Now, after all: Randal Kolo Muani leaves Eintracht Frankfurt and moves to Paris St. Germain. This finally draws a line under the transfer pose of the summer.
In the end, the transfer comes as a surprise, even though Randal Kolo Muani tried to force his transfer to PSG with a players’ strike. The striker saw the possibility of a move to Paris as a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity”. However, he did not seem to be able to make use of it at first, because on Friday afternoon everything still indicated that the 24-year-old would stay in Frankfurt.
This had been made quite clear from club circles. This was now also confirmed in the evening by sporting director Markus Krösche: “In the late afternoon, due to the offer situation, we informed the player’s side and Paris Saint-Germain that we see no basis for an agreement and continue to plan with Randal Kolo Muani.”
The background to this was that Frankfurt had recently made it a condition to have a successor ready in case of a transfer. The board members had repeatedly emphasised this in background talks. Originally, the Hessians had their eye on Hugo Ekitike from Paris, but the total package of salary and transfer fee ultimately proved too expensive.
Fact: This successor does not exist. But it is also a fact that Kolo Muani will play for PSG from now on. The French offer was probably too tempting in the end. The Parisians put 95 million euros on the table – and thus convinced the decision-makers at the SGE. Even if it did not end up being the 100 million originally called for by the SGE, it was a record fee for the Hesse team.
Economic arguments obviously trumped sporting ones – and so now comes the completely unexpected turnaround in this summer transfer theatre. “We would have liked to have Randal with us for longer and had always communicated this accordingly in recent weeks,” said Krösche and then explained the unanimous decision to give the player away.
“In the end, the developments of the past few hours and the associated economic parameters, which mean a record income for Eintracht Frankfurt through a player transfer, were decisive. Late in the evening, we received an offer that we could not refuse from an economic point of view in the interest of Eintracht Frankfurt. “
Striking player is rewarded
At PSG, Kylian Mbappé (24), who has stayed, is expected to sign a contract until 2028. He may be leaving Frankfurt with much fanfare and a bad taste in his mouth, but his merits remain: he came to the Main metropolis from Nantes on a free transfer in 2022 and, with 16 goals and 16 assists in the Bundesliga, quickly became an absolute top performer.
In Paris, however, the French international (nine caps, including his appearance in the 2022 World Cup final) now faces far greater competition, because in addition to superstar Mbappé, there are also names such as new arrivals Ousmane Dembelé (from FC Barcelona), Goncalo Ramos (on loan from Benfica) and Marco Asensio (from Real Madrid).