Mbappe watching Chelsea as PSG future hangs in balance

Tom Hancock

• 15 Jul 2023 17:14 BST
• 3 min read

Kylian Mbappe can’t wait for Christopher Nkunku to get going at Chelsea, if his recent comments on social media are anything to go by.

Nkunku, who plays alongside the PSG superstar for France, recently completed a €60m (£52m) move to Stamford Bridge from Bayern Munich, as the Blues set about revamping their attack for Mauricio Pochettino.

And Mbappe – whose own future remains the subject of widespread speculation – seems extremely excited to see Nkunku in action with his new club.

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Reacting to an Instagram post by Nkunku of himself in Chelsea training, Mbappe wrote: “Going to get my popcorn” – implying that he’s expecting big things indeed from his international teammate as he takes arguably the biggest step of his career yet.

The Blues’ centre-forward struggles continued last season as, having loaned Romelu Lukaku back to Inter Milan following his disastrous return to Stamford Bridge, their joint top scorers – Kai Havertz, who has since joined Arsenal, and Raheem Sterling – scored just nine goals in all competitions.

Pochettino and co. will be hoping that Nkunku provides the desperately needed solution to Chelsea’s lack of goals.

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Nkunku’s Bundesliga record bodes well

The 25-year-old’s goals return during his last two seasons with Leipzig certainly augurus well: he found the net 23 times in 36 appearances last term, and 35 times in 52 outings the previous campaign.

As for Mbappe, could he follow Nkunku to the Premier League in the not-too-distant future? Arsenal and Liverpool have both been linked with the 2018 World Cup winner.

But, unsurprisingly, Real Madrid still appear keen on the free-scoring 24-year-old – who is said to have told PSG he won’t be extending his contract beyond next summer, which could force the Ligue 1 champions to sell him this transfer window.