Football Season Guide

Monaco stormed into the Champions League spots last season off the back of a blistering finish to the season that few would have seen coming after what was a mediocre campaign up until the last couple of months. Things clicked for Philippe Clement’s side, though, and they finished third, meaning they will go into the third playoff round for the competition, having missed out narrowly a year ago. The major change in the Monaco squad is the loss of Aurelien Tchouameni to Real Madrid for big money. There is no doubt he was a fulcrum of the side, but Monaco appear relatively well covered in his role, with Eliot Matazo capable of stepping up to play beside Youssouf Fofana. Jean Lucas is also a favourite of the coach. Otherwise, Monaco have cut away squad players first and foremost, including big earners Cesc Fabregas and Djibril Sidibe. Losing these players will have saved them a significant portion of their wage bill. In terms of recruitment, they have focused on bolstering their offence. Breel Embolo has arrived from Borussia Mochengladbach to add depth to the centre forward area, where Wissam Ben Yedder remains the absolute ace, albeit with some doubts lingering over his future. Myron Boadu showed sings of reaching his best level belated last season, too, so there is plenty of competition. Similarly, Takumi Minamino has joined up from Liverpool with the expectation of more game time. He could prove a shrewd pick up, and again there is plenty of competition for spots in the attacking midfield sector, with Aleksandr Golovin, Sofiane Diop, Gelson Martins and Kevin Volland all still on the books. The defence, meanwhile, is untouched thus far. All three of the regular centre-backs from last season have been tentatively linked with moves away, although the prospects of anything materialising are reducing. Nevertheless, Monaco can afford to lose one of these players without any great concern.