The first day of pre-season for Les Aiglons and the first press conference for Patrick Vieira. Around about midday, the Nice coach entered the press conference room. A look back at the main topics discussed.  

Pre-season 

I am very happy to be back with the players and out on the pitch again. In terms of the sessions this morning, we have been able to see that lots of them have followed the programme that we set (during the break, Editor’s note). In terms of intensity and work, the players were very good for a first day back. Now, we need to hope that it lasts.
 

Ambitions

The supporters and the club are all ambitious. We will work to try to do better than last season. We want to grow and to improve, we want to do lots more. We need to give ourselves the tools to succeed, in terms of our recruitment this summer and the work we will put in. We want to have a great season, we know perfectly well that it won’t be easy. That’s why we need a good pre-season. 
The end of last season was difficult in terms of our play and ambitions, but we still finished in 7th place, with lots of positives, despite the difficulties. When you look back at the last six months, with Gilles (Grimandi, Technical Director), Gauthier (Ganaye, President) and Matthieu (Louis-Jean, Head of Recruitment), we have tried to work as well as we possibly can, and on the whole, we worked very well.

Attitudes towards the rumors of a takeover

I am lucky in that I am well supported by the people at the club - people who, on a daily basis, give their all for Le Gym. I am particularly thinking about the medical staff and my coaching staff. You also have to give a lot of credit to the players, because given all that can be said and heard, their commitment is exceptional.
But then, I can’t really tell you what will happen, because I don’t know. We will talk about it again if it happens. Nothing changes for me. I am focused on the squad and our training. 
 

Allan Saint-Maximin

I haven’t got an update yet (on his future, Editor’s note). Allan is an OGC Nice player and as for his training today, you can see he is someone who wants to have a great season, be it with us, or another club, the future will tell us more. He was very good, he arrived on time and was fully committed, like the others. 

Romain Perraud 

We are in the process of talking with him about his wishes. We will need to find a solution that makes him happy, but us too. My desire is to keep Romain.
 

His own future 

I have always been very clear, I am here in Nice for the long run. I don’t regret my decision to come here and I don’t intend to go and look elsewhere. I have always felt very good here and with the people that are around me. I don’t see myself anywhere else but here with OGC Nice.
 

Khephren Thuram

His return to training was pushed back by a couple of days. It was my decision to give him a little more time. He is an interesting player, it was a huge piece of work by the scouting network in signing him, because there was a lot of interest. To have him with us, is a very, very good thing. He is a box to box midfielder, but it’s still too soon to say if he will play in front of the defence or at number 8. He has the potential to play in both positions. 
 

The transfer window 

What we need is to find players to fill those areas we were missing last season. We know that a number 9 is very important for us, we are looking for that striker who will allow us to be dangerous in attack. There are a couple of players we are looking at.  

The trip to Divonne 

In Divonne, we will be a much smaller squad than the group that was with us today. Then we will finish in England with three important matches for our preparation (against Cardiff, Burnley and Leicester). We need to make steps up in every area of our game, in order to try to be at our best by August. 

---