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Top Ligue 1 Midfielders in 2018/19: Wahbi Khazri

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Wahbi Khazri was one of the delights of Ligue 1 football this past season and his quality in midfield helped fire his club Saint Etienne into a Europa League finish. He also finished with his highest points tally in European Fantasy League thus far with 74 points, and joined only four other players in midfield in Ligue 1 who were able to score 70 or more points.

Khazri has played for five clubs over an 11 year career which started at Bastia, to date playing for Bastia is still his longest stint at one club which lasted for five years. After that spell he switched to Bordeaux for two seasons and then made the move to the Premier League signing for Sunderland. Despite having a decent season in the north of England he wasn’t scoring enough goals for the club, just 3 in 38 league games plus he was obviously missing being in France and was loaned out to Rennes before Saint Etienne spotted his talents and bought him.

In his debut season for Saint Etienne Khazri has done well scoring 13 goals and assisting in another six meaning that he has been involved in 19 of the clubs 59 goals.

Khazri started the season by picking up 4 points as he scored a goal in Saint Etienne’s 2-1 win over Guingamp. The midfielder’s best game was against Monaco when his club won 2-0. Not only did he score both goals but because a clean sheet was obtained too he picked up 10 points.

Khazri’s most consistent and best period begun at the end of November when Saint Etienne were paired with Nantes and ended in mid January. In this time frame Khazri played in five games and gained points in every one of those matches. It was a fine period for the player that saw him score goals and make crucial assists as Saint Etienne started to believe that they could chase a European place. In that time he got 28 points.

The one problem for the 28 year old was his short temper which landed him with 10 yellow cards throughout the season and 1 red card. With better discipline he could have ended up earning easily another 10-15 points.

In the end Khazri helped Saint Etienne to reach the Europa League and it will be interesting to see if he stays around. He should do but his career suggests that he will be on the move soon. At the same time he has just had his personal best season as a football player so the thinking is that he will be fine at this club.

His value this season started at 7.5m, and that could be set to rise for the beginning of next season after his impressive return from midfield.

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Top Ligue 1 Midfielders in 2018/19: Florian Thauvin

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It cannot be underestimated how important Florian Thauvin is to Marseille and it would be a strange day in Marseille’s history to not see the player in their line up, he has become part of the furniture at Stade Velodrome.

But after a successful personal season for Thauvin the rumour mill will start up once again and he could be linked with a move away from the club from the south of France. This is due in part to the fact that Marseille did not qualify for Europe, after an inconsistent season saw the club finish in 5th place a cool 30 points behind champions PSG and 5 points from a European finish.

Thauvin has spent five seasons with Marseille on and off and once left the club to join Newcastle United, but in England he only played 13 games before being loaned back to Marseille who eventually signed him permanently. Time is still on his side and at 26 he has his best years ahead of him. But despite winning the World Cup with France (he hardly played in the competition) he only has one other trophy which is the Ligue 2 championship with Bastia, and Marseille’s resolve may be tested again this summer to try and hang on to the player.

It should be no surprise if bigger clubs are looking at Thauvin after the season he has had. In the end Thauvin finished just 1 point behind Angel Di Maria to be crowned the best midfielder in France in the European fantasy rankings for Ligue 1. Thauvin finished on 95 points after scoring 16 goals and assisting in another 8. Both Thauvin and Di Maria were clearly the best midfielders this past season in Ligue 1 and both finished over 20 points above the next player in 3rd.

Thauvin’s best weekend occurred against Amiens when Marseille won 3-1. Thauvin scored a hat-trick which also earned him a bonus 2 points and from that one game he earned a whopping 14 points. There were other stand out moments too like when he earned 10 points against Guingamp and Toulouse, he also started the season with 10 points from his first two games.

One negative that could be pointed at the player was his disciplinary. Thauvin was booked 5 times during the season and was also sent off once. Take a few of those cards away and he would have finished top of the pile for Ligue 1 midfielders.

For now Ligue 1 is still graced by his presence but after having another superb season one wonders how long Thauvin will stay with Marseille and no European football for next season?

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