Scouting Report: Christopher Nkunku

One mighty impressive young player that’s making a name for himself is the French winger, Christopher Nkunku.

He’s also sneakily one of the most creative players out there this season, and I’ll show you why.

Player Profile

Name: Christopher Nkunku
Nationality: French
Age: 22
Club: RB Leipzig
Rookie Season: Rookie cards are from 2016-17

About Christopher Nkunku

Christopher Nkunku actually started his career at PSG, but as many young players find, it can be very hard to nail a starting spot down in a big team.

And you know, when you’re competing with Neymar and Mbappe for minutes, it can be pretty tricky…

So, the winger moved for RB Leipzig in Germany a few seasons ago, and he has absolutely flourished.

In the short intro, I mentioned Nkunku as one of the most creative players in the world right now, and I mean it.

Sure, he only has one assist this season - but I actually think total assists is a bit of a flawed stat when you’re finding the best chance creators.

Let’s just put it this way, the odd times I played as a striker… My midfielders would have had much better assist numbers if I was a better finisher.

The same goes in the pros, there’s so much that is out of the passer’s control when you think about what it takes to get an assist.

Even expected assists (xA) aren’t completely perfect either. Sometimes you can create opportunities for your teammates without passing it to them. Meanwhile, he has an xA of 1.6 this season so far, which is pretty par for the course. It’s a very small sample size.

Another stat I really like to look at is ‘Shot Creating Actions’ or, SCA. SCA counts for the following:

• Pass live: A pass in a live-ball situation

• Pass Dead: A free kick, corner, or any other dead ball

• Dribble: A successful dribble that leads to a shot attempt

• Shot: Your shot leads to another shot attempt

• Fouled: Fouls drawn that lead to a shot attempt

As you can see, in this season so far, Nkunku is third in Shot Creating Actions per 90 minutes (SCA90), and is only behind Neymar and Kevin De Bryne.

Which makes sense, because if I had to guess the top two, it would probably be Neymar and Kevin De Bryne.

Now, ideally, if you had some more data, you could work out the xA for these actions and work out an average of how many xA he earns per shot creating action. But that’s a little too in the weeds for today. You just need to know that shit gets real when Christopher Nkunku has the ball.

From those numbers, you can also see that Nkunku is dangerous with a dead ball. There’s a bit of debate around xG and xA with dead balls… It’s a lot easier to get and create chances with a dead ball than it is in live play.

But still, I think there’s merit in looking at the total number.

Positionally, he’s pretty versatile. As you can see by his heat map below, he’s played mostly on the right wing. However, he has also spent some time on the left.

You can even see that he’s been tested in the defensive half a bit too. Nkunku has dabbled as a wing back, but he’s a lot more dangerous up front.

Versatility is a bit of a funny thing sometimes. At PSG, his versatility was almost a negative - kinda like a man without a home. This made it hard to fully cement a spot in the first team (alongside competition).

Then, since moving to Germany, his versatility has been a huge asset.

Like I said earlier, he’s incredibly dangerous with a dead ball, and hits a lot of corners and free kicks into the hot spot, and with the right guys around him, there’s assist potential there.

However it isn’t just from a dead ball where he’s dangerous. He can make some intelligent reads in live play, and has the ability to deliver the perfect ball. I love this play here.

The defender leaves just enough space (I thought he might have pressed a little more on someone who has a great long-passing game), and Nkunku delivers a ball that should really be put away.

His movement off the ball though means that he does find himself with a fair bit of space and time on the ball occasionally. Which, for a player of his quality, is a huge win.

In the example above, he waited until the midfielder hopped in a defensive stance and focused completely on the guy with the ball. Once that happens, he takes a few quick lateral steps and gives himself another few yards of space.

The good thing I love about plays like the one above is that they change the way a defense lines up. If they know a ball like that is on the table, they need to be ready at all times. That’s only a little thing, but it wears players down over 90 minutes.

His link-up play in close is crafty too. Here he makes the perfect play, playing his teammate in with a nice back-heel.

Again, this is set up largely by his movement off the ball. In the goal above, when he makes his mini-run to the edge of the 18-yard box he drags the opponent number 20 along with him, leaving that space in behind to run into.

When it comes to putting the ball in the back of the net himself, Christopher Nkunku still has a long way to go.

There’s times where he gets himself in pretty great scoring positions but doesn’t challenge the keeper.

Now, that’s not something I’m too concerned about yet. He’s got age on his side, and we know that he is an intelligent player with the way he moves around the pitch… If the goals come, he’ll be incredible. If they don’t, there’s still enough there to show me that he’s got a very bright future.

Defensively, it’s somewhat hard to tell because RB Leipzig play a pretty distinct style. However, his intelligence and physicality means that he is decent in the press, and definitely isn’t a liability on that end - which is a lot more than you can say for other crafty wingers.

Also, defensively, he seems to paly a lot better as a winger defending from the front than he did in his limited minutes as a wingback. However, I haven’t seen mates too recent with him as a wingback so I don’t know yet if that is positional improvement (he defends better as a winger), or just natural progression (he’s older and more experienced now and an all-around better player).

What’s Next For Christopher Nkunku

Christopher Nkunku will play out this season in Germany with Leipzig. They’re in a challenging group, but I think they’ve got a great chance of causing an upset and qualifying from their group.

Actually, they’re a super-tough team to play against, so I think they might cause a bit of a stir this season.

However, I think Nkunku will move on soon. Either at the end of this season, or next. I can’t see him moving in January because he’s cup tied (you can’t play in Champions League for more than one team a season).

I can certainly see him in the Premier League. I think a team like Arsenal would be a great fit. They’ve really struggled to break teams down this season, especially those that play a low-block. So having someone with the long passing, and crossing range of Nkunku would be a huge win.

Christopher Nkunku for Collectors

Nkunku’s rookie sticker is from the 2016/17 season and is in his PSG uniform.

The good thing about this sticker is that it’s from the modern classic rookie Mbappe year. So you could potentially grab a few packs and end up with a Mbappe AND an Nkunku… pretty handy pickup. You can find those packs on eBay.

He also has a Living Set card with a super low pop-count of under 400!

I’d be expecting a lot more cards of his to come out this season, and he’s a name I’ll be looking for with some checklists. But the prices of his rookie product means that you don’t have to invest hundreds of dollars.

You Next Steps

If you’re interested in following Christopher Nkunku’s career, you should check out his rookie cards. There’s also a few thing you can do to help!

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