This new year is for them. Well, if all goes well.
Mohamed Salah (Liverpool FC)
If Karim Benzema had the season of his life at 35, Mohamed Salah can very well have his at 32: since the start of the season, the Pharaoh has been simply unplayable, with his 17 goals and 13 assists in 18 league games, which makes him the best scorer and best passer in the kingdom. Sunday, on the West Ham pitch (0-5), it was another recital. At the top of the Premier League, at the top of the C1, his Liverpool FC – with Arne Slot at the helm – is set to lift everything.
Seko Fofana (Stade Rennais)
His departure for Saudi Arabia was heartbreaking for RC Lens fans, but also, quite simply, for Ligue 1 fans. His return to business can only be good news, even if it is far from the North, in Brittany, that he is preparing to reappear. You wouldn’t think so, but the Ivorian bulldozer is only 29 years old, and is therefore still quite capable of crushing the midfielders of the Hexagon as he used to do at Bollaert. We are already looking forward to seeing him return to the blood and gold public in mid-March, or face Franck Haise at the beginning of February (or even as early as January 3).
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Presnel Kimpembe (PSG)
Did you forget Presnel Kimpembe? Presnel Kimpembe himself may have forgotten that he was a professional footballer. Injured in the Achilles tendon on February 26, 2023 during a Classic at the Vélodrome (0-3), Presko (29 years old) has still not given any sign of life since, except at the Poissy campus. “It’s been two years since he hasn’t played continuously, since he hasn’t played a full professional match,” said Luis Enrique in mid-December. There were two relapses of two different injuries. It would be very risky to speed up the process. […] It’s a very good thing that he can train with the team. But I don’t know when he’ll be perfectly competitive.” In the meantime, the left-hander is hanging around in the waiting room with the unwanted Randal Kolo Muani. Hopefully they have a JBL speaker on hand that does the job, just to pass the time.
Alexander Isak (Newcastle United)
He would currently be the best striker in the Premier League if Egypt had not been invented. 1.92m, with the physique of a stick insect, but capable of doing anything with the ball at his feet: Alexander Isak increasingly resembles what could be described as a terror – Manchester United verified this on Monday (0-2). But above all, he increasingly resembles a guy on whom Paris will spend 80 million in June.
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Endrick (Real Madrid)
Three minutes here, eleven minutes there: although he has been of legal age to buy and consume all types of alcoholic beverages since last July, Endrick is still considered a child in Madrid. However, the Brazilian has a transfer worth 60 grand to justify, and a career as a future Ballon d’Or winner to lead. We imagine that Florentino Pérez and Carlo Ancelotti are already taking pressure from his agent.
Sérgio Conceição (AC Milan)
It was announced that he would sign for Marseille, then return to Nantes, but Sérgio Conceição dreamed bigger, and the doors of the San Siro were opened to him, while Paulo Fonseca had already become a has-been in the fashion capital. Three times champion – and three times runner-up – of Portugal, three times winner of the Taça de Portugal, in seven years at FC Porto (2017-2024), the very sexy Sérgio Conceição now faces the biggest challenge of his coaching career, at the head of a team currently excluded from the top six of Serie A. And if the former Seleção winger had worked wonders at the Canaries with Mariusz Stępiński, Felipe Pardo and Jules Iloki, he will have no trouble doing the same with Tijjani Reijnders, Rafael Leão and Theo Hernandez.
Paul Pogba (without a club)
We heard his name mentioned a lot of times recently in the sixteenth chamber of the Paris Court, but we would especially like to see him listed on a match sheet, something that has not happened since September 2023 and his suspension for doping. In March, Paulo will be eligible for release, and it is hard to see him staying without a club for long, he who officially terminated his contract with Juventus at the end of November. A unique player, a unique profile, a unique human being, Pogba has 31 years and still a few years to offer football. So, who wants it?
Claudio Echeverri (Manchester City)
Like Julián Álvarez, he is Argentinian. Like Julián Álvarez, he has a stupid nickname (“El Diablito”). Like Julián Álvarez, he was bought by Manchester City from River Plate for around twenty million, and stayed in Argentina on loan for several months. And like Julián Álvarez, he now arrives at the Etihad Stadium with the label of a huge star in his country. The attacking midfielder, who led the Albiceleste U17 to the final of the South American Championship and to third place in the World Cup in 2023, and who scored a goal in the group stage of the Paris Olympics this summer, is obviously compared to Leo Messi. When City decided to lock him up in January 2024, the kid had only six appearances to his name, one start, and 155 minutes under his belt with the professionals. Either Pep Guardiola is mentally ill or the boy really has the ball. It’s 50-50.
Ethan Mbappé (Lille OSC)
It’s simple: 2025 is the year Ethan must surpass his brother. Kylian being in a tough spot, he is the one by whom the family honor must be saved. The left-hander blew out his 18 candles three days ago and is slowly coming back from a serious quadriceps injury: all the lights are green to see him launch his adventure at LOSC, and blossom for good, in the coming months. There was only room for one Mbappé in Ligue 1, and it looks like the way is clear.
François Ciccolini (without a club)
SC Bastia, Red Star, Neuchâtel Xamax, JS Kabylie, Stade lavallois, Gazélec Ajaccio, USM Alger, Adanaspor: the CV of the legend François Ciccolini is just waiting to be extended. And there is certainly a nice Ligue 2 club where the 62-year-old Corsican could do great things, he who has not coached since 2020 and a short experience in the Turkish second division. In addition, his cover letter is already ready.
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