New Delhi: Toulouse have always been more famous for rugby than football, things may be changing now that the guy who brought Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie, Luis Suarez, and Luka Modric to England is in charge. Toulouse has returned to Ligue 1 since Damien Comolli took office as president in 2020, and in 2023 they won their first-ever Coupe de France. Additionally, they have established one of France’s top young academies; in the under-15 and under-21 levels, 19 players presently play for the national team.
The team practices and plays with every player in the same manner because, according to Comolli, they aim to quickly get academy players into the top professional team. Toulouse have seen a massive imporovement in their results for a club who have only managed to stay mid-table in the past few Ligue 1 campaigns. Largely has to do with the way they have handled their youth academy, where Damien Comolli’s plans and executions have proved to be vital for the club.
Developing the young guns
✨🇫🇷 French 19 year old goalkeeper Guillaume Restes has 4 clean sheets in 10 games for Toulouse this season.
Several top clubs keep monitoring his progress as top talent for the future. pic.twitter.com/asUOg3mZyp
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) November 5, 2024
Comolli told BBC Sport that they constantly examine what they refer to as succession planning. Instead of searching abroad for talent, Toulouse are currently examining boys born in 2008 in their academy to see if they can get them into the first team. However, Toulouse have historically had trouble retaining their finest talents.
Comolli says, “We lose our players early to other clubs,” but he has found a silver lining in the circumstance. “This unwanted rotation of players helps us to get players in the first team fast.”
Comolli is currently intrigued by the 19-year-old goalie Guillaume Restes, who became the team’s number one last season after joining Toulouse’s academy at the age of six. Ever since the departure of the former Toulouse keeper Maxime Dupé, the young French shot-stopper has stepped up in the pevious two seasons to become the clubs official number one. Restes already has kept six clean sheets this season which ranks him third in the list of most clean sheets in Ligue 1. He has also conceded just 17 goals till now.
“Our goalkeeper has the highest transfer market value in the world for an under-19 goalkeeper,” Comolli asserts. “Our 18-year-olds get exposure to first-team football very quickly. This year, seven players from the academy are playing for the first team.”
Comolli with big stars
It was in 2005 Levy decided to replace highly renowned DoF Frank Arnesen with Damien Comolli with the aim of utilising our funds as best possible and the pair struck up a great relationship.
Comolli notable signings
– Modric
– Bale
– KP Boateng
– Berbatov
– A. Ekotto
– Corluka pic.twitter.com/cZcXxtNfH6— New Spurs Order (@NewSpursOrder) July 26, 2020
The poaching of young players is not the only issue. Brendan MacFarlane, Toulouse’s Scottish head of recruitment, joined Manchester City at the end of the previous season. Viktor Bezhani was Comolli’s replacement at Leicester City. Actually, Comolli has a better understanding of English football than most foreign club executives. He brought in some incredible talent while serving as director of football at Tottenham and Liverpool and as head of recruiting at Arsenal under Arsene Wenger.
Comolli stated that he observed very technical players who are incredibly motivated and driven to succeed and grow as individuals, and who are able to make the right choices on the field at the appropriate moment. This is unquestionably the case when Tottenham signed Luka Modric and Gareth Bale at the age of 17 when he was at the club. He also stated: “This was the case for recruiting Robin van Persie (at Arsenal) when we got him for peanuts.”
“I didn’t find Thierry Henry, let’s say I recommended him to Arsenal,” according the Comolli. The formula Comolli was searching for at the time was evident in these young players’ determination to outperform the opposition and get better every day, as well as in their decision-making.
What are Comolli’s plans for Toulouse?
Toulouse defeated Comolli’s former team, Liverpool, at home in the Europa League group stage last November, in addition to winning the Coupe de France and getting promoted. He claims that the use of facts and analytics and a sense of community are the two things he learned most from his time playing English football.
He further stated that the plans will fail if they attempt to do the same things as everyone else with less money because they fall under the same category. Finding a competitive edge in the market is what he focuses on, and he does this by using facts and figures when hiring coaches and players, as well as when determining playing styles and when to give players extra training or relaxation. Data is what they like to utilise to optimise their salary bill and transfer budget.
Attendance at home games has skyrocketed from 5,000 to occasionally 30,000 since he became club president. Once more, he borrowed concepts from his English football career.
“I was extremely privileged to work with people like David Dein, who created the Premier League, alongside Daniel Levy and learned from Kenny Dalglish, when I was at Liverpool,” Comolli further stated.
Setting up his priorities
Comolli has no qualms about reentering the English market. In the summer, Charlie Cresswell, an England Under-21s player, moved from Leeds United. If the price is good and the players he has in mind are willing to relocate to the southwest of France, Comolli says he plans to target two more players in the lower English leagues in January.
The 52-year-old has a number of priorities as the new board member of the French Professional Football League (LFP). These include encouraging more fans to pay to watch French football and making it easier to watch on television. Four to six million individuals, he claims, illegally stream French football matches on the weekends. Enhancing the caliber of French referees is another one of his initial plans. He claims that they are “a disaster” and that their love is still intact.
Women’s football is another of his top priorities. If he could wish for European football outside of England, he said, it would be to give young females the facilities and locker rooms they need to play football like the boys. Because to the lack of fields, locker rooms, coaches, and teams, as well as the sexism of boys, 70% of girls who participate in sports, including football, quit, which is something that he hates the most.
In Toulouse, they have established a group called “The House of Women Sports.” Offering facilities to young female athletes so they may spend more time in contact with a ball, regardless of the sport.
Damien Comolli, the man who once brought Thierry Henry, Gareth Bale, and Luka Modric to prominence, is now steering Toulouse FC toward a new era. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
