In Monaco, the Mitchell-Clément duo wants to satisfy the high presidential ambitions
“The president’s objective? To win the Champions League!”: the joke of Paul Mitchell, sporting director of Monaco, is not one, because the Russian billionaire Dmitri Rybolovlev aims high and counts on the Mitchell-Clement duo to achieve it.
The month of August will be crucial for ASM, which will quickly know whether its 2022-23 season is successful or not.
To insert the very profitable group stage of the Champions League, the Monegasques will first have to eliminate PSV Eindhoven, in the 3rd preliminary round of the C1, on August 2 and 9.
If they get past that hurdle, they’ll find themselves in the play-offs, where they fell last year, probably another big name in European football, like Benfica.
“It will be more complicated than last season,” Mitchell told AFP, “but the president is very ambitious. He wants to see the club succeed at the highest level, so in C1.”
Last season, ASM, under Niko Kovac, beat Sparta Prague (2-0 first leg wins in Prague and 3-1 at home) in the third round, before falling in extra time against the Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk (lost 1-0 at home in the first leg, 2-2 in the return)
– “The group is stronger” –
It is now Philippe Clément who has the task of bringing Monaco back to C1 and the Belgian technician has succeeded, judge his leaders, in bringing harmony and ambition within his workforce.
“Nothing was left to chance, underlines Mitchell. We resumed early, played strong opponents in preparation. A very big physical work has been done for six months, the result of a real collaboration between the performance and technical sectors. What you don’t see before. The group is stronger, with a fighting attitude.”
However, sporting uncertainty remains. “Hearing that we are playing our season over four games is not disturbing, continues the Englishman. These meetings should not distract us from our overall strategy. Despite the rumors, we have always kept our line. We declare ourselves.”
After the 2017 title, Monaco had suffered sportingly and financially: expensive expenses with 75 pros under contract, relegation narrowly interrupted in 2019.
Rybolovlev then instructed Oleg Petrov to straighten out the sinking club. Mitchell’s arrival in June 2020 accelerated this rebuild.
Since the departure of Aurélien Tchouameni in Madrid for 100 million euros (bonus included), Petrov’s mission is over. Mitchell is the only master on board, at the sporting level. With the obligation to satisfy the desires of greatness of its president… without weighing down the finances.
For him, Monaco was “backtracking” with Kovac. After dismissing Robert Moreno upon his arrival, he did not hesitate to approve the Croatian last December.
-“Do not repeat mistakes”-
“I never make the decision to part with someone in a hurry, specifies Mitchell. I always accumulate as much information as possible. Everything is dictated by the first interview I had with the shareholder (Rybolovlev , editor’s note), two years ago, during the course he clearly defined what he wants, what the club represents for him. We agreed on a line that I will apply as long as we are in phase. “
Mitchell has always assumed the choice of Clement: “We are divided from the front even if, at the start, the steps were small. Then, the team showed its potential and its quality.”
The end of the season (9 wins and a draw) was spectacular but was not enough to clinch 2nd place in Ligue 1. And the departure of Tchouameni leaves a significant void.
“We are not going to replace him to replace him, retorts Mitchell. We see the quality, the desire, the competitiveness that emerges from the daily life of the group. Tchouameni has gradually integrated. We can do that again. must not make the wrong profile. Acting under stress skews the vision of things, does not allow good decisions. However, we do not want to repeat past mistakes whose consequences we still suffer.”
“The objective is to be competitive in France, in Europe, and on the very competitive youth market, which we want to develop to the highest level. Our season will therefore not be limited to two European confrontations”, discovered Mitchell, as if to convince himself. Because the C1 is vital for the club…