This is the third article in a six-part series looking at some of European football’s most innovative up-and-coming managers. Part one, on Thiago Motta, is here, and part two on Kieran McKenna is here.
In an alternative universe, Paulo Fonseca is working in north London, not northern France.
He verbally agreed to join Tottenham Hotspur in summer 2021. Then Fabio Paratici became the club’s managing director of football and opted for a head coach with a less attacking style of play — the ultimately underwhelming appointments of Nuno Espirito Santo and Antonio Conte followed.
Instead, Fonseca joined Lille the following summer. He arrived after a 10th-place finish in 2021-22, their worst in five years. It was a team needing a rebuild after their 2020-21 title-winning squad had been gutted.
Nine of the 13 most-played players from that season were gone before Fonseca’s arrival or left in his first summer. That included the spine: goalkeeper Mike Maignan, centre-back Sven Botman and central midfielder Boubakary Soumare.
Lille made almost €180m (£155m) from sales in those two seasons, according to Transfermarkt, and spent less than one-third of that. “I would be able to build something that was mine,” Fonseca explained to The Athletic in January, as his primary reason for taking the role. “The owner wanted to build a new team with young players and no pressure. He wanted a new way of playing and a team that could dominate games”.
Dominate games? The data says yes. Comparing 2021-22 and 2022-23 using The Athletic’s playstyle data, there are significant jumps in Lille’s use of a high line, deep build-up and possession control.
New team with young players? Absolutely. Seven of Fonseca’s most-used players in Ligue 1 this season are under 25. He plays them in key positions, too, with 22-year-old academy graduate Lucas Chevalier in goal; 18-year-old Leny Yoro at centre-back; and 23-year-old Angel Gomes in central midfield.
This has added importance to how central Lille’s build-up is. Fonseca wants them to bait the press, building up with a 4-2-3-1. No 9 Jonathan David often pulls wide, a full-back will push forward and that side’s winger rolls in to give an extra between-the-lines option. Fonseca prefers it as a structure to counter-press from, with players closer together.
“For me, it’s never just about the result. It’s about the process,” Fonseca said in the same interview in January. “I want to create something that allows you to enjoy the game. And to do that, you need to have an attacking way of playing. You have to try to dominate and create more chances than the opposition.”
(Lou Benoist/AFP via Getty Images)
At their best, Lille carve through the press with one-twos and third-man runs. At their worst, they can be rushed, playing balls in behind too early. “If it goes wrong, then it’s my fault,” says Fonseca. Their best moments come in settled possession in the opposition half, where No 8s run beyond the ball and crash the box. Lille have become particularly adept at left-to-right switches, isolating left-footed right-winger Edon Zhegrova, a phenomenal ball striker.
Depending on your perspective, there are two glaring strengths and/or weaknesses of Fonseca’s Lille. Firstly, their reliance on David, who has scored 41 per cent of their league goals this season. Only Alexandre Lacazette has a higher proportion — 43 per cent for Lyon. Last season, David scored 37 per cent, though that included 10 penalty goals from 24. Of David’s 15 goals this season, 14 have been non-penalty goals.
Ligue 1’s ‘Ligue des Talents’ moniker is accurate. Lille will fetch a good fee for David, who Fonseca has accepted will leave. Regardless, there have been games where Lille’s build-up has been prettier than it has been penetrative and David has bailed them out. No fewer than 23 of their 30 league wins under Fonseca have been by one or two goals — Lille do not blow teams away and are often wasteful when their goals are compared to underlying attacking numbers.
Secondly, they are a different animal at home versus away. This has shades of Fonseca’s Roma in 2020-21, who only won five and lost nine of 19 away games, but had the third-best home record.
Lille have won 21 of 31 home league games under Fonseca, losing only three — the fewest home defeats of any Ligue 1 team since Fonseca took over. They were 22 home games unbeaten at one stage last season, a club record. Lille control games well at Stade Pierre Mauroy, but their away record places in comparison — more away league losses (11) than wins (nine) under Fonseca.
Fonseca is more than just his time at Lille. In a coaching career that has spanned almost 20 years, starting with Estrela Amadora under-19s in 2005, he has worked outside of his home country of Portugal since 2016.
He led Pacos Ferreira to a club-record third-place finish in 2012-13, only losing to Benfica and Porto (they did the double over Sporting and Braga) to earn Champions League football. In 2016, Fonseca brought the first Portuguese cup to Braga in 50 years. They reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League, a level they have not gone beyond since, and were knocked out by Shakhtar Donetsk, who Fonseca joined at the end of the season.
In his first job abroad, Fonseca claimed a triple-double at Shakhtar: winning the Ukrainian Premier League and Ukrainian Cup in three consecutive seasons between 2016-17 and 2018-19. With that, to simply label him ‘up-and-coming’ feels a little disrespectful, but he has something to prove after underachieving at Porto and Roma.
Fonseca only managed 37 games at Porto in 2013-14. He won the Supercup, beating Vitoria Guimaraes 3-0, in his first game in charge, but oversaw Porto’s first home defeat in over five years when Estoril won at Estadio de Dragao. A 3-3 draw in Frankfurt took them through to the Europa League quarter-finals but was the third game in a four-match winless run — Porto’s worst for almost 10 years. Fonseca was sacked with the team nine points off their rivals and league leaders Benfica. Porto ended the season with their fewest points in a campaign this millennium.
Fonseca’s highest-profile role so far is his two seasons as Roma manager, finishing fifth then seventh in Serie A, despite the club having the third-highest wage bill. They reached the Europa League semi-finals in his second season (2020-21), knocking out his former Braga and Shakhtar sides before collapsing 6-2 away to Manchester United in the semi-final first-leg. He never took them beyond the Coppa Italia quarter-finals, knocked out by Spezia in 2020-21 (who finished 15th that season).
In an era where coaches are criticised for having dogmatic philosophies, often wanting to copy and paste styles between leagues and squads, Fonseca is refreshingly appreciative of footballing multiculturalism. He cites Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona as his favourite team, hardly a hipster pick, but specifically admires how the Spaniard has adapted his tactics across leagues and teams.
He says Serie A taught him how to use and play against man-for-man pressing, and the importance of counter-attacking — his desire for possession control was not possible. He arrived in Rome playing his preferred 4-2-3-1, but switched to 3-4-3, because most teams attacked with a front five, and three centre-backs offered more protection in transition. Ukraine allowed him to dominate games with superior players. Fonseca credits his native Portugal for learning tactical periodisation. Ligue 1, thus far, has shown him that individual quality is a prerequisite against low blocks.
So, where next? Another season at Lille would be only the second time, after Shakhtar, that Fonseca has stayed at a club for three seasons — as much an indication of his success and upwards trajectory as anything.
If they finish this season with a flourish, Fonseca should stick around to enjoy the fruits of his labour. Just four points separate them from second-place Brest, and with Ligue 1 getting an extra Champions League slot next season in the expanded competition (as Europe’s fifth-rated league), Lille are in line to claim one of those. Fonseca has made history this season, leading Lille to their first-ever European quarter-final, beating Austria’s Sturm Graz in the Conference League to set up a juicy tie with Aston Villa.
Their away form means the title is out of reach, as Paris Saint-Germain continue to dominate. Kylian Mbappe’s departure, though, will raise questions about how easily the Parisians can maintain a hold over the league. Fonseca must feel that Lille can be future contenders, particularly with Rennes, Lens and Marseille all faltering this season.
Fonseca’s youth-focused and project-oriented approach ties in well with Ligue 1, where under-23 players get more minutes than any other major European league. Because of its youthfulness, his build-up strategies are easier to implement. Defences tend to be a little less compact and the press is not always perfect or aggressive enough. Dribblers, like Lille’s Zhegrova, can get teams out of tight corners.
Staying in France, Marseille’s squad, particularly stacked with forwards, looks perfect for Fonseca’s style. He may feel a need to prove himself with a European heavyweight again. The Stade Velodrome has been a managerial cesspit in recent seasons, though, churning through seven head coaches in four years.
A rare lull in Premier League sackings means there are fewer potential openings in England’s top flight, although Fonseca is the type of manager, in background and style, that a faction of the West Ham fanbase would want to succeed David Moyes. Similarly, Daniele De Rossi has made waves at Roma, but with only Serie C managerial experience there is every chance Roma replace him this summer — a return might be an ideal move for both.
One thing is for certain: the inevitable domino effect of Jurgen Klopp’s departure from Liverpool this summer is bound to impact Fonseca somewhere down the line. He looks increasingly well-set to take advantage.
(Top photo: Thierry Zoccolan/AFP via Getty Images)
