Christopher Nkunku had scored just about every type of goal you could imagine this season.
Deft chips, swerving free-kicks, clever volleys, laser-guided finishes with either foot, even the odd header. But never a penalty. In fact, the RB Leipzig forward had not even taken a Bundesliga spot-kick. Until this weekend’s trip to the German capital, that is.
But as Nkunku was bundled to the ground by Hertha Berlin’s hapless centre-half Marc-Oliver Kempf, the former PSG starlet was gifted a opportunity to complete the set.
A footballing ‘full house’, if you will.
And he could hardly have been more obliging. Hammering a terrific penalty into the bottom corner, Nkunku not only set Leipzig on the way to a 6-1 hammering of relegation-threatened Hertha – the second time this season they’ve put six past the calamitous capital club – he also broke the 20-goal barrier for the first time in his career.
Three minutes later, he had 21, tapping in from close range as the fearsome Nkunku-Dani Olmo partnership came up trumps once more.
Is Christopher Nkunku Europe’s best goalscoring midfielder?
According to ESPN, Liverpool, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Manchester City are all taking furious notes on Nkunku’s progress.
And no wonder. Because, in the words of his former RB Leipzig boss Jesse Marsch, this is a footballer with absolutely ‘no weaknesses’.
“Christopher has no weaknesses. He is young and still wants a lot more,” Marsch said in the autumn.
Sacked after less than half a season in charge, Marsch’s Leipzig reign was short and not particularly sweet. But even the American’s most outspoken of critics would have to admit that he played a major role in Nkunku’s devastating development.
Marsch instilled a ruthless streak in his game, and a new-found adaptability in the final third.
“We have spoken to Christopher a lot about playing on the counter. And also what he needs to do to play as a striker, a number 10 and on both wings,” Marsch adds.
“Working with him is a lot of fun as he is really intelligent and has a lot of potential.”
The next step?
How much longer Marsch’s successor, Domenico Tedesco, will be able to call upon Nkunku’s mercurial, almost mystifying talents remains to be seen. BILD believe that a fee of £55 million may be enough to tempt Leipzig into a sale.
And while that is hardly an insignificant sum – Arsenal will be rueing the day they decided not to pay £18 million for Nkunku and snapped up Denis Suarez instead – midfielders capable of hitting 20 goals in a single season don’t come around all too often.
Who knows, if he carries on at this rate, Nkunku may have 30 by the time the transfer window opens.
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