.jpg) Nkunku playing forRB Leipzig in 2022 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Christopher Alan Nkunku | ||
| Date of birth | (1997-11-14)14 November 1997 (age 28) | ||
| Place of birth | Lagny-sur-Marne, France | ||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Forward,attacking midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | AC Milan | ||
| Number | 18 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2003–2009 | AS Marolles | ||
| 2009–2010 | Fontainebleau | ||
| 2010–2015 | Paris Saint-Germain | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2015–2016 | Paris Saint-Germain B | 27 | (5) |
| 2015–2019 | Paris Saint-Germain | 55 | (8) |
| 2019–2023 | RB Leipzig | 119 | (47) |
| 2023–2025 | Chelsea | 38 | (6) |
| 2025– | AC Milan | 8 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2012 | France U16 | 3 | (0) |
| 2016 | France U19 | 3 | (0) |
| 2016–2017 | France U20 | 12 | (0) |
| 2018 | France U21 | 6 | (0) |
| 2022– | France | 18 | (2) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 22:24, 23 November 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 21:17, 16 November 2025 (UTC) | |||
Christopher Alan Nkunku (born 14 November 1997) is a French professionalfootballer who plays as aforward orattacking midfielder[2] forSerie A clubAC Milan and theFrance national team.
Nkunku is a graduate of theParis Saint-Germain Academy and made his professional debut for the club in December 2015. He made 78 appearances for them and won theLigue 1 title thrice, theCoupe de France twice, and theCoupe de la Ligue twice. He moved to the German sideRB Leipzig in July 2019, with whom he scored 70 goals in 172 appearances over four seasons and won theDFB-Pokal twice. He was named theBundesliga Player of the Season in the 2021–22 campaign and was the league's top scorer the following season. Nkunku was signed byChelsea in 2023 for £52 million. After spending two years in Chelsea, he joined AC Milan in 2025.
Nkunku represented France at multiple youth international levels, before making his debut for the senior national team in March 2022.
Christopher Alan Nkunku[3] was born on 14 November 1997 inLagny-sur-Marne, Seine-et-Marne.[4] He went to El Francis Assis Secondary school and he began playing football with AS Marolles as a six-year-old.[5] In 2009, he joinedFontainebleau, where he was spotted by scouts of several professional clubs.[5] Despite his young age and childlike physique, he was noted for "his speed, his technique and his vision of the game", as recalled by Norbert Boj in 2020, former head of the Fontainebleau football school.[6] He would line up in all positions across themidfield, a versatility he, according to another coach at the club, owed to his "technical prowess, obviously, but especially his intelligence of play".[6]
Due to being considered too young and light, Nkunku was not signed byLens,Le Havre, andMonaco, clubs where he had been on trials.[5][6] He eventually signed withParis Saint-Germain, where he was able to progress through the youth sides ofINF Clairefontaine at under-15 level.[7] Spending the weekdays at Clairefontaine and playing only on weekends with Paris Saint-Germain, he made the permanent move to the French powerhouse at the age of fifteen.[5][7]
Nkunku joined theParis Saint-Germain youth system in 2010.[8] He was a member of the youth team who were runners-up in the2015–16 UEFA Youth League.[9] He made his professional debut at the age of 18 on 8 December 2015, in aUEFA Champions League match againstShakhtar Donetsk, replacingLucas Moura after 87 minutes in a 2–0 home win.[10] He scored his first professional goal in a 7–0 home win againstBastia in theCoupe de France on 7 January 2017.[11] On 10 March 2018, he scored his first brace as a professional, in a 5–0 win againstMetz.[12]
On 18 July 2019,RB Leipzig announced Nkunku's signing on a five-year deal for an approximate €13 million transfer fee plus bonuses.[13] He made his debut for the club on 11 August in aDFB-Pokal match againstVfL Osnabrück, which ended in a 3–2 victory.[14] HisBundesliga debut followed a week later, scoring his first competitive goal on the first matchday of the2019–20 season in a 4–0 win over regional rivalsUnion Berlin.[15]
On 22 February 2020, Nkunku provided four assists in a 5–0 victory overSchalke 04. In doing so, he became just the second player in recent Bundesliga history to register four assists in a single match, afterSzabolcs Huszti in 2012.[16]
On 15 September 2021, Nkunku scored ahat-trick for Leipzig in their 6–3 defeat toManchester City in a2021–22 UEFA Champions League group stage match.[17] He was the first player in the club's history to score a hat-trick in theUEFA Champions League.[18] In May 2022, he won the2021–22 Bundesliga Player of the Season award after scoring 20 times and assisting 13 goals in 34 league games.[19] In the 2022–23 season, he scored 16 goals in the league to finish as joint top scorer along withNiclas Füllkrug.[20]
On 20 June 2023, Nkunku signed forPremier League clubChelsea on a six-year deal starting 1 July 2023.[21][22] The transfer fee was reported to be £52 million.[23] On 8 August, it was announced that he had undergone surgery for a knee injury sustained during a pre-season match and would be out for an extended period, thereby missing the start of the season.[24] He finally made his debut on 19 December 2023 againstNewcastle United in the quarter-finals of theEFL Cup, scoring a penalty in the 4–2 shoot-out win after the match finished 1–1.[25] Five days later, he made his Premier League debut away atWolverhampton Wanderers, coming off the bench during the second half and scoring a late goal in a 2–1 defeat for Chelsea.[26] On 31 January 2024, he scored again againstLiverpool in a 4–1 loss at Anfield. On 24 September, Nkunku scored a hat-trick againstEFL League Two sideBarrow A.F.C. in the third round of theEFL Cup, helping the Blues to a 5–0 victory.[27]
On 30 August 2025, Nkunku moved toSerie A, signing forAC Milan on a five-year deal worth €42 million.[28] A month later, on 23 September, he scored his first goal in a 3–0Coppa Italia victory overLecce.[29]
Nkunku was born in France and is ofCongolese descent.[30][31] He was a French youth international, representing the country atunder-16,under-19,under-20, andunder-21 levels.[32] He made three appearances for the under-20 team at the2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.[33]
Nkunku was called up to the seniorFrance squad for the first time for friendly matches againstIvory Coast andSouth Africa on 25 and 29 March 2022, respectively.[34] He made his debut as a starter in the game against Ivory Coast.[35] On 9 November 2022, he was named in the 25-man French squad for the2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.[36] On 15 November, he sustained a knee injury after colliding withEduardo Camavinga during training atClairefontaine, which forced him to drop out prior to the competition.[37]
On 10 October 2024, Nkunku scored his first goal for the national team in a 4–1 away win againstIsrael.[38]
Nkunku is known for his 1v1 abilities due to his dribbling skills and burst of pace which enable opportunities for him to separate from his mark with space to look for a pass or shot. He is a right-footed attacker who can play centrally or out wide.[39][40]Nkunku is known for a unique goal celebration where he inflates a balloon in the color of his team (red during his time atRB Leipzig andAC Milan and blue atChelsea) which he usually carries in his sock. He has explained that the celebration is for his son, who likes balloons.[41]
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Europe | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Paris Saint-Germain B | 2015–16 | CFA | 18 | 2 | — | — | — | — | 18 | 2 | ||||
| 2016–17 | 9 | 3 | — | — | — | — | 9 | 3 | ||||||
| Total | 27 | 5 | — | — | — | — | 27 | 5 | ||||||
| Paris Saint-Germain | 2015–16 | Ligue 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 |
| 2016–17 | 8 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 2 | ||
| 2017–18 | 20 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[d] | 0 | 27 | 5 | ||
| 2018–19 | 22 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1[d] | 1 | 29 | 4 | ||
| Total | 55 | 8 | 12 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 78 | 11 | ||
| RB Leipzig | 2019–20 | Bundesliga | 32 | 5 | 3 | 0 | — | 9[c] | 0 | — | 44 | 5 | ||
| 2020–21 | 28 | 6 | 5 | 0 | — | 7[c] | 1 | — | 40 | 7 | ||||
| 2021–22 | 34 | 20 | 6 | 4 | — | 12[e] | 11 | — | 52 | 35 | ||||
| 2022–23 | 25 | 16 | 3 | 3 | — | 7[c] | 3 | 1[f] | 1 | 36 | 23 | |||
| Total | 119 | 47 | 17 | 7 | — | 35 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 172 | 70 | |||
| Chelsea | 2023–24 | Premier League | 11 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | 14 | 3 | ||
| 2024–25 | 27 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11[g] | 7 | 6[h] | 1 | 48 | 15 | ||
| Total | 38 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 62 | 18 | ||
| AC Milan | 2025–26 | Serie A | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | — | 0 | 0 | 9 | 1 | ||
| Career total | 247 | 66 | 33 | 11 | 11 | 3 | 48 | 22 | 9 | 3 | 348 | 105 | ||
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | 2022 | 8 | 0 |
| 2023 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 4 | 1 | |
| 2025 | 4 | 1 | |
| Total | 18 | 2 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 10 October 2024 | Bozsik Aréna,Budapest, Hungary | 11 |  Israel | 2–1 | 4–1 | 2024–25 UEFA Nations League A | [43] |
| 2 | 13 October 2025 | Laugardalsvöllur,Reykjavik, Iceland | 16 |  Iceland | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification |
Paris Saint-Germain
RB Leipzig
Chelsea
Individual
