By Mariana Smithfield
Christopher Nkunku Chelsea FC defender On his injury recovering heading into 2024 season FC Series 8 2 2024.mp3
THE CHRISTOPHER NKUNKU FILE
*Christopher Nkunku joined Chelsea from RB Leipzig ahead of the 2023-24 season, signing a six-year contract.
*Nkunku is a graduate of the famed French national football academy at Clairefontaine and started his professional career at Paris Saint-Germain. He made 78 first-team appearances and was involved in three Ligue 1 title wins and two Coupe de France triumphs before departing for RB Leipzig in the summer of 2019.
It is in Germany that Nkunku built his reputation as one of the finest forwards in European football. He scored 35 goals in all competitions during the 2021/22 campaign and was named Bundesliga Player of the Season and German PFA Player of the Season. The DFB-Pokal was also won.
The versatile attacker struck a further 23 goals this season to help Leipzig secure a third-place finish in the Bundesliga and retain the DFB-Pokal.
2023-24 WITH CHELSEA FC
*Unfortunately the start to Nkunku’s Chelsea career was delayed by a knee injury sustained in a pre-season game that required surgery. He was able to make his delayed debut in December 2023, coming on in the second half of a Carabao Cup match against Newcastle, and successfully converting a penalty in a shoot-out which decided the tie.
He followed that up with a late goal in a Christmas Eve Premier League defeat at Wolves, and then after a month out with a hip injury, returned as a half-time substitute at Anfield and scored a quality goal, albeit a consolation one in a defeat there.
When we played Liverpool again in the Carabao Cup final, Nkunku featured as a substitute but a hamstring injury suffered at Wembley kept him out throughout March and April.
He returned to play a part in the final four games of the season – all victories – and he scored the winner in the penultimate game of the season away at Brighton.
COURTESY CHELSEA FC, COLUMBUS CREW AND FC SERIES COMMUNICATIONS
