I agree with those PSG names you mentioned (Glad you didn't put a certain over-rated 'superstar' that joined Milan in the summer on that list..)!

He's not near to Leonardo or Ginola IMO, when it comes to PSG.

FUTURE STARS OF LIGUE 1

The soon-to-be Famous Five

Which French club was second only to Real Madrid in the number of players that had come through its youth ranks which were playing in top flights around Europe last season? If you said Lyon, Paris Saint-Germain or Marseille, then, goodbye, you are the weakest link. If, on the other hand, you said, "Metz, bien sûr," then forget about being insulted by Anne Robinson, you should be on Mastermind.

The Lorraine club, which has nurtured the fledgling talent of Robert Pires, Louis Saha, and,er, Sebastien Bassong in recent seasons, has long been a bastion of what the French call formation - literally the "forming" of young players.

The concept of formation is as important to the cash-strapped Ligue 1 clubs as it is to the Red Arrows, and though the raw talent may have dried up at second division Metz currently, the production line is functioning elsewhere. Here are five of the as-yet-largely-untouched rough diamonds soon to be appearing at a major football competition near you.

Mamadou Sakho (Paris Saint-Germain)

Unlike Metz, Nantes, Auxerre or Le Havre, Paris Saint-Germain is a club not noted for its formation. Lilian Thuram, Sylvain Wiltord, Didier Drogba, and even Samuel Eto'o - who was refused a trial at PSG because he didn't have the right official documents - have all slipped through the net, despite either being born within commuting distance or growing up near the French capital. Mamadou Sakho could be the exception that proves the rule.

Last summer, Juventus and Chelsea were sniffing around the teenage central defender, who recently signed a contract extension tying him to the Parc des Princes until 2012 for €100,000 a month. It is a princely sum for a 19-year-old, but PSG believe that - if he does eventually leave his beloved hometown club - it will be for a king's ransom.

Paul Le Guen has clearly spotted the potential, and his decision to make Sakho captain against Valenciennes in October 2007 - when the then-17-year-old became the youngest-ever PSG player to wear the armband - now not only looks like an astute attempt to stimulate an under-achieving squad, but also a sign of things to come.

"He has a level of confidence which allows him to live up to his status, he's not afraid of the pressure in Ligue 1. Such serenity at his age, in his position, is rare," said Erick Mombaerts, Sakho's coach with the French under-21s. "I spoke to Gérard Houllier about him recently and the comparison with Lilian Thuram was made. There must be a reason. He's 19 years old, and is playing at a big club. At PSG, a lot of experienced players have lost their way, not him."

The youngster models himself on France's most-capped player - not a bad example to follow - and, slightly more worryingly, Gabriel Heinze, but only in terms of the Real Madrid defender's uncompromising stop-and-search policy on opposition wingers.

"He's really the sort of defender that hates it when you get past him, and that's the sort of attitude I want to have," said Sakho. "I rarely think about what I did well, and I always try to progress. When Claude Makelele arrived, I went up to him to ask about John Terry, how he prepared himself, how he went into games."

He may soon be able to ask Terry himself.

Sofiane Feghouli (Grenoble)

"If someone comes up with €30m for Feghouli, I'll throw in a free lunch," said Grenoble co-president Pierre Wantiez earlier this season.

No-one has yet taken him up on the offer, but restaurateurs in the Alpine region should prepare themselves for visits from a host of familiar faces with large cheque books in the coming months, because Sofiane Feghouli is a man in demand.

True to form, the teenager - born on the outskirts of Paris to a Franco-Algerian family - was overlooked by PSG, but not Grenoble, who are currently enjoying only their third Ligue 1 season thanks to the efforts of their prize asset in helping them earn promotion.

In the Samir Nasri mould, Feghouli is his team's creative fulcrum, and though he has played just 25 Ligue 1 matches, Inter, Chelsea, Liverpool, Juventus, Atletico Madrid and Hull - spot the odd one out! - have all scented the potential that saw the French under-21 international warned by Raymond Domenech to maintain a state of readiness prior to last October's tete-à-tete with Tunisia, while he was called up by Algeria for their kickabout with Mali the following month.

The 19-year-old has asked for time before deciding where his international future lies, but his club in the here-and-now is Grenoble.

"He's got to stay here at least another six months. He told us he wanted to stay and play here," claimed Wantiez last January. "In putting a €30m valuation on his head, we're saying he's going nowhere this season. But maybe he will leave in the summer." Feeling peckish Messrs Moratti and Abramovich?

Loïc Rémy (Nice)

Thierry Henry's evergreen performance against Lyon in the Champions League recently suggests rumours of his demise are premature, but should the ex-Arsenal man revert to the mediocrity of his first season in Spain - or the end of his career in north London - then Nice's Loïc Rémy could be the ideal replacement.

That, at least, is what his agent, Frédéric Guerra, claimed in the Italian media earlier this season. While it is obviously in Guerra's interest to 'big-up' his client, Rémy's pacy persona has already provoked comparisons with Henry from those less 'personally invested' in the matter.

"He reminds me of Thierry Henry when he started - they have the same qualities," said Jean-Pierre Papin, who coached Rémy at Lens last season.

"He's quick, can lay the ball off well, and likes to get behind defences. He's progressed a lot with his back to goal, and has worked hard to score goals this season. But I'm not surprised he's done well. He's a worker, and has a lot of respect for his job, and for more experienced team-mates, which is rare these days."

Daniel Leclercq, whose arrival at Lens eventually led to Papin quitting the club last summer, said his meeting with Rémy had been "love at first sight." Leclercq added: "With 11 players like him, nothing can happen to you." So it must have been the other ten that got Lens relegated last season.

Having returned to Lyon after his loan spell in the north ended, Rémy was unwilling to be the squad's "spare wheel" as he put it, and though he had just 22 top-flight games in him, Nice - as renowned for their largesse as Middlesbrough is for its unrivalled collection of Picasso masterpieces - were willing to sign a cheque for a club record €8m.

Domenech called the 22-year-old, who scored four goals in the first six league games of the season before suffering a dip in form, into his squad for a friendly last season as a replacement for an injured striker. Yes, you guessed right - Thierry Henry

Guillaume Hoarau (Paris Saint-Germain)

While Rémy may have to hang on a little before he gets some more free kit with a cockerel on it, Guillaume Hoarau should be able to enjoy a guided tour of the French squad's Paris-based hideout, Clairefontaine, in less than a fortnight as he is tipped to be involved when Les Bleus play Lithuania in a World Cup qualifying double-header later this month.

"He's the French striker of tomorrow and of the French national side for years to come," said Papin recently of the man who has more than filled the gap left by Pauleta's retirement last summer. "I'm not the national team coach, but if you don't try him out, it would be a big mistake."

Domenech - reportedly - had planned to give the 25-year-old, who has scored 15 times in 27 league games this season, a run-out against Diego Maradona's Argentina last month. However, in a rare moment of compassion, decided better of it given the welcome he feared Hoarau would receive from Marseille fans in the Stade Vélodrome.

However, with Henry, Nicolas Anelka and Karim Benzema all of similar ilk, Hoarau's "inhabitual profile" - as Christophe Dugarry recently put it - could prove as successful on the international stage as it has in his maiden top-flight season.

The ease with which Hoarau has made the step up from Ligue 2, where he finished top scorer with Le Havre last season with 28 goals, 12 more than the next best, and his displays in the UEFA Cup, including an impressive showing against Wolfsburg in the Round of 32, suggest the highest level will present few problems.

At 1.92m, Hoarau will give Les Bleus an aerial and physical presence they are badly lacking up front, and unlike David Trezeguet - with whom the Reunion Island-born striker shares a keen eye for a goalscoring opportunity - movement is not something exclusively reserved for his team-mates.

"Given his size, I can allow myself to go for the far post more easily," said Jérôme Rothen, delighted that there is someone to make his overhit crosses look deliberate, while Jérémy Clément is in the running to be elected president of the Guillaume Hoarau Fan Club.

"He helps us a lot defensively, notably at the end of games," said the ex-Rangers midfielder. "He never moans about having to defend. That's great for the team. He's got his feet on the ground, and can still make enormous progress."

Bought for just €500,000 last January before being loaned back to Le Havre, Hoarau was the subject of a telephone call from an agent, who claimed an English club was ready to pay 20 times that this January.

The PSG squad have made a point of underlining the fact they have won this season without their top scorer, which is just as well, because Hoarau - who is under contract until 2012 - may not be at the Parc des Princes for much longer.

Blaise Matuidi (Saint-Etienne)

Alain Perrin has always been one to give youth its head, not least because the ex-Portsmouth boss has - Lyon aside - been in charge of clubs who are as financially secure as a Bernard Madoff pension plan.

Perrin has been true to his footballing philosophy since taking over France's most successful side, Saint-Etienne. So far, his relegation-threatened team have lived up to Alan Hansen's "You'll never win anything with kids," but midfielder Blaise Matuidi has certainly won over the French footballing public.

Known as "Chewing gum" for his ability to stick to opponents or "The Octopus" for his telescopic limbs which snake out to regain possession, the 21-year-old is a Claude Makelele doppelgänger.

Diminutive, tenacious, and as likely to find the net as a blind fisherman, Matuidi has already played over a century of top-flight games in which he has impressed more than just Arsène Wenger, who reportedly called Saint-Etienne last summer to discuss a potential move to l'Arsenal.

"I've seen a lot of number 6s at Saint-Etienne, but he's the most impressive," said Saint-Etienne goalkeeper Jérémie Janot, who is in his 13th season at the club. "Even when someone's gone past him, he somehow manages to get back to recover the ball. You can't imagine he's so powerful given his small stature. There's nothing to prevent him getting into the France side."

Though Lassana Diarra and Jérémy Toulalan appear to be ahead of him in the pecking order, Matuidi will surely metamorphose from an Under-21 international into the "real thing" before long, and Perrin clearly believes he has the maturity to handle the change. "Because Loïc Perrin [no relation] and Christophe Landrin are injured, I naturally thought that, because of his influence on the team's play, Blaise was the logical choice to wear the captain's armband," said the Saint-Etienne coach.

The ex-Troyes player, who joined the club in the Champagne region a year after Perrin had left it, has made more tackles than anyone in Ligue 1 this season, and has completed more than 85% of his passes. With stats like those, should Saint-Etienne slip into the second tier come the season's end, don't be surprised if "The Octopus" rises from the depths to emerge somewhere around north London.

By Paul Marshall

When the rest of the team wears club suits you wear it too. Not dress up like you're going to be in a music video with Timbaland.

Srna is really good. why didn't we bring him instead of Becks? oh I forgot he ain't no supermodel.

Well how do you then explain bringing in Senderos?

Well how do you then explain bringing in Senderos?

Cheapness?

The Europa League will replace the UEFA Cup next season with a structure similar to that of the Champions League which will hopefully generate more interest, as the old competition seemed to become increasingly convoluted in its final years.

One innovation that UEFA are set to try in the new format, according to Sky Sports News, is the introduction of a further two match officials, who are to make judgements in each goalmouth as to whether the ball crossed the line.

The introduction of such a concept marks what is possibly one of the games biggest changes since the FA insisted upon solid crossbars way back in the game's infancy in 1875.

FIFA and UEFA have introduced the experiment after a series of meetings, Sky reports FIFA chairman Sepp Blatter as revealing.

The idea was used recently in an Under-19 European Championship match, and now Fulham, Aston Villa and Everton will be the first English sides to play in a match with the new number of officials.

Various technologies have also been trialled in recent years, but with limited success, largely due to factors of absolute reliability and consistency.

Might as well have cameras on the goallines if you're going to do this!