Champion Monaco must decide to stick or twist
PARIS — After the euphoria of winning a league title in swashbuckling style, Monaco will realize this could be the start of a glorious era for the Principality club.
Leonardo Jardim’s thrilling young team clinched the Ligue 1 title with a 2-0 victory at home to Saint-Etienne on Wednesday, ending Paris Saint-Germain’s recent domination of French soccer.
Having made the capital its home for four seasons, the trophy goes to the Mediterranean principality for the eighth time — but the first since 2000 and the days of its fabled France World Cup winner David Trezeguet.
In the intervening period, Monaco has gone from the highs of a Champions League final to the low of a stint in Ligue 2, but it has now struck gold with a group of players around whom Europe’s elite is circling.
Teen sensation Kylian Mbappe, who netted the opener before Valere Germain’s late goal sealed victory over the visitor on Wednesday, has taken France and Europe by storm.
Meanwhile, former Manchester United flop Radamel Falcao has gone from busted flush to a 30-goal striker once again.
Portuguese playmaker Bernardo Silva was nominated for France’s player of the year prize and the likes of Thomas Lemar, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Benjamin Mendy are among the most coveted youngsters on the continent.
Cut down to size by Juventus in the Champions League semifinals, at home Monaco has racked up goals at a prolific rate, becoming just the fifth team to hit the 100 mark in a French season.
“We are aware that we have done something historic because the club had not been champions for a long time,” said Mbappe.
Monaco’s achievement is the culmination of the project started when Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev bought a controlling stake in the club in December 2011.
At the time the club was languishing at the bottom of the second division.
It has been an upward curve since, but this triumph seemed unlikely upon Jardim’s arrival in 2014.
Prize asset James Rodriguez was sold to Real Madrid, Falcao was loaned out, and Monaco went down the road of acquiring talented youngsters with a view to selling them for huge profit.
After its run to the Champions League quarterfinals in 2015, Monaco cashed in on Layvin Kurzawa, Aymen Abdennour, Yannick Ferreira Carrasco, Geoffrey Kondogbia and Anthony Martial.
But it re groupd — their project over seen by vice-president Vadim Vasily ev, a former Russian diplomat.
The current crop has turned out even better.
Close links to Portuguese super-agent Jorge Mendes have helped, but a lot of homework has been done behind the scenes to put together a side that has wrestled the title from PSG with a comparative fraction of the budget.
“Hard work pays off. We are seeing the success of everything that has been put in place,” said Vasilyev.
“Some experts doubted the Monaco project, but it is a source of great pride to see what Monaco has become.”
Given the way in which PSG romped to the title last term, wrapping it up in early March, Monaco’s championship triumph is refreshing. Although, for a club from a glitzy millionaire’s playground, this is no fairytale.
And in a modern game dominated by an elite few, it looks likely that this great side will be quickly torn apart.
Mbappe a maybe
Eighteen-year-old Mbappe, dubbed the new Thierry Henry, has been linked to Real Madrid, Manchester United and Arsenal, and it will be difficult for Monaco to resist an eye-popping offer.
Premier League clubs are keen on 22-year-old French defensive midfielder Bakayoko, and Chinese clubs could come back in for 31-year-old Colombian Falcao.
There will be comings and goings, but how many changes are made is the key.
Monaco faces a dilemma between cashing in and risking looking back at this season as a glorious one-off, or keeping a team together and making this title the first of many.