Five players to watch in France's Ligue 1

Ahead of the start of the 2016-17 season in France, AFP Sport picks out five notable players to watch in Ligue 1:

Radamel Falcao (Monaco)
After frustrating loan spells at Manchester United and then Chelsea, the once heavily in-demand Colombian striker returned to parent club Monaco in the close season. Falcao made an immediate impact upon his return to the Mediterranean coast, scoring in both legs as Monaco beat Fenerbahce to reach the Champions League play-off round. However, the 30-year-old will miss the start of the domestic season as well as the European tie against Villarreal after picking up a hamstring injury.

Falcao was left out of Colombia’s Copa America squad in June after starting just two games for Chelsea last term, but Monaco are hoping he can rediscover the form that prompted them to fork out around 60 million euros ($66.5 million) to sign him from Atletico Madrid in 2013.

Jeremy Menez (Bordeaux)
The former Paris Saint-Germain winger is back in France after two mixed years with AC Milan. Menez enjoyed a superb 2014-15 debut campaign in Italy, scoring a career-best 16 league goals despite the Rossoneri’s struggles. However, the Frenchman was laid low by an infection following back surgery during an injury- hit second season at the San Siro and opted to come home after penning a three-year deal with Bordeaux. But Menez, like Falcao, also faces a spell on the sidelines to start the campaign after he underwent surgery following a gruesome ear injury that left him bleeding heavily on his Bordeaux debut.

Bafetimbi Gomis (Marseille)
After a disastrous 2015-16 season, Marseille are very much in a rebuilding process with the club put up for sale in April. Last season’s top-scorer Michy Batshuayi departed for Chelsea last month in a deal worth a reported 40 million euros, with Marseille drafting in Gomis on a season-long loan from Swansea as a low-risk, cut-price replacement. The 31-year-old scored in each of Swansea’s first four Premier League games last season but then added just two more goals as he fell out of favour in Wales. However, no current French player has scored more goals (102) in Ligue 1 than Gomis, who won the last of his 12 France caps in 2013 while at Lyon.

Edinson Cavani (PSG)
With Zlatan Ibrahimovic gone, the spotlight will fall firmly on the Uruguayan striker as Paris Saint-Germain bid for a fifth successive league crown. After three years in the Swede’s shadow and often playing out of his favoured central position, new PSG coach Unai Emery declared the upcoming campaign as the time for Cavani to showcase his true ability. His tally of 81 goals in 148 games for the French champions is more than respectable, but Cavani has yet to fully justify his 64-million-euro transfer fee from Napoli. As the spearhead of a new-look Paris side chasing honours both at home and in Europe more will be expected of the 29-year-old.

Nabil Fekir (Lyon)
Almost a year on from a serious knee injury picked up on France duty, Fekir is hoping to once more hit the heights that earned him the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award in 2014-15. The 23-year-old returned towards the end of last season after seven months out, but Lyon struggled in his absence and plunged into freefall mode around Christmas. A hat-trick at Caen just days prior to rupturing the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee highlighted Fekir’s prodigious talent and Lyon will need the forward at his best if they have any hope of challenging PSG for the title.