If RB Leipzig can take any solace from their quite below-par start to the season under new boss Jesse Marsch, its the form of their supremely gifted talismanic French midfielder Christopher Nkunku.
The 23-year-old was terribly unlucky that is tremendous hat-trick against Manchester City in their UEFA Champions League group stage curtain raiser came at a disastrous cost as Leipzig were cut to shreds at the other end as City triumphed 6-3 at the Etihad.
While much of the headlines on the night will have been about their shambolic defending against Grealish and co. Christopher Nkunku’s stock rose considerably providing hope for Leipzig in an otherwise dour evening in Manchester.
The 23-year-old took his goals superbly, despite all three of them drawing Leipzig back into the game whilst City ran riot, but all three goals were a true reflection of the remarkable growth he is showing under Jesse Marsch so far this season.
The former Red Bull Salzburg coach has already stated his admiration and joy at working with the Frenchman, “Christopher has no weaknesses. He’s young and still want a lot more. Working with him is a lot of fun as he’s really intelligent and has a lot of potential.”
Indeed, Nkunku is an incredibly intelligent player and that isn’t just reflected in his goals – he’s got 7 goals and 2 assists in eight games at the time of writing – it’s the way he’s setting about scoring them. Getting himself into the right positions to take his chances but also provide the whole team with the onus to go and express themselves in attack.
Against Hertha Berlin at the weekend, Nkunku scored two beautiful goals – a dink over the keeper and a finely taken free-kick right into the top corner – and provided two assists in Leipzig’s 6-0 rout over a very poor Hertha BSC side to become the hallmark of Leipzig’s instant rejuvenation.
In their second Champions League group stage game against Belgian outfit Club Brugge – in yet another European defeat for Jesse Marsch and his side – he bagged his fourth goal in the competition latching onto a through ball to put Leipzig ahead in a 2-1 defeat.
It’s important to note that Nkunku has always provided the admirable and telling consistency in his game that makes him such a uniquely gifted performer for Leipzig. It’s only now, his performances are reaping its rewards.
Last season, he registered the highest combined non-penalty expected goals (npxG) and expected assists (xA) for attacking midfielders/wingers domestically (0.73 per game). How does that rank amongst his peers? Very high in fact. Over the course of the past year, he ranks in the 96th percentile in Europe’s top five leagues and international club competition for the same category (0.64 per game).
NpxG and xA are combined with “shot creation actions”, meaning “the two offensive actions directly leading to a shot, such as passes, dribbles and drawing fouls”, highlighting involvement in Leipzig’s attacks. Once again, his overall contribution was only bettered by a handful of the world’s top midfielders/forwards, including Neymar and Lionel Messi.
However, due to poor finishing by himself and his teammates meant that his extraordinarily positive influence on the team’s attacking output was getting somewhat overlooked because he wasn’t registering the goals and assists that is expected from attacking midfielders.
His Bundesliga npxG of 0.37 and xA of 0.36 per 90 only produced six goals and six assists from 28 games. In fact, his underlying numbers suggest Nkunku should really have notched around 10 goals and 10 assists last season. His end product appeared above-average rather than excellent, unlike his debut campaign where he hit five goals and 13 assists.
Also, his positional versatility proved his undoing under former boss Julian Nagelsmann last year. He was seen as a very useful utility player rather than the technically gifted up-and-coming star he should have been perceived as.
Nkunku performed in a variety roles mostly as one of two narrow attacking midfielders behind a striker or false nine which hampered his understanding of his role and value in the team and also the opportunity to work efficiently and effectively with his fellow attackers such as the equally gifted Dani Olmo.
In Jesse Marsch’s 4-2-3-1 system, by contrast, he’s been utilised as more of a winger.
When Marsch changed his set-up in response to his team’s run of poor results ahead of the Hertha BSC game and reverted to Nagelsmann’s 3-4-3 system, Nkunku was back in the right-sided No 10 role but crucially given licence to make roam and make deeper runs as his abilities warrant.
From there, he’s able to provide his strongest assets: his pace, off-the-ball movement and superb understanding of space in between the opponent’s defence and midfield. Against Hertha, Nkunku clocked an outstanding 35.5 kilometres per hour during the game.
Defensively, Nkunku is just as quick off the mark and without the ball. 8.69 pressures in the final third put him in the 99th percentile in the top five leagues for players in his positions.
The midfielder is so dangerously creative too. Once he gets the ball in the final third, its incredibly hard to stop him expressing himself. He’s always on the move, always willing to receive the ball in the most difficult areas in the half-space but more important he is very competent and consistent in attempting the extraordinary eye-of-the-needle through balls. He’s averaged an incredible 5.27 shot creating actions, 2.41 key passes, 2.22 passes into the final third whilst also averaging the same amount of passes into the 18-yard-box per90 minutes. Again, he is so vital to Jesse Marsch’s team.
He is indeed a uniquely gifted performer.
Now, we are finally starting to see Nkunku reap his rewards. He’s always worked hard as the above stats show, he’s always been a willing player both in attack and defence but he hasn’t had the numbers to show for it.
At Leipzig, they’re not surprised at his extraordinary start to the season.
After returning from the summer break with more muscle having worked with a personal trainer on his stability and speed, putting in extra shifts on the training ground in his ball-work, Marsch and his coaching staff were expecting him to be one of the key performers in this campaign and Nkunku has repaid their faith so far.
He is one of the first names on the team-sheet this season, after finding his spot limited under Naglesmann last year.
Born in Lagny-sur-Marne, the same Paris suburb that produced Paul Pogba, Nkunku cut a rather slight if confident figure among fellow Clairefontaine academy students Marcus Thuram (now at Borussia Monchengladbach), Allan Saint-Maximin (now at Newcastle United) and Amine Harit (now at Marseille).
As was often the case of young stars playing in Paris, opportunities were limited for players from the PSG academy. If you need any examples, just ask players like Odsonne Edouard, Tanguy Nianzou, Boubakary Soumaré or Timothy Weah, the list is endless.
Nkunku understood that he needed to find regular game time hence his move to Leipzig in 2019. A club well placed to provide him with the development and learning his game deserved.
Shortly before leaving Paris, Arsenal head of recruitment Sven Mislintat had attempted to bring in the player on loan in the 2018-19 winter transfer window but PSG didn’t approve. He was sold to RB for €13 million and made it to the semi-finals of the Champions League in his first season.
“It was the club I needed,” Nkunku explained at the time. “I’ve rediscovered the pleasure of playing. I feel that I’m blossoming on the pitch, that I’m a bit more liberated. The more time goes on, the better I am. Now I can say that it is better to leave your comfort zone to grow taller.”
The 23-year-old has grown considerably since then, his game has matured and his intelligence and understanding of the tactically has soared through the roof, and its a testament to his hard-work and willingness to learn and improve. Nkunku is only going to get better and that’s a scary sight for Leipzig’s opponents this season.
His existing contract runs until 2024 but just like Dayot Upamecano, Ibrahima Konate, Naby Keita, Timo Werner and Marcel Sabitzer before him, he’ll almost certainly become too good a player to stick around at Leipzig for much longer.
The club will have to enjoy him while they can, because Christopher Nkunku is on to much bigger things in the near future.
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