Randal Kolo Muani’s time at Tottenham is running out and a return to Juventus in the summer is imminent.
That is the view of European football expert Andy Brassell, who has been closely monitoring the Frenchman’s loan spell in north London.
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The Paris Saint-Germain striker spent the second half of last season with the Serie A giants, scoring ten goals in 22 games.
That led Juve to explore a summer move for the star, but that failed to materialize late in the transfer window.
This allowed Spurs to sign the 27-year-old on a season-long loan.
Kolo Muani’s Tottenham are struggling
However, Kolo Muani’s time at the club reflects Tottenham’s dismal season, with just four goals in 32 appearances and just a single goal in the Premier League.
His other three goals came in the Champions League and, ironically, against former club Eintracht Frankfurt and parent club PSG.
Only two Tottenham players have scored more than three goals in their first Champions League season as a Spurs player, with Gareth Bale and Peter Crouch both scoring four goals in the 2010/11 season.
But despite his marginally better performance in Europe, where Tottenham have had the most joy this season, the Frenchman has yet to win over the Spurs faithful.
So much so that some fans rated the striker worse than former striker Timo Werner.
A fan site report has labeled Kolo Muani a flop, and while Werner hasn’t exactly caused a stir in north London, he claims the German provides more of what Tottenham currently need than the 31-time France international.
But Brassell doesn’t see things that way and although he admits the striker hasn’t lived up to expectations, he believes Kolo Muani would make a solid addition to most Premier League clubs.
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“He hasn’t been great so far, I think that’s fair to say. But I think it’s very hard to judge him based on the Tottenham experience,” Brassell told The Pitch Prospect’s Trans Europe Express.
“I watch Tottenham in person quite often and the reality is that pretty much everyone in this team does so little of what they can actually do.
“I think the extenuating circumstances for Kolo Muani and the fact that he thought he was going to move to Juventus for most of the summer really affected his training and preparation for the season.
“He looked unfit at the end and far from it. And then he comes into a team with no confidence and he’s expected to pull them up by their feet.”
“It’s just as difficult for him as it was for Xavi Simons. Another player who has delivered outstanding performances in the Bundesliga.”
Ahead of Wednesday night’s Champions League round of 16 second leg against Atlético Madrid, Brassell believes Kolo Muani can prove to be a key player for Spurs as they look to overturn a 5-2 deficit.
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There’s still time to excel
“These are the situations in which Xavi Simons and Randal Kolo Muani can really excel,” he added.
“Kolo Muani is someone who, to be honest, would probably suit about 17 or 18 Premier League clubs.”
“He’s so good. I really believe in him. But at the moment the Spurs fans are really quite angry. Understandably so. The only impression they have of the players who have just arrived is his previous failures.”
“I think it’s a really good question what happens to him next season. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him back at Juventus because he did great there. They really liked him and he really liked them. It’s been difficult at Spurs so far.”
“I think the words root and branch will probably appear here in the near future.
“But look, I think we saw it in the way they excelled in the Europa League, even though things were already going badly wrong in the Premier League and there were signs in last season’s league season of what happened this season.
“We know that they can treat Europe completely independently and excel and make progress.”