The Ornacle appears to be close to the action when it comes to January Tottenham Hotspur transfer rumors. David Ornstein, writing for the Athletic’s transfer tracker this afternoon, says that Tottenham and Manchester United are the two clubs currently the closest to signing a loan deal for want-away PSG wide forward Randal Kolo Muani.
We’ve written about Kolo Muani before — he’s a talented attacker who can play both flanks as well as centrally, but has seen his playing time dwindle, along with his goal numbers. He had one excellent season at Eintracht Frankfurt a couple of years ago, but has been in something of a finishing slump since making the jump to PSG over the past two years, with 6 goals and 5 assists last season and just 2 goals in 14 appearances (350+ minutes) this season. That said, he’s a dribbly wide guy who likes to take players on and also can excel in creative passing, something Spurs could use right now.
Ornstein says that Juventus are also making contact about Kolo Muani, but United and Spurs are thought to be the leaders as they both can offer something Juventus can’t — the Premier League. A cursory search suggests he is currently on about £145k/wk in wages, well within Tottenham’s budget, though as always take those wage reports with an entire salt mine.
I know “exciting continental attacker underperforming his xG” makes people immediately think of Timo Werner, but Kolo Muani’s game is much closer to Richarlison than Timo, and at any rate he’s the kind of player that could benefit from a change of scenery and tactics. He also doesn’t have much of an injury history, so there’s hope that he might be more reliable than Richy down the stretch.
There are reports suggesting PSG are hoping for a purchase obligation of £50m in addition to a loan fee, but that’s obviously something that can be negotiated, so I wouldn’t put a ton of stock in that particular tidbit at the moment. And I think he’s a talented player who isn’t a good fit at PSG; he could cook under Ange. And he decides to avoid the flaming dumpster fire that is Manchester United and sign with Spurs, there’s every chance he could be a plus add for Ange Postecoglou in a position of need.
There’s a lot of smoke right now that Kolo Muani is at least of the priority target being considered by Johan Lange and Rob Mackenzie. Whether he ends up being the guy, of course, remains to be seen. But I wouldn’t hate this, if Spurs can pick him up as a value signing.