3 Ligue 1 Midfielders Who Could Be on the Move This Summer

There is not long to wait until the summer transfer window opens in July, and for any club in need of a midfielder to recruit to their squad in preparation for the 2023/24 season, Ligue 1 has shown itself to be a place with plenty of quality.

Amadou Onana and Lucas Paquetá were two players who secured moves to the Premier League in deals that earned Lille and Lyon in excess of £30m, while Aurélien Tchouaméni was the subject of the third-highest transfer last summer- the £72m fee Real Madrid agreed with Monaco.

As the current season draws to a close, the transfer train is gathering pace, with more names being speculated about.

Kylian Mbappe reportedly set to inform PSG of his desire to leave next season

Football

Sports Brief takes a look at three Ligue 1 players heavily linked with moves away from their clubs amid interest from top clubs around Europe.

Matteo Guendouzi, Olympique Marseille

The former Arsenal midfielder has been key for Marseille in his first season since making the switch to the Stade Velodrome. For a while, it looked as though rivals PSG would falter in their bid to retain their Ligue 1 title.

A frayed relationship with Mikel Arteta led to Guendouzi turning a loan at the French club permanent last summer. At Marseille, he has, for the most part, been a mainstay in midfield, with Jordan Veretout and Valentin Rongier for company.

Within the PFF’s passing model, he ranks as a top-three player in the position, with a grade of 82.6, trailing behind PSG’s Marco Verratti (90.5) and Lille’s Rémy Cabella (83.3).

Guendouzi’s season is ranked fifth overall in Ligue 1, ahead of teammates Veretout (69.5) and Rongier (76.0). But the latter duo have been the preferred starters in recent games under head coach Igor Tudor, as Guendouzi has been on the bench for four of Marseille’s last five league matches. This came after they surrendered second place in the standings to Lens.

Guendouzi is understood to be a West Ham target, should Declan Rice be sold this summer, according to reports from The Mirror.

Khephren Thuram, OGC Nice

Khephren Thuram and his brother, Borussia Mönchengladbach’s Marcus Thuram, have had no shortage of admirers heading into the transfer window. The Nice midfielder has garnered interest from Newcastle United and has also been linked to a reunion with PSG coach Christophe Galtier.

Thuram’s ball-carrying ability is sure to make him a highly-coveted player over the next few months, with room to develop further, given his age (22). His season so far has seen him ranked 90.2. He tops all Ligue 1 players, and only Jude Bellingham (90.4) holds a better ball-carrying grade- regardless of position- across Ligue 1, the Premier League, and Bundesliga.

We can segment Thuram’s ranking into the components which form an overall ball carry: carrying, dribbling, and tackle resistance. The first two see Thuram fare extremely well with grades of 89.9 (28 events) and 88.9 (74 events).

What about his distribution ability? Thuram has graded similarly to midfield partner Pablo Rosario (73.8) as a passer, with 73.7, and ranks 13th out of 140 qualifiers.

His volume of line-breaking pass attempts per 90 falls below the average of 54 midfielders (6.7) to have played a minimum of 1,500 minutes, at 6.2. On these passes, Thuram’s completion rate of 69% also falls below the average of 76%.

Enzo Le Fee, Lorient

Unlike the two players listed above, the future of Le Fee looks like it will almost certainly lie elsewhere next season, after he publicly announced his intention to leave Lorient in March.

A set-piece specialist who can play as a midfielder or in a more advanced role, Le Fee’s current contract expires in 2024, and he has been linked with a move to Leicester City, according to reports by 90mins.

Of the top six players in Ligue 1 to have the most crosses from set-piece events, Le Fee holds the second-best completion rate at 22%. The former France youth team international has completed 27 of his 105 crosses from set-pieces, and trails Toulouse’s Branco van den Boomen’s 24%.

In judging the quality of his crossing overall, Le Fee’s crossing is scored at 76.7, ranking 17th out of 142 qualifiers. Of the six players with the highest set piece crossing volume, this grade is the lowest.

Rennes midfielder Benjamin Bourigeaud heads the list as the league’s biggest threat with a score of 92.4, followed by van den Boomen (88.2), Lens’ Przemyslaw Frankowski (83.4), Monaco’s Caio Henrique (81.9), and Montpellier’s Teji Savanier (77.8).

While he has the lowest grade amongst this group, Le Fee’s score shows consistent quality, just as he does in other facets. A passing score of 72.0 and a ball-carrying score of 74.7 ensures he ranks inside the top 16.

PSG to lose Hakimi

According to reports, the defender fancies a move back to Real Madrid, where he recorded early successes in his career, including winning the UCL title.

Lionel Messi is also reportedly set to leave the reigning Ligue 1 champions at the end of the season, alongside Neymar and Kylian Mbappe, who are also rumoured to be open to moves away from the club.