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Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has emphatically made it clear that Christopher Nkunku is not available for sale in January, even as he continues to be strongly linked with a move to Manchester United.
Nkunku signed for Chelsea from RB Leipzig in 2023, in a deal worth around £53million.
His time at Stamford Bridge has not gone according to plan so far. He has struggled for minutes, partly due to injuries and also because of stiff competition for places.
The Frenchman started Chelsea’s Premier League opener against Manchester City but has yet to return to the starting lineup of a top-flight match since.
Nkunku has been forced to be content with primarily featuring in the Europa Conference League and Carabao Cup.
Amidst a lack of Premier League minutes, a report covered by The Peoples Person claimed that United had fielded an enquiry about Nkunku’s availability. It was subsequently stated that the player is prepared to force an exit if his situation does not dramatically improve.
Nkunku is understood to be open to sealing a switch to Old Trafford but Chelsea are not too enthused about such an arrangement.
A more recent report suggested that Ruben Amorim has instructed United to try and secure the 27-year-old’s services.
However, the Red Devils are poised to be frustrated if Maresca’s remarks are anything to go by. When asked if he can guarantee that Nkunku will not part ways with the Blues in January, Maresca told reporters [via TEAMtalk], “Absolutely, yes I completely want Christo to stay with us. I don’t have any idea to allow him to go in January.”
“I spoke to Christo days ago and he did not say he was unhappy. For sure, he would like to play minutes, but like many players. We have so many games, especially in December. Since we started, for me, there are not two squads – the squad is only one.”
“They can play Conference League or the Premier League. I completely want Christo to stay with us. I don’t have any idea to let him leave in January. Christo’s best position is between the lines as a No 10 but Cole [Palmer] is playing there.”
“Joao Felix played a Premier League game the other day against Leicester and Christopher, for sure, is going to play Premier League games. But we have many players, we try to share minutes with all of them.”
Maresca insisted that he can keep all of Nkunku, Cole Palmer and Joao Felix happy despite the fact they seem to be vying for one position.
“The intention, the target is to keep all of them happy, even knowing that sometimes it’s not possible. Now is not the moment or the time to think about January, we are still at the end of November, we still have many, many games, especially in December, then we will see.”
“The problem with Chris… it’s not a problem, it’s the same issue and the same thing we mentioned many times about Joao. If you play with Cole, if you play with Joao, if you play with Christo, if you play with Noni [Madueke], if you play with Jadon [Sancho]… who is defending? Because their skills are not defending, it’s to attack. We love them, we want them but also we need balance.”
“The last game we tried with Joao and Cole together. Hopefully next game or soon we can try Christo and Cole, Christo and Joao, for sure, and the reason why is because we have so many games.”
Maresca added that all three stars will play matches but not every game.
If United are indeed keen on landing Nkunku, then they should keep monitoring him and how his situation at Chelsea unfolds over the next few weeks.
Feature image Mike Hewitt via Getty Images
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