Is the AS Monaco a shame for the French League?

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The club is 38 points behind the PSG leader and struggles not to lose any more positions. What happened to the team that once was the undisputed champion of Ligue 1?

AS Monaco, a reference club for French football along with Paris Saint-Germain, Lyon, and Marseille, right now is in the middle of the tournament and is situated in descending positions. What is worrisome is that the club doesn’t show a better performance. At the moment Falcao's team is in position 19, with 15 points, far from the PSG leader who has 53 points and two matches played less. What happened to Monaco if in the last two seasons the team finished as champion and runner-up in the league?

Leer en español: AS Mónaco ¿Vergüenza para la Liga de Francia?

After announcing the big hiring’s, highlighting those of Naldo, Cesc Fàbregas, Fodé Ballo-Touré and William Vainqueur, in this winter market; in its last match against Racing de Strasbourg, the principality team received a 5-1 loose, fact that begins to increase the crisis within the club that someday was home, James Rodriguez.

After the defeat, Falcao left to speak, criticizing VAR’s action, demanding a play that was not sanctioned by the referee or the VAR and that could change the result of the match. Despite this, Monaco’s crisis cannot be hidden and newspapers such as L'Equipe, Marca, Mundo Deportivo and AS begin to talk about it.

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One of the main reasons why the Monaco team is in this situation is because their managers have concentrated on selling a large number of players in the market, but they did not realize the large gaps they were leaving in the team and that was felt since last season.

Taking this into account, Radamel Falcao Garcia, captain and one of the leaders in the locker room, demanded new board members for this market, as they were playing with many reserves and the atmosphere among the players was very bad, as he related to the microphones of Bein Sports.

Despite the departure of Leonardo Jardim as coach of the team, and the hiring of Thierry Henry as his replacement, in addition to the hiring that came in this January, the departure of important players in his squad as:

• Kylian Mbappé (for 180 million) to PSG
• Benjamin Mendy (57.5 million) and Bernardo Silva (for 50 million) to Manchester City
• Tiémoué Bakayoko (for 40 million) to Chelsea,
• Guido Carrillo (for 22 million) to Southampton
• Fabinho Tavares (50 million) to Liverpool
• Thomas Lemar (for 70 million euros) to Atlético de Madrid

The departure of these players were key factors to weaken the team and destabilized the structure of their football, which could reach to overcome the hegemony of PSG a year and a half ago.

Although it is one of the football clubs with more money thanks to the sales of its big stars, Monaco has not made major additions to its staff for a long time. In fact, in recent history players like James Rodriguez, João Moutinho, Anthony Martial, Geoffrey Kondogbia, Layvin Kurzawa, and Yannick Carrasco are remembered, but there are no signings of world-class players who can contribute to the club. The same that is currently eliminated from the Champions League has no chance to fight for the league and its only goal is not to reach the second division of French football.

LatinAmerican Post | Juan Sebastián Salguero Bernal

Translated from: 'AS Mónaco ¿Vergüenza para la Liga de Francia?'