Monaco (AFP)

The vice-president of Monaco, Oleg Petrov, assured, at a recovery press conference with Paul Mitchell, new sports director, and Robert Moreno, coach, that the club of the Principality, 9th in the last championship, opened "a new page", "with intact ambitions".

"This is a new page after a very difficult last season," said Oleg Petrov.

"There have been a lot of changes in the players, in the management in recent times. But it's for the good of the club, continued Petrov. The previous year, Monaco had finished 17th. These changes were necessary. Now, at the management level, I no longer think there are many. "

"We want to stay at the top," he said again. "Our ambition is intact. It was in this context that the appointment of the sports director, Paul Mitchell, took place. To continue the policy put in place to bring Monaco back on top."

"With Paul, the objective has been defined: to strengthen the team, to have the best sports results, to develop the structures, said Petrov. This is what he has always achieved in his career. He will also help development of the Cercle Bruges (affiliated club of Monaco, editor's note) as well as of the philosophy of team play. "

Hired from the Red Bull group where he was technical director of the football division, supervising the brand's clubs (Leipzig, New York and the Brazilian club Bragantino), the Englishman Mitchell acknowledged that "a few months ago, this n was not on (his) agenda to enter this project ".

"The Red Bull project was very ambitious and I was thriving on it," he said. "But I had no hesitation when Mr. Petrov presented the club and the Cercle Brugge to me," he said.

-Mitchell: "We have a plan" -

The Englishman stressed that it will take "patience and results". "I like that my teams are dynamic, aggressive, play to win," he said.

Since his appointment, he has held daily meetings with the coach since January, Robert Moreno, but also Oleg Petrov, in order to "strengthen the team" and reduce the number of players under contract (61, currently).

"The club has gone through turbulence. It is sometimes difficult to get up. We have a clear plan for the evolution of the team for this summer. But we must be patient. We should not make hasty choices. sustainable, we want Monaco to stay at the top, "insisted Mitchell, who will put in place" certain working ideas "from Leipzig.

"We are working so that Robert (Moreno) can succeed," he said. "Above all, we want to work on the mentality, so that the players have only one objective: to win it."

In addition to wanting to keep Wissam Ben Yedder, "very important for the club", the Catalan coach, for his part, indicated how he would organize the eight weeks before the resumption.

After two weeks of re-athletics, then two more intensive training sessions, interspersed with two friendly matches, Monaco will go on a ten-day training course in Poland, where the club will play three new matches.

© 2020 AFP