Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images
It’s the summer of 2023 and Chelsea have spent more than £50m to sign Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig. A statement of intent, but one that ended in failure – and Enzo Maresca is to blame.
Nkunku joined the Blues under Mauricio Pochettino, but days before the start of the season, he suffered a serious knee injury in a friendly against Dortmund. His first season at Chelsea was a failure due to injury.
Christopher Nkunku looks on during Fluminense FC v Chelsea FC: Semi Final - FIFA Club World Cup 2025
Photo by Martín Fonseca/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images
Just 14 appearances and three goals. In 2024, Enzo Maresca replaced Pochettino and Nkunku would go on to score 15 goals in 48 games that season – but he struggled; only three goals in the Premier League.
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Christopher Nkunku didn’t like his role at Chelsea
At the end of the 2024-25 season, Chelsea sold Nkunku to Milan for a fee believed to be around £36m. His struggles didn’t stop at Milan, and now he’s back at Leipzig. Nkunku has discussed his Chelsea exit.
Speaking to CalcioMercato this week, Nkunku says he “didn’t like his role” at Chelsea and it was the reason for his departure with Maresca in the dugout. He also believes the “changes” affected things.
“When I went to Chelsea, things started well, and then I got injured at the end of the last friendly. And after that, everything changed. I had my first operation, I wanted to get back on the pitch quickly.
“There were also many changes. I didn’t like my role at Chelsea. At Milan, on the other hand, I didn’t have any injuries, but the vision of football was different from mine,” Nkunku said in an interview this week.
Did Chelsea make a profit on Christopher Nkunku?
Bought for £52m and sold for £36m, it looks like a £16m loss on Nkunku and that’s before wages. But in terms of player amortisation, did Chelsea make a loss? Nkunku was two years into the five-year period.
Christopher Nkunku centre-forward of AC Milan and France during the warm-up
Photo by Jose Breton/Pics Action/NurPhoto via Getty Images
That means each year is worth £10.4m. Two years into his £52m move, anything above £31.2m would have been a profit on Chelsea’s books, making his £36m move to Milan a small profit of around £4.8m.