To turn the page on a disastrous season, Monaco is cleaning up. Very weakened for several weeks, coach Philippe Clement did not survive the 6th place of the club in Ligue 1 and especially the non-qualification for Europe. He was thus thanked.

Clement, 49, was recruited in January 2022 to replace Croatian Niko Kovac. Sunday, the day after a new defeat at home against Toulouse (2-1), he was received by his management, who told him that he would no longer be the coach next season, while he had one year left on his contract.

The turning point of the slap received in Lens

The decision to sack Clement and his staff, validated by ASM owner Dmitry Rybolovlev, was strongly pushed by the vice president and son-in-law of the Russian billionaire, Uruguayan Juan Sartori. Paul Mitchell, sporting director also leaving and who should be replaced by the Brazilian Thiago Scuro, has only endorsed a decision recorded at a higher hierarchical level.

After the defeat to Toulouse, Clement knew he was in great danger. He confessed his fatigue after struggling for many weeks to straighten the bar with a workforce less and less involved. He also assumed his responsibilities, especially after the slap received in Lens (3-0) on April 22, when Monaco could still aim for the podium. "After that, we collapsed for several weeks," he said.

The same stats as Kovac

In the end, the Belgian technician will have managed 57 L1 matches in Monaco, as many as Kovac, his predecessor. Clement has 31 wins, 12 draws and 14 losses, while the Croatian has accumulated 32 wins, 11 draws and 14 losses: same results, same sentence...

From now on, Monaco must rebuild its sporting direction. Mitchell and Scuro, who has yet to be officially inducted, need to quickly find a coach. Even a press release indicates that the club "gives itself time for reflection", time is running out and research is flowing in all directions. First within the Red Bull galaxy, where the names of Matthias Jaissle, coach of Salzburg, and the American Jesse Marsch, sacked from Leeds last February and also former Salzburg (2019-2021) and Leipzig (2021) are mentioned. The desire to bring back former club legend Marcelo Gallardo also exists and Julien Stephan has been proposed.

The future coach will have to integrate the fact that the club must balance its accounts. However, once again deprived of Europe, the ASM had to sell several elements. French internationals Disasi and Fofana, Brazilian full-backs Vanderson and Henrique have the best market value. But others have not given satisfaction and could be pushed towards the exit like Volland, Minamino or Boadu. Wissam Ben Yedder, who went to apologize to the ultras Saturday after the defeat, wants to make him the last year of a pharaonic contract.

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