front of goal, I'd rather pass to him than score," Court told ligue1.com in October. "An assist is as good as goal for me!"
 
Watch: Highlights of Brest's 2-2 draw with Lyon

5. Denis Bounga

Then: A winger with an eye for goal, Bouanga nonetheless looked like he might have found his level in Domino's Ligue 2 in recent season during loan spells at RC Strasbourg Alsace and Tours from parent club FC Lorient. Eight goals and two assists in the top flight with Nîmes Olympique last term were a good return, although they were tallied over 35 games and averaged out at one every three matches. A Gabon international since 2017, the African nation are nonetheless 83rd in the latest FIFA World Rankings and Bouanga has spent a lot of that time in the shadow of former AS Saint-Etienne forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, now of Arsenal. ASSE acquired Bouanga last summer, hoping as much as expecting for the best from a player who had already turned 24.
 
Now: Sainté have struggled this season, and were just seven points above the relegation places in 17th when play drew to a close. Bouanga has done anything but toil, however. He has started on either wing and right up front, adjusting to three different tactical systems under two different coaches in Ghislain Printant and then Claude Puel. Despite the turmoil going on around him, Bouanga ended the campaign with 10 goals and three assists - at a rate of one every 157 minutes - and even outscored Auba for their country this season, with goals in wins over Morocco and Angola. "The first time we met, I wondered if he knew me," Bounga wondered of Aubameyang in December. "For me, it was like an idol, but I didn't know if he had ever heard of me." Many more players and fans alike have heard of him now.
 
Watch: Bouanga scores a fine brace in ASSE's 3-2 win over Nantes in Round 13