Who Would Be Monaco Boss?

A club in disarray, AS Monaco seem intent in underlining new Montreal Impact boss Thierry Henry’s departure as a fortunate escape for the French World Cup winner.

Today they fired manager Leonardo Jardim for the second time in just over a year, and appointed former Spain boss Roberto Moreno.

Henry replaced Jardim after his first spell in charge during which time Monaco became French Champions (2016/17), before being replaced by the Portuguese in January, after only three months in charge.

Having won eight and drawn two of their last thirteen Ligue 1 games, Jardim had Monaco sitting 7th in the championship, only 5 points shy of the third Champions League spot with just over half the season to come. A significant improvement on last season when they finished just one place above the relegation play-off slot.

”We are very happy to announce the arrival of Robert Moreno,” said Monaco’s Russian vice-president Oleg Petrov.

”We believe a lot in him and his ability to bring success to the team.”

Moreno left his role in charge of Spain after the return of predecessor Luis Enrique last month. Enrique had accused Moreno of being disloyal to him when returning to the national team job he vacated to spend time with his 9-year-old daughter Xana, who died from bone cancer in August.

Moreno, Enrique’s former assistant, had succeeded him and told Enrique he wanted to be in charge of Spain at Euro 2020 before returning to assistant manager and handing the reins of the national team back to Enrique.

Photo by Jean Catuffe/Getty Images

AS Monaco look anything but stable these days, suggesting Henry’s short spell was probably long enough, as he tried to arrest the slide of a club that were champions of France only 2 years ago.

That championship side quickly disintegrated; Kylian Mbappe went to PSG, Manchester City raided for Bernardo Silva and Benjamin Mendy and Tiemoue Balayoko went off to Chelsea, all for large fees, yet the departures were never adequately replaced.

Whether Moreno, who remained unbeaten in nine matches in control of Spain, can help Monaco sustain recent momentum and push-on for a Champions League spot remains to be seen.

But there appears to be more than enough disruption and turbulence within the club to suggest the target of top three will not be plain sailing.

Thierry Henry did not have his sorrows to seek while managing his former club, it wasn’t the best place to begin his head-coaching career and his short tenure appears to be a blessing in disguise for the man now charged with bringing success to Montreal Impact.