According to multiple reports this morning, including from Fabrizio Romano and The Athletic’s David Ornstein, Chelsea and AC Milan have agreed a deal for Christopher Nkunku, with the forward now set to travel to Italy for his medical and the final bits of paperwork.
And yes, it is indeed a permanent transfer, not a loan or any such nonsense. Milan are reportedly paying €42m (£36m) all told to make it happen, and we’ve retained a sell-on clause in case his value goes up on a potential future move. Romano says that the fixed portion of the fee is “higher than €35m”. Either way, it’s a decent bit of business for a player who has not lived up to expectations at Chelsea — that knee injury certainly didn’t help — and checked out a long time ago. A change of scenery could do wonders for him.
Nkunku did play a key role in our UEFA Conference League campaign last season, and we did get to witness his iconic balloon celebration a fair few times at least.
Hopefully better days are ahead for him.