Cher Ndour scouting report: after Benfica, PSG and Beşiktaş, a first full season at Fiorentina

Seeing Benfica, Paris Saint-Germain, Braga, Beşiktaş and Fiorentina in the file of a twenty-two-year-old midfielder usually reads as a marker of demand. In Cher Ndour’s file there is a figure pointing the other way: the senior league appearances he accumulated across those five clubs barely add up to two seasons at a single one. I have followed him since he stepped onto the pitch for Benfica B at sixteen, and today’s question is this — now that he has completed a full season at one address for the first time since arriving at Fiorentina in early 2025, what has changed in the development curve?

The frame is this. He was born in Brescia to a Senegalese father and an Italian mother. After the ASD San Giacomo and Brescia academies he joined Atalanta at nine and moved to the Benfica academy in 2020. With Benfica B between 2021 and 2023 he made 57 appearances in the Portuguese second tier with 5 goals, becoming the youngest debutant in the team’s history at sixteen. He also played one Primeira Liga match for the first team. On 12 July 2023 he signed a five-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain; he made 3 league appearances in France and scored in a 9-0 Coupe de France win. He was loaned to Braga in 2024, producing 1 goal in 9 league matches plus 2 Europa League appearances. In 2024-25 he was loaned to Beşiktaş, where he played 12 Süper Lig matches with 1 goal and 9 in the Europa League. On 3 February 2025 he transferred to Fiorentina for €5m, with a 50% sell-on clause in PSG’s favour and a contract to June 2029. In Fiorentina colours he has made 43 appearances across all competitions with 3 goals, closing 2025-26 with 33 Serie A matches and 3 goals. Internationally he has 26 caps and 4 goals for Italy U21 and 2 senior caps, and won the 2023 European U19 Championship.

Strengths

• A measurable aerial advantage at both ends of the pitch.
• The ability to turn in tight areas despite a 1.90 m frame.
• League football in four countries and a shortened adaptation period to a new structure.
• Continuity for the first time: 33 league matches in a single Fiorentina season.
• 26 caps at Italy U21 level with the senior door still open.

Weaknesses

• Goal involvement disproportionate to his appearance count: 3 goals in 33 Serie A matches.
• A low number of forward passes played between the lines.
• Limited turning speed when closed down in tight areas.
• No specialisation in a single role across the first five years of his career.

Development Areas

The first heading is role clarity. Since Benfica B he has filled three different midfield jobs, each demanding a different skill set, and fixing his position at Fiorentina is the most decisive variable in the development curve. The second is the forward pass: relative to his size and position the number he plays between the lines is low, and that directly caps a midfielder’s contribution. The third is the timing of his runs into the box — when the threat a 1.90 m midfielder generates from set pieces becomes usable in open play as well, the goal count rises. The fourth is turning in tight areas, which is not purely a physical constraint but a matter of choosing the direction of the first touch, and it improves with repetition.

Contract Situation

The contract signed with Fiorentina on 3 February 2025 runs to June 2029, so there is no time pressure on the club’s side. The fee was announced at €5m and the deal includes a 50% sell-on clause in favour of Paris Saint-Germain. Because that clause halves the net amount Fiorentina would receive in any sale, it raises the club’s asking price — in practice a sell-on share is an item that restricts the player’s movement in the market. The length of the contract, meanwhile, requires no urgent decision on the player’s side.

Career Projection

Two roads are open. The first is making the role in front of the back four permanent and approaching thirty-five matches a season; in that case the measure of evaluation becomes build-up numbers rather than goals, and the file moves into a different category. The second, if the goal and forward-pass figures stay flat, is settling into the profile of a rotation player in the middle of the Serie A table. In his favour are his age, his height and his contract length; against him is having played in four countries by twenty-two without fully settling into a single role in any of them. The data to watch over the next twelve months is simple: the number of Serie A matches he completes over ninety minutes, and his rate of passes from midfield into the final third.

Burak Demir — Gegen Pres scout for Spain, Italy and Portugal. He follows technical player production in the southern European leagues and the role changes of young players.