Christopher Nkunku arrived at Chelsea two years ago with a gigantic reputation, but he’s not been able to live up to the hype in English football.
Chelsea paid £52m (BBC) to sign Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig in June 2023. Unfortunately, the 27-year-old attacker has been unable to truly win over supporters with his performances, so he’s heavily linked with a transfer exit this summer.
Appearances Goals Assists Trophies
62 18 5 2
Christopher Nkunku’s record at Chelsea across all competitions
We’ve seen the Frenchman show glimpses of his individual quality, but his overall contribution has been underwhelming. The biggest reason may be that he struggles to operate in the same team as his creative teammate Cole Palmer.
Nkunku is expected to leave Chelsea this summer after just two years at Stamford Bridge.
Even though Paul Merson described Nkunku as an “intelligent” footballer, he simply can’t get enough minutes in his preferred No.10 position because of Palmer’s brilliance. At another club, we wouldn’t be surprised to see him reignite the form that made him so successful in Germany with Leipzig.
Christopher Nkunku poses after signining for Chelsea.
Photo by Chelsea FC via Getty Images
Chelsea drop Christopher Nkunku price tag even lower as Bayern Munich talks begin
According to talkSPORT, Chelsea wanted just over £40m to sell Nkunku at the start of the summer window. They now claim that the Blues have set a new price and could sell him for south of that value, though.
The report adds that Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich have opened talks with Chelsea about a deal to sign Nkunku.
Apparently, the German giants would prefer to sort a loan with a buy option. A permanent transfer is not off the cards because of the reduced asking price, though. Bayern’s director of sport Max Eberl “loves” Nkunku’s versatility, so it will be interesting to see if he ends up at the Allianz Arena.
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Journalist Fabrizio Romano adds via X this afternoon that a move for Nkunku to Bayern may be on the cards.
From Chelsea’s perspective, they will need to mark this transfer down as a failure despite plenty of successes in the market recently.
Christopher Nkunku of Chelsea during a Chelsea FC Training Session ahead of the UEFA Conference League Final
Photo by Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images
What Enzo Maresca said about Christopher Nkunku
Despite the speculation around his future, Nkunku was part of Chelsea’s group that won the Club World Cup this summer, featuring in six of the seven tournament games.
During the competition, Maresca even showed great support for Nkunku. The Blues head coach said: “If Christo is here with us, it is because we think he can help us and he can be with us even next season.”
While the transfer speculation points towards Nkunku leaving before the summer window closes, there will certainly be no bad blood towards him. The harsh reality is that Palmer’s shock emergence has made his transfer look much worse.