AS Monaco academy: Where future stars dream of emulating Thierry Henry & Kylian Mbappe
That’s certainly not the case at Monaco, which offers players the chance to develop in the first team while also providing an environment in which they can thrive.
Academy players train regularly with the first-team squad, while those who do not train with Traore train on adjacent pitches at the club’s new performance center in La Turby.
“Today we have a clear process to allow (academy players) exposure to the first team. That’s how you create the path,” Scurro said. The emphasis is on incrementalism, not flash-in-the-pan moments.
Such experience allows players to adapt to the increased physical intensity of the professional game – tactical adaptation is not an issue with both sides practicing the same brand of high-intensity attacking football.
It’s one of the many synergies embodied by former Elite Group coach Damien Perrinelle, who is now assistant to first-team coach Adi Hutter.
The Frenchman is still a regular presence at youth league games, broadcasting individual performances from the academy, such as that of Joan Tincres, who just hours after her outstanding performance in the youth league, On the bench against Benfica in the Champions League. Progress will not go unnoticed.
“I wouldn’t say it’s a reward, but we’re big on encouragement,” Mutt said, referring to the concept of at least one academy product being included in both the Youth League and Champions League squads on the same day.
“We’re committed to sending a positive message to players who have the mindset we want, but also to those who don’t have that mindset yet.”
But more broadly, the space within the first-team squad was created to allow Monaco’s academy to flourish.
“For me we should be two-thirds development players and one-third performance players. Monaco cannot have a 26 or 27-year-old player who has no real impact on the team because we have to develop young players,” Scurro said he must balance player development with high-level performance in the Champions League and Ligue 1.
However, Scurro wants to go one step further: “Today we have six academy players in the squad and our desire is, through this process, to increase this number so that we can achieve 50% of the players in the squad who come from the academy “We know this is a huge challenge and a long-term process. “
Monaco are the sixth most valuable academy in Europe according to CIES Football Observatory and are putting their players in the shop window thanks to their performances in the Champions League this season.
“We have a lot of young talent: Ben Segier, Akliusz, Lamine Kamara… no one in Europe really knows them. This is a great stage to showcase them,” Huth said in Monaco. Said this season before defeating Barcelona in the first game of the Champions League.
Continuing to develop players like this is an important part of Scuro’s mission, set out by owner Dmitry Rybolovlev.
However, the end goal isn’t necessarily for Monaco to become a talent factory polluting Europe’s elite – retaining players is also on the agenda.
“Football is too focused on business, our job is to build a team and improve performance, so if a player comes from the academy and becomes a solid player at a professional level and plays here for 10-15 years, then that’s A great achievement but that doesn’t mean it was a failure because the player was never sold.”
“The academy is an important pillar of the organization,” Scurrow added.
This will undoubtedly ensure the club’s structural integrity on and off the pitch.
