Why Chelsea will not consider swap deal for talented attacker on current terms

We’re just half an hour or so away from the team news for today’s Chelsea – Aston Villa game being released, and there are certainly some question marks about what Enzo Maresca does.

Will Malo Gusto be back on the right? Does Romeo Lavia come in for Enzo Fernandez in midfield? Has Filip Jorgensen finally earned his place in goal?

One thing we can say pretty much for sure though, is that Christopher Nkunku won’t be in the starting lineup. He has just one start all season, and it was on the opening day. That lack of Premier League action is generating a lot of speculation about his future, and things went up a notch today with a declaration in the Sun that PSG are lining up a swap deal for their former youth player.

RKM offer not a tempting one for Chelsea

Chelsea fans like Nkunku as a player- but they will also understand his desire to move somewhere where he can play regularly. The issue in this case is the player being offered to come the other way.

Randal Kolo Muani was bought from Frankfurt after a great season there, but has struggled to shine in Paris. For all his qualities, he’s not a player remotely near Nkunku’s level in terms of skill and ability.

There might be an argument that he makes a better backup for Nicolas Jackson because his style of play is more similar than Nkunku’s but still – this is a trade that would suit the Parisians a lot more than us.

If Nkunku’s situation remains the same come the summer we might start taking rumours more seriously. Until then, expect these sort of spurious ideas to be floated pretty regularly as the months pass and his situation grows less tenable.