‘Diversity is our weapon’: inside Monaco’s eclectic football approach

Monaco’s training ground, carved into a hillside above the principality, overlooks the Côte d’Azur. It is the sort of glamorous setting expected for a football team in one of the world’s richest corners. Fifteen nationalities file out of the changing rooms and on to the pitch to be coached by an Austrian, driving home the club’s eclectic nature.

They are the senior partner in a multi‑club operation that involves one other team: Cercle Brugge, who were bought in 2017. Whereas others stockpile clubs, two is the height of the ambition here, the thinking being that it provides agility but ensures focus is not diverted. Clubs live and die by recruitment and investing in another team allows more access to talent and increased scope to develop it.

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On Wednesday Monaco travel to Arsenal in the Champions League and on Thursday Cercle are in Ljubljana to face Olimpija in the Conference League. The project appears to be working. Multinational acquisitions have helped Monaco and their coach, Adi Hütter, create a physical and intense team with flair in the attacking third. Training takes place in numerous languages: the goalkeepers are spoken to in English, while Portuguese, French and German are thrown into the mix by the rest of the squad.

“Our CEO is Brazilian, our head coach is Austrian, I am Mexican, so we like to think that diversity is our weapon,” the Monaco technical director, Carlos Aviña, says as low clouds remove the picturesque view. “We have a very positive environment, we have players from all over the world, we also have staff from all over the world in the building. That is probably not that much related to what you see on the pitch but it becomes a very international and diverse environment. We believe this is actually good, not only in terms of making decisions, but also in terms of the environment that we create. I think it’s quite a cool place for any young player to come and find people like him, but from other different parts of the world.”

When Kylian Mbappé, Bernardo Silva and Fabinho took Monaco to the Champions League semi-finals in 2017, there were two training pitches and the squad had to change in cabins. The owner financed a €55m training facility upgrade. Wandering around the centre at La Turbie provides evidence the club have moved a long way. They have a state-of-the-art recovery room, a gym adorned with the mantra “RISE, RISK, REPEAT” and a 38-seat changing room with each player’s face adorning a peg.

The model has long been clear at Monaco: buy young players with potential and sell them after showcasing their talents in Ligue 1 and Europe. The current cohort has returned the club to the Champions League group stage for the first time since 2018-19. Monaco have a billionaire owner in the Russian Dmitry Rybolovlev, who has been subject to sanctions from Ukraine but not from the west, but competing with Paris Saint-Germain for signings such as João Neves at almost €60m is not part of the strategy.

Aviña, previously the technical director at Cercle, is looking for players under 25 and willing to pay relatively hefty fees. Four players under the age of 20 were signed for a combined €60m last summer. “Everyone is trying to go young,” Aviña says. “We’re trying to go probably even younger because if you don’t go early, then it’s impossible to access them. It gives you the competitive advantage of accessing world-class talent. The younger you recruit, the higher the risk is, but also higher the reward.”

Aurélien Tchouaméni is the poster boy for this concept. The midfielder joined Monaco for €16m in 2020 and was sold two years later to Real Madrid for €80m plus €20m in potential add-ons. Youssouf Fofana joined from Strasbourg in 2020 and departed for Milan at a €10m profit and the club made €30m on Axel Disasi after signing him from Reims and selling to Chelsea three years later. Supplementing this are academy products, with Eliesse Ben Seghir and Maghnes Akliouche the latest to shine in the first team. They should make a profit for Monaco, as the £32m Chelsea defender Benoît Badiashile did. Aviña and Monaco’s chief executive, Thiago Scuro, watched their under-19s defeat Benfica in the Uefa Youth League on the day of the Guardian’s visit, adding to a win over Barcelona, and are plotting paths to the top for midfielders Mayssam Benama and Saïmon Bouabré from that squad.

Monaco are reaping the benefits from sending players on loan to Cercle. The Polish goalkeeper Radoslaw Majecki spent the 2022-23 season there and has since established himself as No 1 at Monaco, who are permitted to have three on loan each season at the Belgian side but give the final say to Cercle.

“If we impose something, if we force things, then it doesn’t really work,” Aviña says. “We don’t micromanage, we work more as a sounding board. We follow up and make sure that there is alignment and consistency in the decision-making. But they’re accountable and they own their own decisions. We have a relationship, but it’s more of a supportive role than anything else.”

Cercle, whose squad comprises 13 nationalities from across Europe and South America, are playing in European competition for the first time and the target is to make them a top-six Belgian club.

“I think so far Monaco made Cercle stronger,” Scuro, who was recently linked with replacing Edu as the technical director at Arsenal, says. “We are working to have Cercle make Monaco stronger. In full transparency, we already see how Cercle is benefiting from Monaco in some details. But in the big picture, I think it’s about to come where we are going to see players developing themselves in Cercle, stepping in Monaco and making an impact. For example, bringing stronger practices from there to here. I think we are on the way.”

Work will begin in 2025 on a new Cercle training ground, helped by the club being in line to make a profit this season. Facilities are a key part of investment there: in the battle to attract young players they need to show they can offer the best chance for signings to reach their potential. Cercle are not only a gateway to Monaco but to clubs all over Europe. They have only four players over the age of 25, two being goalkeepers.

“Every player that we bring in should have at least one outstanding quality,” Cercle’s sporting director, Rembert Vromant, says. “For some that’s speed, for some that’s aerial game, for some that’s decision-making. They should all have versatility, so they should at least play two positions.”

It also gives them the potential to play for Monaco. “We are aligned in the principles of play,” says Aviña of Monaco and Cercle. “The way that we want to play, the way that we train, the way that we coach, the way that we develop the players, we’re pretty much aligned. We believe that this is one of the recipes of success in the collaboration.”

Scuro, speaking from his top-floor office as training takes place below, sees a bright future. “Football is an entertainment industry that depends on the artists, which are the players, and head coaches have a big influence,” he says. “Countries play football in different ways, leagues are different – I don’t believe that it’s possible for you to apply the same model in different places in the world and have success. I believe in multiple organisations that can have less clubs in order to really build them strong.”