Newcastle United in Battle for Christopher Nkunku Against Leipzig
Newcastle United are still in the fight for Christopher Nkunku – but they are now battling more than just AC Milan and RB Leipzig. They are fighting the player’s own preference.
The 28-year-old forward is effectively finished at Milan. He has no squad number, no future there, and is expected to leave before the transfer deadline. Two doors are open: a return to RB Leipzig or a move to Newcastle and a second crack at the Premier League.
Right now, one of those doors is wider.
Player wants Leipzig, Milan waits for Newcastle
Reports in Italy and Germany paint a clear picture. Newcastle and Leipzig have both gone directly to Milan to discuss a deal, but the momentum has swung towards the Bundesliga side.
According to TuttoMercato journalist Daniel Najjar, Nkunku has already reached an agreement with Leipzig and has told Milan that going back to his former club is his first choice. He knows the city, the league, the club. He thrived there.
Milan, though, hold the contract and the power. And they are in no rush to simply rubber-stamp his preferred move.
Najjar reports that Milan are deliberately stalling, convinced Newcastle can put more money on the table than Leipzig. The Italian club are waiting to see whether the Premier League side will back up their interest with the kind of financial package that makes sending Nkunku to England more attractive than granting him the return he wants.
“Milan continues to wait for Newcastle, the Rossoneri believing they can present a better offer in terms of the loan fee and the terms,” Najjar said. “The player currently absolutely wants to go to Leipzig.”
That is a sharp turn from where things stood just a few days ago, when a reunion with Leipzig looked almost inevitable.
Money talks – and Newcastle’s offer does too
On Friday, Calciomercato’s Daniele Longo reported that Newcastle had already submitted the strongest financial proposal to Milan. At the same time, Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg underlined why Leipzig still had the edge: Nkunku simply finds the German club more appealing.
The tension between those two forces – the player’s will and the selling club’s finances – now defines the deal.
Milan are not blocking Nkunku’s exit. They are simply trying to maximise it. If Newcastle meet their demands, the Italians are more than ready to send him to Tyneside instead of Saxony.
Details of the offers underline that divide. TuttoMercato’s Nicholas Righi reports that Milan and Leipzig are working on a loan with an option to buy, a structure that could push the total value of the package to around €33–35 million (£28.5–30 million). Newcastle, by contrast, are said to be prepared to go straight in with a permanent transfer worth roughly €35 million (£30 million).
For Milan, a clean sale at that price from a Premier League club is highly tempting. For Nkunku, the equation is different.
A history that pulls him back to Germany
His preference for Leipzig is no mystery. Between 2019 and 2023, Nkunku became one of the Bundesliga’s most dangerous attacking players there. He scored 70 goals and delivered 56 assists in 172 appearances, numbers that turned him into a star and earned him individual awards in Germany.
Leipzig is where he built his reputation. It is where he knows the system, the expectations, the environment. For a player looking to reset his career after a stalled spell at Milan, the comfort of a proven platform is hard to ignore.
Newcastle, though, can offer something Leipzig cannot: Premier League exposure, a different kind of project, and the financial muscle that has Milan keeping the phone line open.
So the situation hangs in the balance. Leipzig have the player’s heart. Newcastle may soon have the strongest bid. Milan are waiting for exactly that.
The question now is not whether Nkunku will leave, but who will be willing to push hardest to take him – and whether Newcastle are prepared to chase a player whose mind, at least for the moment, is already back in Germany.
