Léa Khelifi: The rise of Paris Saint-Germain's dynamo
Léa Khelifi: The rise of Paris Saint-Germain's dynamo
Khelifi's introduction has imbued a sense of excitement and exuberance in midfield.
Perhaps the clearest indication of Olympique Lyon’s aura of dominance comes from Paris Saint-Germain’s turnover over this summer. A new era dawned over Paris Saint-Germain given the number of departures that happened including a new coach. This along with several new players meant the Parisian club needed to start afresh after dethroning Lyon.
Part of the refresh project was to integrate more academy and youth players into the first team, just as Sandy Baltimore had done in the previous season. The now-French-international become a revelation and caught the eye with many stunning performances in the UEFA Women’s Champions League and D1 Arkema.
This season, that trend continues with another player aiming to establish themselves as a core first-team player. With some eye-catching displays already, Léa Khelifi has shown signs of her vast potential to become a trusted player for Paris Saint-Germain.
For a player at the tender age of 22 is not short of experience. Having spent four years at Metz where she started out her career, Khelifi moved to Paris Saint-Germain before spending a year at Dijon on loan. Now, she’s finally getting her chance to become a PSG regular and so far so good.
Paris Saint-Germain’s fight to defend their league title will once again come down to key moments in the calendar, namely their games against Olympique Lyon. There seemed to be a shift in the balance last season but after Paris Saint-Germain’s squad was vacated of its key players, they were replaced with decent additions, but not at the same level as their predecessors.
This is where the youth products have become more important than ever before and Khelifi has already shown glimpses of her talent. Khelifi’s emergence this season has mainly come from her substitute appearances, making a key impact in games – most notably in the UEFA Women’s Champions League. Against both Breiðablik and WFC Zhytlobud-1 Kharkiv, we saw the French midfielder really add dynamism, energy, and a goal threat from deep.
If we peruse her positions across the last two seasons, you’ll notice that Khelifi has played in multiple different positions including as a centre-forward and right-winger. But despite her versatility, her natural home is still the central midfield. Capable of playing from the left or right, Khelifi is an energetic box-to-box playmaking midfielder with a propensity to identify spaces in the opposition box and take up smart positions. She has a proclivity to create through a wide variety of passes, threading through balls and long passes. Perhaps what is most impressive is her ability to get out of tight spaces.
In Paris Saint-Germain’s 4-3-3 formation, she’s been used as the more attack-minded midfielder coming off the right in a pendulum with Grace Geyoro and Aminata Diallo as they bring poise, passing, and defensive awareness. This gives her the freedom to make those dangerous forward runs that are a perfect fit for the way PSG’s front three operate. More often than not, the front three includes Marie-Antionette Katoto, Kadidiatou Diani, and one of Ramona Bachmann or Sandy Baltimore. Khelifi is able to adjust her game based on the winger she’s paired with. With Diani’s preference to cut inside, PSG will look to overload the right flank and have Khelifi drive more centrally, making a late run to get on the end of crosses or pullbacks.
Her current season’s heat map is indicative of her preference of movement and it’s easy to understand why she’s so energetic. From this midfield position, there are traces of activity across the length of the pitch, which gives Khelifi the advantage of not only covering more ground but being able to get on the ball a lot more, improving her positional awareness. The darker areas represent a higher percentage of time spent in an area but it is early in the season, so this will only get warmer.
The way she takes her goals stems from timing and finding gaps between opposition defences. When she’s completed her part of the progression, Khelifi will start to take up intelligent spaces just outside of the 18-yard box to time her runs in. With several targets in the box already, namely Katoto, Diani, and the third winger, Khelifi can in theory ghost through unnoticed.
A great example is from PSG’s UEFA Women’s Champions League game against Breiðablik in the 17th minute. Grace Geyoro spreads possession out wide towards Sakina Karchaoui. The former Lyon left-back has multiple targets to choose from including Katoto, Baltimore, and Diani (out of frame).
Khelifi’s run – though relatively straight – is not met with much resistance until the final seconds before the pass reaches her. The way she timed her accelerated run towards the ball was excellent and resulted in a goal.
Here are Khelifi’s numbers from last season, when she plied her trade at Dijon and we see how playing her first full season as a starter showed some good numbers. Her dribbling ranked her 19th in the league while her assists per 90 ranked her 26th during that season. It is here where we start to get a better idea of the playmaker that she is. She has this unique element of being both a creator and instinctive poacher, much like Alexia Putellas. Though this isn’t a direct comparison, their play styles can be compared in some aspects. But a comparison closer to home is German midfielder Sara Däbritz.
The current Paris Saint-Germain midfield doesn’t have an obvious backup to their main creative player. Geyoro is a very effective passer and distributor while Diallo is more defensive-minded, so neither fit the bill.
Däbritz is their main creative force. She is a versatile midfielder that is creative and likes to play in short passing combinations, penetrating the lines, and creating threats with through balls. Realistically, Khelifi is an able deputy for the German and can learn from her. What makes her a bit more different is her more direct style of dribbling and passing range.
Whether it’s deep completions or line-breaking passes, Khelifi has shown a capacity and capability to portray an elevated level of creativity and vision. Here against Guingamp, Khelifi plays a forward-thinking switch of play to the left where Jordyn Huitema is in acres of space.
On the other end of the spectrum, we see some good vision from her to pick out creative line-breaking passes. The vision to see this pass for Kenza Dali whilst on international duty is world-class. Khelifi picks up possession, takes a split second to see the next two moves before playing an almost inch-perfect pass through the defensive line. It is these types of passes that ranked her 22nd in key passes in the 2020–21 season.
Just like Putellas and Däbritz, Khelifi is exquisite in tight spaces and is able to play her way out. Her close control and calm demeanour enable her to play her way out of pressure situations more often than not, just as it’s seen in the next example.
The Parisian midfielder is surrounded by three opposition players but produces a great bit of skill to lay a pass off to her overlapping teammate. What makes this move even more impressive is the timing of her pass. Khelifi waits till the run is made and the player is in space before releasing the ball. Her intelligence in possession becomes a lot more evident here.
The emphasis on pressing and defensive transitions has become much more prevalent given the energetic nature of midfields. The key to winning a game can be decided by how both the midfields operate but it is the ones with tactically disciplined midfields that often come out on top. Each player must contribute and Khelifi is one who has moulded her game around this.
The 22-year-old is slightly combative by nature. Her movement and motions are forward-thinking and aggressive in her approach which makes her defensive work much more effective. Though she doesn’t rank among the top 30 players in any of the defensive metrics, Khelifi’s statistics in this regard still stand well. For Dijon, she averaged 7.66 defensive duels per 90 with a 68.6% success rate, 2.72 interceptions per 90, and 5.57 recoveries per 90. All of these data metrics point towards her solid defensive work for Dijon. Being able to do the ‘dirty work’ for a mid-table team bodes well for PSG given the need for a high work-rate player to assist the single-pivot in midfield.
This passage of play against Reims showcased Khelifi’s ability to assist in defensive transitions. As Reims look to play out from the back, Dijon aim to press high and win back possession with Khelifi at the heart of this. Here, she (#14) puts enough pressure to regain possession and get her team on a potent counter-attack.
Khelifi’s enterprise is certainly a weapon for Paris Saint-Germain and if Däbritz decides to move on or if there is a shift in the system, then the French midfielder can become an important part of it. This sort of dynamism is reflective of the modern central midfielder that we see at the highest levels. This season seems to be an important one for Khelifi and one that could determine the next couple of years of her promising career.
The two matches against Real Madrid in the UEFA Women’s Champions League represents an opportunity for the midfielder to utilise her skill set to break down the Spanish club’s disciplined shape. However, one thing is certain – her future is bright and PSG will have a fight on their hands to keep her at the club.
Photo by Aurelien Meunier - PSG/PSG via Getty Images