There is no hiding that times are hard in Ligue 1. Purse strings have been tightened amid the financial crisis, brought on by plummeting TV rights revenues. Only a few clubs are immune. Most are reliant on a player-trading model to stay afloat. Whilst Toulouse FC sustain this model through their data-driven recruitment, the majority of clubs do so through player development, leaning more on the strength of their academies.

That is particularly the case at AS Monaco, who had a bumper summer. Maghnes Akliouche’s €50m move to Paris Saint-Germain made him the second most expensive academy product in the Principality club’s history, below only Kylian Mbappé. The France international’s departure was anticipated, but it was a surprise when Newcastle United dropped €40m on Aladji Bamba. The midfielder made just 25 first-team appearances before becoming the fourth-most expensive academy product to depart in Monaco’s history. New pépites are coming through, with Anis Soubeir, Safouane Benzahra, and Pape Cabral among those to have featured under Filipe Luís this season.

As Sébastien Muet, the Director of Monaco’s Academy, tells Get French Football News in an exclusive interview, developing players has always been part of the club’s DNA. But the academy is evolving, too. GFFN understands that there is a drive to internationalise La Diagonale, as evidenced by the recent recruitment of German Dennis Schmitt as manager of the Groupe Élite, whilst the club also has the objective of 30% of the first team being comprised of academy products. Muet sat down with us to discuss the state of affairs at La Diagonale.

The academy is in good health! It is consistent with what came before because Monaco has always been a club that provided for different national teams, notably the French national sides. We have players wearing the shirts of Belgium, the Netherlands, Morocco, Lithuania… and of course L’Équipe de France. We have this multi-nationality. Around 23% of our academy players have gone away with their national teams.

We want to work with the French players who have the highest potential, but fundamentally, Monaco wants to have an international dimension. We have an international dimension. We have an attacker who plays for the Denmark U17s (Ekene Chukwuani) who has been with us for the past two seasons. It means that there is an opening of our borders, beyond Monaco but also beyond France, too. It is quite interesting. Today, it is true that, as well as the French language, we are hearing more and more the English language within the walls of La Diagonale.

As well as developing players from a young age, Monaco have recently made investments in bringing in players that are slightly older and fall within that ‘post-formation’ category. Do those older players require a different form of management?

The work remains the same. It is true that a player nowadays can break out at 13 or 14, but sometimes the kids need a bit more time and emerge at 17 or 18. Monaco are attentive to all age groups from 12 to 20 years old. When they arrive at 18 or 19, the time [to work with them] is a bit shorter, but the logic doesn’t change. You have to factor in the journey, where they are coming from, like with Anis Soubeir or Safouane Benzahra, who arrived a bit in the middle of their journey. You have to take into account where they are coming from, their workload, their story, their culture, and then, very quickly, you have to get them performing to the level of the first team, so that shortens the time that you are working [with them], but in any case, our objectives and working principles absolutely do not change.

You mention Soubeir and Benzahra, both of whom have played for Monaco’s first team this season. Can you tell us a bit more about their journeys in particular?