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Interview: Massimo Ceccaroni on the real Breel

by: Luke Entwistle
31/07/2022

AS Monaco’s new recruit Breel Embolo has come a long way since his days in the Basel academy. As his former youth coach told Monaco Life, the Swiss international is ready to make the step up.

Massimo Ceccaroni coached Embolo at U16, U18 and U21 level at Basel, and recalls the unmistakable potential that Monaco’s new forward showed. “He spent just one year with the U16s, then one year at the U18s, and then just one year after that he joined the U21s. Once there, he quickly made the last step to the first team because he was physically so strong,’ began Ceccaroni. “He was the player, you saw it in the U16, that had more potential than any other player,” he continued.

From Cameroon to the Swiss academy

Embolo’s route just to that point was far from conventional or simple. “He came from nothing,” said Ceccaroni. Born in Yaoundé, Cameroon, he moved to France with his mother at an early age. Soon after he moved to Switzerland, where he could take his passion for football from the street to the academy, firstly with FC Nordstern Basel Jugend, then with the Old Boys Youth, before eventually joining Basel.

There, his eagerness and passion for the game immediately shone through. Ceccaroni evokes a memory of a young Embolo, who was willing to take to the pitch at – almost – any cost. “You saw at the beginning he had to play as a striker – no.9, no.11, no.7… he doesn’t care. He said to the coaches, ‘Listen, I know perhaps I wasn’t so good in the training session, but I don’t care if you let me play as a no.9, I just want to play. Maybe not as a goalkeeper, but even as a central defender.’ It means a lot in terms of his attitude. He loves football; he loves to be in the team.  Breel is, from top to bottom, a football player,” said Ceccaroni.

Pedagogy of a footballer

He also loves to learn. An “open-minded” player, Ceccaroni believes that in moving to Monaco, Embolo is making a forward step in his career, which inherently implies an evolutionary, pedagogical process. Whilst his former youth coach waxes lyrical about certain aspects of his game, he believes he can improve a number of facets in order to become a more complete player.

“He’s doing a lot with his mentality and with his physique, but in terms of technique I think he’ll learn something in Monaco. That’s the same for the tactical side as well, he will be open to learning more. In Germany, these elements aren’t necessarily the focus in the training sessions. They are very athletic and want to play very offensive football. I think in France, he can learn a lot tactically. It’s the right moment to make the next step,” said Ceccaroni.

A system of support

He will need help in doing so. As an expressive, confident player on the pitch, Ceccaroni reveals that off the pitch, he can be a “sensitive” character – someone who needs a hand on the shoulder.

Philippe Clement has been praised for his man management by members of Monaco’s current crop. That, and of course the confidence shown him by the recruitment department, will certainly help him to bed in quicker and to express himself on the pitch. “I have the confidence of the club’s hierarchy, who have shown me what is a very fine sporting project,” said Embolo during his unveiling as a Monaco player.

“Breel is also a little bit sensitive,” says Ceccaroni. “If Clement can be close to Breel, he will get more out of him. He needs the right environment, he needs to be comfortable,” he continued. In Clement, Embolo may have the right manager, at the right moment. At 25, the Swiss international is reaching the peak of his powers, and Clement could extract the best out of him.

Inopportune injuries

Thus far, despite netting 32 times in 136 Bundesliga performances, there is a lingering feeling that he has not yet fulfilled the potential that he first showed when he burst onto the scene with the Switzerland team at Euro 2016 at the age of 19.

Those performances earned him a €26.5m move to Schalke, at which point inopportune injuries began to slow down his progression. A fibula fracture ruled him out of the majority of his debut season in the Bundesliga. Since, injuries have arrived at regular intervals. An ankle fracture in 2017 kept him on the treatment table for over five months and a fractured foot saw him miss four months of the 2018/19 season.

He then moved on from Schalke and joined Borussia Mönchengladbach, which didn’t entail a change in fortunes. Although the severity of the injuries sustained decreased, the regularity of them increased. Last season, he missed 90 days due to two separate hamstring injuries.

Ceccaroni speculated about the causes of his injury record: “If you look at his career, he picks up injuries at the worst moments. As he’s very strong and plays very physically, he does pick up injuries and then that has knocked him back.”

As well as endowing Embolo with confidence, Clement’s expertise, as well as those of James Bunce and his performance department, will help in this regard. Constructing the perfect training regime, tailored to Embolo’s needs and capacities will play an essential part in keeping him injury free and, by extension, maximising his potential.

Cutting his own path

Delivering on that potential is now Embolo’s task. As he said last week, “I’m at the right age to fully develop here.” When it comes to his personal progression, Embolo has always first and foremost taken the decisions that he believes to be in his best interest. Following Euro 2016, Embolo was linked to any and every major club. However, during that period, which would be unsettling for most players, Embolo remained focused on his game. “I think he was very relaxed about that. I think people around him were more interested in the big clubs than him. He wasn’t influenced by other people, who were saying ‘You have to go there or go there.’ No, he focused on football,” said Ceccaroni.

His latest move to AS Monaco has been taken with his personal development in mind, but as Ceccaroni stressed, Embolo is a “team player”. He continued, “If he’s only trying to be the star, he feels lost. I think this is such an important part of him.” A player endowed with natural ability, there is no reason why, at Monaco, Embolo can’t fulfil both his desire to develop and to be part of a cohesive unit, capable of chasing silverware.

 

 

 

Photo credit: Sven Mandel

 

 

 

Countdown to AS Monaco’s curtain-raiser

by: Luke Entwistle
28/07/2022

The end of pre-season fixtures, a contract extension and a new kit release: it has been a busy week at AS Monaco with their season opener against PSV Eindhoven looming.

With under a week until their Champions League tie against PSV, Monaco travelled to the UK to face Premier League side Southampton. In an open, end-to-end and exciting match, Monaco took the lead through a ferocious Aleksandr Golovin strike.

Adam Armstrong levelled the score just after the break after Alexander Nübel could only parry Mohamed Elyounoussi’s initial effort. Stuart Armstrong revered the deficit with a smart finish on the swivel before James Ward-Prowse completed the scoring with a driven finish on the break.

However, despite the 3-1 defeat there were a plethora of positives. Takumi Minamino excited, Golovin looks to have refound his best form at the perfect time and after nine months on the treatment table, Krépin Diatta finally made his long-awaited return. His presence will feel like a new signing, and compliments an already stacked attacking force.

Prior to their trip to St. Mary’s, Monaco drew against Inter Milan before travelling back to Portugal for two games against FC Porto. The Principality side won the first match against Porto’s B team 2-0 thanks to a brace from debutant Breel Embolo. That match was a chance to give minutes to some of the most promising products in Monaco’s academy, with five featuring during the tie.

In the second match on Saturday, Monaco were dealt their first defeat of pre-season. Both sides had chances in the first-half, but two of the best fell to Monaco. Takumi Minamino almost got his first goal in Monégasque colours, but he was denied by a fine stop from the goalkeeper, before Wissam Ben Yedder was also smartly denied.

Porto took the lead from the spot mid-way through the second-half before they doubled their lead just minutes later. Ben Yedder halved the deficit in the dying stages with a well-converted penalty. However, Monaco couldn’t muster an equaliser and the game finished 2-1.

Away kit revealed

In that fixture, Monaco debuted their new away kit for the upcoming season. For their trips away from the Stade Louis II, they will wear a slick, simplistic black and white jersey. As with the home kit, Kappa’s design incorporates the club slogan “Rise, Risk, Repeat” into a modern design. The club’s main partner ‘eToro’ also features on the torso. The club’s crest is fixed in silicone on the heart side, as is the Monégasque crown, which is on the back collar.

Aguilar extends

Ruben Aguilar’s form at the back end of last season has earned the right-back a contract extension. He is now tied down with the Principality side until 2025.

Since his arrival from Montpellier in 2019, Aguilar has made 100 appearances for Monaco, including 39 in all competitions last season. He also featured in nine out of the last ten fixtures of the Ligue 1 campaign: a run of games that propelled them to the podium.

The winter arrival of Vanderson seemingly spelled trouble for Aguilar, but it would be Djibril Sidibé who would see his game time heavily limited. Upon the expiry of his contract this summer, Sidibé left, meaning that Aguilar will contend with Vanderson for a starting spot in Clement’s side next season.

In a press release from the club, sporting director Paul Mitchell said, “In addition to his footballing qualities, Ruben has been an important player who is unanimously appreciated by all the staff and playing squad. His fighting spirit, his ability to put himself at the service of the team and professionalism can be a source of inspiration for the younger players.”

After over two months of waiting, Monaco will finally return to competitive action on Tuesday as they face PSV Eindhoven at the Stade Louis II in the first-leg of their Champions League play-off.

Season ticket holders go free

AS Monaco announced on Wednesday that season ticket holders will be able to access Tuesday’s match against PSV Eindhoven as if it was a regular Ligue 1 match. Ordinarily, season tickets only apply to league matches, but for this season’s curtain-raiser, all season ticket holders will be able to access the Stade Louis II freely. More information on Monaco season tickets can be found here.

 

 

 

 

James Bunce: “We’re preparing for a sprint within a marathon”

by: Luke Entwistle
22/07/2022

Monaco Life sat down with AS Monaco Performance Director James Bunce to discuss the club’s pre-season preparations, as well as their modern, data-informed approach, which is yielding elite-level results.

AS Monaco’s 10-game unbeaten run towards the end of last season remains large in the rear-view mirror, but preparations for next season’s gruelling campaign are in full swing, with a potentially season-defining game less than a fortnight away. Bunce spoke about that run and how the club endeavours to pick up where they left off.

Monaco Life: To what do you attribute the club’s sharp rise in form towards the end of last season?

James Bunce: The work under Niko Kovac’s time here was really important to building a culture of changing the philosophy of how we work. He was really good at building a basic level of physicality that we could build upon. The biggest change came with the change of head coach. He had a very modern approach to physical development, around what is required in training in order for it to be replicated in the matches.

In January until the end of the season, there was a big change in our focus for sprinting, sprint development, training harder, training smarter, especially with players that weren’t playing. We focus on the whole 25, not just the starting level, which was the next step we knew we needed to take. The challenge for Philippe Clement, and for us, was trying to build that in-season, whilst still playing in three competitions at the time, without causing big injuries, without losing lots of games to the point that it becomes irrelevant what you’re doing physically. That was the big challenge. It was like a pre-season within a season when Philippe arrived.

On a technical level, the arrival of Clement seems to have been a turning point. What is it like working with him and what are his strengths?

He’s a logical thinker, he’s super detailed and he’s super open to collaboration. My job, and everyone else’s job, is to try to provide him with information to make his team more successful. But he has to also be able to make the decisions that he needs to make from a technical, tactical, and mental perspective. So, it’s all about collaboration.

I didn’t know this when I met him, but he’s an engineer by background. He built and designed his own house, so he’s very good with detail. He’s very good at picking numbers and building a process to reach an endpoint and that perfectly aligns with how you need to think about training. He is genuinely the best coach I’ve seen at trying to build those blocks and build them on an individual pathway, because not everyone can do the same training.

You’re constantly building these blocks, but they are also constantly in movement. Philippe has an unbelievable mind to get it right and ask the right questions: ‘What’s enough? What’s not enough?’. That’s where his magical talent lies. On top of that, he’s an unbelievable technician of the game as well.

In press conferences towards the end of the season, Monaco players such as the recently-departed Aurélien Tchouaméni spoke about their physical superiority relative to their opponents. During the 2019/20 season, across Europe’s top five leagues, Monaco ranked 76th in terms of total distance covered, 85th in high speed running, 39th in sprint distance and 88th in accelerations. Domestically, their physical statistics are probably best described as un-noteworthy. The club was ranked 10th in all of the aforementioned categories, except for sprint distance, where they ranked third.

Across Europe’s top five divisions last season, Monaco ranked third in all categories, apart from accelerations, where they rank 23rd.  Domestically, they are unrivalled; Monaco come out top in every category. As a performance director, that must validate the work you do?

That was the biggest validation: that opposition managers and our own players were talking about the physical advantage that they felt we had. We didn’t know the numbers were going to be third-best in Europe or anything like that. We didn’t have an objective such as getting into the top-five in Europe in mind. It was a nice by-product of the work that was going on. But it’s also nice to hear that our own players are saying that they can run in the 90th minute and the opposition saying that we never stop. That’s validation for us.

We were confident that the work we were doing every day, that the building of those blocks, would have a successful outcome. Did we imagine it would be 10 games unbeaten and we’d get on the podium? Probably not. But that was a real validation of the struggles, the hours of love and tears that went into that six month period to try and get the team to a level that they’ve never been at.

Isn’t an important element of achieving these impressive physical levels also about recruiting the right profile of player as well?

An important thing to note is that the training is important, but we also have to give a lot of credit to the recruitment, which is itself deliberate and targeted: it’s a young profile, it’s an athletic profile, it’s players that can play high intensity football. I’m by no means an expert in it, but I’m involved in it with Paul (Mitchell) and especially with Lawrence (Stewart), in identifying those talents like an Ismail Jakobs, who is the fastest player in our team, like a Vanderson who runs through walls every day to try to do as much as he can. Getting those profiles right so that you have the ingredients already to build a player. You’re not trying to change a mindset, because those players are already in that mindset, so it’s part of a bigger project.

Is the objective of the performance department to become the most physical side in Europe?

My responsibility is to make sure we never lose a game because we don’t physically have the capability to deal with it. I think there are examples of certain big teams in Europe who struggle to cope with that. We don’t want people to say: ‘they died there, they conceded in the 90th minute because they got run over’. That’s what we have to manage. We don’t have a target to be number one; It’s only when we started looking back that we said ‘wow, that’s crazy how much we’ve been able to change.’

For us, the pride is in keeping our players healthy, so Philippe has hard decisions to make in terms of who he plays and who he doesn’t play, and then the main part of our team’s work is to say that we want every player, all 25 of them, to be able to play two games a week, every week. If we have that level of comfort, and the data shows that, then we give them to Phillipe to put them out on the field and hopefully get the three points.

Monaco has earned a reputation as a modern, innovative club, especially since the arrival of Dmitry Rybolovlev and the construction of a= new training centre in La Turbie. The use of data is a part of that. How do you and your team utilise data?

If I took things from Southampton, where I was 10 years ago, we’d be dead. The evolution of football is constant. I try to ‘steal’ many ideas from many organisations, both in football, but outside of the sport as well. There is a danger that if you only look at football, you end up down a rabbit hole and you don’t see what’s going on in other environments.

In America, I met a lot of people from Baseball looking at analytics; NFL, looking at strength; working with air-traffic controllers to understand how to manage stress and pressure; working with the Royal Ballet Group to look at how they prepare and train. We’re always trying to look outside the obvious to try to find things and keep evolving, but without getting carried away by fads and things that won’t add value to the organisation. For me, the biggest thing we do is data, but interpretation of data. It’s all about the human interaction around the data.

The team returned particularly early for pre-season preparations. What was the reasoning behind this decision?

We are really reflective of everything we do. We do something called the 10-game review, so after every 10 games, myself, Paul, Lawrence, the coach, the doctors, we all sit in a room and we debate what we’ve done, is there anything we could have done better, are there any issues, and we try to always constantly review and improve. As a part of that, we’re looking at previous pre-seasons and this is Philippe’s first pre-season and we’re thinking what we need to do to be more ready. We feel that we need to give enough time to be ready for Q3. I think Philippe talked about a sprint within a marathon. I think that’s a really nice analogy of what it is. We have to win one of the most important games of the season right at the beginning, but also not die because we still need to be performing until May.

So for us, coming back early was about giving us a good six weeks of progression, to allow us to hopefully be prepared to play 14 games in seven weeks. That’s never been done. So we are one of one in terms of what we’re going to be going through. Not many people have the ability to imagine what that could look like, so we’re trying to develop the best programme.

We believe in bringing the players back and building them up to that standard of two games a week so that when they hit August 3rd, they are conditioned and ready to go. We cannot say, ‘okay, step-by-step we’ll be good by the end of August,’ because it could be over by the end of August. The whole plan is to be as ready as we can be for that run of games.

Paul Mitchell: We will only part with players if there’s a big offer

by: Luke Entwistle
22/06/2022

As players return to training, AS Monaco sporting director Paul Mitchell speaks to the media about the record fee for Tchouaméni, other transfer objectives, and the club’s pre-season activities.

Monaco’s exploits in the 2021/22 season still linger fresh in the memory, but an early start to the season due to a Champions League play-off tie in early August means players have already returned to training. Monaco Life attended Philippe Clement’s men’s pre-season preparations in La Turbie on Tuesday, before sporting director Paul Mitchell fielded questions from the media.

Now that Aurélien Tchouaméni has been sold, are AS Monaco going to be making moves in the transfer market?

It feels like it hasn’t been a long break, we were here only a few weeks ago discussing the end of the season, and we’re already in a new season. At that point we were discussing Aurélien Tchouaméni. I think we all saw how fast and aggressive Real Madrid came to acquire his services. As an old season closes, a new season begins, and we’re always active and looking to strengthen what is a very good and ambitious young squad.

Monaco Life: Are you happy with the fee you achieved for Tchouaméni and what type of player are you targeting to replace him?

In terms of market value, I think usually a value of this kind and of this volume is created by the champions league. Unfortunately, over the last two years we haven’t managed to force ourselves into that competition. We’re looking forward to trying to do that again this summer. I’d suggest that it’s a value of the highest regard. Usually what this club has shown when it has accumulated similar values in the past, it has been done by doing extremely well and getting to the knockout stages of the Champions League and individuals doing well within that competition. To be able to do that and receive what we have, I think is a great job by all.

I think Aurélien deserves a great opportunity. I would say we’re happy all round from an organisational point of view. We will look for the same profile. There are reasons why players go for the price that they do and it’s because they’re very hard to replace like-for-like. I think there is competition internally with Eliot Matazo with young Soungoutou Magasa and young Mamadou Coulibaly, who is also a very exciting prospect. Youssouf Fofana had another excellent season from January to May and we also have Jean Lucas.

We’ll be active in the market. We’ll be looking at more of a defensive six element, which is what Aurélien gave us. The idea as always is to strengthen the holistic, the whole squad. We’ve got so much football to play and the squad have come back in great physical condition. We need to make sure we have a great squad this summer, not just great individuals.

It’s a packed schedule to begin the season, what needs to be done this year to prevent the errors made last season?

I think we need to be prepared and be in our best mental and physical condition. I think we have to learn from last season’s experiences: how we prepared, the games we played in preseason, the volume of work we did in pre-season, and utilise the experience that this group now has. It’s two years older than when I first arrived. It went through something similar last year, which will help us this year to approach these preparations better and show the best qualities we can. We finished the season in such a strong way, and we need to pick up where we left off.

As you got such a big fee for Tchouaméni, does that mean that you can resist approaches for other players such as Benoît Badiashile?

I think we have a very ambitious shareholder (Dmitry Rybolovlev). I think we were very clear towards the end of the season that it would take an important offer to lose any of our players and we feel that Real Madrid created that important offer, with the size and volume of what they did. That will be the same for every player. The shareholder wants to be successful, he wants to also be sustainable and we have to balance both of those elements the best we can. If people are genuinely interested in our players, and I think we have some exciting profiles in the European market, they will also have to come with an important offer to make him part ways with his talent.

AS Monaco players on their second full day back at pre-season training. Photo by Luke Entwistle, Monaco Life

Having lost Cesc Fabregas, Djibril Sidibé and Vito Mannone, are you looking to replace their experience?

It’s very much a question of balance. When I arrived a couple of years ago, we knew we had to bring in a younger dynamic into the club. We needed to create the ability to be sustainable and build players that could be exciting for the market, but always it’s also about winning and it’s a hard balance. We are looking at a more experienced profile of player to add to this talented young group. It’s always about the individual. We have discussed a bit of a higher age demographic with regards to our recruitment this summer.

Cercle Brugge goalkeeper Thomas Didillon has been involved in training with the group. Could he potentially join the side?

We’ve said before about growing these continued synergies between the two clubs that our shareholder owns. This is another example of how seriously we’re taking our relationship with Cercle. Thomas is a highly talented goalkeeper as we’ve seen the last two days, but also the last two seasons. We have five academy players training with Cercle, we have Thomas with us, so it’s about using our resources to enhance everybody and everything. When we talk about everything, we’re talking about Cercle Bruges and AS Monaco. Thomas has a unique experience to train with a great goalkeeper coach in Frederic De Boever and to train with some great goalkeepers such as Alexander Nübel and Radoslaw Majecki.

Monaco Life: Player sales and club success are often mutually exclusive elements. How does AS Monaco manage to achieve both on a yearly basis?

I can only speak for the last two seasons that I’ve been here. I think that balance is one of the most difficult things to find in modern football. We’ve seen a drastic change in strategy for many clubs, even some of the biggest in the world, in terms of recruiting younger and younger profiles to add a level of sustainability of sales, while also keeping that will and demand to win. That’s definitely where we see ourselves – in that competitive market and space. It is difficult. Like I say, a couple of years ago we felt that we didn’t quite have the talent pool at our disposal, so we made changes within our recruitment, within our talent ID, within our environment to harness more talented players and bring them to the next level. That was definitely a conscious strategy change for the club, and then by performing and creating a culture that can develop some of these guys, you see the bi-product is always higher valuations, which usually leads to higher player sales.

With the money from the Tchouaméni sale, are you able to be aggressive in the market?

I think we also have to remember we have some good players at this moment and time within the football club. We’ve lost an excellent young player in Aurélien, but for me I see that as an opportunity for other players to step into that position. We want to make sure as always that we’re strategic in the market. We’re trying to find the best value possible. We still have on our agenda stability and financial management. We take this very seriously like all clubs.

We will be aggressive but it will be strategic aggression. If we think that there is a good profile that can enhance our squad, as always, we’ll move clearly and concisely. If it takes a little longer, we will also do this to make sure that we have the right squad come 1st September. We have a very exciting squad at this moment in time, a squad that has achieved two podium finishes, which is important to remember and we have our eyes, as always, on other profiles that can enhance us and keep us competitive in every competition.

What are the club’s plans for pre-season friendlies?

The ambition this summer is to have as ambitious a games programme as we possibly can. We know we’re going into the Champions League play-offs and we have a really exciting start to Ligue 1 as well. We’re just finalising things, and hopefully then we can announce them. We’ll try on average to play one game per week up until the play-offs, but there could be a couple of weeks where we put on an additional game just to heighten and make sure the squad is getting the holistic game time and minutes needed. As I’ve said, this season, especially the first part of it, is going to be very much a squad game.

What are the objectives of the club going into the 2022/23 season?

I know it’s getting a bit like a broken record, but this squad has to be competitive in every competition. I think we’ve shown a real capability with a young group to be able to do that and deliver on that with two podium finishes, a final, a semi-final with heart-breaking penalties at the end of it and the last 16 of the Europa League. We’ll always push to be better, every summer we’ll try and add more quality but that’s not just in recruitment, that’s quality of development as well, being better in every single pre-season. We’re pushing the team harder this summer to be more ready, to have a more competitive games programme in our camps. Every year we want to be competitive, in everything that we do on the pitch and off the pitch. That’s always got to be the goal here.

Photo of AS Monaco Sporting Director Paul Mitchell (left) and Coach Philippe Clement (right) taken at a press conference earlier in the year by Luke Entwistle for Monaco Life

 

 

 

Analysis: Filling AS Monaco’s Tchouaméni-shaped hole

by: Luke Entwistle
16/06/2022

In selling Aurélien Tchouaméni, AS Monaco have lost one of the world’s best midfielders, and according to Philippe Clement, replacing him will be “impossible.” So, what are Monaco’s options?

When faced with the challenge that a departing player poses, the Principality side often look inwards, leaning on their academy, which has for many years now been an efficient assembly-line of first-team worthy products. But they won’t be able to do that this time.

The sheer size of the hole that Tchouaméni departure has created, means that Monaco will have to dig deep in their wallets to fill it in. Whilst Monaco certainty have some promising midfield youngsters on their books, none quite fit the criteria, whilst the psychological pressure of stepping into the shoes of one of Monaco’s greatest exports in recent years is undoubtedly too strong a burden to place on young shoulders.

Amongst the senior set-up there isn’t a ready-made replacement either, and due to Tchouaméni’s skill set especially in the defensive phase, it isn’t possible to mask his absence from their midfield.

Whilst Youssouf Fofana excelled towards the end of the season, he is not the same profile as Tchouaméni. He certainly couldn’t play as the sitting midfielder in the 4-1-4-1 system that Clement deployed when he first arrived on Le Rocher, and although he has shown himself once again to be adept in a midfield pivot, he needs to be accompanied by a more defensive element. That element won’t be Jean Lucas, who is more of a free-roaming 8, nor will it be the diminutive Eliot Matazo, whose play style more closely resembles that of Fofana rather than Tchouaméni.

Whilst Tchouaméni is an adept progressive midfielder (5.66 progressive passes per/90), this is a function largely shared with Fofana, who is the most progressive carrier of the ball (5 progressive carries per/90). It is in his defensive work that Tchouaméni’s “irreplaceable” qualities become quickly apparent.

Amongst his team-mates, he completes the most tackles (2.92 per/90), despite Jean Lucas applying the most pressures per/90 (23.8). Unsurprisingly, he also makes the most interceptions, and by a long way too. According to FBref, Tchouaméni is in the top 1% of interceptors in world football: the definition of irreplaceable for a team like Monaco.

The data highlight two things: firstly, that Tchouaméni is a world-class ball-winner and secondly that whilst he can be progressive, he very much shared that responsibility with Fofana. From there it is easier to define exactly what profile Monaco should pursue in this difficult recruitment process.

As has already been ascertained, it won’t be possible to bring in a like-for-like replacement, but an imperfect refilling of that Tchouaméni-shaped hole is possible without needing to rip up the entire road and start again.

Other clubs in the past, who have accepted the dangling €100m carrot in the past have not wisely re-invested. Tottenham’s scatter-gun approach to replacing Gareth Bale in 2013, when he was sold to Real Madrid for €101m, immediately springs to mind. But the names being linked to Monaco are indicative of a much more concentrated, tailored approach to fulfilling their needs. In their own way, Danilo and Amadou Onana, both of whom reportedly interest sporting director Paul Mitchell, according to L’Équipe, would go some way towards alleviating the impact of Tchouaméni’s departure.

Speaking in a press conference in early May, Clement revealed his admiration for Onana, telling reporters that he had tried to sign the defensive midfielder whilst he was manager of Club Brugge. Whilst he doesn’t quite boast the statistics of the departed Tchouaméni, it is clear that he is of a similar profile, whilst he also has Ligue 1 experience.

Onana’s 3.45 tackles per/90 is highly impressive, even better than Tchouaméni’s record, and by extension, all of Monaco’s other midfield options. He also boasts 2.06 interceptions per/90, which doesn’t rival Tchouaméni’s proficiency in regaining the ball, but is nonetheless better than all of Monaco’s other midfielders. The ability to intercept is inextricably linked to game intelligence and therefore experience, and at just 20, Onana has the ability to develop in this regard.

The Belgian is also a native-level French speaker, which, should he feature in a double pivot, mustn’t be overlooked. By its very nature, the double pivot partnership hinges upon automatisms and good communication, and as Onana’s likely partner would be fellow French-speaker Fofana, the language barrier, or lack thereof in this case, is another tick next to the young Belgian’s name.

The same can’t necessarily be said for the Brazilian Danilo. However, he wouldn’t be short of compatriots and other Portuguese-speaking players in the squad. Both full-backs, Caio Henrique and Vanderson are Brazilian, whilst further up the field, Gelson Martins also speaks Portuguese.

The Palmeiras midfielder’s profile recently received a boost when he was called up by the Brazilian national team for the first time, after an impressive league season with the newly-crowned Brazilian champions.

A defensive-minded midfielder, Scouted Football’s analysis of the Brazilian international reads strikingly similar to a description of Tchouaméni. “He tracks back well, filling in in the defensive line when required, and he has a strong knack for intercepting cut backs crosses into the penalty area…He will often be asked to back up the press, and he certainly has the energy for such a role… He’s very proactive with his decision making, and looks to engage opponents rather than forcing them to make a decision.”

Although Scouted Football add that he does sometimes get too easily turned and he is sometimes prone to ball-watching, these less desirable qualities are possible to eradicate with good coaching and general maturity. Just like Onana, at the age of just 21, Danilo has a lot of room for growth.

Importantly, both would also fit with Monaco’s philosophy of buying young players with high potential for further growth. Whilst there is an understandable despondency towards the future of Monaco’s future midfield having lost Tchouaméni, it must be remembered that Monaco have an unbelievable ability for renewal.

After losing Fabinho to Liverpool in 2018, two years later Monaco found a replacement who would later garner a €100m fee from the European champions. There is no reason why Onana, Danilo, or whoever else replaces Tchouaméni, can’t follow the same trajectory, and perched upon Le Rocher, they would be in the perfect place to emulate his path.

 

 

Photo by Luke Entwistle, Monaco Life

 

 

 

ASM season review: A round-about route to success

by: Luke Entwistle
09/06/2022

AS Monaco’s topsy-turvy season ultimately saw them reach their most important objective: Champions League qualification. But a fruitful summer is required to consolidate their hard-fought success. 

Monaco like doing things the hard way. Just as they did in the 2020/21 Ligue 1 season, their fulfilment of pre-season objectives was dependent on a late, end-of-season dash to the podium places. The remontada-à-la-Monégasque is becoming somewhat of a trademark, and whilst the entertainment value for fans, and especially for neutrals, cannot be understated, the club itself will be doing everything in its power to avoid a similar scenario next season.

Appraising Monaco’s season is no easy task; recency bias would leave one to believe that this has been one of the club’s best in recent years. But once the adrenaline subsides, there is a realisation that this was simply a year in which objectives were met, not surpassed.

Getting off on the wrong foot

Elimination from the Champions League at the play-off stage set the tone for a difficult first half to the season. The mental blow of having scuppered last season’s good work permeated into their league form as they struggled for momentum and consistency.

On a personal level, Ruben Aguilar recently admitted that the defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League, which was sealed by an own-goal by the French right-back, had haunted him throughout the campaign. It certainly looked for large swathes of the season that the rest of the group struggled to overcome that disappointment.

Niko Kovac, meanwhile, was beginning to lose credit. As the size of last year’s achievements dimmed in the rear-view mirror, pressure grew on him to correct a Monegasque ship that had skewed off-course.

A victory against Rennes just before the short Christmas break looked to have bought the Croatian manager time, but Monaco, known to be uncompromising in their pursuit of success decided to pull the plug in a surprising move.

New man in the door

Thereafter, the management at the club would come under increasing scrutiny. Any success or failure would be traced back to that decision taken in late December and judgements made. Philippe Clement was the man who came in. Not experienced in Ligue 1, but boasting an impressive CV thanks to his exploits at Club Brugge, he had the task of turning Monaco’s season around.

The turnaround was not immediate. A difficult start to his reign on Le Rocher received heavy criticism. Whilst Clement wasn’t absolved of blame, most of the anger was directed towards the club management, who for a moment in the season became public enemy number one in the Principality.

At the time, it wasn’t simply the managerial change that incited the anger of the Stade Louis II regulars, but also the summer transfer dealings. Monaco had successfully retained the key architects of that late season surge in 2020/21, but in the eyes of many, failed to add to it. Many of the summer signings underwhelmed – at least initially – and for that Paul Mitchell was in the firing line.

By the end of March, following ejection from the Europa League and the Coupe de France, things had reached boiling point. As well as an explosive article by L’Équipe, which claimed that Oleg Petrov, Mitchell and Clement were all set to depart on the eve of the match against PSG, banners criticising almost every facet of the club were unfurled throughout the fixture as the fans made their voices heard amidst a hostile atmosphere.

“10 finals”

But it is under seemingly stifling tension and pressure that Monaco thrive. Just like a spring, the more pressure that is applied to them, the stronger they bounce back. Questioned by Monaco Life about the club’s objectives going into the final games of the season in the wake of the club’s aggregate defeat to Braga, Clement evoked his now famous “10 finals” mindset for the first time.

Monaco wouldn’t lose again for the remainder of the season. A 3-0 victory against Champions-in-waiting PSG was a catalyst for an end of season revival. From a position of mid-table mediocrity, Monaco began their charge up the table as the chances of European football went from remote to almost nailed-on within a matter of weeks.

As Clement liked to regularly point out, the “dynamic” within the group was good before the win against PSG, but for the first time all season, Monaco had the wind under their sails, and that all-elusive winning feeling was back.

It was unimaginable that Monaco could be in a position at the end of the season whereby they would have been disappointed with third position, but it was certainly the case. Going into the final game of the season in second, a Lens equaliser deep into injury-time saw Monaco slip back to third as Marseille took the automatic qualification to the Champions League group stage. It was a bittersweet moment, which only highlighted the enormous progress that the Principality side had made in such a short period of time.

Uncertainty lingers 

Avoiding a repeat of the errors made last year will be no easy task. This will most likely be a more uncertain and challenging summer than the last. Aurélien Tchouaméni looks certain to leave, likely to Real Madrid, whilst Benoît Badiashile and Wissam Ben Yedder, who together form the backbone of the side, have suitors across the continent. Mitchell will therefore likely be charged with a reconstruction job over the summer.

It is widely accepted that it won’t be possible to replace Tchouaméni with a player of the same calibre, but finding an adequate replacement to plug that gaping hole in the Monégasuqe midfield will be at the top of Mitchell’s to do list. Names such as Yves Bissouma, who have been linked with the club, allude to a high-price, high-profile replacement, which would go some way to alleviating his departure.

But elsewhere, the strategy is unclear. The areas where Monaco wish to recruit have been clearly specified, but the profiles remain unknown, and the names being linked with Monaco give little away.

For captain Ben Yedder, the secret to success will be adding experience to the group this summer. Speaking to L’Équipe, he said, “You can’t say that we’re lacking talent. We lack maybe a bit more experience, and it’s with that that we’ll grow.”

And that will be the key this summer in Monaco: following their model and philosophy of developing young players, whilst ensuring short term success. Whilst the sale of Tchouaméni, potentially for around €100 million, puts into sharp focus the success of this model, the importance of blending that philosophy with a sprinkling of more mature, experienced players will also provide the foundation, which will allow them to continue to attract the best players from around Europe.

This season can be considered mission accomplished for Monaco, but work needs to be done this summer to consolidate that success, both in the short and long-term, as the Principality side look to atone for last year’s errors and treat their fans to a European adventure next season.