Monaco have won 16 of the 19 games they have played in 2021 and are now just two points behind league leaders Lille
By Adam White and Eric Devin for Get French
Football News
Ligue 1 has become the land of the unexpected this season. Promoted Lens are on the verge of Europe; PSG have lost the same number of home league games as in the previous seven seasons combined; and even Raymond Domenech (briefly) found his way back into the league. But Monaco’s surprise title charge has quietly become the most eye-catching story of the season. They could yet win it all.
Since their glorious Ligue 1 title win in 2017, Monaco have been marooned in a perpetual state of flux. After the sales of Kylian Mbappé, Bernardo Silva, Tiémoué Bakayoko, Benjamin Mendy and, eventually, Fabinho and Thomas Lemar, their negotiator-in-chief Vadim Vasilyev – despite engineering mammoth transfer profits – was unable to lead the club into another cycle of success. Without the influence of famed transfer guru Luis Campos and the waning effect of coach Leonardo Jardim, Monaco quickly faded and Jardim was eventually sacked.