New signing Kevin Volland is set to make his AS Monaco debut as the principality outfit attempt to end FC Nantes' unbeaten start to the season and extend their own on Sunday.
Volland, who has ten caps for Germany, moved from Bayer Leverkusen to sign a four-year deal at the Stade Louis II where he should form a potent partnership with last season's leading scorer Wissam ben Yedder as the versatile forward looks to emulate a childhood idol who impressed on Monaco's run to the 2003-04 UEFA Champions League final.
"It's a new experience for me," said Volland, who emerged at 1860 Munich before joining Leverkusen in 2016. "The club is so big, with such great players, and I'm 28, I think it's a good age to play at the highest level. And one of my heroes as a kid was [ex-Monaco forward Fernando] Morientes."
Monaco may be without their coach Niko Kovac after he was the first Ligue 1 Uber Eats tactician to test positive for COVID-19, but has since returned two negative tests and may be able to take his place on the sidelines. While laid low self-isolating in his hotel room, he has been keeping a close eye on training as he looks to improve on his side's haul of four points from his opening brace of games in French football.
"I'm doing well and I feel good. I've got no symptoms but as I am in quarantine the work is being done by my brother Robert and the assistants. We decide together what the contents of training will be and they are filmed in full and that allows me to watch them from my hotel room," explained the ex-Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayern Munich boss, whose side drew with Stade de Reims and then beat FC Metz to open the season.
WATCH: Monaco win in Metz
He added that Volland's arrival fits with his ambition of — after tightening up the fourh-worst defence in France last season — giving Monaco's football team the panache of the principality.
"We brought in Axel Disasi from Reims for the defence. The first step was to make the defence more secure," he said. "We also want to play in an attractive way and attack. We need to restructure the team and that takes time. We know that during this period we also need to get results."
Those have generally come quite freely against Nantes in recent seasons. Monaco have lost just one of their 13 matches against Les Canaris since returning to Ligue 1 Uber Eats in 2013-14, and have won each of their six home games in that time.
WATCH: Nantes beat Nîmes to record their 1st win of the season
Nantes have failed to score in four of their last five visits to the Stade Louis II, but Christian Gourcuff's men will be hopeful of improving on that record after opening the new season positively. After a Round 1 draw in the 'Atlantic Derby' with Girondins de Bordeaux, the Nantes boss saw his side shake off red cards for Imran Louza and — late in the game — Fabio to beat Nîmes Olympique 2-1.
"It's like we're going through the same things as last year," said Gourcuff, who will be without Louza as he starts a two-game ban and Fabio who serves a one-match suspension.
"The first half was quite promising, and in comparison to the Bordeaux match, there was a clear evolution in our forward passing and penetration. The regret is that, over and above our lack of domination of possession at times, we didn't manage to put away our numerous chances."
Probable teams
Monaco: Lecomte - Aguilar, Disasi, Badiashile, Sidibé - Tchouaméni, Fofana, Golovin - Martins, Ben Yedder (c), Volland
Nantes: Lafont - Appiah, Girotto, Pallois (c), Castelletto - Abeid, Chirivella - Coco, Blas, Kolo Muani - Simon
