Monaco (AFP)

New illustration of the instability of AS Monaco since its title of champion of France in 2017: the club sacked on Saturday its Spanish coach Robert Moreno, who arrived last winter in place of Leonardo Jardim, and who should be replaced by the Croatian Niko Kovac.

The dismissal of Robert Moreno and the five members of his technical staff (Dani Guindos and Carlos Martinez assistants, Juanjo del Ojo physical trainer, José Sambade, goalkeeper trainer, and Marc Selleres psychologist trainer) was sudden for the Spanish coach of 42 years.

Sacked by the duo Oleg Petrov (vice-president) - Paul Mitchell (technical director) at the end of a quick interview which took place on Saturday very early in the afternoon, Moreno and his staff had even chaired the session of group training in the morning at the La Turbie training center.

Moreno had also directed, the day before, the first match of the season in Bruges against the Circle (2-0 victory), at the end of which he declared: "tomorrow we will resume the path of training and continue our preparation. We will plan on our next game. "

Unless there is a big turnaround, it will now be the Croatian Niko Kovac, 48, German champion 2019 with Bayern Munich, then sacked from the Bavarian club last November following a 5-1 defeat against his former club, Eintracht Frankfurt, which will continue this preparation phase.

- More than 6 million compensation -

After the failures for two years of Leonardo Jardim, Thierry Henry, Franck Passi (a directed match), then again Leonardo Jardim and finally Robert Moreno, Kovac aims to find the Champions League as soon as possible.

He also has the task of stabilizing a club which has been flowing since its title of champion of France 2017 and which, in three years, changed vice-president, several times of general managers, sports directors, coaches, and which counts more than 60 players under contract.

Besides, without a European Cup, Monaco must today drastically reduce its payroll. The club also wants to achieve a positive balance of more than 50 million euros on the summer market.

Because the war treasure accumulated in recent years thanks to a semi-final of the Champions League and especially many sales (Mbappé, Lemar, Mendy, Silva, Bakayoko, Martial, Kondogbia, Kurzawa ...) has reduced to its congruent portion. In addition, the departure of Moreno and his staff, who had two years left on the contract, will cost the club more than 6 million euros.

With the heavy compensation received by Jardim (twice) and Henry, AS Monaco has, since October 2018, spent around 25 million euros in severance pay for its coaches! A record!

- Pressure on Rybolovlev -

And if the departure of Moreno began to be seriously considered internally, Petrov did not necessarily want it so hasty. Until the new sports director, Paul Mitchell - the club's new strongman with assistant general manager Viacheslav Ivanov - offered to recruit Kovac, whom he knew well and with whom he would have to form a successful team without delay.

This is the exact opposite of what the management of the club advocated during the presentation of the season on July 6. Mitchell asked for "time". "We are working so that Robert (Moreno) can go to success," he said.

Petrov was even clearer. "There have been a lot of changes in the players, in the management. But these necessary changes were for the good of the club. Now that they have been made at the management level, I don't think there are any yet a lot, "said the vice president.

The departure of Moreno comes at the same time as that, less media but very symbolic, of the emblematic intendant of the club and the team of France Bachir Nehar, and that that likely, and much more media, of Louis Ducruet, son of Princess Stéphanie and current assistant to Oleg Petrov.

These eddies, in a club in constant upheaval, but which remains an important showcase of the Principality, now puts Petrov but especially President Dmitri Rybolovlev, also embarrassed by court cases, under pressure.

Because the Prince's Palace follows, as always, very carefully the current evolution of the club.

© 2020 AFP