Thomas Frank has completed a loan move for Paris Saint-Germain’s Randal Kolo Muani to boost his attacking options – and deepen his Champions League squad selection headache.
Kolo Muani had been a prime target for Juventus, for whom he played on loan from PSG over the second half of last season, scoring 10 goals. But the Serie A club were unable to agree a deal for him, admitting defeat over the weekend and moving instead for Loïs Openda from RB Leipzig.
Spurs had been interested in Kolo Muani in January when Ange Postecoglou was their manager. They have now moved decisively to secure him on a season-long contract with no obligation to make things permanent next summer.
Kolo Muani, who has 31 caps and nine goals for France, can play up front or off the left. The 26-year-old cost €75m plus €15m in add-ons when he joined PSG in 2023 from Eintracht Frankfurt and Spurs will register him as a non locally-trained senior player in the Champions League.
The club already had too many of this profile of player; they are permitted to name up to 17 of them on their 25-man “A”’ list. A further complication is that they are allowed to have only four association-trained players and they have six – Djed Spence, Ben Davies, Archie Gray, James Maddison, Brennan Johnson and Dominic Solanke.
Maddison has a long-term injuryand will not be available for the league phase of the Champions League, which concludes at the end of January. Clubs can register a maximum of three new players for the knockout rounds. If Frank wanted to include each of the other five, one of them would have to take a non locally-trained spot.
Uefa’s deadline for the submission of Champion League squads is 11pm BST on Tuesday and Frank is likely to have to omit a clutch of players. When the nailed-on selections are factored in, it would appear that Frank will have to choose two from the following – Radu Dragusin, the new signing Kota Takai, Dejan Kulusevski, Wilson Odobert, Mathys Tel and the odd one out from the association-trained group. This group does not include Yves Bissouma, who is out of favour and has been linked with a move to Turkey, where the transfer window does not close until Friday week.
Kulusevski may be at risk because he is expected to be unavailable until around the turn of the year as he recovers from knee surgery. The final two ties of the league phase are scheduled for 20-21 January and 28 January. Complicating matters yet further is Spurs’ situation with their club-trained players, who are the other element of the locally-trained cohort. They have only one – the third-choice goalkeeper, Brandon Austin.
Kolo Muani, who will wear the No 39 shirt, said: “I’m really happy and very proud to be at such a great club. I can’t wait to meet my teammates, all the fans and to get out on the pitch. I know what the coach expects from me. I will fight hard for the shirt, the club and the fans. I will give everything for this team.”
