PSG’s 16-year-old ‘alien player’ is breaking records

When Warren Zaire-Emery took the field alongside Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos at the Parc des Princes last night, it may have seemed strange to many. The 16-year-old midfielder has come up to the Champions League to break the record as PSG’s youngest player. He holds the record as PSG’s youngest player to debut and score in an official match. This time in the Champions League, his record has become the same.

The footballer who was born in France also holds the record for PSG’s debut in League A as the youngest, debut in the XI, goalscoring record. Last night, Warren Zaire-Emery became the youngest player in the history of the Champions League knockout stage to play for the XI. This midfielder made the record by entering the field at the age of 16 years and 343 days. In addition to this, he also holds the record as PSG’s youngest player to debut in the Champions League.

However, Warren could not leave the field with a victory tomorrow. His team PSG lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich in the first leg of the last sixteen.

Warren, who won the Under-17 European Championship for France last year, is an ‘A’ player listed in PSG’s ‘Gen-Z’ project. In 2011, the French club undertook new projects after being owned by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI). The goal was to produce the next Messi from their own academy. During this era PSG’s academy has become one of the best in Europe and Warren is one of the academy’s best talents.

Warren’s father was also a footballer. Played for Red Star, one of the oldest clubs in France. The son also walked in the father’s path. After PSG took him into the academy at the age of 8, there was no looking back. Warren is now the most promising footballer to emerge from PSG’s ‘Gen-Z’ (Golden Generation) project.

Portuguese midfielder Vitinha, who left Porto and joined PSG in June last year, asked Jorge Mendes about him after a few training sessions with Warren’s Jair-Emery. Mendez is the agent of both of them. Vitinha said to Mendez, ‘Who is this little boy? He is an alien!’

Accustomed to box-to-box midfield play, Warren’s ability to understand match dynamics is outstanding. Munshiana is not less in making a game out of the ball. PSG star Marco Verratti was surprised to see Warren in his first training session after being given a chance in PSG’s first team at the age of just 15. The young man was amazed at his teammate’s talent. Warren is also trying to make use of one opportunity after another to convince PSG that it will work without buying additional midfielders. Instead, if he gets a chance to play more matches, he will be fully prepared himself.