Chelsea lift the Club World Cup in the USA.placeholder image
Chelsea lift the Club World Cup in the USA. | Getty Images
Liverpool are in the market for a striker and could take their search to Chelsea.
Chelsea lifted the Club World Cup trophy in the United States on Sunday night and, as those celebrations took place, rumours of Liverpool interest in one of the Blues’ stars picked up.
Enzo Maresca’s side beat Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 thanks to a Cole Palmer brace and another Joao Pedro finish. The result, which is worth around £90 million of prize money, ends an incredibly long 2024/25 campaign on a high.
Chelsea have already been busy in the transfer window this summer but can now put their full efforts into onboarding and offloading new signings ahead of the Premier League’s return in August.
Liverpool linked with Chelsea striker
The London outfit has strengthened in attack with Liam Delap coming in from Ipswich Town and Pedro from Brighton. A combined £90 million was spent on that duo with outgoings now inevitable in order to balance the books.
L’Equipe claim that the Reds are monitoring a potential swoop for Nkunku, who is reported to be available at £35 million. Chelsea paid £52 million to sign Nkunku from RB Leipzig in 2023 but he has fallen out of favour under Maresca.
Nkunku made just 14 appearances in a first campaign disrupted by injury and his outings last term were largely away from league action - although he did bag 15 goals in all competitions.
Chelsea left several high profile names out of their squad for the Club World Cup amid transfer decisions - such as Raheem Sterling and Joao Felix - but Nkunku was included and featured in all but one match, which perhaps suggested a determination from Maresca to involve the player. Nkunku scored in the 4-1 win over Benfica in the Round of 16.
Enzo Maresca explains Christopher Nkunku transfer position
Speaking about the player’s involvement in the competition, Maresca said: “If Christo [Nkunku] is here with us, it is because we think he can help us and he can be with us even next season. But as you said, there are many speculations, not just about Christo, about many players.
“And then if something is going to happen, I don't know because we said many times when the transfer window is open, anything can happen in terms of players that can arrive or players that can leave.”
There were reports that Maresca had been using the striker in an unconventional defensive midfield role during training sessions in the United States. The Chelsea manager has previously tried to deploy Nkunku as a winger but was warned against that by Paul Merson.
The pundit told Sky Sports: “Christopher Nkunku’s position is not on the wing. I feel sorry for him. I like him, I think he’s a good player. He’s one that plays behind the centre-forward.
“He’s an intelligent footballer, connects things, but the problem is Palmer’s been outstanding. I don’t think Chelsea were foreseeing Palmer being as good as what he was hence why they bought Nkunku for a lot of money.”
In other news, 'Remains Clear': Fabrizio Romano sends Chelsea £40m transfer boost.
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