AS Monaco players only needed one training session to measure the demand for Niko Kovac and the new turn taken by their club after the ouster of Robert Moreno. For Dado Prso, accomplice of the Croatian selection in the 2000s, also passed by Monaco, this change of course can only be beneficial for the club of the Rock, ninth last season, far from the podium, the stated objective.
“The Kovac brothers (Editor's note: his brother Robert is Niko's assistant) are serious, hard-working guys, good people, slips the former scorer. There is no fuss with them, you can travel. "" The players understood straight away that Niko had not come to Monaco to joke and sunbathe but to succeed, supports a regular at La Turbie. His method appeals to the group. There is a defined framework, rigor but also proximity. We feel that something is happening. "
At 48, the Croatian technician has a rich CV which makes him one of the attractions of this start to the season in Ligue 1. After starting his career with the young teams of Red Bull Salzburg, he then contributed to the revival of the Croatian selection, won a German Cup with Frankfurt and achieved a hat-trick with Bayern Munich before his dismissal last November.
"That's why it makes me laugh when I hear that he didn't succeed there," says Gelson Fernandes, his former midfielder in Frankfurt. I loved working under him. Because, with him, it's square. He is straightforward and honest. He will never do it backwards to you. "" It's very serious, but the coach is also very friendly with us after training, says Henry Onyekuru, loan income from Galatasaray. I felt real changes compared to last summer. "
"He will transmit a lot of values to the players"
Renowned for his daily requirement and his ability to adapt to the players who make up his squad, Kovac was repatriated to the Rock by Paul Mitchell, the new strongman of the ASM after a brilliant stint at Red Bull Leipzig. "Niko is the example of ambition, dynamism and humility that we want to bring to the club," sums up the new Monegasque sports director, who wants to restore order to the house.
“He will change the mentality of some and transmit a lot of values to ASM players, thinks Gelson Fernandes. In France, there is talent but it takes rigor. With him, better to listen, otherwise you can get shaken. But it is for the good of all and especially of the club. "
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Kovac, who still lives at the hotel, spends most of his days in La Turbie. While he offered two and a half days of rest to his players before the resumption of the championship, against Reims on Sunday, he wisely stayed in Monaco to study the game of his future opponent and much more.
With his group, he strives to speak as often as possible in French, a language he studied at school and which he is mastering better and better. “He always liked the French, smiles Gelson Fernandes. In Frankfurt he had brought Falette, Haller and me from Rennes. Honestly, it's a great thing for Ligue 1 to have such a coach in Monaco. "
