Rennes (AFP)

Nobody expected him, he had to do it three times to score his first goal in Ligue 1, but Randal Kolo Muani (21) is now obvious in Nantes and a real hope for French football before challenging the PSG Saturday (9 p.m.).

Born in Bondy (Seine-Saint-Denis), the city where Kylian Mbappé grew up, 15 days apart from the star of Paris Saint-Germain, he spent his childhood in Villepinte, in the same department, before join the Nantes training center in 2015 and sign professional two years later.

But the various Nantes coaches did not really believe in him.

Only Vahid Halilhodzic brought it into play, without much conviction, on very rare occasions during the 2018-2019 season.

To find playing time, he had to go into exile last season on loan at Boulogne, in the National.

A passage validated by 3 goals and 5 assists, but also two red cards and a series of suspensions.

On his return, he was able to convince coach Christian Gourcuff during the summer preparation, despite the Covid-19 which took him away from the field for several weeks and made him miss the resumption match against Bordeaux.

- Season launched -

Since then, this slender striker has caught up well, establishing himself as an indisputable holder by his sense of movement and his ability to take depth, to the detriment of more experienced center-forward like Kalifa Coulibaly and Renaud Emond.

In September, he made the nets tremble twice, in Monaco (2-1 defeat) then against Saint-Etienne (2-2) ... before seeing each time his goals canceled after several minutes of video examination, for a millimeter offside.

Whatever ... "His season has started, it's gone. It improves the team's game and is completely in line with what we do," said Gourcuff after the second goal refused.

This is also the opinion of Sylvain Ripoll, coach of the France hopes team, who had been watching since last year.

Summoned for the first time in early October, alongside Nantes goalkeeper Alban Lafont, Kolo Muani was established against Liechtenstein (5-0) then against Austria (1-0).

"We feel a very intelligent quality of movement. He is someone who brings depth, who also excels in the game without the ball, which weighs a lot on the defenses", greeted Ripoll during a videoconference on this occasion .

- "Big room for improvement" -

"He has this potential with a significant athletic presence, an ability to push back the opposing defense which is interesting. We also feel a big margin of progress," he added.

In Bleuet too, he was not far from scoring, missing a few chances against Liechtenstein before seeing an opposing defender credited with the goal he seemed to have scored from a corner from Maxence Caqueret.

The release finally came on October 18, when he opened the scoring in the 3-1 victory against Brest: recovering a strike on the post from Marcus Coco, Kolo Muani dribbled the Brest defender Jean-Kévin Duverne and slipped the ball in the net.

Less spectacular than his first goals, but finally valid!

It is now another player named Jean-Kévin who could get in his way.

Jean-Kévin Augustin, former PSG hope who arrived in Nantes at the very end of the transfer window in the hope of reviving after a failed expatriation.

First in lack of training then victim of ligament fatigue, he only played a friendly match during the international break in early October.

But he longs for much more ...

"This arrival must come to improve the attack, not to slow down the progression of Randal", warned Gourcuff, who even plans to play his two points together.

© 2020 AFP