It's not for nothing that Ligue 1 Uber Eats is known as the league of talents, with more top players emerging from the French top flight every year.

Kylian Mbappé has perhaps unsurprisingly led the way in terms of goals, the Paris Saint-Germain talisman concluding the season with 29, but that he has had Balogun and Loïs Openda - two players enjoying their first Ligue 1 Uber Eats campaigns - for company, might have been harder to predict.

And it's not just strikers who have shone, with hitherto little-known players all over the field of play raising their games to new levels in 2022/23. Ligue1.com takes a closer look…

Loïs Openda

Club: Lens

Country: Belgium (8 caps/2 goals)

Age: 23

Position: Striker

Openda joined RC Lens from Club Brugge at the start of the season as a relative unknown outside of Belgium and the Netherlands; the hope among les Sang et Or fans that he could replace the goals of PSG-owned Arnaud Kalimuendo, since of Stade Rennais FC.

To say he has managed that would be a gross understatement. Openda raced to 21 goals - alongside four assists - giving him a goal-involvement of one every 101 minutes he played. Lens will return to the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 21 years, and Openda is a large part of the reason why.

Watch: Hat-trick in a hurry: 4 minutes 30 seconds - Openda breaks a 50-year record

Khéphren Thuram

Club: Nice

Country: France (1 cap)

Age: 22

Position: Midfielder

Khéphren Thuram was already on OGC Nice's books last season, but this campaign has been the first in which he made his spot in central midfield indisputably his own, with only goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel and centre-backs Dante and Jean-Clair Todibo playing more minutes for les Aiglons than Thuram in Ligue 1 Uber Eats.

The younger son of France's record cap-holder Lilian Thuram, Khéphren has contributed two goals and four assists from central midfield, as well as averaging three shot-creating actions per 90 minutes. He joined brother Marcus in becoming a full France international in March, and the future looks very bright indeed.

Folarin Balogun

Club: Reims (on loan from Arsenal)

Country: USA/England (U21)

Age: 21

Position: Striker

Another surprise name to have pushed Mbappé hard for the top scorer's crown, Balogun was a revelation after joining Reims on loan from Arsenal at the start of the season, matching Openda with 21 goals scored.

Capped up to England under-21 level, New York-born Balogun recently switched his international allegiance to the USA, and the Three Lions' loss is set to be the USMNT's gain.

Watch: Folarin Balogun: Rising star in Champagne country

Warren Zaïre-Emery

Club: PSG

Country: France (U19)

Age: 17

Position: Midfielder

PSG have a promising generation of players breaking through, with teenagers Warren Zaïre-Emery, El Chadaille Bitshiabu and Ismaël Gharbi regular members of Christophe Galtier's first-team squad this season, and the youngest of them, Zaïre-Emery, is arguably the furthest along.

Zaïre-Emery has featured in 26 games, eight of them starts, putting in performances that bely his tender 17 years of age, and scored a pair of goals in February, against Montpellier Hérault SC and AS Monaco - not bad for a nominal defensive midfielder!

Branco van den Boomen

Club: Toulouse

Country: Netherlands (U18)

Age: 27

Position: Midfielder

Towards the other end of the age spectrum from Zaïre-Emery, Branco van den Boomen nonetheless took his career to another level with Toulouse FC this term, after contributing 21 assists to their promotion campaign last year.

Van den Boomen had a team-high eight provisions this season; his five shot-creating actions per game were second only to Lionel Messi's six, while the Duthman's average of 10 progressive passes per game were the most league-wide, and he won the Coupe de France in April for good measure.