Bundesliga upstarts RB Leipzig have today confirmed the severity of the injury suffered by star forward Christopher Nkunku.
The recently-turned 25-year-old French international was sent packing from Didier Deschamps’ Les Bleus squad at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar after suffering a knee injury during a nighttime training session involving a collision with Real Madrid starlet Eduardo Camavinga.
As such, France has now been stripped of one of its most gifted and in-form attacking players for the winter tournament, though Deschamps replaced the Leipzig man with Eintracht Frankfurt’s Randal Kolo Muani.
RBL confirmed that Nkunku tore the LCK in his left knee and is expected to be out for 8-10 weeks, which at first had some sections feeling that his upcoming expected summer move away from Saxony to be thrown in jeopardy.
For big-spending Chelsea, his injury will not affect the Blues’ plans to bring in the Frenchman during the summer transfer window as one of yet another big-name signing since the Todd Boehly era kicked off at Stamford Bridge this past summer.
Blues boss Graham Potter was hopeful to push for an updated timetable on the Nkunku deal and secure his services after the World Cup during the January window but that will now prove even more difficult than it was pre-injury.
Chelsea is said to be hoping to finalize the move sooner rather than later, and it stands to note that despite Nkunku and Chelsea having already hashed-out terms on a pre-agreement, other clubs are still capable of making a move for the Lagny-sur-Marne native and former Paris Saint-Germain academy graduate.
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