This Friday, February 20th, it’s derby day, Nice vs. Monaco, and it’s time to focus on a topic that’s often overlooked: training. Both of the Riviera clubs have won the Coupe Gambardella (reserved for those under 19; Monaco in 2011 and Nice in 2012), but currently, OGC Nice has taken the lead with a youthful squad that improves week by week. In this success, the red-and-black project is not coincidental.
22.6 years. That was the average age on the match sheet for OGC Nice during their trip to Caen last December, a record in Ligue 1 this season. Within the Eaglets’ squad this season, fifteen players are under 22, from Bosetti to Amavi, including Hassen, Albert, and even Koziello. A policy focused on the youth that begins with scouting in regional clubs, from Var to Menton (90% of OGCN’s U17 and U19 players come from PACA), before recruitment and training at the Charles-Ehrmann training center.
“We have implemented many things in the field of young recruitments. It extends to the first team where we give them the necessary playing time. It’s not easy, but in the medium term, players and the club will be rewarded,” explained Claude Puel during the pre-derby press conference.
A medium-term project
To become the reference club for training in the Mediterranean basin and beyond, a wish but above all a project that doesn’t date back to yesterday. Led by President Jean-Pierre Rivère, this project revolves around one man, Claude Puel, who extended his contract last October. Surrounded by his staff and the team management of the reserve and U19s (under 19), it’s a daily job with precise performance tracking. At the end of the road, a reward in the professional group and even minutes on Ligue 1 pitches.
“Despite the expectations and passion around this club, we try to reconcile everything with the training of young players. There is a future, playing time, we build with all the young talents produced at the training center,” continued Claude Puel.
Summer 2016, a new step
A training center that will move into another dimension in the summer of 2016 with the completion of the new training center, not far from the current one at Charles-Ehrmann. A necessary modernization that should elevate the club in the “made in France” hierarchy, far ahead of OM and AS Monaco.
“There’s no longer a battle between the two clubs (with Monaco) because we got all the young players we wanted. The Nice club has shown that it trusts the youth,” concluded Claude Puel.
Irrefutable proof, the starting position this season of Mouez Hassen, 19 years old in the Eaglets’ goal, not to mention the significant playing time of Jordan Amavi, Alexy Bosetti, Albert Rafetraniaina, and appearances in the group by Vincent Koziello, Sada Thioub, and Bryan Constant. And this “bunch of youngsters” pay it back with quality performances, but the road is still long, and the potential for improvement is significant.
Photo credit: OGC Nice Media
