Although they have the legendary Thierry Henry as manager, this season has been a nightmare for Monaco.
They’re second from bottom in Ligue 1 having failed to win a single game at home this season and finished at the foot of their Champions League group with just one point.
Big changes need to happen at the principality.
However, credit is due to Monaco’s hierarchy after they managed to secure the signing of Cesc Fabregas from Chelsea.
There are also reports suggesting that they are very close to getting Blues forward Michy Batshuayi on loan for the rest of the season after the Belgian’s season-long loan at Valencia was cut short.
Defensive midfielder William Vainqueur has arrived on loan from Antalyaspor, however, one of their bright sparks Youssef Ait Bennasser has been linked with a move to Arsenal by Italian media despite Unai Emery claiming the Gunners can only sign players on loan in January.
So how might the under pressure Ligue 1 club line up for the second half of the season where they simply must improve?
Below you can see talkSPORT.com’s predicted Monaco XI from the end of January.
Goalkeeper
Having conceded 30 goals, Monaco do not have the worst defensive record in the division but they must tighten up.
They have a good goalkeeper among their ranks in Switzerland international Diego Benaglio so it’s likely he will keep his place this season.
However, if Henry feels a re-jig between the sticks is needed then he has Danijel Subasic, who represented Croatia at their memorable World Cup campaign in the summer, to call upon after he recently returned from a thigh injury.
Defence
Henry has identified issues with the defence despite having the experienced Kamil Glik among their ranks.
Brazilian Naldo, 36, has joined this month so is likely to play a prominent role, along with the Pole, while 17-year-old Benoit Badiashile has made a few appearances which suggests there is a bright future in defence.
Fode Ballo-Toure has also been landed in January after a good start to the campaign with Lille, so he could well be first-choice for the time being.
Meanwhile, summer signing Benjamin Henrichs, 21, who has been playing on the right, is a promising talent and is being groomed to play in midfield later in his career.
Midfield
The signing of Fabregas is a major coup for Monaco. He may be 31 years old but such is his talent, the Spaniard still has plenty to offer at a high level.
He will give them an extra dimension in the middle of the park and his presence could well give the defenders more protection which is clearly necessary.
Fabregas made his debut for his new club on Sunday, a 1-1 draw at Marseille which is a decent result so perhaps this is a sign of things to come.
He is also the perfect mentor for 21-year-old Belgian midfielder Youri Tielemans, who is a bright young player still coming through despite signing for Monaco in May 2017.
Ait Bennasser will be omitted from this XI in case the Arsenal rumours are true.
Attack
Having only scored 17 goals in 18 league games, a new striker is definitely what is needed at Monaco.
They already have attacking midfielder Alexander Golovin, who had some great moments at the World Cup in Russia, while Rony Lopes is returning from an muscle injury in his thigh sustained four months ago.
But signing Batshuayi would be a good move for both parties. He clearly has no future at Chelsea and needs to get minutes under his belt and Monaco are in desperate need of more goals.
Critics will say Batshuayi is susceptible to missing easy chances but if he signs he will have one of the great strikers as a manager soon in Henry, so this could be worked on, especially given their time together at the World Cup when Henry was Belgium’s assistant manager.
And let’s not forget Colombian forward Radamel Falcao.
He may not be as lethal as his days at Atletico Madrid but the 32-year-old has goals in him and if there was ever a time for Falcao to find his shooting boots, it’s now.
