Yahoo Sports GFFN’s Ligue 1 Team of the Year 2024
As 2024 comes to an end, Get French Football News sifts through the outstanding individual performers of the past 12 months in Ligue 1 to draw up the Team of the Year. The criteria for inclusion into the team are simple: performances for both club and country were taken into account, even if they played part of the year abroad (i.e João Neves at Benfica), and they had to be registered at a French club as of 31st December 2024.
GK: Lucas Chevalier – Lille
Both Marco Bizot and Marcin Bulka have had excellent years, however, Lucas Chevalier, who earned a maiden call-up to the France squad at the end of the year just edges this one. Lille OSC’s No.1 kept the sixth-highest amount of clean sheets across Europe’s top five divisions last season, whilst, in the current campaign, he has put in match-winning performances in the Champions League, notably against Real Madrid. Mike Maignan may have a fight on his hands to retain the No.1 jersey for Les Bleus.
LB: Melvin Bard – Nice
Bradley Locko may have earned his place in this team had he not unfortunately been struck down with an ACL injury at the start of the season. Nuno Mendes has also been absent for much of the campaign and when he has played, he has not reached the levels shown during his debut season. Melvin Bard therefore takes the left-back berth, rewarded for his consistency across the year both at LB, LWB and LCB. The young Frenchman has shown his versatility and been critical to an OGC Nice side that finished last season with the best defensive record in Ligue 1.
CB: Thilo Kehrer – Monaco
Arriving midway through the 2023/24 season, he added serenity and increased security at the back for Monaco; his impact was evident when comparing Les Monégasques’ defensive record pre and post-arrival. He is essential in his ability to cover the large spaces in behind with Adi Hütter opting for an aggressive high-press. It is a risk-reward strategy and it is Kehrer who is often left to sweep up when it goes wrong. With three goals already this season, he is also a big threat in the opposition box.
CB: Wilfried Singo – Monaco
Expectations weren’t necessarily that high for Wilfried Singo, something of an unknown quantity when he joined Monaco from back in the summer of 2023. However, he has quickly made a name for himself, establishing himself as one of the best defenders, if not the best defender, in Ligue 1. His contribution, both at CB and RB guided Monaco back into the Champions League in 2024, whilst he was also a part of the Ivory Coast’s AFCON triumph at the start of the year. Eye-catching, eccentric, athletic, and intelligent, Singo is the pinnacle of the modern defender.
RB: Achraf Hakimi – PSG
Still defensively susceptible at times, Achraf Hakimi is nonetheless the driving force down PSG’s right flank in possession. Just before the midway point of the current season, he has already made 10 goal contributions in all competitions and is well on course to bettering his total from the previous campaign of 12. Given his incredible output going forward, which puts him in the conversation for best right-back in Ligue 1, he is head and shoulders above his counterparts in Ligue 1. The second-best defence in Ligue 1 last season, no team has a better record than Les Parisiens so far this season.
CM: Vitinha – PSG
Luis Enrique named Vitinha as PSG’s player of the 2023/24 season and it was clear to see why. He was the man who stood up in the big encounters whilst others shirked away and his incredible levels of consistency across the campaign are a telltale sign that Les Parisiens may have finally found the player capable of filling Marco Verratti’s boots. Vitinha has a long way to go until he can be truly compared with the Italian midfielder but 2024 was a year in which he showed he was on the right path. In the absence of stars, the Portugal international is a cornerstone of this new-look PSG project.
CM: Pierre Lees-Melou – Brest
No individual was so central to a team’s success as Pierre Lees-Melou was to Brest last season. The collective has been emphasised in the narrative around Les Ty-Zéfs’ fairytale success story as they qualified for European football for the first time in the club’s history, but there was a standout player in that side and he goes by the name of Lees-Melou. His figures out of possession saw him ranked as not only one of the best midfielders in Ligue 1, but one of the best midfielders in Europe. It is a mean and unexpected feat for a man whose career looked to have plateaued when he left Norwich City to return to France.
CM: Denis Zakaria – Monaco
At times there has been an absence of leadership at Monaco, but not since Denis Zakaria arrived at the club. Now wearing the armband, he sets the example on the pitch and continues to be one of the most effective midfielders in France’s top flight. A direct, press-resistant and elegant midfielder, he has been the missing piece in the puzzle for Monaco, who in 2024 returned to the Champions League and look set to qualify for the next phase of the prestigious competition. After tough spells at Juventus and Chelsea, his career is well and truly revived.
LW: Bradley Barcola – PSG
A sensational year for Bradley Barcola was capped when he was included in Didier Deschamps’ squad for Euro 2024. The PSG winger had never been called up prior to that tournament as he forced Deschamps to rethink his stance on not calling up uncapped players for major tournaments. But it was certainly deserved. At club level and in the absence of the departed Kylian Mbappé, Barcola has stepped up for PSG this season as only Lille’s Jonathan David has scored more for the Ligue 1 leaders.
ST: Jonathan David – Lille
Jonathan David showed that he wasn’t a flat-track bully in 2024. His goal-scoring record across the calendar year has been phenomenal. He has netted 38 times in all competitions this year and currently sits top of the Ligue 1 goalscorer standings with 11 goals. It hasn’t been a case of stat-padding for the Canada international, who did nonetheless net a hat-trick against lower-tier side Golden Lion FC in the Coupe de France at the start of the year, as he has scored crucial goals in the Champions League against Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid and Juventus.
RW: Edon Zhegrova – Lille
A maverick, eye-catching winger, Edon Zhegrova also became a winger who regularly contributed to goals in 2024. His technical ability has never been called into question, but his ability to be consistent and frequently contribute to goals has. Those lingering doubts were cast aside in 2024. He already has eight goals this season on top of a highly impressive 22 goal contributions (12 goals, 10 assists) from the previous campaign. A blend of eccentricity and efficiency, Zhegrova was arguably the player to watch in 2024.
