When it comes to French players, the current hotbed names in European football are naturally Benzema and Mbappe. But there's also a 24-year-old attacker whose stats aren't even inferior to those of the two superstars. Nkunku, who has scored 30 goals in 44 games this season and provided 19 assists, has been named Bundesliga Player of the Month three times this season, and has been targeted by Manchester United, Bayern, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool and Real Madrid. Maybe next season, he will return to the big stage.
01. Sold for the team's draw: Now the value is soaring towards 100 million
a. Debut in Paris Youth Academy: Nkunku, born on November 14, 1997, grew up in paris Saint-Germain Academy in order to tie the score of "wantonness", and as early as the 2015-16 youth Champions League, he was recognized by the team for scoring twice in the group stage and the semi-finals against Real Madrid twice. Emery promoted him to the first team, and Nkunku, who made his Ligue 1 debut at the age of 18, is also a regular in France's national youth teams at all levels.
However, because of the arrival of Neymar and Mbappe, the "unscrupulous" Paris needs to sell players to "settle the account". In those years, the team sold a number of youth players in exchange for "net profits" on the books. Because of the arrival of Neymar and Mbappe, Nkunku, who also likes to move on the left, rarely had the opportunity to gradually slide from the rotation player who could have played steadily to the end of the bench.
b. Red Bull's discernment: The current value is moving towards 100 million
Red Bull Leipzig took out a transfer fee of 13 million euros to bring him to the Bundesliga. In the 2019-20 season, Nkunku, then 22, delivered a record of 6 goals and 15 assists in the Bundesliga and Champions League, winning four single-game MVPs and being the top-notch in the Bundesliga.
Last season's performance was a bit uneventful, but after entering the 2021-22 season, Nkunku ushered in a surprising explosion. He scored 30 goals in 44 games in all competitions, contributed 19 assists, and won 3 Bundesliga Player of the Month in the past 7 months. If the impact of the penalty is removed, Nkunku is directly involved in contributing goals in the Bundesliga and can actually match Lewandowski (16 goals + 13 assists = 27 goals + 2 assists).
Although the team finished third behind Manchester City and Paris in the Champions League group stage, Nkunku, who scored seven goals, won wide acclaim. In the Europa League knockout rounds, he scored three more goals to help the team reach the top four. Currently on the German transfer website, his assessed value has reached 65 million euros. Because Manchester United, Bayern, Paris, Liverpool, AC Milan and Real Madrid are all interested in him, if they transfer this summer, the actual transaction price may be close to hundreds of millions of euros.
02. Extremely efficient transmission! The style of the ball resembles that of Neymar
a. Pitch position: left-wing forward or two-striker
Nkunku has a wide range of activities on the pitch, and he can play as a forward or winger forward, and even as a central defender.
He prefers to go to the left side, but can also go to the right side to dominate the counter-attack and possession. It should be noted that Nkunku's physical fitness is not outstanding, and his speed and strength are weaker, so his single-player success rate has always been low, and at best it is only 50%.
b. High passing efficiency
Nkunku's biggest strengths are a large range of motion, good forward penetration awareness, and high shooting efficiency. He was very capable of following up after his teammates were speeding up on the flanks, and many of the goals came from similar methods.
This time Lemmer's starting speed was important, and Nkunku's shot continued its own efficiency.
Despite being only 1.75 meters tall, Nkunku's bouncing and header abilities are actually good. Facing his old club Paris Saint-Germain, Nkunku was impressed this time by scoring a header from the penalty area.
As you can see, most of Nkunku's goals came from inside the box (3 were long-range shots). This is related to his high motivation to run and the fact that RB Leipzig's overall fast pace of advancement masks his flaws.
Nkunku's passing is also good, especially on counter-attacks, and his straight ball quality is also good. This time, Lemmer cut the ball and stepped forward to meet Nkunku's direct goal of Borussia Dortmund.
Looking at the offensive and defensive conversion this time, after Bayer Leverkusen lost the ball, Nkunku once again found Sobosroy in front of him with a straight ball to help his teammate score the only goal of the game.
So far this season, Nkunku has scored 30 goals in all competitions and contributed 19 assists. In terms of goals scored, it ranks third among French players, behind Karim Benzema's 39 goals and Mbappe's 31 goals.
03. Average physical fitness: speed and strength are not good enough
a. Have a certain technical ability under the feet: but not enough to amaze the four sides
From the technical characteristics, Nkunku is more like a confrontational, speed and technology weakened version of Neymar. Help the team with a lot of running, no-ball interspersing and efficient passing.
But because his physical fitness is not good enough, he cannot become the real leader of the attack, more like the existence of harvesting data under an efficiently operating whole.
Nkunku's foot movement frequency is good, and he has a certain ability to handle the ball locally. This time he played just one minute in the team's crucial play against Bayer Leverkusen and came close to creating a penalty.
The quality of his pulling motion was good, the opponent was suspected of fouling, but unfortunately the referee was indifferent, and teammate Orban's shot hit the goalpost.
This time is also very typical, Nkunku did not have a particularly good chance after suddenly taking the ball, so he returned the second forward insertion. A beautiful one-on-one pass at his feet cut into the penalty area, but unfortunately the shot was deflected by the goalkeeper.
Overall, the frequency of movement and continuous movement under Nkunku's feet are his advantages, but the pure foot technique is still not amazing enough. If he really wants to emulate Neymar's showmanship, it is often difficult to achieve satisfactory results.
In this season's European competition, Nkunku has scored 10 goals (7 in the Champions League + 3 in the Europa League knockout rounds). His advantage is that he is mobile, but his lack of physical fitness limits him to the next level.
The explosive power of his first move is average, really compared with the offensive core of Neymar, and the ability to get rid of the ball in an instant after taking the ball is average. Once pasted by an opponent, they can often only create fouls or concede goals.
In addition, his absolute speed is also average, this time a good counterattack opportunity, is because the first step failed to really start the speed, resulting in him being caught up after being knocked down because of the weak confrontation, the referee signaled that there was no foul.
In terms of Nkunku's personal ability and physical condition, he does not have the ability to take the ball from the middle of the road to dominate the counterattack. If he wants to play a counter-attack rhythm, he needs to go to the wing to take the ball and advance. This time it was good not to be broken, but I could only choose to pass back.
Conclusion:
As a front waist, Nkunku may become the type of controversy and data coexistence of B fees if he goes to the giants. Trapped by his body, he is very capable of becoming a true master. However, in an efficient system, his data will not disappoint.
This may also be a feature of this era, where more and more players have become "systematic". Among those "systematic" players, those with high passing efficiency will become big stars.