The Rise of Luís Campos

Just under two years after he stepped down from his role as the technical director of AS Monaco, Luís Campos vowed to replicate his successes from his tenure at Stade Louis II.

“I don’t want to appear arrogant, but I assure you I will create other ‘masterpieces’ like this in my career,” Campos said in a 2017 interview with Yahoo! Sports' Duncan Castles.

The 54-year-old’s unwavering belief in his footballing philosophies have paid dividends, with the LOSC Lille side, he assembled flying high in Ligue 1 this season.

Les Dogues almost succumbed to relegation down to the second tier last term, but Campos’ eye for talent coupled with a necessary managerial change has brought the good times back to the club.

Prior to his emergence as a high-quality technical director, he worked as a coach in the lower divisions of Portuguese football, taking up his first managerial role at just 27 years of age with União de Leiria.

Quietly confident in his own beliefs, Campos is somewhat introverted, and he remained patient and diligent until his time to shine at an elite level presented itself.

As his stock continued to rise quickly, Campos saw his big break in football emerge in 2013 as AS Monaco swooped to secure his services, initially in an advisory role.

Dmitry Rybolovlev purchased a majority stake in the football club, and vice-president Vadim Vasilyev oversaw changes to the infrastructure, with the addition of Campos to the recruitment team proving to be a crucial step.

The Portuguese’s influence at Monaco gradually developed and he oversaw a period of significant financial investment into new signings following the club’s return to Ligue 1.

Campos’ input allowed him to take a more involved role at Monaco and he established himself quickly as the club’s technical director, overseeing a highly complex recruitment system.

The director opted to lean further towards a youth-oriented approach, with a small scouting team often comprised of six experts with the necessary ‘competence and dedication’, as Campos put it, as he began to assert his authority on proceedings at the club.

Shrewd acquisitions were made by the Portuguese director during this transfer window. Bernardo Silva arrived from SL Benfica in a £12 million deal, while 19-year-old Tiémoué Bakayoko joined from Rennes for around £8 million. No one aside from Campos could have predicted quite the degree of success that the pair would go on to enjoy at the club.

The work behind the scenes by Les Monégasques, led by Campos, went somewhat unnoticed, as Jardim continued to refine his ever-developing squad despite the departure of Anthony Martial to Manchester United for £36 million plus add-ons, and Geoffrey Kondogbia’s £30 million switch to Inter Milan.

Signings such as Thomas Lemar from Caen and Fabinho from Rio Ave permanently - both arriving for a combined fee worth less than £10 million - would provide the manager with a perfect blend of quality and potential.

Campos left his role at Monaco in August 2015, but the success of his work shone through. Jardim led the club to a third-place finish in Ligue 1, before winning the title in the following season and reaching the Champions League semi-final with players recruited mostly through the director’s nous in the market.

Of the starters in Jardim's title-winning XI in 2016/17, only Djibril Sidibé, Benjamin Mendy and Kamil Glik arrived after Campos' departure.

The experiences that Campos took from his time at Stade Louis II undoubtedly enhanced his skills not only as a talent-spotter but also as a negotiator, significantly bolstering his reputation as an impressive director.

When Gérard Lopez took over at LOSC Lille towards the end of 2016, fresh ideas were required, and the new owner opted to pursue Monaco’s former technical director to head up the recruitment team at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

Campos appeared to be close to joining Marseille, but at the eleventh hour opted to take up Lopez on his offer, becoming Lille’s new sporting director.

After adjusting to his surroundings, the Portuguese wasted no time in stamping his mark on proceedings at the club.

Having been with Les Dogues for less than a year, Campos oversaw the departures of 22 players, with 17 fresh faces arriving at Lille as they overhauled the squad with Marcelo Bielsa leading the first team into the new season.

The Ligue 1 outfit had high hopes of success for the 2017/18 campaign, but they grossly underachieved. With 12 points amassed from only 13 top-flight games, Bielsa was relieved of his duties after a catastrophic, short-lived tenure at the club.

Despite retaining a stronghold on negotiations regarding transfers at Lille, much to the apparent frustration of the manager, Campos seemed to take a backseat as the Argentine typically attempted to assert his authority upon the running of the club at first-team level.

Christophe Galtier, who had enjoyed several successful years with Saint-Étienne, replaced Bielsa and helped Lille narrowly avoid the drop down to Ligue 2, finishing in 17th place as tensions eventually eased.

In the aftermath of such a fortunate escape for the club, it became alarmingly obvious that a vital summer transfer window would lie ahead, as Campos was tasked with working within the limitations of a strict budget to provide Galtier with sufficient quality and young talent to develop into first-team stars.

It’s safe to say that the Lille sporting director delivered, and produced one of the most impressive transfer windows from a European club last year.

Much of the club’s success this season owes to the outstanding tactical and developmental work of Galtier. He has stepped up and played his part in altering the club’s fortunes to a seismic extent.

However, none of this would have been possible without the analytical, intelligent footballing brain of Campos, developed throughout the divisions in Portugal during his coaching days and refined at elite clubs in talent-spotting roles.

No single sporting director in European football is as underrated as Lille’s, but a strong case can also be made to suggest that currently, Campos is the best in the business.

He promised that his work at Monaco would not be his final 'masterpiece', and as Lille sit pretty near the top of Ligue 1 with a modestly-assembled squad this term, Campos is proving his worth and then some.