Football can be a cruel game. Just ask Randal Kolo Muani, who may forever be remembered as the man who missed.

It has been more than two years since that World Cup-winning chance dropped into his path, the France forward thumping the ball into the outstretched leg of Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez with barely 20 seconds of the final left to play and the score level at 3-3. Since then, things have promised to flicker but have ultimately fizzled, with that agonising moment in Qatar — along with the huge €95million (£78,8m, $98m) fee Paris Saint-Germain paid for his services later that year — weighing heavy.

Despite a difficult period, having started just twice for the reigning French champions in Ligue 1 this season, the 26-year-old’s reputation as a talented, multi-faceted forward holds. His lack of opportunities at PSG says more about the extreme competition for places than it does the player’s ability, while his six goals for France in 2024 — among them in the European Championship semi-final against Spain — show that plenty still appreciate his line-leading speed.

He has fallen out of favour with PSG manager Luis Enrique, and the striker’s stock has plummeted. But that only opens up a market opportunity for any sides willing to look past two of the longest years of Kolo Muani’s dramatic career. Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Juventus are all interested and a loan month this month is possible.

That Kolo Muani found himself with that infamous World Cup final chance in the first place, so soon after his breakthrough in domestic football, is a minor footballing miracle in itself.

It was only the Covid-19 outbreak that brought his loan spell in the French third tier with Boulogne to an end, returning to Nantes — the side who bought him to their youth academy aged 16 — with fire in his eyes.

“He was a different player” recalled journalist Thibault Dumas when he spoke to The Athletic in 2022. “He still had that calmness in front of goal but was much more hard-working and alert on the pitch.”

First-team opportunities duly arrived, and although the goals didn’t instantly flow in the empty stadiums of the post-pandemic league campaign, Kolo Muani quickly showed the danger he can bring on the break. Despite standing at 6ft 1in (1.87m), he is quick enough to play across the front line, and caught the eye on the flanks throughout his youth career due to his blend of trickery, pace, and a rangy running style that made him difficult to shrug off the ball.

His first goal was a tap-in against Brest, but his ability to shift the ball onto either foot and shoot became more evident as his confidence grew. Five months later in an away game at PSG, he lurched onto his right and smashed an equaliser high into the net, before racing in behind to square for Moses Simon to complete the turnaround; Nantes’ first win in the capital for over 23 years.

Kolo Muani takes his opportunity and smashes it past Keylor Navas to level it up for Nantes! 💥

A moment to forget for Kylian Mbappe… 😬 pic.twitter.com/8M9ecbAgSk

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 14, 2021

Nantes narrowly avoided relegation thanks to a late-season flourish from Kolo Muani, who by this point had already caught the eye of Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany.

While he continued to rack up the goals the following season in Ligue 1, scoring 12 in his first uninterrupted campaign, Oliver Glasner’s side were scouting the striker extensively, carrying out character assessments and laying out a development plan in meetings with Kolo Muani in the months leading up to his contract expiration. There were failed attempts to sign him in January 2021, but the player kept his word and joined the Bundesliga side for free in the summer. The move ignited his career.

Kolo Muani thrived in the end-to-end games for which the Bundesliga has become known, enjoying his freedom at the top of an expansive Frankfurt team. As we can see from his touch map below, the French striker was happy to drop deep to collect the ball from his midfielders, looking to link with his No 10s — usually Mario Gotze and Daichi Kamada — to move the team upfield.

He was also prepared to drift wide, where aggressive overlapping runs from the wing-backs would often take players away and create space for him to drive forward, while the penalty area was a lucrative zone for crosses, as Frankfurt delivered the fifth-most in the division that season.

In more transitional games, Kolo Muani would lurk on the shoulder of the centre-backs, always looking to spring forward and curve his runs in behind the defensive line.

Here against Union Berlin, for example, as the opposition commit men forward in the press, Kolo Muani is able to reach a long ball down the channel. He gets to the ball and slows down his defender before racing past him around the outside.

In frame three, we can see him squaring up to a second defender, Diogo Leite, selling him a dummy to cut inside before jinking towards the byline, where he manages to pull the ball back for Gotze to score.

That combination of forward momentum and decision-making at speed made Kolo Muani difficult to stop in his only full Bundesliga season, scoring 15 and assisting 14 throughout a varied, high-energy striking season.

His goal against Bayern Munich was another that showed him at his destructive best on the counter, again picking up the ball in the wide-right channel, before finding the forward run of Kamada up ahead.

Kolo Muani then powers forward, sprinting across his team-mate and over to the other side of the pitch, where he eventually receives the pass, chops onto his left and fires under Manuel Neuer into the far corner — his two-footedness again causing havoc for defenders who do not know which way to show him.

Kolo Muani is not all about running into open space, however, and his catalogue of goals from that season in Frankfurt show encouraging variety; a towering header late in the season at home to Freiburg, a quick touch and snapshot away to Borussia Monchengladbach and a cheeky step-over and finish at Mainz.

His shot map shows that range of finishes across the width of the box, able to both rise high for headers, but also sort out his feet and get good contact on crosses and cutbacks on either side.

Along with his final season at Nantes, Kolo Muani outperformed his expected goals (xG) for just the second time in his career. It’s no coincidence that those were the only campaigns in which the striker had a consistent run of minutes to build up his scoring rhythm.

Game time has been stop-start since, having played almost as many minutes for France this season (425) as he has for PSG across all competitions (465). Reports soon emerged that Kolo Muani was not the profile that manager Luis Enrique was looking for at the top of his team, much more effective in behind than he is playing a supporting striker’s role in a possession-heavy side. When the play is slowed down, and defences are more structured ahead of him, lapses in concentration can come to the fore.

His form has peaked and troughed through limited opportunities at PSG, promising winger Bradley Barcola arriving to take his limelight. Even after the departure of Kylian Mbappe, Marco Asensio has been preferred in the ‘false nine’ role, while the likes of Goncalo Ramos, Ousmane Dembele and Lee Kang-in are often preferred. Kolo Muani’s two goals this season have both come in stoppage time, adding the gloss to victories that he largely watched from the bench.

Confidence is understandably low, but there is potential for the team that can provide Kolo Muani a new home. As the Premier League becomes ever more transitional, the Frenchman is a forgotten forward more than capable of taking advantage.

(Top photo: Aurelien Meunier – PSG/PSG via Getty Images)