Reports: Chelsea keen on signing RB Leipzig superstar Nkunku
If reports from Goal are to be believed, Chelsea are set to chase the signature of RB Leipzig forward Christopher Nkunku.
The Blues, as mentioned widely in the back pages, are set to splash the cash this summer following another indifferent Premier League season. This would be due when all paperwork for the Todd Boehly-led consortium to take over will be put in place, with Thomas Tuchel expected to receive the green light on rebuilding the squad.
Prior to the game against Watford, the German coach affirmed “We need to produce more numbers because the numbers we produce from our offensive players don’t allow us to over-perform and we need over-performance. If we want to be nearer to the top two teams, we need over-performance. I’m not pointing fingers or blaming anybody, but we need over-performance from everybody and it’s not over-performance if we have only single figures in scoring and assisting.”
That was another honest admission from Tuchel, whose forwards, barring Mason Mount perhaps, let him and the Chelsea defense down this season.
Nkunku could be the answer to a lot of questions. The 24-year-old is the subject of intense transfer speculation, as his club aims to negotiate with him over a new deal. Real Madrid are currently monitoring his situation, although they’re more focused on French sensation Aurelien Tchouameni – another probable Chelsea target.
Nkunku, who has fired in an impressive 35 goals this season, is Timo Werner’s replacement at Leipzig in many ways. The latter, alongside the likes of Christian Pulisic, Hakim Ziyech and Romelu Lukaku, have huffed and puffed all season to get his share of goals.
The bottom line for Chelsea’s forwards has been consistency. The team has a variety of attacking talent, but Tuchel is often forced to chop and change the combinations to analyse each player’s competency over a period of games. And to be fair, none of them have exuded that level of quality for a run of matches.
Should Chelsea wish to rebuild their front line as well, it’s imperative that they’ll have to free up their wage bill. That’ll require serious offloading for players who earn big and would not fit into most European teams’ budgets.
Nkunku is very similar to Werner – they’re both mobile, they love to dribble through defenses down the middle, they rely on sharp movement and high lines, and they are best-suited to counter-attacking systems.
Chelsea have already made one mistake in signing someone such as Werner, who with all due respect could still have a lot to prove but has been way off his expectations. Whilst Nkunku is a world-class prospect, it might be down to some robust scouting that could help form Chelsea’s attack for the future.
-Akarshak Roy
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: Steffen Prößdorf. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.