Perhaps it had to be the case after an almost unworthy poker game that Paris Saint-Germain sent such sequences via social media: Randal Kolo Muani, who greeted the French fans waiting at the barrier with a broad grin in the dark. Shortly before, the very rich French top club had enriched their squad with one of the most promising strikers in the Bundesliga, who had long been in Paris to push through his move in a highly questionable way.
But in the end Kolo Muani, 24, reached his goal. On Saturday morning – again in a good mood – he introduced himself to his new colleagues. PSG has now united the attacking series of the Équipe Tricolore: persuaded Kylian Mbappé to stay again, signed Ousmane Dembélé from FC Barcelona and just brought the sole entertainer in attack from Eintracht Frankfurt back to Ligue 1, with this final commitment being the icing on the cake of a crazy haggling on Deadline Day meant.
In the afternoon, Frankfurt rejects the PSG offer – shortly afterwards there is a transfer
The date of dispatch of the Eintracht media release “031”, which was circulated at 0.30 a.m., indicated the unprecedented tug-of-war in which both sides claimed the right of the strongest to the point of bursting. The deal was actually about to end on Friday evening with the end of the transfer time in Germany (6 p.m.), but in France newcomers can still be reported until just before midnight (11 p.m.). In this period of time, the events overturned.
“In the late afternoon, due to the supply situation on the part of the players and Paris St. Germain, we announced that we see no basis for an agreement and that we are still planning with Randal Kolo Muani,” said Frankfurt’s sports director Markus Krösche, explaining the about-face as follows: “Late in the evening we received an offer that we could not refuse from an economic point of view in the interests of Eintracht Frankfurt.” The attacker, who was originally tied until June 30, 2027, was allowed to leave for a record transfer fee of 95 million euros. The decision was made unanimously by the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board.
PSG boss Nasser Al-Khelaïfi was naturally delighted: “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 across the finish line .” The newcomer is to receive a five-year contract, and of course there is a top salary.
In the meantime, Eintracht just sent a thank you for the good performance of the previous season and no other good wishes, because the attacker and his agent Moussa Sissoko had drawn a lot of anger in the last few days: First the final training session before the not entirely unimportant playoff Skipping the second leg of the Conference League against Levski Sofia (2-0) and then going to Paris counteracted the pleasant impression that the otherwise always correct professional had left on Main.
Eintracht record player Körbel on Kolo Muani: “Makes me stunned”
The excitement was huge – at least for those who still have it with the football romance. Record player Karl-Heinz Körbel raged on Facebook: “The story with Kolo Muani leaves me stunned. Especially before such an important game (against Sofia, editor’s note) he lets his teammates down. I don’t know what’s going on in his “Head comes first or whether his notorious advisor has prevailed again. Our board must not put up with that and must show a clear edge.”
But what should Krösche and Co. have done? Pronounce termination without notice and basically throw 100 million euros into the wind? The Europa League winner from 2022 could not afford that. After Kolo Muani opened up on a first (legal) stint on the Seine what there is to be made with Qatari support at PSG, the nine-time France international had one thing in common: he just wanted away from the club he was about also made it to the World Cup in Qatar.
Kolo Muani, who knows how to assert himself with speed, power and refinement, would probably have switched in the winter for a three-digit million amount if in the World Cup final against Argentina the bad guy Emiliano Martínez hadn’t scored his winning goal with one of the best saves in World Cup history prevented in the last minute of extra time. Kolo Muani recovered quite quickly from the missed top chance in the Lusail of Doha. When the Hessians took their obligatory break from league operations under coach Oliver Glasner in the last second half of the season, Frankfurt’s number nine gave the brave solo entertainer in attack and delivered reliably.
The fact that the back door to Europe opened up in the end with seventh place was primarily due to his zest for action. In the end, after a Bundesliga season, there were 31 points (15 goals/16 assists), he contributed six goals to qualify for the DFB Cup final and scored twice in his debut season in the Champions League. While Paris wants to fulfill the longing for the handle pot with the third most expensive player in Bundesliga history, Frankfurt has sold some of its sporting aspirations: Because of the late finalization, there was too little time to get a replacement. Preferred candidate Hugo Ekitike from Paris St. Germain would have exceeded the salary budget, other alternatives fell through.
Three top scorers go – candidates to close the gap immediately are absent
At best, Eintracht can now tie a contractless center forward like Anthony Modeste. The bottom line is that there has been quite a loss of quality on the offensive in this summer transfer period: Daichi Kamada, who switched to Lazio Rome on a free transfer, Jesper Lindström, who was only recently sold to SSC Napoli for 30 million euros, and now Kolo Muani, the top three scorers have gone, across all competitions the trio was responsible for 81 (!) scorer points.
Newcomers such as Omar Marmoush, 24, Jessic Ngankam, 23, and Farès Chaïbi, 20, will not be able to fill these gaps right away, despite good facilities. And after all, none of this troika is a classic centre-forward, which has always been the case in the recent past. First Sébastian Haller, then André Silva and finally Kolo Muani provided goal-scoring anchors in the Adlerträger’s game.
Now the new coach Dino Toppmöller only has Lucas Alario as such a player type, because with Rafael Borré (on loan to Werder Bremen) another center forward left the club immediately before the home game against 1. FC Köln (Sunday 3.30 p.m.) . Krösche in particular may soon have to live with the accusation that although the bank account looks great, the points account does not meet the increased expectations of a city that now claims a certain claim to leadership in football as well as in finance.