OGC Nice and Florent Ghisolfi patient but ambitious

GYM’s new sporting director spoke to Nice-Matin from Marbella in southern Spain, where the Côte d’Azur club has been preparing for Ligue 1’s return at the end of the month. 

While many rumours have been circulating for several months about Jim Ratcliffe’s interest in buying a Premier League club, Florent Ghisolfi, who arrived on the French Riviera a few weeks ago from RC Lens, has unveiled part of his new project.

“The first thing Jim Ratcliffe said to me was that he liked to work discreetly and that confidentiality was essential to performance,” he said of the OGC Nice owner, who recently reaffirmed his desire to invest in the Côte d’Azur club.

Room for improvement

Along with Lucien Favre, who has been confirmed as coach, Florent Ghisolfi has already begun to outline his project by carrying out an initial audit of all the club’s component parts, including the administrative side as well as the sporting aspects.

“We need to bring the club up to a higher standard and towards top performance, in all areas,” he said. “It will take a little time, you need to take it step by step. Good things have been done, good things are being done but there is real room for improvement.”

His first major assignment is expected to be during the upcoming winter transfer window, which opens on 1 January.

Targeted recruitment, no stars

OGC Nice are currently in a disappointing ninth place, but had a seven-game unbeaten run ahead of the World Cup. There may well be a number of new arrivals at the club during the transfer window.

But GYM’s new sporting director wanted to stress caution, insisting that the resources would be used in an intelligent manner, without going mad.

“We won’t be committing big resources and stacking up players,” he said. “Rather than great players, I would prefer to talk about a great team. We’ll start by strengthening the recruitment unit, the pro team staff, the reserve team staff, and the way we onboard the players.”