The French side recently won the Ligue 1 title to break PSG’s local dominance for five years.
Appointing a sporting director in Luis Campos has been crucial to their run this season.
The coach Leonardo Jardim was bold to consider youngsters; Kylian Mbappe took the opportunity offered to him with both hands, Radamel Falcao provided the necessary experience in the set-up as with the rest of the players that contributed to their brilliant run. The whole piece worked for good but Campos remains a key figure.
He is a former scout for Real Madrid. He used his knowledge of local requirements to piece together that current Monaco team. He scouted and recruited Mbappe, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Fabinho, Thomas Lemar, Benjamin Mendy, Djibril Sidibe and many others that were important to Monaco. The title-winning team are essentially a product of Campos’ brilliance and resourcefulness and he deserves all the mentions.
He left Monaco after working from 2013-2016. The Portuguese moved to Lille and now acts as chief advisor to the vice president Vadim Vasilyev. He would work with the management to develop Lille.
Monaco realizing the importance of the role quickly recruited Antonio Cordon as his replacement. Cordon worked at Villareal where he helped Manuel Pellegrini get a strong squad despite a small budget. Where it is increasingly difficult to get top talents at relatively low prices, Monaco was quick to react in selecting such a respected figure.
PSG also had their own share of having and losing talented employees. But the replacements seem ill-advised. After sacking Olivier Letang, Patrick Kluivert was chosen as the replacement when he lacks the network and experience in the role. They are still reeling from the loss of Leonardo who was the sporting director in 2013 when the Arab billions came in.
Lyon are also lagging behind. After developing and losing talents such as Michael Essien, Florent Malouda, Eric Abidal, Mahamadou Diarra et al, the French giant rich in history are still struggling. This summer they have made it a top priority to get a sporting director as they try to play catch-up.