Sometimes considered too cautious, Warren Zaïre-Emery (19), the Paris Saint-Germain midfielder, is back in the spotlight after a 2024-2025 season perceived as falling short of his usual standards. In L’Équipe, Gérald Baticle, the French U21 national team coach, nevertheless highlights a rare quality: a power in duels that makes him almost untouchable.
“Up high, he’s unyielding. You can see it in his shoulders and trapezius muscles. He has a spectacular and quite rare natural strength in football. In an animal, you’d say he has the strength of a wild boar.”
The “cautious” Zaïre-Emery is often a simplification. Because his game isn’t always flashy, it’s reassuring—and sometimes we mistake restraint for timidity. But in the heat of the moment, he tells a different story: shoulders, support, balance, the ability to absorb and then win the impact… Baticle doesn’t talk about a “clean” midfielder; he describes an “unyielding” player, built to survive the turbulent times when the ball becomes secondary.
And in a PSG where the midfield is constantly scrutinized, this quality isn’t a bonus: it’s a weapon. Last season may have given the impression of a setback, but his physical foundation and his strength in duels haven’t disappeared. They’re just waiting for the right context to become evident again.
In modern football, technical skill without resistance often ends in beautiful sequences… then turnovers. Zaïre-Emery, however, has that rare quality: he dictates the balance of power without needing to overdo it.
