At PSG, the return of Leonardo and the end of "celebrity behavior "
Six-time champion of France over the last seven years, PSG is a favorite of Ligue 1 for this year 2019-2020. The club of the capital will be especially keen to redeem itself after a season mixed with the means of the club. Eliminated in 2019 in the quarterfinals of the Coupe de la Ligue, in the final of the Coupe de France and in the knockout stages of the Champions League, PSG decided to change gear behind the scenes.
Leonardo - sports director of the club between 2011 and 2013 - replaced Antero Henrique in June 2019, with the goal of rebuilding the club in his image. PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaïfi also set the tone by saying he does not "want to see any celebrity behavior" in the locker room. Words that aim, without naming it, Neymar. The Brazilian star wants to leave (in Barcelona?) But it remains for the moment at Camp des Loges.
Finally, the Paris Saint-Germain has, for the moment, recruited players with less buzzy names than in previous years, but with good potential: Abdou Diallo in defense, Idrissa Gueye and Ander Herrera in midfield, and Pablo Sarabia in a more offensive role. What satisfy Thomas Tuchel, who wanted to strengthen the ranks in the middle after a delicate exercise 2018-2019 in this line of play.
In Lyon, the new era will be Brazilian
Olympique Lyonnais post-Genesio will have a Brazilian accent for the 2019-2020 season. OL, third in the last championship, changed this summer with the arrival of their former player and captain, Juninho, at the head of the club's sports management, and Sylvinho on the sideline. A dual choice that seems to show the willingness of Jean-Michel Aulas to reconnect with a glorious past - when OL flew over Ligue 1 in the 2000s - and his ability to let go of the ballast, he who did not say he was in favor of a foreign coach last April.
The change in Lyon also took place on the field: team executives like Nabil Fekir, Tanguy Ndombele and Ferland Mendy left the OL. To replace them, the recruiting has also been 100% Brazilian in the middle with a young hope, Jean Lucas, and a sure bet, Thiago Mendes. Added to the defense are Joachim Andersen and Youssouf Koné, another hope of Ligue 1. Finally, the former goalkeeper of Nantes Ciprian Tatarusanu will be the lining of Anthony Lopes, which we do not know yet what the future will be at one year from the end of his contract.
In Lille, "the ambition of continuity" for the post-Pepe
Dauphin of the PSG during the last exercise in Ligue 1, the Losc is expected to turn in the fight for the first places this year. A race that the club north tackles without its certainties of the past season, starting with the transfer - which was expected - of his star player, Nicolas Pepe, left this summer at Arsenal for 80 million euros. Added to this are the departures of Thiago Mendes and Youssouf Koné (Lyon), Rafael Leao (AC Milan) and Anwar El Ghazi (Aston Villa), enough to bail out the clubs of the club.
But on the field, while the Losc is also playing in the Champions League this year, the situation looks more complicated, even if the club coach Christophe Galtier is optimistic. "You have to have the ambition to be in continuity, to have the ambition to fight for the European places.To get there, it's something else, but we must have this ambition," he said. he explained to AFP.
For this reason, the best Ligue 1 coach of the year 2018-2019 will be able to count on his new Turkish playmaker, Yusuf Yazici, on an experienced midfielder, Benjamin André, on a promising striker sold by PSG, Timothy Weah, and on some hopes still unknown of the League 1. Unless the Losc does not take advantage of the last weeks of transfer window to reinforce itself as experienced players, while a looming season is appearing for the club.
In Monaco, we rebuild to aim again the summits
Great summer cleaning on the side of the Rock. With 74 players under professional contract before the start of the transfer window, AS Monaco's sporting strategy seemed unreadable, especially as the club was coming off a catastrophic season (17th, two points behind the barrage). Since then, the ASM has begun to degrease and targets 55 players under contract for the upcoming season.
More than a bloated squad, coach Leonardo Jardim wants quality at every line this season. Mission partly completed for the moment, with the arrival of goalkeeper Benjamin Lecomte and promising side Ruben Aguilar - both from Montpellier. The twirling Gelson Martins, on the front of the attack, was bought at Atlético Madrid, but the Monegasque coach is still waiting for offensive reinforcements and wants Radamel Falcao to stay at the club.
According to Leonardo Jardim, the current AS Monaco "looks like last season's level". And he assures: "With our current workforce, there is a lack of solutions ahead, more than in the middle or behind." It is hoped that the ASM coach will be heard by early September, because the ambitions of the club Rock were announced by his vice president, Oleg Petrov: to find the podium of Ligue 1.
Marseille to restart with Benedetto in tip
Nearly three years after the acquisition of Olympique de Marseille by Franck McCourt, the "Champions Project" has lead in the wing. Yet he had to see the OM mingle each year in the fight for the first places in Ligue 1. In the year 2018-2019, the club Marseille finished fifth without European qualification, so he will have this year at heart of to restore a blazon that has enjoyed various fortunes under the leadership of Rudi Garcia, including a Europa League final in 2017-2018.
To find colors, OM made the change on his sidelines by replacing Rudi Garcia by André Villas-Boas. The coach, presented as a gifted youngster in Porto, Chelsea or Tottenham, has not occupied a sidelines for a year and a half. It will have much to do in Marseille, where the pressure will be strong but with reduced recruitment resources.
OM have for the moment recruited a central defender, Alvaro Gonzales, but he especially found his advanced striker in the person of Dario Benedetto, just arrived from Boca Juniors. The latter has finally joined Marseille after several weeks of negotiations and will have the heavy responsibility to meet the expectations placed in him, after the flop Kostas Mitroglou at the same position and the six-year freelance Mario Balotelli.
Saint-Etienne and Montpellier play security, Nice soon bought by a billionaire
After a course of quality punctuated by a fourth place and a European qualification in the last season, AS Saint-Étienne presents itself this year with a larger staff to play all the competitions in which it will be engaged. With a qualitative recruitment at a lower price - Harold Moukoudi (defender) arrived free, Ryad Boudebouz (middle) back in Ligue 1 or Denis Bouanga (winger) to boost the attack -, ASSE intends to combine experience and youth to try to repeat the same performance as last year. The arrival of Ghislain Printant as number one on the bench instead of Jean-Louis Gasset will change the situation: his experience in this position is thin, but he enjoys the confidence of the workforce to carry out his mission.
Montpellier, sixth in the last championship, will also this year have the ambition to join the fight for European places, as in the season 2018-2019. There have been two-way moves in La Paillade in recent weeks, with the departure of several executives - Ruben Aguilar, Benjamin Lecomte, Isaac Mbenza and Ellyes Skhiri. But the MHSC was able to strengthen, with the arrivals of Téji Savanier, Arnaud Souquet or the purchase of Andy Delort in Toulouse after a loan concluding last year. Without forgetting the big blow that could succeed Montpellier by obtaining the loan of the Swedish international goalkeeper, Robin Olsen, doorman of AS Roma.
Finally, the OGC Nice could quickly become one of the attractions of the Ligue 1. For this, it will be necessary that its purchase by the British billionaire Jim Ratcliffe does not delay, the transfer window ending in early September. Passing the flag of the first fortune of England - which has a personal portfolio estimated at nearly 10 billion euros, according to Forbes - could allow the club Riviera to take another dimension in the championship of France. But for the moment, apart from the sale of Allan Saint-Maximin in Newcastle, OGC Nice has not changed much on the transfer market. According to the latest statements of the coach, Patrick Vieira, in the newspaper The Team, the situation of Eagles should soon settle. "By the end of the month, we will have answers," he says. And he adds that, for the coming season, Nice "is working on players who [will] allow them to have a more competitive team".