Leonardo Jardim leaves after Monaco’s struggle to find victories since their first games of the 2018/19 French Ligue 1 season.
A terrible start to Monaco’s season has them in the relegation zone in the Ligue 1 standings and forced the team to part ways with their manager Leonardo Jardim.
Leonardo Jardim is leaving Monaco after 4 years in charge and guiding the team to their first league title since 1999/00 season when his team became the champions in the 2016/17 season.
Paris St. Germain’s league title winning streak was not expected to be broken when Leonardo Jardim did the improbable in the 2016/17 season to become the first AS Monaco manager to be a Ligue 1 champion since in 17 years.
It seems that after successfully punching above their weight to win the league title and finishing as a semi-finalist in the UEFA Champions League in 2017, the board of directors has gained lesser interesting in making Monaco a more competitive side, and more interest in the profits they receive from the sale of their star players.
While Paris St. Germain is getting stronger by investing in the team to win things internationally, Monaco has looked like a team that would settle for a champions league qualifying spot and a good run in all cup competitions. After all, the excuse for failing to win domestic and international titles can always be blamed on the fact the Paris St. Germain is financially bullying the rest of the league.
What will Monaco do differently?
Leonardo Jardim was able to use relatively unknown players to compete with the best teams in the world at the start of his tenure. But selling the best-developed players to ‘bigger’ clubs will never make you a big club (unless not being a ‘big’ club is the goal). The reward for achieving success shouldn’t be watering down of talent in the team. The Board of Directors cannot see the club as a stepping stone for players to join ‘bigger’ club if performance on the pitch is important to them. Replacing Jardim won’t guarantee a solution to their awful start to the season if the right players are not brought in and kept in the club.
A successful season would have possibly allowed the selling of more key players from Monaco. Leonardo Jardim legacy hasn’t been tainted at all by the poor start to this season.
