Why does Chelsea's Christopher Nkunku celebrate with a balloon? | OneFootball

Off the back of spending a ridiculous £585.5 million on 16 new players last season, you’d be forgiven for expecting Chelsea to have a bit of a quieter window on the transfer front given there are regulations such as Financial Fair Play to abide with, but of course you’d be wrong.

Todd Boehly laughs in the face of FFP. Now, just six days into the transfer window, the Blues have completed their first mega money move of the summer by signing RB Leipzig’s star man Christopher Nkunku for £52 million.

Christopher Nkunku to Chelsea

During his three seasons in Germany, Nkunku has developed from a fledgling talent at PSG, into a real star of the Bundesliga and now even has 10 caps for France.

Typically playing just off the striker, Chelsea fans will be hoping the 25-year-old can add some much-needed goals to the Blues attack after a tumultuous first season under the new ownership.

Although the league table was of course disastrous for Chelsea, having finished 12th, perhaps fans can take some solace in the fact that they actually had a pretty solid defence for much of the season, and only actually conceded two more goals than Arsenal in second.

In contrast, they had the joint fifth-worst attack, averaging just one goal a game in the league.

For Leipzig, Nkunku has been their top scorer for the last couple of seasons without even playing as an out-and-out striker and this season he finished joint top of the Bundesliga scoring charts with 16 goals in 25 appearances despite injuries.

Last season was even better as he won the Bundesliga Player of the Season and German PFA Player of the Season awards after scoring 20 league goals and providing 15 assists.

Now, with all this goal scoring comes the chance to celebrate.

Some, such as Alan Shearer, opt for a simple celebration, whereas others go full acrobat and perform summersaults most of us can only dream of.

Nkunku opts for something a little more unique. Instead, the Frenchman is most often pictured celebrating by blowing up a balloon.

Why does Nkunku celebrate with a balloon?

The celebration began back in November when he pulled a balloon out of his sock and inflated it after scoring the opener in a 4-0 Champions League win over Shakhtar Donetsk.

In the aftermath of the unique celebration, Nkunku was inundated with messages asking for his reasoning behind the celebration, and it’s actually very sweet. It turns out he does the celebration for his two-year-old son.

“The balloon was for my son. He likes balloons,” he said after the match.

Since this goal, Nkunku has celebrated like this on a number of occasions, including during his final appearance for Leipzig when he scored to help his side win the DFB-Pokal.

Typically, Nkunku used a red balloon during his Leipzig celebrations, but maybe we’ll now see a blue variation after his move to London.

The Frenchman is new manager Mauricio Pochettino’s first signing and he and fans of the club alike will be hoping he can help fire the club back up to where they belong.