It has been a mixed start to Massimiliano Allegri's second spell as AC Milan manager. The Rossoneri kicked off the season by defeating Serie B side Bari 2-0 in the Coppa Italia, with Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic scoring the two goals. They then were embarrassed at home as newly promoted Cremonese pulled off a shock 2-1 victory, and they looked set for yet another humbling result on Friday against Lecce.
It wasn't until the 66th minute when Ruben Loftus-Cheek nodded home a free kick from Luka Modric to open the scoring for the visitors. 20 minutes later, Christian Pulisic pounced on a defensive error and cooly tucked in the second goal to secure a 2-0 victory. Pulisic and Loftus-Cheek played 145 and 155 times for Chelsea, respectively, before making the move east and joining Milan, where they have since emerged as two of their biggest sources of creativity in midfield and attack.
From Fikayo Tomori to Pulisic, from Olivier Giroud to Loftus-Cheek, we've seen quite a few players enjoy career revivals after trading Stamford Bridge for San Siro, and Christopher Nkunku has what it takes to continue this trend.
Nkunku spent a decade at Paris Saint-Germain before making the move to RB Leipzig, where he scored 70 goals in 172 appearances over four seasons and won two DFB-Pokal titles. After being named as the 2021/22 Bundesliga Player of the Season and making his France debut, Nkunku finished as the joint-top scorer in the Bundesliga despite missing a sizable chunk of the season to injury. It's why Chelsea signed him in the summer of 2023, paying £52 million for his services.
Unfortunately for him, Nkunku sustained a knee injury on the cusp of the season and missed the first four months before returning in December 2023. The following 20 months have been injury-laden and inconsistent, with Nkunku often seeming like a square peg in a round hole, unable to find a consistent role in the attack under Mauricio Pochettino and Enzo Maresca.
Whilst he was able to play an important role in Chelsea's FIFA Club World Cup campaign, scoring 1 goal in 6 appearances, the writing was on the wall for him following the arrivals of Liam Delap and Joao Pedro. Whilst various clubs like Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig showed interest, it was Milan who were able to pull the trigger and agree a €42m transfer fee plus an agreed sell-on clause.
Having previously looked at Bayer Leverkusen's Victor Boniface and Sporting's Conrad Harder as a potential competitor for Santiago Gimenez up top, Milan have instead landed on a player, who has already made 14 caps with France and won 13 trophies with PSG, Leipzig and Chelsea. At 27 years old, he finds himself in need of a new foundation in order to get his career back on track and play in his first-ever major tournament for France in next summer's World Cup.
