When the little red balloon emoji appeared on Chelsea’s Twitter account on Tuesday, June 20 shortly before noon, Blues fans had no doubts. Referring to Christopher Nkunku’s celebration for his son – during Leipzig’s victory against Shakhtar Donetsk (4-0) on November 2, 2022 – this tweet formalized the arrival of the French international in the London club .
“I am very happy to join Chelsea. I can’t wait to meet my new coach and teammates and show Chelsea fans what I can achieve on the pitch,” the former Parisian said in a statement. I now want to play in the Premier League, one of the toughest leagues in the world. »
The native of Lagny-sur-Marne (Seine-et-Marne) has signed up for six seasons with the London club. If the amount of the transfer has not been revealed, it would be around 60 million euros, according to the specialized press. At 25, the player trained at Paris Saint-Germain arrives in London after a successful stopover in Leipzig.
Christopher Nkunku has won two German Cups (2022 and 2023) and played in a Champions League semi-final with subsidiary club Red Bull. He finished the last Bundesliga season as top scorer, with sixteen goals. A performance, especially since an injury had kept him away from the field for many weeks, depriving him at the same time of the World Cup in Qatar with the Blues.
A risky choice
“Christopher has proven to be one of the best attacking players in Europe over the past two seasons. He will add his quality, creativity and versatility to our squad,” Chelsea joint sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley said in a statement.
Acquired a year ago by American billionaire Todd Boehly, after Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich was forced to sell the club following the war in Ukraine, Chelsea have entered a new era. And accumulates massive investments in young players, Christopher Nkunku notably taking over from the Ukrainian Mykhailo Mudryk, who arrived this winter against 100 million euros.
But one year from Euro 2024, the choice of Chelsea could prove to be risky for the French striker. Having ended 2023 in a sad twelfth place, the club will not play a single European match next season, and the former Parisian “titi”, who has only ten selections with the Blues, could see his place threatened.
Another red flag for the Frenchman, previous Bundesliga stars who came to try their luck at Chelsea – like Timo Werner and Kai Havertz – have struggled a lot at Stamford Bridge. However, the appointment of Argentinian Mauricio Pochettino on the Blues bench, known for having advanced his attacking elements at Tottenham (like Harry Kane or Son Heung-min), could give the young tricolor striker ideas.