Which stars in France could be heading to Premier League?

With the opening of the January 2025 transfer window, there is the chance that players from Ligue 1 will be coming to the Premier League this month.

French football expert James Eastham takes a look at a few who could cross the Channel this month.

Randal Kolo Muani (France)
Club: Paris Saint-Germain | Age: 26

Some players simply fail to fit in with their manager’s plans. That seems to be the case for Kolo Muani at Paris Saint-Germain.

The France striker, pictured above centre, has started only two Ligue 1 matches all season. Since mid-October, he has spent only 87 minutes on the pitch for his club. PSG head coach Luis Enrique prefers using other players - including non-specialists, such as winger Lee Kang-in - in the centre-forward position.

And yet, 2024 may still be considered the year Kolo Muani developed into an elite striker. He has started seven of the France national team’s last eight fixtures, and is arguably an automatic choice for manager Didier Deschamps now. He finished 2024 well clear as Les Bleus’ calendar-year top scorer, with seven goals, ahead of Bradley Barcola, Kylian Mbappe and Adrien Rabiot, all on two each.

The 26-year-old former Eintracht Frankfurt man can play as a winger as well as a central striker, so any club he joins would gain attacking options across the front line. Kolo Muani would surely consider a move away from the French capital city, given the limited game time he has had this season.

Rayan Cherki (France)
Club: Lyon | Age: 21

Of all the qualities Cherki possesses, his two-footedness is the most arresting. The sight of him sizing up a free-kick, only to walk around the ball to use his other foot, is something to behold.

Cherki, pictured above centre, has been tipped for stardom since he was a teenager and is the most talented graduate to emerge from Lyon’s prolifically successful youth academy since Hatem Ben Arfa and Karim Benzema two decades ago. A No 10 or winger, he broke into the senior side aged 16. Now 21, he has more than 150 senior appearances to his name.

Cherki's highlights v Reims

An outstanding dribbler, Cherki’s two-footedness makes his direction of travel hard to read. In the past 18 months, the weight and timing of his through-balls has improved.

Critics call him inconsistent, but he can counter such claims now - after 15 Ligue 1 matchdays, he is top of sports daily L’Equipe’s 2024/25 Ligue 1 player performances rankings, while his shot-creation stats are as good as those of any player in Europe this season.

Lyon are reportedly looking to raise funds so in that context, a big offer for Cherki would be hard to turn down.

Abdukodir Khusanov (Uzbekistan)
Club: Lens | Age: 20

Khusanov, pictured above right, is Ligue 1’s 2024/25 defensive breakout star. He is so athletically complete that Lens’ Anglo-Belgian head coach Will Still said earlier this season: “We joked he could have competed for Uzbekistan in any event at the [Paris] Olympics.”

Quick, powerful and an excellent reader of the play unfolding in front of him, Khusanov is one of Europe’s most promising young defenders. On occasion, the timing and intensity of his interventions can be rash. He is only 20, however, and this should improve as he matures.

Khusanov's Ligue 1 highlights

Signed by Lens for a reported fee of €100,000 from Belarusian club Energetik-BGU Minsk after impressing for his country at the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Argentina in May 2023, Khusanov rarely played during his first year in north-eastern France as he settled into his new surroundings.

This season, he has shone, starting 11 of the 13 Ligue 1 fixtures he has been available for, keeping more experienced, highly regarded centre-backs out of the team.

Lens have mandated a leading agent to oversee the player’s potential transfer. A fee €25million may persuade the Sang et Or (“Blood and Golds” as Lens are known) to sell. Should Khusanov’s current rate of progress continue in the years ahead, such a fee would be a bargain.

Also in this series