French Ligue 1, Gonçalo Guedes, Leagues, Lucas Moura, Neymar, Paris Saint-Germain, Story


Unai Emery pledges to help Neymar become the best player in the world at PSG.

PARIS — Neymar is in line to make his home debut for Paris Saint-Germain against Toulouse on Sunday after coach Unai Emery named him as part of his squad for the Ligue 1 clash

Neymar is in the 19-man group, along with midfielder Marco Verratti, right-back Dani Alves and versatile attacker Julian Draxler.

However, another offensive talent, Goncalo Guedes, has been unexpectedly dropped amid speculation that he could be offered to Monaco as a makeweight in any potential move for Kylian Mbappe.

Serge Aurier, Hatem Ben Arfa, Grzegorz Krychowiak and Lucas Moura are all missing once again for PSG.

Neymar scored once and set up another on his full debut in the 3-0 win away at Guingamp last week and the 25-year-old already appears to be integral to Emery’s starting XI.

Verratti picked up a knock in training on Thursday but the Italy international has been passed fit to feature at Parc des Princes this weekend, while the returning Draxler only finished his summer holidays — delayed because of Confederations Cup duty — at the start of this month and has been working his way back to match fitness since.

The Germany international’s inclusion suggests he has reached a satisfactory level for Emery to include him once again.

Alves is part of the squad but might not feature after the sudden death of his aunt earlier this week. If the Brazil international misses the match as a result, Thomas Meunier will deputise and make his first Ligue 1 appearance of the campaign.

Aurier, Ben Arfa, Krychowiak and Lucas are all absent once more with speculation surrounding their futures.

They have all been told they can leave and PSG sporting director Antero Henrique has already managed to shift Jese Rodriguez, loaned to Stoke, and Blaise Matuidi, who joined Juventus, from a bloated squad this week.

However, the official line from Emery on Lucas is that he is still suffering from an ankle injury that has kept him out of action in both the Trophee des Champions and Ligue 1.

Youngsters Antoine Bernede, Lorenzo Callegari, Remy Descamps, Moussa Diaby, Odsonne Edouard and Alec Georgen all failed to make the cut.

Jonathan Johnson covers PSG and the French national team for ESPN FC. Twitter: @Jon_LeGossip.



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