Kolo Muani needs to make a quick impression at PSG after such a costly transfer

PARIS: Randal Kolo Muani did everything in his power to join Paris Saint-Germain, and in doing so became the third most expensive signing in the club’s history.

Now the forward needs to start scoring goals to justify the fee after joining from Eintracht Frankfurt for €95 million ($101 million). Only Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, who joined for a combined €402 million ($429 million) in 2017, have cost more.

Kolo Muani had started his second season at Frankfurt, scoring three goals in four games, when there was suddenly space in French champion PSG’s attack.

Neymar was sold to Saudi club Al-Hilal and Lionel Messi refused the option of an extra year on his contract and went to Inter Miami, where he has made an immediate impression.

Kolo Muani was so determined to join PSG that he refused to train with Frankfurt in order to push the deal through, and it happened right at the end of the transfer window. Joining PSG reunited him with France teammates Ousmane Dembélé and Mbappé, the trio which played in attack when the team lost to Argentina in last year’s World Cup final.

Mbappe and Kolo Muani are both 24 years old — Kolo Muani is two weeks older — and both grew up in the Parisian suburb of Bondy. They didn’t play together as youths and neither joined PSG initially, with Mbappé going to Monaco and Kolo Muani recruited by Nantes when he was 16.

“I was very nonchalant (at the time),” Kolo Muani said in an interview on the French league’s website. “Without the interest shown by Nantes, I don’t know where I would be.”

So being united with Mbappé appears like a fairytale scenario for Kolo Muani, who is expected to make his debut for PSG when the team hosts Nice on Friday.

But the pressure on him will be intense.

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