Known for splashing the cash on superstars, Paris Saint-Germain is changing their strategy, highlighted by 16-year-old midfielder becoming the youngest player in the club's history.
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Warren Zaire-Emery impressed on tour in Japan last month, showing great composure and a smart reading of the game.
PSG coach Christophe Galtier thus gave Zaire-Emery his French league debut against Clermont last week by sending him on for Italy international Marco Verratti in the 82nd minute. PSG won the league opener 5-0 and play Montpellier on Saturday.
"Warren was very serious and very good during the preseason. I had to give him his first minutes in the French league," Galtier said. "Our young players must feel involved."
Zaire-Emery joined PSG's youth academy in 2014 and won the Euros with the France under-17 team in June. He lifted the trophy with PSG teammate El Chadaille Bitshiabu, who was the club's previous youngest player.
A look at PSG's bench against Clermont showed Zaire-Emery's presence was no anomaly with other young French players like Nordi Mukiele, Arnaud Kalimuendo and Hugo Ekitike sat next to Zaire-Emery. Mukiele and Ekitike also came on.
"My goal for the next few years is to only have Parisian players in our team," PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi told local daily Le Parisien. "There's so much talent in our region. The best players of our region deserve to play for PSG."
PSG has struggled to retain local talent since the takeover by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011. An impatience to win the Champions League has deprived youngsters of the time to develop.
PSG's youth academy has lost talented players such as Kingsley Coman, Mike Maigna, Moussa Diaby and Christopher Nkunku.
At 18, Coman joined Juventus before moving to Bayern Munich in 2017. He scored the winning goal for Bayern against PSG in the 2020 Champions League final.
Maignan departed for Lille at 20. He won the Ligue 1 best goalkeeper award in 2019 and helped Lille win the league title in 2021. He showed that was no fluke by winning the Serie A best goalkeeper award and helping AC Milan win the title this year. A France international, Maignan is tipped to succeed Hugo Lloris.
Moussa Diaby played 25 French league games for PSG during the 2018-19 season but still preferred to go to Bayer Leverkusen at 19. The winger was one of the best players in the Bundesliga last season with 13 goals and 12 assists.
Nkunku played 22 French league games during the 2018-19 season before signing with Leipzig at 21. He notched 20 goals and 13 assists in the Bundesliga last season to win the player of the season award.
There are only two homegrown players among the regular starters: Mbappe and Presnel Kimpembe. Mbappe is the example of what went wrong with PSG's recruitment policy.
Born in Paris, Mbappe grew up in the suburbs but at 14 joined Monaco because he had a better chance of playing time there than at PSG. Mbappe made his French league debut at 16 with Monaco. He joined PSG in 2017, for a transfer fee of EUR180 million ($A260 m now ).
Australian Associated Press
