Raymond Domenech used to have the biggest moustache – and monobrow –  in football, and underneath it there seems to be an equally big mouth.

This time, Domenech has spoken out to warn Hugo Lloris against a move to Manchester United this summer.

Domenech is known to an English audience as the France coach who led his team to the final of the 2006 World Cup. But he’s perhaps better known as the coach who picked his Euro 2008 lineups based on star signs, and then proposed to his girlfriend live on French TV after his side crashed out of the competition bottom of their group – scoring only one goal in their three disappointing games.

He’s a man who means well, clearly. As a coach he was smart enough to stay in charge of his team and lead them to at least one successful tournament. But things turn sour for him more often than they do for most.

It was Domenech who presided over a typically French farce in 2010 when his side called a strike and refused to get off the team bus. Again they finished bottom of their group, and again they scored just one goal in three disappointing games.

Domenech is by no means a punch-line, but he hardly has the midas touch. Perhaps if it wasn’t for Zinedine Zidane’s moment of madness they’d have beaten Italy in Berlin back in 2006. You can see why someone who experienced that kind of heartbreak would turn to the stars to explain it. Despite his eccentricities though, he knows a thing or two about football. And that’s why people listen to him when he speaks. Sometimes, though not always, French captains even listen.

It was Domenech who gave the current Les Bleus captain, Hugo Lloris, his international debut in 2008 and both men are legends at the club they share a history with – Olympique Lyonnais. So Lloris too might listen with more than half an ear to what Domenech has to say.

And Domenech means well for his former goalkeeper, even if Manchester United fans will not be happy about what he has to say.

Domenech told the Daily Mail that United are no longer a ‘big club’, and that even though Lloris needs to play Champions League football to further his career, Manchester United would only be a ‘sideways’ move for the 28-year-old goalkeeper.

It seems odd on the face of it – Manchester United are one of the biggest clubs in the world. They have a genuine international fanbase, they have money to burn thanks to their longstanding and very successful commercial endeavours and they’ve won more trophies than most other clubs – including the record number of domestic league titles in England.

Domenech’s view of Manchester United seems wildly off the mark if he thinks they aren’t a big club. Maybe he thinks Van Gaal is a poor coach, he is a Leo after all!

But as always with Domenech, there’s some sort of shrewdness to the former France coach’s madness. He isn’t right about Manchester United, but at this moment, and at this stage in Lloris’ career, he might just be right about the next move.

Champions Chelsea are still a force to be reckoned with and are probably the team to beat. Arsenal are quietly assembling a team that can challenge them with quality all over the pitch, and Manchester City will spend money and to back stronger next season. So if any of the four Champions League clubs are going to drop out of the qualifying spots for next season it looks like Manchester United at the moment.

If Lloris were to stay at Spurs, his team could be the one challenging the Red Devils for fourth spot. So you can see why Domenech might be inclined to tell Lloris to refuse that particular Manchester club.

That’s not to say that United won’t kick on. They’ve already added Memphis Depay, there’s strong speculation that they could sign Sergio Ramos, and if the Red Devils can find a striker who will bang in the goals, they’ll be looking to challenge Chelsea for the title. But it might be a few years before they start to win trophies with the regularity Manchester United traditionally have done.

Domenech’s comments are designed to warn Lloris about the dangers of settling, to make him understand that if he wants to be the best he has to win trophies and play in the Champions League. That seems to be his thought process at least.

But he’s wrong. Why can’t United win trophies? Why aren’t United a big club? Because City, Chelsea and Arsenal are? Why can’t United be mentioned in the same breath as those three? Especially if they land a quality centre back and a striker this summer.

Domenech means well. He’s counselling his former goalkeeper to win trophies and play at the highest level. In that sense, it’s sage advice. The problem is, United are a team that will usually be able to offer a player such riches in both the professional and financial aspects of their lives.

Lloris would do well to listen to Domenech’s advice to an extent. He’d do well to further his career by playing in the Champions League and winning trophies. In 10 years when he retires, he should have trophies in his own cabinet and have highlight reels to show for his career because he has the ability to do that. But any player who wants to do that could do much worse than joining Manchester United.

As always, Domenech has the right sentiment, he just has the wrong way of striving for it and will make enemies in the process. Still, we all listen when he speaks, don’t we?

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