EXCLUSIVE
Manchester City must give Bernardo Silva time to settle but Tiemoue Bakayoko is perfect for Chelsea, says Monaco defender Jemerson.
The reigning Ligue 1 champions have seen their title-winning squad decimated this summer, with their domestic and European success last season helping to raise the profile of players across the board.
Big money has been brought in from a number of deals, while the exit of Kylian Mbappe to Paris Saint-Germain on deadline day means there is still €180 million to come once his loan switch is made permanent.
Many of the others to have departed have headed for England, with Jemerson backing Silva, Bakayoko and Benjamin Mendy to impress in the Premier League and Monaco to cope in their absence.
The Brazilian centre-half told Goal: "I wish all the best for them.
“Of course it takes time to adapt to a new team, a new league and a new country, because it changes a lot and it's a different championship. Bernardo, I think, a little bit more than Bakayoko, because Bakayoko is very strong, tall and has the style of the Premier League.
“Bernardo has an impressive technique, an incredible quality to shoot the ball and dribble, and will be very successful, but needs a little longer time to adapt. But he will do very well and have a lot of success for sure, because he has a huge quality and will be trained by [Pep] Guardiola, who likes his style very much.”
He added on Mendy: "It did not influence [the dressing room]. We were sad because he is a very good and talented player. We miss him too because everybody likes him very much.
“I wish him all the best for him in Manchester City. But we also have Jorge who replaces him on the same level"
Jemerson is also convinced that despite all of the summer exits, Monaco will remain competitive in 2017-18 at home and abroad.
He said: "I think the market was a good one. We saw in the Super Cup, in the friendlies and now in Ligue 1, that our team maintained the style of play and the quality, even with the changes in the squad, arrivals and departures of players.
“Now we need to maintain our level of the last season in which we were champions, to fight again for the title and to do well in the Champions League.”
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Among those set to pose Monaco problems this term will be PSG, following an elaborate summer recruitment drive which delivered not only Mbappe but also a record-breaking €222m deal for Neymar.
Jemerson believes the arrival of his fellow countryman in France is good for the game and insists those at Stade Louis II are not fearful of the challenges they now face.
The 25-year-old added: "It's nice for everyone and for the league to have Neymar at PSG. It calls more attention and more world class players to enter Ligue 1. I wish him good luck in Paris, but against us I hope he does not have much luck like that.
"In the last year, [Leonardo] Jardim always talked with us about focusing on our team and worrying about us. We did this and we were champions.
“This year we are thinking and working in this same way. We need to focus on playing well and concentrate. If we think about other teams, we forget what we have to do. We were the champions doing this and now we will do it again. We are going to work hard to be the champions again.”
Monaco and PSG have made faultless openings to their respective 2017-18 campaigns, with the pair locked together at the top of Ligue 1 with maximum points taken from their four fixtures so far.
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