One To Watch
The summer transfer window focused on bringing in young talent
Most clubs have focused their recruitment on young players, often with solid experience and international caps.
Among the teams with multiple new signings, AS Monaco boasts the youngest average age for new players in the league (20 years and 115 days). This figure excludes the permanent transfer of Thilo Kehrer (27 years) and doesn’t account for players who were already at the club last season.
Monaco leads this category, followed by HAC (20 years and 300 days), RCSA (21 years and 168 days), and, somewhat unusually, PSG (21 years and 327 days). All other Ligue 1 teams have an average age for their new signings over 23 years, with Toulouse FC having the oldest average (28 years and 181 days).
RC Strasbourg Alsace has been at the forefront of this youth trend, with new additions like Oscar Perea (18 years), Yoni Gomis (18 years), Caleb Wiley (19 years), and Mamadou Sarr (19 years). Of their 13 new recruits, 11 are between 18 and 22 (goalkeepers Johnsson and Petrovic are 34 and 24 years old, respectively).
Ligue 1 McDonald’s has welcomed several international stars this summer, including Youssoufa Moukoko (19), João Neves (19), and Valentin Carboni (19), adding to the 70 internationals who joined the league.
Notable new faces include Jonathan Rowe (21) at OM, George Ilenikhena (18) and Christian Mawissa (19) at AS Monaco, and for Stade Rennais, Mikayil Faye (20), Heinrik Meister (20), and Andrés Gomez (21). Gabriel Moscardo (18) has moved to Reims, while Ethan Mbappé (17) has stayed on, joining Les Dogues.
The transfer window also saw some familiar faces returning from abroad: Neal Maupay (28) rejoined OM on the last day of the transfer period, seven years after leaving France. Stade Brestois welcomed Romain Faivre and Ludovic Ajorque, while LOSC brought back former Ligue 1 players Mitchel Bakker, Thomas Meunier, and Aïssa Mandi.
Overall, the summer transfer window was busy, with all the clubs making changes to their rosters and bringing in 129 new players. Some teams were notably more active than others.
RC Strasbourg Alsace has been the most active in the transfer market, signing 13 new players, surpassing Stade Rennais F.C., which brought in 12 new additions. OM is also making waves with 11 new signings, making them one of the other clubs with more than ten new recruits this season.
Among the four teams that signed nine new players, Stade Brestois secured five in the final days! With their Champions League commitment, the Bretons notably tapped into Ligue 1 McDonald’s, bringing in six players, who make up 50 percent of their new signings.
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