ChristopherNkunku

Christopher Nkunku was born in Lagny-sur-Marne, France, on 14 November 1997, and he learned to play football at the Paris Saint-Germain Academy (he was Mike Maignan's teammate in the youth sides, and also shared the dressing room with Zlatan Ibrahimović in the first team). He made his professional debut on 8 December 2015, in a Champions League clash against Shakhtar. He then made his first start in March 2016, and the year after, he scored his first league goal. In four seasons with PSG he racked up 55 official appearances and eight goals, winning plenty in the process: Ligue 1 three times, just as many French Supercups, two Coupe de France and two League Cups. In July 2019, he moved to Leipzig, Germany, under Nagelsmann, who played him as a winger despite mostly featuring as a number 10 during his time in Paris. He also spent four years at the German club, constantly showing improvement in his performances.

His peak came in the 2021/22 season when he was named Bundesliga's player of the season (20 goals in 34 appearances) and reached double figures in terms of goals across the Champions and Europa League, earning himself a call-up to the French national team. In his four-year spell in Leipzig, he won the German Cup twice and finished on 70 goals in 172 appearances (he was the league's top goalscorer in the 2022/23 season alongside Niclas Füllkrug). In the summer of 2023, he joined Chelsea, and after a first season without much action due to injury, in his second year, he contributed to the London club's Conference League and Club World Cup success with 14 goals in 39 total appearances. When AC Milan signed him (August 2025), he had made 14 appearances for his nation (after time in the youth teams, culminating in his selection for the 2017 U20 World Cup) and scored his first goal in October 2024, in the Nations League, against Israel.