The Randal Kolo Muani Paradox

The Randal Kolo Muani Paradox

While scrolling through the Serie A section on Sofascore, the path led us to Juventus and their most expensive signing of the summer who remained at the club, Randal Kolo Muani (Openda was officially paid more, but was sent on loan to Lyon), where his name was marked with an extremely low Sofascore rating of 5.93.

This is something that will certainly not please Juventus fans who were wondering before the season whether their club had actually “threw” 40 million euros on a player who is probably best known to the wider public for that shot in the last seconds of extra time in the World Cup final when he could have brought France the championship title if Dibu Martínez had not prevented him with a great save.

Brilliant in Germany and a transfer to France

Kolo Muani played brilliantly for Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022 and was part of the French team at the World Cup for a reason, and in the summer of 2023, a great transfer to PSG came, which paid as much as 95 million euros for the French striker. In the French capital, he never managed to fight for the position of starting striker (only 23 starts), so he remained at a modest 11 goals in 54 appearances before going on loan.

A loan to Juventus in January 2025 was exactly what Kolo Muani needed because he had an excellent half-season in Turin in the Bianconeri jersey. A total of 21 appearances, 10 goals and an excellent conversion of 27.8%! And he scored a goal every 157 minutes, with only 1.7 shots per game.

Bad period in England

It may have been the right time for Juventus to buy him from PSG, but Kolo Muani ended up on another loan, this time in the Premier League with Tottenham. And with Spurs he had, to put it mildly, a disastrous season. And while he scored 4 goals in the Champions League, a look at the numbers in the Premier League raised doubts about this transfer to Juventus.

Tottenham Hotspur FC v Atletico de Madrid – UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Round of 16 Second Leg Randal Kolo Muani of Tottenham Hotspur during the UEFA Champions League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, United Kingdom, on March 18, 2026. PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxFRA Copyright: xNewsxImagesx originalFilename:cosgrove-uefacham260318_np9Nw.jpg

Of the 63 strikers with at least 10 games, Kolo Muani was only 53rd with one goal, and the ranking is no better in other categories. Only 0.7 shots per game (56th), as many as 1670 minutes for a goal (59th), 676 touches per goal (59th), a conversion of 5.0% (57th), an xG of 2.18 (51st) and an xG overperformance of minus -1.18 (49th).

Return to Turin

They say you should never fall in love with a player on loan, but it seems the decision-makers at Juventus didn’t heed that advice.

Let’s go back to the beginning of this article and the 5.93 rating at the start of the season that Kolo Muani delivered for around €40 million. If we look at all the players who have played all 3 games this season, Kolo Muani is absolutely last in the Sofascore rating – 179th out of 179, and no other player has a lower rating than 6.10.

Although 0 goals and a rating of 5.93 indicate that Juventus fans should panic, other figures still give hope. Although he is among the 52nd strikers in the bottom four with 3 missed big chances (only Gonçalo Ramos has missed more – five), and Marcus Thuram of Inter and Donyell Malen of Roma have also missed three each. However, of the four, only Kolo Muani has not scored at least one goal.

Problems  with conversion

It is obvious that the main problem for the Frenchman is conversion, not creating scoring opportunities. The indicator of poor conversion is an xG overperformance of -1.54, which places him 51st out of 52 strikers in the league. However, Kolo Muani enters the opportunity, and is close to scoring, which is shown by the three big chances he missed, but also an xG of 1.54, which places him sixth in the league. He also takes as many as 2.7 shots per game, which is also in the top 10 (10th) in the league.

If he returns to his old form and approximates the conversion rate he had on loan at Juventus a year and a half ago, Kolo Muani will fight for the league’s top scorer, as such numbers would bring him to approximately 26 goals. Let’s remember that last season the league’s top scorer was Lautaro Martínez with 17 goals.

The Randal Kolo Muani Paradox

The Randal Kolo Muani Paradox

While scrolling through the Serie A section on Sofascore, the path led us to Juventus and their most expensive signing of the summer who remained at the club, Randal Kolo Muani (Openda was officially paid more, but was sent on loan to Lyon), where his name was marked with an extremely low Sofascore rating of 5.93.

This is something that will certainly not please Juventus fans who were wondering before the season whether their club had actually “threw” 40 million euros on a player who is probably best known to the wider public for that shot in the last seconds of extra time in the World Cup final when he could have brought France the championship title if Dibu Martínez had not prevented him with a great save.

Brilliant in Germany and a transfer to France

Kolo Muani played brilliantly for Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022 and was part of the French team at the World Cup for a reason, and in the summer of 2023, a great transfer to PSG came, which paid as much as 95 million euros for the French striker. In the French capital, he never managed to fight for the position of starting striker (only 23 starts), so he remained at a modest 11 goals in 54 appearances before going on loan.

A loan to Juventus in January 2025 was exactly what Kolo Muani needed because he had an excellent half-season in Turin in the Bianconeri jersey. A total of 21 appearances, 10 goals and an excellent conversion of 27.8%! And he scored a goal every 157 minutes, with only 1.7 shots per game.

Bad period in England

It may have been the right time for Juventus to buy him from PSG, but Kolo Muani ended up on another loan, this time in the Premier League with Tottenham. And with Spurs he had, to put it mildly, a disastrous season. And while he scored 4 goals in the Champions League, a look at the numbers in the Premier League raised doubts about this transfer to Juventus.

Tottenham Hotspur FC v Atletico de Madrid – UEFA Champions League 2025/26 Round of 16 Second Leg Randal Kolo Muani of Tottenham Hotspur during the UEFA Champions League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Atletico Madrid at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, United Kingdom, on March 18, 2026. PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxFRA Copyright: xNewsxImagesx originalFilename:cosgrove-uefacham260318_np9Nw.jpg

Of the 63 strikers with at least 10 games, Kolo Muani was only 53rd with one goal, and the ranking is no better in other categories. Only 0.7 shots per game (56th), as many as 1670 minutes for a goal (59th), 676 touches per goal (59th), a conversion of 5.0% (57th), an xG of 2.18 (51st) and an xG overperformance of minus -1.18 (49th).

Return to Turin

They say you should never fall in love with a player on loan, but it seems the decision-makers at Juventus didn’t heed that advice.

Let’s go back to the beginning of this article and the 5.93 rating at the start of the season that Kolo Muani delivered for around €40 million. If we look at all the players who have played all 3 games this season, Kolo Muani is absolutely last in the Sofascore rating – 179th out of 179, and no other player has a lower rating than 6.10.

Although 0 goals and a rating of 5.93 indicate that Juventus fans should panic, other figures still give hope. Although he is among the 52nd strikers in the bottom four with 3 missed big chances (only Gonçalo Ramos has missed more – five), and Marcus Thuram of Inter and Donyell Malen of Roma have also missed three each. However, of the four, only Kolo Muani has not scored at least one goal.

Problems  with conversion

It is obvious that the main problem for the Frenchman is conversion, not creating scoring opportunities. The indicator of poor conversion is an xG overperformance of -1.54, which places him 51st out of 52 strikers in the league. However, Kolo Muani enters the opportunity, and is close to scoring, which is shown by the three big chances he missed, but also an xG of 1.54, which places him sixth in the league. He also takes as many as 2.7 shots per game, which is also in the top 10 (10th) in the league.

If he returns to his old form and approximates the conversion rate he had on loan at Juventus a year and a half ago, Kolo Muani will fight for the league’s top scorer, as such numbers would bring him to approximately 26 goals. Let’s remember that last season the league’s top scorer was Lautaro Martínez with 17 goals.

AboutLive scores service at Sofascore livescore offers sports live scores, results and tables. Follow your favourite teams right here live! Live score on Sofascore.com livescore is automatically updated and you don't need to refresh it manually. With adding games you want to follow in "My games" following your matches livescores, results and statistics will be even more simple.
The latest stories
When the fun stops, STOP