I saw some reports going around last week claiming that Christopher Nkunku is NOT unhappy.
He is. Of course he is. I’d be upset if he wasn’t. Footballers want to play football and if they aren’t playing as much as they want to be, guess what? They’re unhappy. Or at least I hope they are. The only footballer who is perhaps not unhappy when he isn’t playing is Ben White, who oddly doesn’t seem to like football much!
Nkunku loves football though, and at the age of 26, he wants to be playing in and starting league games. That should go without saying/reporting. I’d be annoyed if he wasn’t annoyed!
But what I’ve heard from SPTC sources is that he is remaining very professional and is prepared to work hard to get more starts. But of course he is frustrated and not entirely happy about not starting league games right now. That does not mean he is sulking or causing any issues, it’s just his mindset. He wants to play, but he’s ready to work hard and fight for it.
It is true that his agents are speaking to clubs and planning for a potential move away in the summer, should things remain this way. But again, that is just normal contingency planning. Nkunku is here to fight, and he isn’t giving up at this point. If it goes on though, he will push for a move because naturally at his age he needs to be playing league matches and needs to be an important player.
He’s certainly more than good enough to be, but he didn’t quite send a message to Enzo Maresca on Sunday evening playing for France.
Nkunku started the game in the 10 role and helped his nation beat a strong Italy side 3-1.
He scored a 7 on Sofascore and his passing contributions were great. But WhoScored scored him 6.67. Not bad, but not great.
He also had a good shot on target that led to a goal.
Like Noni Madueke for England last night, he didn’t light it up, but he had a fair and solid game for his country.
He didn’t attempt or complete any dribblers though, and he made zero key passes. He didn’t do anything extra playing in what I believe to be his best position.
French reporters weren’t happy with him…
This was from Get Football News France:
‘Chistopher Nkunku, 4 – The Chelsea forward was tasked with providing the link between a revamped midfield and the two-man frontline. While he took up some promising positions in between the lines, some poor decision-making and heavy touches rendered many of his involvements futile. Les Bleus ultimately suffered from a lack of creativity going forward – in the same vein as the majority of their games since the start of Euro 2024 – which the their revitalised midfield three largely made up for on Sunday.’
But GIVEMESPORT might have been watching a different game!?
They rated Nkunku 8/10 for last night: ‘Picked up some lovely pockets of space in between the Italian banks and was one of France’s brightest threats from an attacking perspective. Enzo Maresca, are you watching?!’
Football eh? One publication sees a 4/10 performance, whilst another sees an 8/10. The beauty of opinions, we all have them, they are often all different.
Truth is, none of these ratings are correct in my view and really he should have scored around a 6.5/10.
He wasn’t great, but he was solid and safe. Nothing extra from the Chelsea man, which is what he is going to need to do now to get into Maresca’s starting Xl for league games.