No trust in Kolo Muani
95 million euros prevented “greatest possible damage”
9/3/2023 4:59 p.m
Randal Kolo Muani will play for Paris Saint-Germain in the future, his ex-club Eintracht Frankfurt will get a lot of money for it. The transfer fee of 95 million euros alleviates the anger at the ultimately destructive professional. The French were not thought capable of a story similar to that of European Cup hero Filip Kostic.
For Eintracht Frankfurt’s sports director Markus Krösche, the farewell to top striker Randal Kolo Muani was “no alternative” in the end. “Reintegration would have been very, very difficult. It was a completely different case than with Filip Kostic,” said Krösche at DAZN on the sidelines of the Bundesliga game against 1. FC Köln. Muani, who had previously gone on strike, joined French champions Paris Saint-Germain for €95m just before the end of the transfer window.
Weeks ago, Kolo Muani had submitted his urgent desire to move to PSG to Eintracht Frankfurt with growing emphasis. When the clubs failed to agree on a transfer, the striker went on strike and stayed away from his side’s final training session ahead of the second leg of the Conference League playoffs.
Serbia international Filip Kostic wanted to force his move to Lazio Roma in 2021. The transfer fell through, Kostic then delivered enthusiastic performances and became one of the faces of Hessen’s sensational Europa League triumph. In 2022, the winger left the Bundesliga club as a crowd favorite towards Juventus Turin. “After his mistake and our attitude not to give him up, Filip gave everything for Eintracht Frankfurt and made history,” Krösche explained. Apparently, Kolo Muani was not expected to do that.
“We are winners”
“Sometimes you have to decide: You don’t find the smallest possible denominator, but you prevent the greatest possible damage,” added Krösche on considerations as to whether Eintracht shouldn’t have set an example. According to Krösche, they decided in favor of the club: “We are winners, you have to say that very clearly. We got almost what we wanted.” Krösche no longer wanted to evaluate the unpleasant circumstances surrounding the Muani departure.
However, Cologne coach Steffen Baumgart could not quite understand the irritation that had arisen on the Frankfurt side in the past few days. “Frankfurt took in 130 million euros through two transfers. Everyone acts as if someone had committed a crime here. I’m relatively sure that some would celebrate that. That’s not the case here,” said Baumgart. Nevertheless, the strike is a cheek. “But you have to deal more with the consultants and not with the players.”