Departure to Paris
Back and forth and away: Alternating theater around Frankfurt’s Kolo Muani ends with a record fee
Frankfurt apparently conceded a record fee from Paris for Kolo Muani
© Daniel Roland / AFP
When Randal Kolo Muani’s move to Paris was completed, many Eintracht Frankfurt fans were already in bed. It is the end of an inglorious posse before the end of the transfer.
The most spectacular turn of a turbulent transition came in the middle of the night – and it affected Randal Kolo Muani. At 0.30 a.m., 90 minutes after the end of the transfer in France, Eintracht Frankfurt announced the change of the star striker Paris Saint Germain. Kolo Muani, who went on strike, gets his wish and can play in the Champions League instead of the Conference League in the current season.
PSG makes a transfer fee of 95 million euros easy
According to the Eintracht announcement, Paris is transferring a fee of 95 million euros for Kolo Muani, whose contract with Hessen ran until 2027 and did not include an exit clause. The 24-year-old has signed a five-year contract with PSG and will play alongside his national team-mates Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé.
“We would have liked to have seen Randal with us longer and had always communicated this accordingly in the past few weeks. Ultimately, the development of the past few hours and the associated economic parameters, which mean record income for Eintracht Frankfurt through a player transfer, were decisive,” Frankfurt’s sports director Markus Krösche justified the transfer.
PSG boss Nasser Al-Khelaïfi was happy to have made the prestige purchase after a lot of haggling. “We are delighted to welcome Randal Kolo Muani to his city and homeland as a proud Parisian and Frenchman. We worked incredibly hard to get this transfer through the finish line,” said Al-Khelaïfi. Kolo Muani had held back for a long time in the summer before everything happened very quickly this week: Interview missed the club, strike and now the change. “It’s great to be back where it all began. I can’t wait to play for these colors again,” said Kolo Muani.
Kolo Muani wanted to force a change with a strike
After the deal had actually burst in the afternoon, PSG increased its previous offer of around 90 million euros again in the evening and was successful with the final offer. While the transfer period in the Bundesliga ended at 6 p.m. on Friday, the transfer window in France did not end until 11 p.m. The final message from the two clubs came much later.
Kolo Muani had tried to force the change with his strike. He also did not play in the playoff second leg in the Conference League against Levski Sofia (2-0). For a long time, however, it looked as if he would not be successful, because Eintracht had initially broken off negotiations with Paris without an agreement.
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On the one hand, the transfer fee for Eintracht was not correct, on the other hand, Hugo Ekitiké from Paris Saint-Germain, who was planned to replace Kolo Muani, was not signed. Despite the lack of a successor for the top scorer, the Hessians later gave in and gave the vice world champion the go.
“Late in the afternoon, due to the offer situation from the player side and Paris Saint-Germain, we announced that we see no basis for an agreement and continue to plan with Randal Kolo Muani. Late in the evening we received an offer that we had in mind from an economic point of view Eintracht Frankfurt couldn’t refuse,” reported Krösche.
For Frankfurt, Kolo Muani was a sporting and economic transfer hit. The striker, who came on a free transfer from FC Nantes in 2022, was not only the third-best scorer with 15 goals in his first and last Bundesliga season, but also the striker with the most scorer points with a further 16 assists. Now Eintracht can also look forward to a record income.