Sportivationng.com brings you all you need to know about Christopher Nkunku’s Style Of Play, Net worth, Stats and the iconic balloon celebration.
Chelsea announced the signing of Christopher Nkunku from Leipzig on Tuesday for a reported fee of £52m, Sportivationng.com reports.
The French forward has signed a six-year deal to become Mauricio Pochettino’s first signing.
Nkunku contributed 16 goals and six assists in 25 league games for RB Leizpig un the Bundesliga this season.
Nkunku’s Personal Information
Christopher Alan Nkunku was born on 14 November 1997 in Lagny-sur-Marne, Seine-et-Marne, France.
He started his professional career with PSG in 2010.
He made his professional debut at the age of 18 on 8 December 2015, in a UEFA Champions League match against Shakhtar Donetsk.
Nkunku scored his first professional goal in a 7–0 home win against Bastia in the Coupe de France on 7 January 2017.
He joined RB Leipzig in 2019 for €13 million.
He made his debut for the club on 11 August in a DFB-Pokal match against VfL Osnabrück.
Nkunku provided four assists in a 5–0 victory over Schalke 04. he became just the second player in recent Bundesliga history to register four assists in a single match, after Szabolcs Huszti in 2012.
Nkunku scored a hat-trick for Leipzig in their 6–3 defeat to Manchester City in a 2021–22 UEFA Champions League group stage match
He was the first player in the club’s history to score a hat-trick in the Champions League.
In May 2022, he won the 2021–22 Bundesliga Player of the Season award after scoring 20 times and assisting 13 goals in 34 league games.
In the 2022–23 season, he scored 16 goals in the league to finish as joint top scorer along with Niclas Füllkrug.
Nkunku’s Style Of Play
Nkunku is a right-footed attacker who can play centrally or out wide. His best attribute is his dribbling, and he is extremely good at finding his way through a press and getting out of tight spaces.
When receiving, he often keeps the ball close with his first touch, unless there is a particularly inviting space to6 push the ball into.
This small first touch is taken with the aim of drawing opponents towards the ball for Nkunku to then beat.
He is most effective at attacking transitions, when moving the ball forward as directly and quickly as possible is more important.
Nkunku’s Net Worth: $10 million
Nkunku’s Transfer Value: €80.00m
Nkunku’s Stats
He scored 23 goals and recorded 9 assists in 36 games in all competitions for RB Leizpig in the just-concluded season.
Nkunku’s Balloon Celebration
The celebration started in November when he pulled a balloon out of his sock and inflated it after scoring the opener in a 4-0 Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk.
In the aftermath of the unique celebration, Nkunku was inundated with messages asking for his reasoning behind the celebration, and it’s actually very sweet.
It turns out he does the celebration for his two-year-old son.
“The balloon was for my son. He likes balloons,” he said after the match.
Nkunku has celebrated like this on a number of occasions, including during his final appearance for Leipzig when he scored to help his side win the DFB-Pokal.
Nkunku has now scored three goals for Chelsea in four pre-season games.