7 forgotten PSG wonderkids still playing in obscure leagues worldwide
PSG boast one of the best academies in world football – but not every wonderkid goes on to become a club legend.
Tons of the youngsters they’ve developed have gone on to enjoy careers at the elite level, at PSG and elsewhere, while others are still playing professionally after dropping off the mainstream football map.
We’ve picked out seven once-highly-rated wonderkids from PSG’s youth ranks who you (probably) didn’t know are still playing in lesser-known leagues around the world.
Jaouen Hadjam
If you’ve played recent editions of Football Manager, you might be aware of Hadjam as a promising left-back available as a canny pick-up from second-tier Paris FC.
Born and raised in the capital, the Algeria international admittedly only spent a year in his younger days on PSG’s books before rising through the ranks of their lesser-known city rivals.
He recently spent a year playing in Ligue 1 with Nantes but departed for Swiss side Young Boys last January 2024.
Georges-Kevin N’Koudou
The Saudi Pro League is stretching the definition of “obscure” here, given it’s home to the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Sadio Mane and Karim Benzema.
We haven’t included the likes of Moussa Diaby (Al-Ittihad) and Moussa Dembele (Al-Etifaq) here but we’ve made an exception for Spurs flop N’Koudou, who plays for one of the Saudi clubs few people have heard of.
Damac find themselves in the bottom half of the Pro League table and their squad is distinctly lacking any familiar faces.
Yacine Brahimi
The Algeria stalwart originally made his name at Rennes after leaving PSG’s academy as a youngster.
Brahimi spent his peak years regularly appearing in the Champions League for Porto, but he’s been something of a forgotten man after leaving for Qatar back in 2019.
He’s now into his sixth year out in the Qatar Stars League, with three seasons apiece for Al-Rayyan and Al-Gharafa.
Neeskens Kebano
Proud owner of one of the best names in football, Kebano only made a handful of appearances for his boyhood club before spending seven years at Fulham in their yo-yo era.
Kebano departed Craven Cottage in 2023 after playing over 150 matches for Fulham and joined UAE Pro League outfit Al Jazira, where he shares a dressing room with Nabil Fekir and Mohamed Elneny.
Arthur Zagre
Once talked up as having the potential to stake his place in PSG’s first team, homegrown left-back Zagre only made a solitary Ligue 1 appearance for the club before a €10million transfer to Monaco in 2019.
But he never made it beyond the fringes in the principality and was sent away in a series of loans – Dijon, Utrecht and Excelsior.
The former France youth international did enough at Excelsior to earn a permanent move and he’s now representing them in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutch football.
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Steven Nzonzi
Given that he’s now 36 years of age and represented both Blackburn Rovers and Stoke City in the Premier League, it’s fair to say that it’s been a fair old while since Nzonzi was considered a wonderkid.
The midfielder, who enjoyed a wonderful mid-career spell at Sevilla and made an appearance from the bench in France’s 2018 World Cup final triumph, is still going after the last few years in Qatar (Al-Rayyan), Turkey (Konyaspor) and now Iran (Sepahan).
For what it’s worth, Nzonzi’s Sepahan are currently battling for the Persian Gulf Pro League title but have suffered a blow by drawing four of their last five outings.
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Ishak Belfodil
A proper journeyman of European football, Belfodil spent a year in PSG’s youth ranks before rising through the ranks at Lyon.
Over the years the Algerian striker has represented the likes of Parma, Inter, Standard Liege, Hoffenheim and Hertha Berlin but rarely mustered a goalscoring return worth writing home about.
He’s now leading the line for Serbian club FK IMT after a couple of seasons in Qatar (Al-Gharafa) and Azerbaijan (Sabah).