2018 World Cup: 5 best young players of the tournament

#2 Benjamin Pavard (France)

Pavard was one of the finds of the tournament

You'd be excused to admit you've never of this name before, or at least until France began their preparations for the World Cup with a spate of friendlies. For Pavard was a relatively unknown player in this French roster of superstars, and quite frankly, also an untested quantity on the international stage. He only made his debut in November last year and came to Russia with just 6 caps under his belt.

But Didier Deschamps was aware of his potential and pinned faith in him by starting him in all but one game - the dead-rubber versus Denmark in the final group fixture. And suffice to say Pavard more than repaid that faith. He was an indomitable presence at the right-back, skillfully blocking the passing lanes on the flank whilst also bursting forward at will.

The Eintracht Frankfurt defender averaged 3.7 clearances per game - behind only Varane and Umtiti, and an excellent game awareness saw him average another 2 tackles. But his best moment of the campaign was the long-range piledriver versus Argentina in the last 16 that's got a prominent place in the montage of the best moments of this competition.