When European football’s top talents become available, then Manchester United need to make sure they’re in the conversation, but the Red Devils will have to break the bank if they want to sign Eintracht Frankfurt’s exciting Randal Kolo Muani.
At just 24 years of age, the forward is still not even close to his peak and would surely represent a sound investment, however, CaughtOffside’s Jonathan Johnson, writing in his column, the full version of which will be available in CaughtOffisde’s Substack on Friday morning, has suggested only an extortionate amount of money will secure Kolo Muani’s services.
“Randal Kolo Muani has been strongly linked with Manchester United and he’s a very interesting player. It might feel to some like he’s been a bit of an overnight success, but we saw his quality during his time in Ligue 1 with Nantes. That move to Eintracht Frankfurt and his exposure to European football has boosted his profile massively, and there have been whispers that Bayern Munich have been looking at him as well,” he wrote.
“[…] So it’s possible that United and Bayern will be in for him this summer, but it’s going to require a massive fee. Obviously it will make Nantes sick hearing about fees in the region of €120m when he left them for nothing, but I think it’s now one of the more recognised pathways for French talents, going to the Bundesliga for that next step, similar to Moussa Diaby and Christopher Nkunku, who’s going to be joining Chelsea this summer.”
It’s obvious why the top clubs are looking at the player. According to WhoScored, he has eight goals and one assist in the last 11 games alone.
That is elite-level output and is perhaps why Johnson has reiterated a note of caution should things progress to a negotiation.
“We’ll see what happens with United and Bayern, but after the way he’s performed this season it’s not surprising to see these kinds of clubs looking at him, but I think it is worth reiterating that it’s going to be a very big fee needed to get this deal done” he continued.
Were Erik ten Hag look to add him to the roster, it would be interesting to see what type of role Marcus Rashford would then take up.
The England international has looked good through the middle, but that’s where Kolo Muani has been doing his best work.
Given how high Rashford’s confidence has been under the Dutchman, can the manager really afford to tinker with his front line?