This time last year AS Monaco had already spent over €100m on new and exciting talent. This summer has seen the Principality club sell the likes of James Rodriguez, Emmanuel Riviere and Eric Abidal.

In return they have still to sign anyone of note.

As time marches on this summer, the Ligue 1 runners up seem to be content with chasing English Premier League (EPL) flops and has-beens. Those names may get the ordinary French fan excited (They love watching the EPL) but players such as Nani and Fernando Torres won’t really cut the mustard in the Champions League or challenge ZLatan and Co in Paris.

The purchase of Dimitar Berbatov was seen as a stop gap in January but after his contract was extended, it looks like that move could be the sign of things to come at the Stade Louis II.

Last year the big deals were done early but now as it approaches the end of July the big names all seem to be heading elsewhere.

If they are to stand any chance of pushing PSG domestically and doing anything of note in Europe, then they’ll need to go all out and attract players like Antoine Griezmann, Angel di Maria, Sami Khedira, Xherdan Shaqiri, Wesley Sneijder, Romelu Lukaku, Mario Balotelli or Freddy Guarin. Those are all players who have been linked with moves away for their clubs this summer.

But ‘Les Rouges et Blancs‘ have quite a few issues to deal with, if they want to bring in top talent.

First off, Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev has to show that he still has the hunger to plough in the cash. After his fight with The Fédération Française de Football (FFF) and his costly divorce the Monaco owner needs to set out his and the clubs ambitions.

The club also have to convince superstars at peak age that moving to Monte Carlo to play in front of crowds of around 10,000 isn’t such a bad thing. That’s why keeping Radamel Falcao could be very important for the whole team. If he were to follow James Rodriguez out of the door, then Monaco would be seen as a sinking ship.

Plus they need to prove to possible recruits that Ligue 1 isn’t just a one team league and that Monaco can do their upmost to wrestle the league title from the grasp of their rivals in the French capital.

Signing a 30 year old striker like Fernando Torres, who has been bang out of form for the past  four years, would be a huge mistake. Especially when you fork out £20m for the pleasure. Either bring in younger stars with potential or players still capable of playing at the highest level in the top competitions.

If they end up with the impotent Spaniard, then I fear that would spell the end of AS Monaco being any sort of force in France nevermind in Europe.

Tick followed tock followed tick followed tock. Now is the time for Monaco to walk the walk or stop all the talk!

Posted on July 23rd, 2014 by scott
Filed under: Article