Mauricio Pochettino will have a new £60m signing waiting when he takes over at Chelsea.
Lampard breaks silence on Chelsea Pochettino links
Mauricio Pochettino will be acutely aware of the scale of the task ahead at Chelsea as he prepares to take over as the club's next permanent manager. But there are some interesting benefits to managing a club of this size and thanks to Todd Boehly's well-paid pocket, he will manage some of the most talented players around. One of them is Christopher Nkunku, widely regarded as one of Europe's most dangerous strikers, who was about to move to England but went unnoticed.
It is almost forgotten that Chelsea agreed a £60m package with RB Leizpig in January to bring in the France international, after seeing their efforts to sign the France international fail. In summer last year. Leipzig are determined to find a long-term replacement for Nkunku first and with the arrival of Benjamin Sesko from Red Bull Salzburg next summer, they can launch their top scorer.
While Leizpig has yet to officially confirm Nkunku's departure with a statement and Chelsea are on a low profile, the German club's sporting director Max Eberl revealed in March that Nkunku will no doubt join the west London team.
Speaking to BILD, Eberl said:
"The signs are very, very clear that he will move to Chelsea."
Sport-Club Freiburg - RB Leipzig - Bundesliga
Christopher Nkunku:
The Frenchman will join Chelsea this summer. (Image:
Getty)
Chelsea also sold Timo Werner to the German club two years after paying £47.5m for the striker in 2020, and they expect Nkunku to outbid the Germany international after scoring just 23 goals. 89 appearances for the club.
There is no doubt Pochettino will look forward to working with Nkunku, who admired the Frenchman during his time at Paris Saint-Germain. Of course, the Argentine had the sexiest attacking trio in the world at the time - Lionel Messi, Kylian Mbappe and Neymar - so there was no real urgency to bring Nkunku back to his old club.
But unlike PSG, Chelsea are hungry for an attacking player after a poor campaign in the Premier League. Currently ranked 11th in the national rankings, the two-time Champions League winner has had a turbulent first season under Boehly's leadership and has encountered many difficulties on the pitch.
The most pressing issue is their lack of goals - scoring 34 in as many games - and only Wolves, Everton and Southampton have scored fewer goals this season. This comes despite a massive £140m investment in Mykhaylo Mudryk, Noni Madueke, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Joao Felix on loan, with the quartet earning a meager six league goals between them. Mauricio PochettinoChelsea
Mauricio Pochettino:
The new Chelsea boss has a crown jewel in player Christopher Nkunku (Image:
Getty)
Nkunku has no problem in that respect, he has become a regular scorer for Leipzig over the past two seasons, scoring 54 goals in 84 games. Confidence oozes from his feet as he dribbles and he is rarely afraid to shoot, averaging three shots per game in the Bundesliga this season, scoring 13 goals in 22 appearances.
First, Pochettino knows he needs to clear the pile of dead wood on his side, with strikers Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic and Aubameyang all set to leave in a major summer exodus. But the path is clear for Nkunku to leave his mark on the team. He'll probably take on the left-handed role
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