Troyes (France) (AFP) – Timothy Weah, the son of former Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan star, and current Liberian president, George Weah made his professional debut in the French club’s 2-0 win over Troyes on Saturday.

The US youth international, who only turned 18 last week, replaced Giovani Lo Celso for the final quarter hour after being named to the first-team squad for the first time.

“My name pushes me a little bit more because my father did very good things here. I want to do the same thing,” said Weah, who nearly scored a debut goal in stoppage time.

“Everything is going to be fine, soon I will start to score goals!”

Born in New York City, the teenager signed a professional deal with PSG last summer but has spent much of his time with the club’s reserve team in the fourth division.

“He’s a very young player but he works very hard. He played 15 minutes and had a good chance to score. He deserves it. It’s the first time, he needs to keep on working,” PSG coach Unai Emery said.

George Weah spent three successful and prolific seasons at PSG between 1992 and 1995, and remains the only African footballer to the win the Ballon d’Or award, in 1995.