Emmanuel Petit believes Christopher Nkunku isn’t being prioritised at Chelsea because of the impending arrival of Estevao Willian next summer.
Nkunku arrived at Chelsea in the summer of 2023 from RB Leipzig in a deal worth £52m, but his time in west London has been plagued by injury.
The 27-year-old impressed in pre-season under Mauricio Pochettino, but picked up an injury which ruled him out for several months, and further issues followed which limited him to just 14 appearances in all competitions.
Petit believes Nkunku isn’t being prioritised by Chelsea
The France international once again impressed in pre-season and it seemed like he would be set for a big role under Enzo Maresca after he started the first game of the season against Manchester City.
However, things haven’t gone to plan since then and he’s yet to start to another Premier League this season, with his action limited to the cup competitions.
Nkunku is Chelsea’s top scorer in all competitions with ten goals, but reports have surfaced stating he’s considering his future because of a lack of playing time.
The Frenchman is currently playing second fiddle to Nicolas Jackson and it will be interesting to see how much game time he gets as the fixtures come thick and fast in the build-up to Christmas.Former Blue Petit has a theory on Nkunku and believes the Blues aren’t prioritising the former RB Leipzig man because of the impending arrival of Estevao.
“Christopher Nkunku isn’t being prioritised at Chelsea because of who is coming in to play in that position, Estevao Willian,” he told Casino Hawks as cited on X.com
“This is a player who has broken Neymar’s records in Brazil and has so much quality despite only being 17.”
There’s plenty of excitement surrounding the teenager’s arrival and he recently created history by becoming the first player under 18 to register 20 goal contributions in a Brazilian league season.
Given Estevao isn’t arriving until next summer, it doesn’t make sense for Chelsea not to be utilising Nkunku this campaign, but maybe Petit could be onto something and it will be interesting to see how things develop this season.