The Best AS Monaco Players There Has Ever Been

Football is hugely popular around the world. Just like anyone other country, France loves the beautiful game and boasts a strong national football team that has won both the World Cup and the European Championships twice. The country is home to the highly popular Ligue 1, the highest level in French league football, and, therefore, to footballing giants such as Paris St-Germain, Lille and, of course, AS Monaco.

Although they got off to a rough start, AS Monaco have been a real force this season. It looks as though they will finish second, which is an overachievement according to the pre-season football betting markets. So let’s delve into the past and take a look at some of the greatest players to have ever laced up their football boots for the red and whites.

Manuel Amoros

In the footballing world, Manuel “Manu” Amoros, who served Monaco’s main squad from 1980 through to 1989 after playing on the youth team, was a by-word for “adaptable”. Initially, he started as a striker but, after being moved around and playing in various positions, came to be played a lot as a fullback. Whereas the discomfort of some strikers shows when they’re forced to play out of their natural position, Amoros thrived in it and could play in different positions on the pitch. In the 1981/82 season, he won the league championship with the side.

In 1982, he’d also play in one of the greatest World Cup semi-finals ever played, against Germany. The match went to a penalty shootout and the young player put one in the back of the net for his country. France, unfortunately, weren’t to go through, but Amoros had made an impression.

Jean Luc Ettori

Jean Luc Ettori is a legendary former goalkeeper for AS Monaco and put in 19 years of service for the side, guarding the space between the sticks from 1975 to 1994. In that time, he won the league championship three times with the team (1977/78, 1981/82 and 1987/88).

At the time of their first league championship win, Ettori was just emerging as a goalkeeper. He’d go on to become the record holder for the most matches played with AS Monaco (755) and also for Ligue 1 (602). In 2013, however, Mickaël Landreau broke Ettori’s record for Ligue 1 appearances. On the FIFA website, it’s written that AS Monaco played their best football in the 1987/88 season. Coincidentally, Ettori was between the sticks for them that season too, of course.

Thierry Henry

Thierry Henry may have fallen from grace slightly after being dismissed as coach of the club in 2019 after just three months and two wins from 20 matches, but he was one of the greats for the club as a player. Henry trained and broke through at AS Monaco and slipped on the white and red jersey 146 times for the club. With Henry on the side, anyone into football betting would have been making AS Monaco as strong contenders for a championship of some description. Henry was a major participant in Monaco’s 1996/97 league championship win.

Henry also wasn’t just a prolific player in the league for the club. In European competition, he also rewarded their faith in him by helping them to the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. In 1997, he became the youngest player to score in the Champions League for the club (before being trumped by Kylian Mbappe in 2017). Although the club didn’t know it, but they’d also signed the future record holder of the most goals scored for France in history (51). The highly under-rated Oliver Giroud would later trump this and leads the charge with 57 goals for the national side.

Kylian Mbappe

Mbappe was just 14 years old when he signed for AS Monaco, but all the attention was on the club’s promotion back to Ligue 1 under Claudio Ranieri. No one knew they had a star on their hands and when Mbappe made his debut at 16 years for the club, in 2015, he became the youngest professional player to ever wear a Monaco jersey.

In 2017, against Metz, Mbappe scored his first hat trick in a Monaco jersey. Not content with that, a few days later he scored his first Champions League goal against English Premier League giants Manchester City. That season, Mbappe found the back of the net 15 times in the Ligue 1, helping them to the league championship, and also developed a taste for scoring in the Champions League. He scored twice against Borussia Dortmund in the first leg and once against them in the second one. Today, he’s amongst the top three scorers in history for the French national side.

AS Monaco has signed some absolutely outstanding players in its time. Other players that the club’s fans will remember fondly include George Weah, David Trezeguet and Emmanuel Petit.