"A club with an ambitious project and a team that wants to win.” Those are the words of Rony Lopes, formerly of LOSC Lille and AS Monaco, and one of eight summer signings that Nice have made to reinforce the squad that finished sixth last season. 

With the owners INEOS just as ambitious and hell-bent on victory — as they have shown with their all-conquering cycling team — the Allianz Riviera is one of the most exciting places to be in European football right now. Can they now push for a top-three finish in the French top flight? There are still question marks, but they are certainly moving in the right direction.

Lopes' signing — on loan after a tricky year at Sevilla — will bolster a front line that fired quite spectacularly last season. Of the teams that finished ahead of them, Vieira's men were only outscored by champions Paris Saint-Germain, and Lopes should slot in smoothly. The 24-year-old has proven Ligue 1 Uber Eats pedigree and already impressed Vieira when he played under his new boss while the former Arsenal, Juventus, Inter Milan and Manchester City midfielder was City's youth team coach.

“I remember an enthusiastic player, always the first to arrive at training and the last to leave, a player that loves football and will work as hard as it takes to succeed," explained the Nice boss at Lopes' official unveiling. 

"He has moved around a lot and is more mature today. Now he needs to grow in confidence and experience in a team with which he can fulfil his potential.”

There are others whose potential should come to the fore in 2020/21. Alexis Claude-Maurice was just starting to find the sort of form that had convinced Nice to sign him from FC Lorient 12 months ago when COVID-19 cut the season short. And then there's Kasper….

Lopes' creativity and vision is likely to be a boon for Kasper Dolberg. Last season's leading scorer with 11, including the double against Monaco that lifted Nice into sixth and eventually secured European football for 2020/21, the Denmark international's first campaign in France was a major success, and there is surely more to come.

WATCH: Kasper Dolberg's derby double against Monaco

The summer 2019 arrival from Ajax looked in good pre-season form, and the signing of Amine Gouiri — joining another Lyon youth academy product in Myziane Maolida — gives Vieira options in attack. And he'll need them as he prepares for a UEFA Europa League challenge, secured thanks to PSG completing a domestic quadruple, that will prove a test of just how well he has been able to shape his squad this summer.

"What's important is to have players who match our game philosophy," said the Nice boss. "The aim was to improve the squad in relation to the weaknesses we'd identified: competitive spirit, technical quality in the last 30 metres, aggressiveness and experience. I'm convinced we have what it takes to do a good job."

While Lopes et al will certainly tune up the side's goal threat, Vieira's emphasis on being tougher to break down without the ball is unsurprising. What will have troubled the ex-New York City FC boss last season are the 38 goals his team conceded in just 28 games — by some distance the worst defensive record among the table's top seven.

Fundamental to improving that statistic is the signing of Morgan Schneiderlin. The 15-time France international is much better known on the opposite side of the Channel than he is in his native country having played just three Ligue 1 matches for RC Strasbourg Alsace at the very start of his career over a decade ago. 

The big-game savoir faire accumulated over nine English Premier League seasons with Southampton, Manchester United and Everton is what Nice will need in Europe next season, while Schneiderlin, now 30, patrolling in front of the back line also provides a battle-hardened layer of security that should make Nice a tougher nut to crack.

“We have a very young and talented squad. But it needs more consistency, more character. Thanks to his experience, Morgan offers us that,” explained  Director of Football Julien Fournier when speaking to French radio station Europe 1. 

“We made a similar transfer a few years ago in the form of Dante. We have done it again with Morgan, for a very reasonable transfer fee. Contrary to what has been reported, the final fee will be between two and four million euros. We didn’t need to spend crazy money to reinforce the squad."

Like Schneiderlin, Dante — now 36 — will have mentoring role in the backline, and the UEFA Champions League winner has two new charges to take care of in Flavius Daniliuc — picked up from the Brazilian's former club, Bayern Munich — and a compatriot in the shape of Robson Bambu.

With Christophe Hérelle and Malang Sarr both having left over the summer, the youthful duo come to the Côte d'Azur along with Swiss pair Jordan Lotomba and Dan N'Doye. Lotomba, who will provide cover in both full-back positions, and promising forward N'Doye are aged 21 and 19 respectively as Nice innovate on the model of purchasing young promise that worked so well along the Mediterranean coast at neighbours Monaco.

But they have also sought to blend that potential with proven quality. While first-choice goalkeeper Walter Benitez has been tied down to a long-term deal, Hassane Kamara's arrival from Stade de Reims, who boasted the best defensive record in Ligue 1 last season, means Nice now also have an oven-ready left-back. 

That will come as some relief with Vieira and his predecessor Lucien Favre having had to use makeshift solutions ever since the departure of Dalbert Henrique in 2017. With Kamara on the left, and the fit-again Youcef Atal on the right — and with the Algerian no longer needed to plug gaps in attack — Vieira has two full-backs the envy of many of his peers.

With so many changes, and most of the squad boasting scant top-level experience, ups and downs are still to be expected. Pre-season results showed as much. Wins against Standard Liege and Slovak side DAC were followed by a 4-1 defeat to Red Bull Salzburg at the end of a sapping training camp in the Austrian Alps.

A 3-2 win against UEFA Champions League group stage participants Rennes to bring the curtain down on pre-season is further indication of their potential, but an extended European challenge may stretch an untested squad. There is no chance of Nice standing still, though, as they seek to re-establish themselves among the French football elite, a place they last held in the 1950s when they picked up the club's four league titles. 

To further that ambition, they could not have asked for a better man as coach with Vieira planning on sculpting his squad into ideal shape with the mercato extending well into September. "We're fortunate this year to be playing in European competition. With 22 or 23 players as well as three goalkeepers, we'll be not bad," said the Nice boss.

And even though INEOS — owned by Britain's richest man, multi-billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe — have significant financial clout, the squad-building will be done carefully.

"We want a team with character. Just because we have a shareholder with more money doesn't mean we should spend it any old how. There are some options that we did not follow up on because the sums of money were too large," explained club president Jean-Pierre Rivère. 

"What is important is not to have a big name but a big team. If the team plays well, performs well and grows, then we'll talk about OGC Nice."

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