Now our choice of Bundesliga Player of the Year might contradict what you have read everywhere else with Jude Bellingham widely acclaimed as the best player this season, but hear us out. The choice of Eintracht Frankfurt striker Randal Kolo Muani was based somewhat on the fact that Bellingham didn’t make our Team of the Year and based on the hugely impressive stats notched up by the French forward.
Of course Borussia Dortmund midfielder Bellingham has had another great season with the Schwarzgelben even if was tinged with more than a little disappointment at failing to win the Meisterschale. The case for the Englishman to win the award is strong, but that is not to say that there is not a case to consider others.
In our thinking regarding the top XI of the season, a midfield of Ellyes Skhiri, Jamal Musiala and Julian Brandt was selected. The omission of Bellingham came as his Rückrunde was not as strong as his Hinrunde and Brandt was in all honesty the more consistently important player for BVB. (Are we winning you over yet?).
Bellingham will secure a €100 million move this summer, but so too will Frankfurt striker Kolo Muani after a highly impressive debut season in the Bundesliga. He scored 15 goals and provided another 16 assists making him the league’s top points scorer ahead of Jamal Musiala. He broke into the French national team and played in the World Cup final for les Bleues coming within touching distance of lifting the trophy. Kylian Mbappe is a big fan and he should know a thing or two about world-class strikers.
The 24-year-old arrived on a free last summer from Nantes and burst onto the scene with a goal as a substitute against Bayern Munich on the opening game of the season. He has been Frankfurt’s spearhead all season and could yet end up with a DFB Pokal medal before the season finishes. He had already scored six goals in this season’s run to the final and will want to add to that.
The Bundesliga would love to see him remain, but that very much depends on whether Bayern Munich see him as their next number nine. He will not be short of suitors after such a stellar rise this season. This isn’t necessarily a vote against Jude Bellingham, but rather in recognition of Kolo Muani. We’re probably swimming against the tide a little (a lot?) here, but the joy of this beautiful game is that it’s subjective and causes no end of fierce debate.
Even the biggest Bellingham admirers cannot deny that Kolo Muani has had an excellent season and deserves the credit. A Meisterschale may have swung it for the BVB man, but this year our nod has gone to Randal Kolo Muani.
