Dominik Szoboszlai of RB Leipzig celebrates with his team mate Christopher Nkunku after scoring. (Photo by Sebastian Widmann/Getty Images)
Christopher Nkunku’s move to Chelsea puts him in new territory. He has himself admitted that apart from playing against Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, he hadn’t been in London.
He won’t have a lot of familiar faces around in the dressing room as well. Timo Werner could have been one had he not been sold back to RB Leipzig last summer.
We can’t help but think that Werner’s return to the Bundesliga club ultimately helped us, at least in some way, to sign Nkunku from Leipzig. They perhaps find a player who could take on the responsibility to score goals from Nkunku.
And we offloaded a player who was clearly struggling here. The France international nevertheless will link up with Wesley Fofana and Benoit Badiashile.
He has met them before and worked with them for the national team set-up. He was asked in an exclusive interview with the club’s official media if he knew any of his new teammates at Chelsea.
He replied:
“I don’t know London so much. I only know some stadiums because I played here against Tottenham and Arsenal before. But apart from that I’ve never visited London before.
“I know some of the players. I know Benoit Badiashile and Wesley Fofana a little from the national team but I’m excited to meet them again, to get to know them better and to work with them here.”
Badiashila and Fofana (both 22) are two young French defenders who have arrived here under Todd Boehly’s ownership with hopes of becoming two of our top-most central defenders in the future.
It is good that Nkunku will have someone to gel up with instantly upon arrival in SW6. N’Golo Kante could have been another French compatriot for the former RB Leipzig man to link up with. But the midfielder has joined Al-Ittihad.
Badiashile was not named in France’s initial squad for the 2024 UEFA Euro qualifiers earlier this month, but Nkunku and Fofana were. For the amount we have invested in the trio, they will be expected to play a big role in Chelsea’s first season under Mauricio Pochettino.
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