Christopher Nkunku: Arsenal’s first £100m transfer?
Robin Bairner
- 13 Jun 2022 13:44 CDT
- 3 min read
Arsenal have emerged as shock contenders to sign Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig, and indeed the Gunners may be willing to invest so heavily in the France international that they will push themselves to the front of the queue for a deal.
Fellow Premier League sides Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United have also been linked with the 24-year-old, but have been spooked by the hefty asking price of the Bundesliga side.
Arsenal, though, are willing to stump up the €116.5 million (£100m) that Leipzig are asking for, muscling them to the front of the pack along with PSG, where Nkunku played his youth football and made his first steps in the senior game.
This is a figure that their rivals have baulked at, particularly with Nkunku one year from the end of his present contract.
Nkunku to sign new contract?
Previously, there had been an indication in Germany that Leipzig would tie the player down to fresh terms with a clause in a new deal that he would be allowed to depart for €60m next summer. This would appear to favour the likes of Chelsea and Man Utd, who may not be willing to pay a big transfer fee but would instead give the player a huge wage.
In the face of such a potentially massive offer, though, RB Leipzig may be forced to rethink their plans.
Arsenal have apparently sought to get a jump on this pair by spending big on the attacker, who caught the headlines by scoring 35 goals and creating 20 more in just 52 appearances this season.
Certainly, the Gunners need reinforcements in attack following the departures of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to Barcelona in January and Alexandre Lacazette to Lyon this summer.
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Nkunku would be the type of giant transfer out of keeping with the Gunners’ typically prudent history in the market. Indeed, their biggest previous signing was the signing of Nicolas Pepe from Lille in 2019 for €80m – a transfer that proved an almighty disaster.
The type of fee being discussed for the Leipzig star, meanwhile, is nearly 50% greater than that.
It would certainly be a bold departure for Arsenal to launch a transfer bid for Nkunku that would be one of the biggest in Premier League history, but if they want to get back to the top, it may be the type of gamble they need to take.
