Mamadou Lamine Camara

The rising star of Senegal's midfield, Lamine Camara burst through at FC Metz before a roughly €15m move to AS Monaco in July 2024, where he has become a Ligue 1 regular. A two-footed central midfielder, he announced himself with a goal on his senior debut in a 4-0 World Cup qualifier win over South Sudan in 2023. At AFCON 2023 (played early 2024) he scored twice on his tournament debut in a 3-0 win over The Gambia and was named the best young player of the group stage; he was later voted CAF Young Player of the Year 2024. He was part of the squad that won the 2025 AFCON final on the pitch before CAF overturned the result to Morocco (Senegal appealing). Now valued at around €40m, he is a cornerstone of Pape Thiaw's project. Against France he started in the 4-3-3 midfield three with Idrissa Gueye and Pape Gueye; Thiaw lamented afterwards, "with a lot of regret, because looking at the run of play, we could have led 2-0," in the 3-1 loss.