Mario Balotelli is enjoying a renaissance in France. Photograph: Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images

How Nice became Europe's in-form team

This article is more than 7 years old

Nice are unbeaten in Ligue 1 this season and, with eight wins in 10 matches, they have more points per game than Bayern Munich, Juventus or Real Madrid

By Martin Laurence for WhoScored?, part of the Guardian Sport Network

When Milan’s teenage sensation Manuel Locatelli scored the goal that condemned Juventus to a second defeat of the season, it restored some faith in the idea that the Serie A season might not be as straightforward as feared. The result also opened up the opportunity for another club to take Juventus’ spot as the most successful in Europe’s top leagues this season.

That club wasn’t Bayern Munich, or Paris Saint-Germain, who have both enjoyed domestic dominance comparable to that of their Italian counterparts in recent years. Instead, OGC Nice became the team with the most points per game this season, as their 4-2 win in Metz ensured they remained four points clear at the top of Ligue 1, with eight wins and two draws from their first 10 matches.

Their nickname – Les Aiglons – is indicative of the club’s status. Aside from an imperious period during the 1950s when they won their four Ligue 1 titles to date, The Eaglets have never found themselves soaring among the nation’s elite. They performed well above expectations to finish fourth in Ligue 1 last season but, after the summer of change that followed, it looked like that achievement would be a one off.

Like many European clubs of their size, Nice followed up a successful season by losing key players and a manager in Claude Puel who had an immediate impact upon his arrival in 2012. Puel took the club to a fourth-place finish in his first season, but his influence appeared to wane as they finished just two points and one place above the drop in 2013-14. A mid-table finish the following season showed decent progress, but few forecast a return to the top four last time around.

While Puel deserves much credit for their excellent performance last season, the spotlight was focused on a player who was trying to reignite his stagnating career. Hatem Ben Arfa produced the form of his career, thriving in a central role as he scored 17 goals and registered six assists, while completing the most dribbles in Europe (152). It was no shock that he earned the club’s highest rating (7.58), or that PSG came calling, taking the dazzling playmaker on a free transfer. Nice’s chances of repeating last season’s success were all but written off.

When Puel left for the Premier League, the two most important men in Nice’s season had been stripped away. However, Nice, like Southampton, are developing that enviable ability to regenerate every season and improve their standards while doing so. Ben Arfa, after all, wasn’t the only high-profile departure from the playing squad this summer. Valère Germain – 14 goals and six assists – returned to Monaco following a superb season on loan; Nampalys Mendy - who started every league game and produced the third most accurate passes in Europe (2,717) – made a £10m move to Leicester; and right-back Jérémy Pied followed Puel to St Mary’s.

Losing their best players was not a new experience for Nice. The summer before they had lost Jordan Amavi – the highest rated player in Ligue 1 that season – to Aston Villa, along with their two top scorers, Carlos Eduardo and Éric Bauthéac.

After two tough summers, Nice had to bring in the right manger to reinvest in the squad. The club pulled off something of a coup when they appointed Lucien Favre. The Swiss manager’s time at Borussia Mönchengladbach had ended in bitter disappointment, but he had made the club a consistent threat to the European places in Germany and will be aiming to do the same in the south of France. Gladbach were at the foot of the Bundesliga when Favre was appointment in February 2011 and they finished fourth, eighth, sixth and third in his four full seasons.

Favre had great success with a back-three formation that continues to increase in popularity and – like Antonio Conte with Chelsea – he has been able to implement the tactical shift in his short time at his new club. He has also been able to bring the best out of players all over the pitch. While Mario Balotelli’s return of five goals in his first four league appearances attracted the most attention from afar, he is just one part of what is becoming a very impressive young side.

Goalkeeper Yoan Cardinale is just 22. He plays behind the experienced Paul Baysse, summer signing Dante – who emerged from nowhere to become a real star under Favre at Gladbach – and 17-year-old Malang Sarr in a back three. Sarr is the only Nice outfielder to have started every league game and, with an 89% pass accuracy and 3.3 interceptions per game, he looks like an absolute gem.

The 20-year-old midfielder Vincent Koziello is attracting attention from some of the country’s biggest clubs, while 21-year-old summer signing Wylan Cyprien has proven an inspired acquisition from Lens, with two goals and two assists so far.

The club’s highest rated player this season is the versatile Ricardo Pereira, whose two-year loan from Porto covered for the loss of Amavi at left-back last season. Now playing further forward on the right wing, the Portugal international is excelling once more, with one goal, two assists and 3.6 tackles per game enough to secure the highest rating in Ligue 1 (7.89). At 23, he is a relatively experienced head in this side and one who will need to be replaced next summer when his loan spell comes to an end.

Then there is the team’s top scorer, 23-year-old Alassane Pléa, whose hat-trick against Metz took his tally to six for the season, and chief creator, 25-year-old Jean Seri, who already has four assists to his name. While it might be a stretch to brand Balotelli a mature member of the squad, at 26 he is among the most experienced.

Younes Belhanda – whose position and career trajectory make him the Ben Arfa of this team – has returned to France having slipped into obscurity in recent seasons after a move to Dynamo Kyiv. Still only 26, the Moroccan has valuable knowledge of the league and what it will take to win the title. He was a pivotal player for Montpellier when they defied the odds to win Ligue 1 in 2012, scoring 12 and providing five assists. With one goal and three assists in seven league appearances so far this season, he’s looking close to his old self.

PSG have dominated Ligue 1 since Montpellier’s shock success in 2012 so Nice face a massive challenge. They are currently six points in front of the champions but there is a long way to go and winning a title remains highly unlikely. The real challenge for the club will come over the next few seasons as they try to develop their prized assets without having them prized away. Nevertheless, for now they are bringing joy to a league that has needed it.