Arsenal are considering a shock ‘charge’ to sign Chelsea forward Christopher Nkunku ahead Bayern Munich this summer after the Gunners made an approach for the forward in January.
Nkunku joined Chelsea for £52m from RB Leipzig in the summer of 2023 and endured an injury-ravaged first season at Stamford Bridge ahead of a second which has seen him play a peripheral role under Enzo Maresca.
The France international was reportedly keen on an exit in the winter window, with Manchester United linked with his signing, but Nkunku remained at the club and has played far more frequently in the second half of the campaign.
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He’s managed 12 goals across all competitions, second only to Cole Palmer (14) at Chelsea this season, but the majority of those goals came in the UEFA Conference League against vastly inferior opponents, while his three Premier League goals came against Southampton (2) and Bournemouth.
Maresca insisted last month that Nkunku’s struggles were not down to a “lack of effort”.
“I don’t think it’s a lack of effort because at the end I can see Christo every day and he’s working well,” Maresca told reporters. “Sometimes probably he wants to give more during a game and he struggles a little bit, but for sure I don’t think it’s a lack of effort.”
But from the outside it looks like Nkunku wants to leave Chelsea at the earliest opportunity this summer, and while interest from Bayern Munich confirmed by RMC Sport has been well stated for over a year, Arsenal supposedly battling the Bundesliga giants for his signature is something of a surprise.
The French outlet claims the Gunners were looking into a move for the 27-year-old in January amid their forward injury crisis and have now reignited their interest with Chelsea and Nkunku ‘reaching the point of no return’, with a summer ‘charge’ on the cards.
It’s thought Nkunku wants to move to a club with ‘guaranteed Champions League football’, with both Bayern and Arsenal expected to ‘return to the fray’ following that reported desire.
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Nkunku was again left out of the starting lineup for Chelsea’s clash with Everton on Saturday, with Maresca claiming ahead of the game that Cole Palmer’s goal drought – which has seen him fail to find the net in his last 11 Premier League games – is a ‘mental’ issue.
Maresca told reporters: “For sure, it’s mental. I don’t think it’s tactical, I don’t think it’s technical, because Cole is still the same player who scored this season with us.
“The style of football we play is the same one. The manager is the same one. The club is the same one. So nothing changes around Cole and Cole doesn’t change.
“It’s just mentally at this moment. For sure, you can see that he is a little worried because he wants to help the team.”
