What Randal Kolo Muani will bring to Tottenham attack and how Thomas Frank could use him | OneFootball

On-loan striker closing in on a return to fitness after playing in behind-closed-doors friendly

Spurs will hope Randal Kolo Muani is fit to face Aston Villa on Sunday

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A flick through the book of sporting cliches throws up one particularly pertinent quote for Tottenham.

It was, though, a tick in the positive column when assessing the decision to sign Randal Kolo Muani on deadline day.

And then he arrived in north London and began life at Spurs. Six weeks later, Kolo Muani has been absent for five matches and featured for just 13 minutes.

Kolo Muani is back in training after a dead leg

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The 26-year-old's solitary appearance came off the bench against Villarreal and he then collided in training with Pape Matar Sarr days later, suffering a dead leg.

His recovery has rolled on and on, with the bleeding starting again to delay his return further, but Kolo Muani is now back in training and last week played 45 minutes in a behind-closed-doors friendly against Watford.

With another week of training under his belt, Thomas Frank will hope to have Kolo Muani available for Sunday's match at home to Aston Villa.

The forward will still need more time to get up to full speed. That cameo against Villarreal aside, Kolo Muani's last competitive minutes came in the Club World Cup more than three months ago and he had no real pre-season.

Had he been fit, he could well have had a significant role in recent weeks. With Solanke out and Richarlison looking leggy, Kolo Muani would have been an ideal option to bring some fresh legs up front.

Discussing how he will use Kolo Muani, Frank said last month: “He's a good age, in the prime of his career, has good qualities that will suit both us and the Premier League, and gives us a different option in the final third being able to play out wide and through the middle."

Kolo Muani was used primarily as a striker - which he has said is his best position - last season at Juventus. He scored eight goals in 16 Serie A appearances, before netting a brace in the Club World Cup against Al-Ain.

Kolo Muani spent last season on loan at Juventus

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The best season of his career also came when playing through the middle at Eintracht Frankfurt, when he registered 15 goals and 11 assists in his first Bundesliga campaign. That clinical run in front of goal earned him a £76.4m move to PSG but it has rarely been seen since.

The potential is there, though, and Frank will believe he can unlock it.

Kolo Muani adds a different striker option to Solanke and Richarlison, with the Frenchman more comfortable running with the ball and taking on defenders.

He appears an ideal option as a second striker should Frank go back to a 3-5-2 formation, but can also lead the line by himself. Frank loves his team putting in crosses and Kolo Muani at 6ft 1in is strong in the air.

Spurs looked much more fluid in attack against Leeds before the international break, when Mathys Tel started up front and the front four interchanged.

Kolo Muani can slot into that, starting as the striker but with the freedom to roam around the final third and rotate with the likes of Mohammed Kudus and Xavi Simons. He is more versatile than Solanke and Richarlison and a natural fit if Frank does want a more unpredictable attack.

Kolo Muani also combines well in tight spaces and that could tempt Frank to use him out on the left wing too, even if he has started only 12 matches there in his career.

The Spurs boss has already turned to Brennan Johnson, Wilson Odobert, Tel and Simons on the left this season, but the search for a convincing solution goes on. The quartet have all floated in and out of games, a natural consequence of their relative inexperience.

Kolo Muani is only 26 but he has played at the very highest level. The most memorable moment of his career is the one-on-one chance he had to win the 2022 World Cup final, only to be denied by Emi Martinez in the final seconds.

The wait to make an impact at Spurs has been frustrating, but this is a chance he will hope to take and make up for lost time.