Warren Zaïre-Emery, at 16, becomes the youngest player to play in a UEFA Champions League knockout game. The PSG youngster will make his debut against Bayern Munich at the Parc des Princes on Sunday.

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The 16-year-old was born in Montreuil to former Red Star Football Club midfielder Franck Emery, who later played for FCM Aubervilliers.

Warren Zaïre-Emery has signed a 3-year contract and €750,000 gross remaining on his contract with PSG  expiring on 30 June 2025.

He won a spot in PSG’s starting lineup thanks to his accomplishments in the youth divisions and later under first-team coach Christophe Galtier. The French club is expecting the kid to be the igniting spark for the new year.

Franck Emery

Zaïre-Emery’s father, Franck Emery had a successful playing career in French football’s second division in the late 1990s as a midfielder for Red Star FC. 

Emery later participated in sports with FCM Aubervilliers, a team that Warren joined at the age of four after his father saw his aptitude. He admitted to RMC Sport that he had given his son permission to play as long as he could tie his own shoelaces.

Origin

Zaïre-Emery, who was raised in the Paris suburb of Montreuil, and lived there his whole life, joined PSG in 2014. He was quickly promoted above his age group, making him the team’s youngest-ever Under-19 player when he made his debut at the age of 15.

Coaches regularly had to remove him from younger teams because other players had stopped challenging him, which worried them. 

When he was only 15 years old, he was called up to PSG’s senior squad by Mauricio Pochettino after some outstanding performances in the UEFA Youth League. He later made his debut for Christophe Galtier’s team early in the 2022–23 season.

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Salary

For the 2022–2023 Season, Zaïre-Emery will receive a Gross Salary of €250,000, or €4,808 a week.

Zaïre-Emery’s inclusion in PSG’s starting lineup against Bayern is notable but not particularly surprising to those who have followed his ascent. 

In a generation that included players born in 2005 while the member of the Parisian squad was born in 2006, he was also the captain of the France under-17 team that ultimately won the title of last European champion.

Unquestionably talented, he seemed too big for the Youth League and the youth Champions League, and he had already made himself at home in the first squad.