Chelsea Signs Christopher Nkunku from Leipzig on 6-Year Deal

French forward Christopher Nkunku gives a press conference during the preparation of the French squad for the upcoming UEFA Euro 2024 football tournament qualifying matches, in Clairefontaine in June 10, 2023. (AFP)
French forward Christopher Nkunku gives a press conference during the preparation of the French squad for the upcoming UEFA Euro 2024 football tournament qualifying matches, in Clairefontaine in June 10, 2023. (AFP)
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Chelsea Signs Christopher Nkunku from Leipzig on 6-Year Deal

French forward Christopher Nkunku gives a press conference during the preparation of the French squad for the upcoming UEFA Euro 2024 football tournament qualifying matches, in Clairefontaine in June 10, 2023. (AFP)
French forward Christopher Nkunku gives a press conference during the preparation of the French squad for the upcoming UEFA Euro 2024 football tournament qualifying matches, in Clairefontaine in June 10, 2023. (AFP)

Chelsea signed France forward Christopher Nkunku from Leipzig on a six-year contract on Tuesday.

The London club spent around $630 million last season and has got its latest recruitment drive up and running with the deal for the highly rated Nkunku. His contract starts on July 1.

”A big effort was made to bring me to the club and I am looking forward to meeting my new coach and teammates and showing the Chelsea supporters what I can do on the pitch," the 25-year-old Nkunku said.

Chelsea endured a miserable first year under new owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital. It recorded its lowest ever points total in the Premier League and missed out on qualification for Europe.

Managers Thomas Tuchel and Graham Potter were discarded and club icon Frank Lampard returned in an interim role to see out the season. Former Tottenham coach Mauricio Pochettino has been appointed and charged with the responsibility of turning around Chelsea's fortunes.

Nkunku is expected to kick off another busy summer at Stamford Bridge.

“Christopher has proved himself one of the standout attacking players in European football over the past two seasons and will add quality, creativity and versatility to our squad,” Chelsea co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley said in a statement.

Nkunku has been capped 10 times by France and played for Paris Saint-Germain before joining Leipzig in 2019.



Barcelona Reaches Copa Del Rey Quarterfinals. Atletico Also Advances

Barcelona's Gavi gestures during a Spanish Copa del Rey round of 16 soccer match between Barcelona and Real Betis at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Barcelona's Gavi gestures during a Spanish Copa del Rey round of 16 soccer match between Barcelona and Real Betis at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
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Barcelona Reaches Copa Del Rey Quarterfinals. Atletico Also Advances

Barcelona's Gavi gestures during a Spanish Copa del Rey round of 16 soccer match between Barcelona and Real Betis at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)
Barcelona's Gavi gestures during a Spanish Copa del Rey round of 16 soccer match between Barcelona and Real Betis at the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, Spain, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Joan Monfort)

Barcelona followed up its rout of Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup final with a comfortable 5-1 victory over Real Betis in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.
Gavi and Jules Koundé scored a goal each in the first half-hour and Raphinha, Ferran Torres and Lamine Yamal added to the lead in the second half to give the Catalan club the win and a spot in the quarterfinals.
It was the fourth straight victory in 2025 for Barcelona, which on Sunday defeated Madrid 5-2 in Saudi Arabia to win the Spanish Super Cup.
“We wanted to keep the momentum from the Super Cup here at home in front of our fans,” Barcelona defender Pau Cubarsí said. “We continue like this and keep the foot on the throttle. The (Christmas) break did well for us, we were able to refresh.”
Barcelona had lost its last two games in 2024 before going on a winning streak against Barbastro in the Copa del Rey and Athletic Bilbao and Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup.
Playmaker Dani Olmo, registered in the last minute after a long battle between Barcelona, the Spanish league and Spain's federation because of a missed deadline by the club, helped set up Gavi's opening goal in the third minute at Montjuic stadium. Yamal gave the pass for Koundé's goal in the 27th.
Koundé thought he had added to the lead in first-half stoppage time but his effort was disallowed by video review because he was offside. Yamal also had one called back by the VAR because of offside early in the second half.
Barcelona's third goal finally counted when Raphinha found the net in a breakaway in the 58th. Torres scored the fourth from inside the area in the 67th, a few minutes after coming off the bench, and Yamal sealed it after a nice run in the 75th.
Vitor Roque scored Betis' lone goal by converting an 84th-minute penalty kick.
Atletico Madrid, playing without many regular starters, routed second-division club Elche 4-0 to extend its record winning streak to 15 matches.
The club had never won more than 13 games in a row across all competitions before.
Alexander Sorloth scored from close range in the eighth and converted a 29th-minute penalty kick. Rodrigo Riquelme scored the third from long range in the 61st, and Julián Álvarez closed the scoring in the 75th.
Elche played a man down from the 50th after Nicolás Fernández was sent off with a second yellow card.
Other results Álvaro Rodríguez scored two minutes into the match as Getafe won 1-0 at fourth-division club Pontevedra.
The visitors played a man down from the 41st after a straight red card was shown to Rodríguez.
An 86th-minute goal by Diego García gave Leganes a 3-2 win at second-division club Almeria.
In other round-of-16 matches on Thursday, defending champion Athletic Bilbao hosts Osasuna and Real Madrid welcomes Celta Vigo.