With AS Monaco’s spot in next season’s UEFA Champions League now confirmed, attention will now turn towards how the Principality club will strengthen ahead of that European campaign. Speaking after Les Monégasques’ 2-0 victory over Montpellier HSC, which confirms the club’s second-place in Ligue 1, Thiago Scuro gave some early indications regarding the upcoming window.
Notably, he stated that talks would be held regarding the situations of Youssouf Fofana (25), whose contract expires at the end of next season, and that of club captain Wissam Ben Yedder (33), whose contract expires in a matter of weeks.
Are you already drawing up plans for the upcoming window?
“The plans for the following season have been worked on for a while. There is a constant process inside the club of following the market, looking at the options that we may have, studying our performances and seeing how we can offer better solutions to the group. This is our daily job. Now we will discuss things more deeply. We know that the market is very dynamic. We can’t control everything. Playing in the Champions League group stage is a big step so we want to get to the next chapter of what we are building.”
Is there an idea to bring in more experience?
“The idea is to work on the [right] mix of players: that’s the history of the club and the present too. Using young players is part of Monaco’s DNA. We are going to keep working on the balance, as we did last summer.”
With Champions League football secured, will there now be talks about Fofana’s future?
“We put the club’s goal above everything and above all topics. All individual matters, we are going to start discussing from now. Youssouf’s [Fofana] situation is one of them, and Wissam’s [Ben Yedder] is another. We didn’t want to anticipate any individual needs because we were committed to doing things for the club. Now, we will have time to discuss them one by one. The quality of the club, and the team, will not be affected by any individual decision. We are able to replace and keep playing at a high level, as we did this year. Of course [we have plans] but we work on it internally.”
GFFN | Luke Entwistle