Niels Patrick Nkounkou (born 1 November 2000) is a French professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for German club

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

. He made his international debut for the France Olympic team at

Tokyo 2020 The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Club career

Early career

Nkounkou started his career with Cergy Pontoise, coming through the club's youth ranks. He signed for

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

giants

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

in 2017. As a promising youngster, Nkounkou played regularly for Marseille's B team, routinely training with the senior side and featuring on the bench twice for the first team during the 2019–20 season.

Everton

Nkounkou joined Everton on a free transfer in July 2020, signing a three-year deal, after rejecting a professional contract from Marseille due to the sporting plan proposed by the French club wasn't convincing for the defender and his future development. The opportunity of working under

Carlo Ancelotti Carlo Ancelotti , (born 10 June 1959) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of La Liga club Real Madrid. Regarded as one of the greatest managers of all time, Ancelotti is the most decorated manager ...

convinced Nkounkou to join the Toffees. Nkounkou's agent Yvan Le Mée stressed that Ancelotti called the player, spoke to him, and knew the player's potential. By working with the player, Ancelotti can make him a top player. Nkounkou made his professional debut for Everton in a 3–0

EFL Cup The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by the ...

victory against Salford City in which he impressed immensely, forming an effective attacking partnership down the left hand side of the pitch with fellow youngster Anthony Gordon. He put in another positive display in his second match, also in the EFL Cup, against

Fleetwood Town Fleetwood Town Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Fleetwood, Lancashire. Established in 1997, the current Fleetwood Town F.C. is the fourth incarnation of the club; it was originally formed in ...

which he capped with a back-heeled assist to set up a goal for

Moise Kean Bioty Moise Kean (, ; born 28 February 2000) is an Italian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Serie A club Juventus F.C., Juventus and the Italy national football team, Italy ...

in a 5–2 victory. Nkounkou played his first league game for Everton on 1 November 2020 against

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

, a game Everton lost 2–1. He replaced teammate

Lucas Digne Lucas Digne (; born 20 July 1993) is a French professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Aston Villa and the France national team. Digne began his career at Lille before joining Paris Saint-Germain in 2013. After spending a sea ...

who was serving a one match ban. He made his second league appearance in the last day of the season when Everton suffered a 5–0 defeat to

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

on 23 May 2021.

Saint-Étienne

In January 2023, Nkounkou signed for Ligue 2 club

Saint-Étienne Saint-Étienne (; frp, Sant-Etiève; oc, Sant Estève, ) is a city and the prefecture of the Loire department in eastern-central France, in the Massif Central, southwest of Lyon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region. Saint-Étienne is the t ...

on loan. The deal was eventually made permanent.

Eintracht Frankfurt

On 1 September 2023, Nkounkou signed a five-year contract with

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

. He scored on his debut for the club, coming off the bench to net an 87th minute equaliser in a 1–1 draw vs

Koln Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

International career

Born in France, Nkounkou is of

Republic of Congo The Republic of the Congo (french: République du Congo, ln, Republíki ya Kongó), also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply either Congo or the Congo, is a country located in the western coast of Central Africa to the w ...

descent. He has represented France and has been capped twice for the country's U19 side. In July 2021, Nkounkou received a call up to the France Olympics squad, who will face Japan, South Africa and Mexico in Group A of the tournament. He subsequently made his debut for France U23 when they played South Africa in the second tournament match on 25 July 2021.

Style of play

Upon the signing of Nkounkou, Everton Director of Football

Marcel Brands Marcel Brands (born 1962) is a Dutch former professional footballer who is currently the Director of Football at PSV Eindhoven. Playing career Born in 's-Hertogenbosch, Brands started his playing career at local club FC Den Bosch. He also pl ...

said "Niels is a young, talented player with good technical and physical skills." Jeremy Smith, a French football writer and podcaster at French Football Weekly, believed that “Nkounkou is a well-regarded young left-back who can also play further up the left flank is a little like a

Benjamin Mendy Benjamin Mendy (born 17 July 1994) is a French professional footballer who plays as a left-back for club Manchester City. He played for the France national team from 2017 until 2019. After coming through Le Havre's youth academy, Mendy began ...

in that he is strong, has a great engine and can patrol the whole flank all match and has a decent shot and cross on him too.”

Career statistics

Honours

Individual * UNFP Ligue 2

Team of the Year Team of the Year may refer to: *BBC Sports Personality of the Year Team Award *Canadian Press Team of the Year Award *GPA Gaelic Team of the Year *IRB International Sevens Team of the Year *IRB International Team of the Year *J.League Team of the Y ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

References

External links

Profile
at the Everton F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nkounkou, Niels 2000 births Living people Sportspeople from Pontoise French men's footballers France men's under-21 international footballers France men's youth international footballers Men's association football defenders Cergy Pontoise FC players FC Rouen players Entente SSG players Stade Brestois 29 players Olympique de Marseille players Everton F.C. players Standard Liège players Cardiff City F.C. players AS Saint-Étienne players Eintracht Frankfurt players Championnat National 2 players Premier League players Belgian Pro League players Ligue 2 players Bundesliga players French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Germany French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in Germany Black French sportspeople French sportspeople of Republic of the Congo descent Olympic footballers for France Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Footballers from Val-d'Oise