It is difficult to argue that CFC has had any semblance of a consistent goal scorer since Diego Costa signed for the west London club in July of 2014. Attempts to bring forth Romelu Lukaku, Fernando Torres, and Timo Werner, as of recently, failed to work out the way the club had wanted at the time. So far this season, Graham Potter’s Chelsea has netted just 17 goals in the English top flight, the fewest of any club in the top half of the Premier League table.
Todd Boehly and the entire CFC ownership group wasted no time since their inclusion to try to solve the issues in front of the net. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is a short-term solution at the age of 33 and has not been as effective as many fans would have liked with the Blues seeking to right the ship. Boehly and the “core four” which includes former RB Leipzig man Christopher Vivell as the new technical director, Paul Winstanley as the director for Global Talent and Transfers, Joe Shields as a specialist in recruitment, and Laurence Stewart have already begun doing business for the summer of 2023.
The goal of this talented group should be to find those diamond-in-rough players before they find themselves in teams like Southampton and the Blues are forced to buy them for an exceptional amount of cash. Obtaining David Datro Fofana and the 18-year-old Andrey Santos from CR Vasco da Gama are great examples of that, but when it comes to Nkunku, this group of intelligent individuals knows what kind of player Potter seeks in his first team right out of the gate.
Having netted 12 goals in 15 Bundesliga contests, and established himself as one of the best players in the German top flight, Christopher Nkunku was a talent CFC simply could not pass up. For about £63m, the Blues secured the signing of Nkunku from RB Leipzig with the deal beginning in June of 2023. The physical was completed in early September, and the French attacker hopes to bring new life to CFC at the top of the pitch along with the 19-year-old Fofana from FK Molde who is set to sign ahead of the closure of the January transfer window.
A few months ago Nkunku’s former coach, Sylvain Ripoll of France’s Under-21 squad gave his take on what the youngster brings on the pitch:
"“One of Christopher’s best qualities is his capacity to be technical with the ball at speed,” he said. “He has the ability to do a lot of things because of that. He can create goals and he can score them as well. He is very dynamic, he is fast over five or six meters and he is good in possession. These are very good abilities for a forward.”"
Ripoll continued to speak about the versatility of Nkunku:
"“One of the other great things about Christopher is that he can play in a number of positions in the team. He can play as a striker, he can play out wide, he can play in midfield. That is all because of his good technique.”"
Brimming with confidence, and creativity in the attack, Nkunku may be the perfect fit for Potter’s Chelsea given not only his goal-scoring capabilities, but his unselfishness, and talents to get the others around him involved. In 159 appearances for the German top-flight side, Nkunku has 64 goals, and an astounding 51 assists en route to him being named the Bundesliga Player of the Season following his stellar 2021/22 campaign. Only Bayern Munich’s Thomas Muller accumulated more assists last season than Nkunku on top of completing a shots on target percentage exactly equal to Robert Lewandowski’s around 48 percent.
His speed makes him a constant threat but his technical skills in tight spaces allow him to utilize his explosiveness and burst past defenders. It is going to be difficult to guess where Potter is going to insert him into the Blues’ rotation. Kai Havertz has been as inconsistent as they come when it comes to goal scoring, and given the versatility that Nkunku offers, we could see the French attacker be placed in a multitude of positions before he settles into the one during his first season in west London. At PSG, Nkunku predominantly played in the midfield and was known as more of a creator when he went over to Germany.
He has brought his game to new heights, becoming one of the most effective left-sided attacking threats around the world. Just like the women’s team, Potter seeks to become a more tactically versatile side that has the ability to dominate in possession, and the addition of Nkunku should be a perfect acquisition of what the former Brighton boss wants. The last RB Leipzig forward that the Blues acquired did not work out for a multitude of reasons, but Nkunku looks like a player that can add much more to an attack than just pure speed up front.
Even in Werner’s last season for the Red Bulls, Nkunku was a much more efficient player in front of the net, collecting a higher goal and shot-creating actions per 90 minutes than the German attacker on top of leading the group in the assist department. Nkunku is a much more versatile, and creative player going forward who not only has become one of the most prolific finishers in the game today but a creator that any club can rely on for amassing chances throughout the match. In his previous five seasons in professional football, Nkunku has had goals plus assists per 90 minutes greater than 0.5 in four of those seasons.
The biggest question is where Nkunku is going to play on a regular basis, or if Potter is going to use him in more than just one position early on in his Chelsea tenure. Just like Mason Mount this season and Leandro Trossard with the Seagulls under Potter, he is not afraid to experiment with these star players in a plethora of positions in his system despite the fact there may be one that has a track record of being more successful. We could see Nkunku as one of the three in the frontline of a 4-3-3, or as one of the two in the attacking line in a potential 4-4-2. On top of everything this exhilarating forward brings, it now allows Havertz to move on the right more often rather than playing in a false nine.
There is so much that CFC fans should be excited about when it comes to Nkunku. His athleticism, versatility, and creativity in tight spaces provide the Blues with a perfect player for Potter’s system. Hopefully, this is the first time that Chelsea gives one of its managers time and patience in charge because, with a player that does this so much going forward, we could see Potter’s Blues take a massive step toward consistency in possessions, and chances created.