Change is not for tomorrow. Montpellier begins its fiftieth anniversary season on Tuesday July 2 at Grammont, its training center, proud of its past, but doubtful about its future. He is not sure of anything for his 16e season in a row in Ligue 1. Neither its budget, nor the possible construction of its stadium, nor its recruitment.
Everything is frozen at the dawn of a summer where the French team masks in a festive Euro in Germany the doubts which paralyze French professional clubs while waiting for an outcome of the television rights contract. Is the French Football League (LFP), and its president Vincent Labrune, on the verge of dissolution?
Seven weeks before the resumption of the championship, Montpellier, and the other French clubs, still do not know what the TV rights, an essential part of their forecast budget, will weigh. Since the Covid health crisis, and the end of the competition, it has gone from crisis to crisis. Covid crisis, and its empty stadiums, Mediapro fiasco, and its goose that lays the golden eggs, and therefore impasse on the contract for the next five seasons (2024-29).
Who is behind all this? Bolloré, Bolloré again. Vincent Bolloré, the very conservative industrialist, is none other than the boss of Canal Plus who refuses to negotiate TV rights with Vincent Labrune and the LFP. For the time being, plan A, around an agreement with BeIN and Canal Plus, is only an illusion. And plan B, with a channel managed by the LFP, offers no guarantees to the various clubs. Consequence of a vicious circle: due to lack of money, no one can plan ahead, the transfer market is at a standstill. Does Montpellier president Laurent Nicollin find sleep in such an unstable period?
« At least we have an operational team to start the season “, he quips. With the exception of midfielder Léo Leroy, transferred to the Swiss club Basel, he will know all the faces when it’s time to return to school. That of his coach: Michel Der Zakarian, those of his players and his entourage.
Certainly, there have been some contacts for Arnaud Nordin, the Jordanian international Mousa Tamari, or the former Espoir international Joris Chotard, but no offer meets his expectations. So, he waits, he faces the uncertainty, prepares what can be, but cannot move forward on the priorities of his recruitment: a defensive midfielder and a striker.
The problems are piling up, spreading like shit in a fan. Young left-back Lucas Mincarelli, who had a great first season in Ligue 1, injured his knee with the French U20 team during the Maurice-Revello tournament. The departure of Théo Sainte-Luce, third in the hierarchy of left-backs, has been suspended. Montpellier will therefore not be able to save on his salary, nor that of Christopher Jullien, who has undergone knee surgery and is out for six months. The former Toulouse player (31 years old), who is on contract until June 2025, had expressed his desire to find playing time elsewhere.
Several injured
Sign of tensions: Montpellier has not activated research for the recruitment of a fourth central defender alongside the Swiss international Becir Omeragic and the two Malian internationals: Kiki Kouyaté and Modibo Sagnan. In the absence of a young defender within the training center, it is counting on the emergence of a young Ivorian called upon to strengthen the “reserve”.
To expand a squad, amputated by several injured: Jullien, Mincarelli, Khalil Fayad, injured in Lens for the final day, or Axel Guéguin, convalescing after a knee operation this winter, the Montpellier coach Michel Der Zakarian will appeal to several young people like Ndiaye, Issouflou, Maamma or Mbappé.
The young Othmane Maamma, still a trainee (19 years old), sparked at the end of last season to claim a role in an attack that promised to move on. And the young midfielder Ivan-Junior Mbappé, from the Cameroonian academy led by Henri Bédimo, offers great potential.
Small consolation: the long seven-week break will allow Michel Der Zakarian to have all his players available for the resumption on July 2. All the African and Jordanian internationals, who arrived two weeks late last summer, are expected in Grammont. And, the playmaker and captain Téji Savanier will also be there. Pre-selected for the French Olympic team, he is not among the three players over 23 years old selected by Thierry Henry. When Savanier is there, everything goes well. Well, almost.
