Randal Kolo Muani was one of the revelations of the 2022 World Cup with the France team, a competition where he failed to become the hero of the final against Argentina. The striker, however, quickly bounced back with Frankfurt and can dream of a big transfer this summer…
Randal Kolo Muani should have playing time in the first qualifying matches for Euro 2024, including France – Netherlands scheduled for this Friday, March 24, 2023. The Blues striker was one of the revelations of the 2022 World Cup , thanks in particular to his goal in the semi-final against Morocco then to a resounding entry into the final, where his determination and his ease in the duels cracked the Argentine defense… before the final of the 120th minute and his duel lost against to Emiliano Martinez.
“It could have changed my life, admits the striker of the Blues who confided in L’Equipe. “Afterwards, when I look at her again, I find that I have a lot of possibilities. But on the ground, it goes too fast. I can shift it diagonally for Kylian (Mbappé), lob it, pull it to the left… With the video, I see so many options. I’m very light with all that, this action makes me want to work in front of goal. I’m working and I think I’m making progress. It will give me the courage to move on to put it on next time.”
Three months later, Randal Kolo Muani intends to resume the thread of his story in Blue. He can count on the confidence of Didier Deschamps won over by his performance since the World Cup. With his club Eintracht Frankfurt, the former Nantes player already has 11 goals and 12 assists this season, including 6 during the last 9 days of the German championship. So much so that his rating continues to explode… The biggest European clubs like Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Chelsea or Manchester United are following his situation closely, like PSG. Eintracht Frankfurt, with whom he is under contract until 2025, would have even set the bar very high: “We have made it clear that we do not want to sell the best artists. There is no reason for that. will stay that way”, explained the sporting director to English television SkySports in January … before giving the amount of 100 million euros as a prerequisite for giving in!
Origins and family Born in Bondy, Randal Kolo Muani comes from a Congolese family and grew up near Villepinte. Its origins are important for the player. “What Congolese do I have? Everything! Good humor. I also like to dance but not necessarily Koffi (the country’s star singer)” he had launched in a press conference when the player was playing on the side of Boulogne sur Mer nationally.
Randal Kolo Muani is also very close to his family and his father. “My dad comes to all the matches, from Villepinte (2h30 drive). Sometimes he’s there two or three days before and frankly, it’s very important in a career to be well surrounded” also explained the player when he was playing nationally.
Randal Kolo Muani is a novice with the Blues. With only 7 selections for hopes, a European championship in 2021 and the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the Frenchman had been called up surprise in September 2022 for the League of Nations matches. The key to this call, two selections against Austria (2-0), September 22, and Denmark (0-2), September 25.
Following Nkunku’s injury, the Frankfurt striker is playing his first World Cup in Qatar. A dream almost inaccessible as he had explained to Ouest France. “Honestly, I don’t think about it. There, I want to have fun, play my football, enjoy it. And after, refocus in my club and continue to perform as I do. Me, I don’t take my head with that. I’m only in my third season in the pro world. I still have a lot to learn. I’m trying to catch up on the delay that I took. I’m even a little ahead now.”
During the World Cup, he became an unexpected hero… Came into play at the dawn of the last 10 minutes of the France-Morocco match, replacing an Ousmane Dembélé who was active defensively but not very visible as he approached the surface Moroccan Randal Kolo Muani turned into a liberator, scoring the 2-0 break goal in the 79th minute… On his very first touchdown! An incredible chance for the Frankfurt striker who will even have played the match against Tunisia (0-1) in the group stage at the forefront of the attack of the Blues before scoring his very first goal in Blue during a World Cup semi-final! He could have done it again in the World Cup final when the two teams were at 2-2, but the Frenchman will come up against Emiliano Martinez.
In an interview with Vista, the player returned to his history and in particular his youth in Italy. “I had done tests in Serie C, then in Serie B (in Vicenza). I was hotter for Serie B because after the national U17s I had nothing left and I didn’t want to continue. I wanted either leave or do something. It’s going well, I’m doing my preparation with them, I’m doing a month. But my father doesn’t feel it, traces the new Blues striker. He’s in town and he calls me: “What’s going on? They’re talking about the contract and everything. He was asking me what it was but I didn’t know anything. I wanted to stay at all costs, I was starting to come out with mythos like ‘this is a an, don’t worry’. He told me ‘it’s not clear at all’.” He told me that I had to go home because school was starting again. I said ‘no, I don’t want to go back’. He had taken me a train ticket for the next day at 10am. I cried all night, end of the dream, says Kolo Muani again. I said to myself: ‘What am I going to do?’. I’m going back to school. Football was over in quotation marks.”
Still in this same interview, Randal Kolo Muani explains that he left “to do a test in Rennes for a week where things are going well. They still had to see me and they called me back for the October holidays, for a new week. At the end of that, they told me there was a similar player with me and they kept him.” For Nantes, the story is made quickly, “my brother announced it to me, telling me that he had good and bad news. The bad thing is that it was dead in Rennes, I was disgusted The good thing is that I had a test on Monday in Nantes. On the third day, I was called by the director of the center. He asked me to write a cover letter for me to sign. I I did this with my brother. I only listened to my parents and my agents. They signed me for seven months.”
Randal Kolo Muani’s career may never have taken off due to a big health problem when he was young. It was partly due to Osgood-Schlatter disease (a knee condition) that he only managed to leave Torcy for an academy at age 17.
