There is something paradoxical in having won your place – or at least a status – in the France team on the day you missed the most important opportunity of your career. This is however the story in Blue of Randal Kolo Muani, whose entry into play in the 41st minute in the World Cup final against Argentina had shaken a totally amorphous team, before the cruel outcome that we know against Emiliano Martinez.
Called at the last minute to Qatar to make up for Christopher Nkunku’s package, the Frankfurt striker did exactly what was needed to win the esteem of Didier Deschamps. The proof, during the first two post-World Cup matches in March, the coach made him his starting center forward. And he didn’t regret it. “He gives solutions with a lot of movement and dribbling,” he observed. He takes place in the France team with what he has just achieved. » Difficult to do better in the language of DD.
“A complete striker, who offers other game perspectives to the team”
So here is Kolo Muani installed in the landscape, with this profile of mobile axial attacker, in a different style from Olivier Giroud, who blends perfectly into the 4-3-3 in force since the World Cup. As far as we are concerned (and without forgetting the third thief on the right, whether he is called Kingsley Coman or Ousmane Dembélé), we would see the duo he forms with Kylian Mbappé carry the Blues for the next ten years. We are apparently not the only ones listening to Vincent Santos, one of RKM’s trainers in Torcy:
They have everything to be complementary. At 15, Randal had a little morphological delay, we couldn’t put him on the axis. But he managed to develop his athletic abilities while keeping his speed and dribbling qualities. He has always had the pleasure of traveling, of offering races. He is a generous person, and for Mbappé it is great because he can use it to combine or use the spaces he has freed up. »
For the implementation, do not hesitate to remater the highlights of the recital against the Netherlands a little over two months ago (4-0). From the blackboard, especially on the first goal of Kyk’s, who took advantage of the traffic jam created by Kolo Muani on a pass in the axis to tumble through the escape route, recover the ball and finish the job. At the end of this match, the new captain had also said all the good things he thought of the former Nantes player, “a complete striker, who offers other game prospects to the team, capable of both to play on placed or fast attacks and which brings a lot of energy with an impressive running volume”. In short, “a new arrow to our bow”. Do not throw any more it will overflow.
Not to spoil anything, to see them often stuffed together in this month of June in Clairefontaine, the two men seem to get along well. Born the same month of the same year (December 1998), in the same city – even if, for the record, Kolo Muani’s parents did not live in Bondy but Villepinte, just next door – they have this difference in character which sometimes creates strong friendships. And which, transposed on the ground, seems essential to last alongside the new boss of French football, not very sharing when it comes to capturing the light.
“Randal is not in this perspective, assures his former coach. Even then, he lived for the collective and I think he hasn’t changed because that’s what his partners in Germany say today. On the field he gives, he never cheats. He has always enjoyed dribbling, scoring, but also working for others. The only pitfall to avoid in this idyllic picture would be not to forget yourself too much either. Because the titular center-forward of the France team must display stats worthy of the name.
For now, the counter is stuck at one goal in seven selections. Not enough to gamberger the impassive Kolo Muani, who comes out of a dizzying season with 23 goals and 17 assists. “I have to be more efficient, but I remain confident, I know that my moment will come, he said quietly on Wednesday at Clairefontaine. It runs a little in the head but I do not want to rush. I feel good, we’ll see. The weak opposition represented by Gibraltar on Friday could allow him to improve the ratio a little – if DD does not preserve it for Greece.
At the Château, everyone seems quite confident about the future of the man, revealed late but who doesn’t seem to have to stop now that he’s been launched. “He is super hard to defend, salutes Ibrahima Konaté, who has to deal with him every day in training. He is tall, technical, he goes super fast and above all he never gives up, with a very high volume of racing and endurance. He’s always in our hands, it’s unbearable when you’re a defender. “It is said with fun, but we can indeed imagine the coffee maker which must whistle everywhere, especially when the action after, it is Mbappé who decides to come and tickle you.