Ralf Rangnick criticises Christopher Nkunku's decision to join Chelsea

Ralf Rangnick has criticised Christopher Nkunku’s decision to join Chelsea due to the state the club are currently in and is not convinced Julian Nagelsmann should follow him.

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Although there has been no official announcement yet, the west London club reportedly agreed a £53million deal to sign the Frenchman all the way back in December.

There had been fears Chelsea’s looming failure to finish in the top four might prompt Nkunku to have a rethink, but he appears to have already penned a contract and will move to Stamford Bridge at the start of July.

Rangnick, who was heavily involved with Leipzig when Nkunku joined the club from Paris Saint-Germain in 2019, knows the player well and actually recommended him to Manchester United when he first arrived at Old Trafford as caretaker manager.

But it is Chelsea who have won the race for a player who netted 20 times in the Bundesliga last season, though Rangnick is concerned that he has made the wrong decision with the Blues now marooned in 11th place in the table.

Asked about Chelsea – who are trying to appoint Rangnick’s one-time protege Nagelsmann – he told ZDF, as per BILD: ‘I’m also thinking of a player whose arrival at RB Leipzig I was a little bit involved in: Christopher Nkunku.

‘For me, one of the best attacking midfielders currently available and who, in my opinion, decided to move to Chelsea far too early.

‘Can you imagine that such an outstanding player comes to a club that is in the state Chelsea are in at the moment?

‘Personally, this hurts my heart. If I were his advisor or his father, I would be very worried right now.’

In a thinly veiled warning to Nagelsmann, he added: ‘At the moment, no matter who comes as a coach, you can’t really recommend anyone to go there. The very first thing to do is establish some sort of strategy and reduce the squad to a reasonable size that any coach can work with.’

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Chelsea have gone through four different coaches this season – Thomas Tuchel, Graham Potter, Bruno Saltor and now Frank Lampard – and are likely to miss out on European football entirely for next season despite spending £600million in the past year.

Nkunku, meanwhile, has had an injury-ravaged campaign, tearing knee ligaments on the eve of the World Cup while in training with France and then suffering a thigh problem that saw him miss six matches for Leipzig.

Despite a stellar campaign last season that marked him out as one of the most exciting young players in Europe, Nkunku has been restricted to just 15 starts in the Bundesliga this season – though still managed to net 12 times.

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