- Nantes won for the first time this season (2-1) against Nîmes, at La Beaujoire, this Sunday, thanks to an excellent Kolo Muani in front.
- This player, trained at Jonelière and aged 21, was loaned last season to Boulogne-sur-Mer.
- In Nantes, Kolo Muani never had his chance over time.
Timidly, Randal Kolo Muani walked behind the desk reserved for post-match interviews. An employee of the FCN came to slip him that he could put aside his mask, remained under his chin, so that his face could be seen clearly. That of a 21-year-old striker, trained in Jonelière and spotted by recruiter Odilio Gomis in the Ile-de-France region, but still unknown to Nantes supporters and a fortiori to the general public.
Randal Kolo Muani greatly contributed to Nantes' first victory (2-1) this Sunday against Nîmes. Preferred to the two almost thirty (Coulibaly and Emond, 29 years old) at the peak, the one who was loaned to Boulogne-sur-Mer last season swept the front of the Nantes attack with great generosity and suddenly offered many solutions to its partners. With a very restless Coco on the right, he brought everything the Canaries lacked… during the lackluster 0-0 in Bordeaux a week ago. "I had said that our game needs to gain speed, to take spaces, analyzes Christian Gourcuff, who was forced to leave (56th) his young attacker shortly after the expulsion of Louza (49th) to densify his midfield. Randal gave life to the game. More verticality, more percussion. "
"Promising" for Gourcuff
"He's just missing the goal today," notes Dennis Appiah. He can be happy with his match, but can be pissed off not having scored… ”Which would have avoided the Nantes, dominating at the break (2-0), to have huge fears at the very end of the match after the second expulsion of Fabio (87th). "He made a few mistakes on the technical level and he could have better negotiated certain favorable situations," Gourcuff quibbles a little. Before admitting: “He's an interesting young player in the first period. It is very promising. "
At Boulogne-sur-Mer, where he was loaned out last season, no one will be surprised. There, the striker left an excellent memory by finishing the exercise in cannonball (three goals and three assists in the last nine games). “I have more self-confidence, I have matured with my loan, admits the person today. It did me good to see another horizon. "
Coach Vahid mocking with Kolo Muani in January 2019
In Nantes, for several seasons, it seemed obscured for him. Only Sergio Conceição, in 2017, had been charmed by the potential of the kid and had made him taste three times on the bench of Ligue 1. The high level, the native of Bondy will finally face 22 minutes in Saint-Etienne (defeat 3-0) and especially during a nightmarish first start in Angers on January 20, 2019 (1-0 defeat).
At the time, after the meeting, coach Vahid Halilhodzic, unhappy with the departure of his star striker Emiliano Sala in Cardiff, dropped this sentence revealing the little consideration he had for his young player: "Between me and him , I chose him. I had no other solutions [Coulibaly being suspended that day]. A few days later, Antonio Mance landed at La Jonelière. The Croatian, whom no one remembers, was going to score a goal in six games and Kolo Muani content himself with a few crumbs here and there… A bit of a symbol of the management of many young people for several years.
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Lincoln, is it over?
Does the good performance of Kolo Muani change the game for the recruitment of a center forward? Christian Gourcuff did not really answer this question after the game. In the meantime, the Brazilian press announced that Flamengo intended to retain Lincoln (19), who is being tracked by Nantes. The Auriverde center forward made Nantes his number 1 choice in the event of a departure.
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