When people think of AS Monaco, they tend to associate them with the lavish spending of the 2013/14 season.
In that summer, Monaco had just been promoted back to Ligue 1 after a two-year absence. Backed by Russian billionaire, Dmitry Rybolovlev, they spent in excess of £130m including a combined £60 million on Porto’s James Rodriguez and Joao Moutinho and £36million on Radamel Falcao.
They finished the season in second place behind Paris Saint-Germain. Many onlookers predicted Monaco would follow the trend set by the Parisian side after they themselves were bought by the Qatar Sports Investments group in 2011.
This was not to be the case. As it outlined in more detail in this post by Bootdeball, Monaco underwent a vast change in transfer policy, cashing on Rodriguez after a wonderful World Cup (where he arguably should have won the Golden Ball) for £64 million and loaning Falcao to Manchester United. Instead of replacing these players with star names, as was expected, Monaco added only modest transfers in defensive signings like Aymen Abdennour. In fact, the only notable attacking addition was Bernardo Silva, not even 20, on loan from Benfica.
With modern football clubs so reliant on investment to move forwards, it seemed like a backwards step. Monaco were predicted to regress, be dumped out early in Europe and struggle to fight it out with other clubs like Marseille and Lyon for European spots while not coming close to a title challenge.
In the end, Monaco surpassed expectations. While they finished 12 points behind PSG, a third-placed finish – and Champions League qualifying as a result – was seen as a success. Coach Leonardo Jardim got the best out of an experienced backline of Abdennour, Ricardo Carvalho, Fabinho and Lavyin Kurzawa while youngsters Anthony Martial, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and the aforementioned Bernardo Silva came to the fore in attack.
Jardim’s side also reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League after topping their group and impressively dispatching of Arsenal over two legs. They were unlucky not to advance further, as they were narrowly beaten 1-0 on aggregate by eventual finalists Juventus. More than just an impressive showing on arguably the biggest club stage, it signified that taking Monaco’s new approach could yield success.
It sent out a strong message, and one that showed up the Premier League’s lavish spending, as not one English club made it past the second round.
In recent times, the Premier League has arguably become the flagship league for entertainment in football, attracting huge stars in the process. Clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City were some of the first to be taken over by foreign owners, while the recent influx of TV money means even those in the middle of the table can attract players who would otherwise be plying their trade in the Champions League.
For all the spending, however, English clubs are making less and less of an impact in Europe. Since the previous TV deal came into play in the 2013/14 season, they have reached the Champions League quarter-finals just three times, compared to five from Germany and nine from Spain. Even more worrying, two of those came in 2014 (Chelsea and Manchester United), with only Manchester City reaching the last eight in the past two years.
Generally, English fans like to look down on the ‘weaker’ European leagues. Bayern Munich have bulldozered in Germany after buying half of their rivals’ key players whereas PSG are currently dominating Ligue 1 (although that could be set to change, with Monaco and Nice making good starts). In Spain, Barcelona are undoubtedly top dogs despite Diego Simeone winning a shock title with Atletico Madrid in 2013-14 and Real Madrid’s resurgence under Zinedine Zidane has at least kept things interesting. In spite of this and the Premier League’s posturing about being ‘the best league in the world’, they have all fared better than English clubs. Perhaps lessons should be learned.
When considering which Premier League sides have consistently done well over the last few years, Spurs are near the top of the list. In Pochettino’s first season they went from 6th to 5th before mounting a title challenge last season. More impressively, they’ve done so with a young, English core.
Harry Kane has been a key player over the last two seasons, scoring 21 goals in his first full season and winning the Golden Boot last term with 25. Pochettino was also rewarded for his faith in Dele Alli with some superb performances, while full-backs Kyle Walker and Danny Rose have also been key players.
Spurs draw a parallel with Monaco in the way they have ignored big-money signings and promoted from within. Kane was a youth player at Spurs while Alli, Rose, Walker and Eric Dier broke into the side after joining for small fees at a young age. While predecessor Tim Sherwood will take some credit for introducing them to the side, Pochettino has aided their development no end and integrated them into a young, prosperous side. On top of that, players like Andros Townsend, Nabil Bentaleb and Ryan Mason have been moved on for decent fees, meaning Spurs have built a top side with a considerably smaller net spend than most of their rivals.
In a lot of ways, Spurs are a rarity at the top of English football. With the exception of Arsenal and Leicester’s unexpected triumph, any side in the top four has spent hundreds of millions to get there. Money is no guarantee of success, however, as Manchester United have demonstrated under Louis van Gaal and now Mourinho, while Chelsea and Manchester City’s expensive squads couldn’t help their poor seasons last year.
Spurs and Monaco have both shown that it is possible to build a strong side without bringing in world-record transfers or overhauling a squad. It is certainly more difficult to find cheap, talented youngsters for small fees after homegrown quotas were introduced, but cases like Alli show it is possible if you look in the right places. With so many fans blaming foreign signings for the dire national team, perhaps it is time for promoting from within to become the blueprint.
With Monaco beating Spurs recently and looking a good bet to go far in Europe again, it’ll be interesting to see if any teams from ‘the best league in the world’ will go further.