Monaco sacked manager Thierry Henry on Thursday night despite giving the former Arsenal striker assurances his job was safe earlier on the very same day.
Remarkably, the club are now set to reappoint their former boss Leonardo Jardim, who Henry replaced as manager only three months ago.
The super-agent Jorge Mendes, who has been heavily involved in Monaco’s transfer operations in recent years, is believed to be masterminding Jardim’s return.
Henry, who signed a three-year deal in October, has been assured he will receive a full severance pay-off despite being suspended rather than sacked at this stage.
Vadim Vasilyev, the vice-president of the club, is understood to have told Henry he would be kept on at Monaco despite a dreadful run of results that saw the club win only two of their 12 league fixtures under Henry.
After a 5-1 defeat by Strasbourg last weekend, Monaco also lost to Ligue 2 side Metz in the French Cup on Tuesday night. Henry’s humiliation during the Strasbourg game was exacerbated when he was forced to apologise for calling a player’s grandmother a ‘whore’ at the Stade Louis II.
The club deliberated over his future during the past week but appeared to have settled on keeping Henry at the club.
Henry has made his own signings this month, signing defender Naldo and also tempting Cesc Fabregas from Chelsea.
Fabregas played with Henry at Arsenal and is understood to be bewildered that only two appearances into his Monaco career, he will now be playing under a new manager. The Spaniard was given no indication during talks with the club that Henry’s future was under immediate threat.
The future of sporting director Michael Emenalo, who also used to be at Chelsea, is also now in question as Mendes steps up his involvement with the club.
For Henry, it is a chaotic end to his first individual foray into management. Henry turned down Aston Villa to return to Monaco, where he began his playing days.
Despite the initial excitement at his arrival, his relationship with several players in the dressing room is understood to have deteriorated and some first-team players were sent to train with the reserve team as the coach doubted their commitment.
