CHELSEA outcast Christopher Nkunku is set to fly to Italy tonight to tie up a £38m move to AC Milan.
Nkunku seemed poised to join Bayern Munich on loan as the Blues struggled to find clubs willing to pay the asking price for the France international.
But things moved fast when Milan turned their previous interest into a concrete bid.
And Nkunku’s impending move should accelerate Chelsea’s pursuit of Alejandro Garnacho and Xavi Simons.
It is understood that Milan will pay a guaranteed sum of between £33m and £34m for Nkunku, with the rest of the total fee relying on performance.
That would represent a break even for the Blues on the Frenchman, who was signed for £56m two years ago and so is currently worth about £35m on the club’s books.
Nevertheless the Nkunku transfer would be another coup for Chelsea’s recruitment team, perhaps the biggest in a summer that has already seen them agree incoming and outgoing deals worth HALF A BILLION pounds.
In fact, the £38m for Nkunku would put the Blues into profit – albeit temporarily before they decide whether to meet RB Leipzig’s £60m asking price for Simons and the £50m Manchester United say they want for Garnacho.
The Frenchman arrived from Leipzig with a big reputation but was seriously injured in pre-season.
His Chelsea career never got going, although he did contribute five goals in the Conference League campaign that ended with the Blues lifting the trophy last season.
Nkunku, unlike other players who were out of Enzo Maresca’s first-team plans, did also travel to the USA for the Club World Cup and scored once in six appearances.
But he and Nicolas Jackson were left out of the Chelsea squad for the first two Premier League matches of the season as the club tried to offload them.
As SunSport revealed, the Blues’ activity in this transfer window will enable them to meet both Premier League financial rules and the terms of their Uefa punishment.
By balancing the big-money arrivals of players like Joao Pedro and Jamie Gittens with successful sales of Noni Madueke and now Nkunku, they have revamped Maresca’s squad without putting themselves in danger of further penalties.
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