Le Championnat: The story of power, wealth and youth development

A superb performance from the forward including an assist to fellow forward Diego Costa shows that he can rise to the big occasion. Big game players are every manager’s need, and Radamel Falcao falls exactly under this category. Possibly my highlight of last season was seeing Falcao break through the Barcelona defence and smartly chip the advancing Víctor Valdés putting the red and whites a goal up. The goal showed pace, natural ability and class.

This combination will perfectly suit Monaco, and the amount spent on the Colombian really shows that they mean business. A title challenge may be too much of a stretch for the newly promoted side, with a 1-0 loss to FC Augsburg in their second pre-season match; it shows much work is needed before they start their domestic campaign in France. Most likely due to the huge uncertainty that the French league contains over league positions each season AS Monaco could potentially push for a Champions League spot at best.

AS Monaco’s main weakness in terms will be in the defensive department, signing veterans Ricardo Carvalho and Éric Abidal will of course encourage the fans by knowing they have two former European Cup winners in their side but the age factor is the problem, they simply aren’t the two defenders they once were, Monaco is most likely their last big pay check. Of course they bring tonnes of leadership qualities and experience to the side but most opposition will know that a quick counter-attack will test the tired legs of the pair. Maybe they should follow the Paris Project and sign a World class centre-half and start to build the core of the team?

Potentially Monaco’s off-pitch problems concern their average attendance. Last season they peaked at 6,102 against Dijon, and their average was around the 5000 mark, now with the mega money signings coming in, surely they can get closer to filling the stadium to the full 18,000 mark. To become a dominant force they will almost certainly want a full packed stadium each week to boost the team’s morale during the tough league games. Perhaps Rybolovlev could further back his dynasty by extending the stadium’s capacity?

So is this added wealth to Ligue 1 a platform that can be used to make the competition ranked among the top three in Europe? Of course with Monaco coming up and possibly providing a strong opposition that could block PSG from winning back to back titles then obviously the league will only gain from the money that has arrived. Money and reputation go hand in hand, but sometimes it can be a long life cycle that has to occur before the two favour each other.

Most likely it will be at least a couple of years before Ligue 1 has the chance to improve its own European coefficient ranking, but with this extra economy coming to France it will help it become even more competitive and then be able to draw in the players and fans from around the world. The last thing Ligue 1 would want would be a copy of the Spanish disaster that occurred in Malaga especially. Some clubs in Spain have experienced near financial meltdowns because of owners not putting their money in the right places. But look at the Spanish financial crisis, as a country they have suffered more than most in Europe, and really it’s only their sporting achievements that have put them on the news for the right reasons over the last few years.

Another aspect is the upcoming 2016 European Championships, the first major competition that they’ll be hosting since the 98? World Cup Finals, which famously ended up being their first and only World Cup to date. French Football seems like it can only grow in stature, through them hosting the Euro’s. This has also had a positive factor as it has allowed stadiums to get a new look and has generally benefited all of the clubs that have been chosen to host a few games, especially Lille who were lucky enough to have the chance to play in a brand new state of the art modern stadium that can contain 50,000 people. The club will only financially prosper from this added amount of seats which will also allow Lille to build upon and try to make their club a force in European football , but only if they are able to spend the added money and reinforce their squad.

Relegation is always as close as the title race at the top. The desperate race for them last few points. Will it be tears of joy and survival on the last day or tears of anguish and pain due to your club being relegated? A football fans worst nightmare. This season’s relegation battle in France will be like last seasons and most likely go to the last round of fixtures, this year I believe FC Sochaux, Guingamp and AC Ajaccio could face a difficult season ahead and fall in my favourite picks for being the bottom three clubs at the end of the season. Why haven’t I chosen FC Nantes? Well due to the fact that the club is one of the most successful in French Football, along with the fact that the clubs support will be up there as one of the strongest in the league, who is to say FC Nantes can’t do it and beat the drop to Ligue 2?

Away from all the glitz and glamour of Ligue 1 we have the remaining group of teams that simply can’t cope with Paris and Monaco in their wildest of dreams financially, but in terms of youth development stand a great chance of making France a great hub to develop future talent. The under-20 World Cup held over the last month shows that maybe France could have yet another golden generation coming through their ranks. Star players such as Florian Thauvin and Kurt Zouma both play their football at French clubs at this current moment, but for how long?

In previous years the league has definitely suffered with the exodus of letting huge prospects go to bigger clubs in Europe. In my eyes this is the downfall of the whole league, seeing stars being made then quickly shipped away is something many French Football fans have grown accustomed to over the last few seasons. For the league to grow and gain recognition as a top league in Europe, the clubs such as Lyon, Lille and especially Marseille need to hang onto their star players of the future and show that Ligue 1 isn’t just a generating league where younger players of good quality go and play for two seasons max then pack up and leave France altogether.

Can I assure you that this season’s Ligue 1 title race will be as dramatic as the Premier League in recent years? Most likely not, but I can almost guarantee that you will witness lots of stunning goals, a desperate race to survival and a hint of some World Class talent doing what they do best. Sounds like a perfect French recipe. Au Revoir.