Mon. Nov 11th, 2024

Christopher Nkunku Bio, Age, Family, Religion, Career, Honours.

Christopher Nkunku
Christopher Nkunku

Christopher Alan Nkunku nicknamed Christo is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder or forward. He plays for English Premier League club Chelsea and the France national team.

Nkunku, a Paris Saint-Germain academy product is renowned for his speed, technique and intelligence in play. Moreover, he is versatile player capable of operating as an attacking midfielder or a striker. His pace and skillful dribbling makes reaping opposition defenses look easy.

He made his senior debut with PSG at the age of eighteen and won three Ligue 1 titles before switching to Bundesliga. Christo has represented France at youth levels from the U-15s to the U-21s before making his senior debut in March 2022.

He has an obsession of scoring goals and is currently one of the brightest stars in the European football.

Age and Birthday

Nkunku was born on 14 November 1997 in Lagny-sur-Marne, Seine-et-Maine, Eastern Paris. He is 26 years old as of 2024. His zodiac sign is a scorpion.

Height

Christo measures approximately 1.78 meters (5 feet 10 inches).

Preferred foot

Nkunku is right-footed.

Christopher Nkunku Family and Religion

Family

Christo has a Congolese descent as both his parents are from the Democratic Republic of Congo. He comes from a three sibling family. Not much information about his family is currently available.

Religion

Christopher is a Christian.

Christopher Nkunku Club Career

Early days

Growing up in his hometown, Nkunku started playing football with his peers in the streets. He would soon get extremely attached to the game that he would always create time to train after school. Fortunately, his family saw his potential at that early stage and encouraged him to pursue his passion in the game. Consequently, the young Christopher trained tirelessly to enhance his skills.

In 2003, while aged six years, Christo was enrolled at AS Marolles where he started his development. He moved to RCP Fontainebleau in 2009 where his speed, technique and vision were eminent from an early age. Nkunku was uniquely versatile and would play in all midfield positions.

Paris Saint-Germain: 2010-19

He soon after in 2010 joined the PSG youth system where he started out as a winger owing to his speed and skillful dribbling. Due to his excellent vision and brilliant passing, he would oftentimes be deployed in the central midfield. Christo was part of the PSG youth team who were 2015-16 UEFA Youth League runners-up.

On 8 December 2015, he made his senior club debut in a UEFA Champions League 2-0 win against Shakhtar Donetsk. He scored his maiden professional goal on 7 January 2017 against Bastia in a 7-0 home victory in the Coupe de France. On 10 March 2018, Chris scored his first brace as a professional in a 5-0 victory over Metz.

During his four year time with the French giants, Nkunku made regular appearances. However, he could not secure a spot in the starting line-up. This prompted him to look for better opportunities elsewhere as he sought to better his career.

RB Leipzig: 2019-2023

On 18 July 2019. Nkunku signed a five-year contract with German club, RB Leipzig. He made his debut with the club on 11 August in a 3-2 victory over VfL Osnabruck, in a DFB-Pokal match. A week later, he debuted in Bundesliga scoring his first competitive goal against regional rivals Union Berlin in the 2019-20 season match day one.

On 22 February 2020, in a 5-0 victory over Schalke 04, Nkunku provided four assists. Consequently, he became the second player to do so in the recent Bundesliga history after Szabolcs Huszti in 2012. Nkunku scored his first hat-trick for Leipzig on 15 September 2021, in a 6-3 loss to Manchester City in the 2021-22 Champions League group stage. He consequently made club history by becoming the first Leipzig player to score a hat-trick in the Champions League.

In September 2021, for the first time in his career, Chris scored back-to-back braces. The first coming in a 6-0 win against Hertha BSC on 25 September and the other a week later in a victory over VfL Bochum.

He won the Bundesliga Player of the Season in 2021-22, having scored 20 and assisted 13 goals in 34 league fixtures. In the 2022-23, he finished joint top-scorer (alongside Niclas Fullkrug) with a total of 16 league goals.

Chelsea: 2023-Present

On 20 June 2023, Chelsea announced that they had signed a six-year contract with Nkunku, thence his move from RB Leipzig.

His first Chelsea appearance was on 20 July 2023 in a pre-season match against Wrexham AFC, coming in as a substitute to replace Nicolas Jackson at half-time. Christo opened his goal account with the Blues in the 90th minute of the game. He scored two more goals in pre-season matches against Brighton Albion and Fulham. Unfortunately, an injury sustained in their last pre-season match against Borussia Dortmund on 3 August 2023 delayed his Chelsea debut in competitive football.

Christo however returned from injury four and a half months later to make his maiden appearance in a competitive match for the Blues when he came on from the bench during their 4-2 Carabao Cup quarter-finals victory against Newcastle United on 19 December 2023. Five days later, he scored his maiden EPL goal on his Premier League debut after coming on from the bench to score in the additional time in a 2-1 loss against Wolves. Nkunku marked his first Premier League start with a victory for the Blues in a London derby at home against Crystal Palace on 27 December 2023.

He made a total of 13 EPL appearances and scored 3 goals for the Blues in his debut injury-troubled season in London.

By the look of things, Nkunku is poised to became one of the big names at the Stamford Bridge and in the English Premier League. We can only but wish him the very best.

Christopher Nkunku International Career

Youth

Nkunku has represented France at the U-16, U-19 and U-21 youth levels. He made three appearances in the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

Senior

Chris got his first senior France call up in March 2022 friendlies and debuted as a starter on 25 March against Cote d’ivoire. On 9 November 2022, Nkunku was named in the Les Bleus 25-man team for the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup. Unfortunately, owing to an injury sustained in the build-up to the tournament, he was dropped off the squad.

Christopher Nkunku Honours

Paris Saint-Germain

  • Ligue 1: 2015-16, 2017-18, 2018-19
  • Coupe de France: 2016-17, 2017-18
  • Coupe de la Ligue: 2016-17, 2017-18
  • Trophee des Champions: 2017, 2018

RB Leipzig

  • DFB-Pokal: 2021-22, 2022-23

Individual Awards

  • Bundesliga Top-scorer: 2022-23
  • Footballer of the Year in Germany: 2022
  • Bundesliga Player of the Season: 2021-22
  • Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2021-22
  • VDV Bundesliga Player of the Season: 2021-22
  • VDV Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2021-22
  • Bundesliga Player of the Month: October 2021, February 2022, March 2022, April 2022
  • UEFA Europa League Team of the Season: 2021-22

By MJR

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