Chelsea have confirmed the shock imminent signing of Carney Chukwuemeka from Aston Villa.
The Blues announced on Tuesday that the Premier League rivals had reached an agreement that will see the highly-rated teenage midfielder move to Stamford Bridge on a permanent transfer.
No official fee was given, but Standard Sport understands that the deal is worth a total of £20million including add-ons, with Chukwuemeka poised to pen a six-year contract lasting until 2028. He is now due to travel to west London to undergo a medical and seal personal terms.
The 18-year-old will become Chelsea’s third signing of a difficult summer window so far, following Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly to the capital.
Chukwuemeka joined Aston Villa from Northampton’s academy in 2016 and made his senior professional debut amid much fanfare in May 2021, going on to make 16 first-team appearances across all competitions – including 14 in the Premier League.
He won the European Under-19 Championship with England this summer and was the standout player of the competition in Slovakia despite the distraction provided by constant transfer speculation with his Villa future subject to considerable doubt.
Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, along with Newcastle and Leeds, were among the clubs said to be interested in Chukwuemeka, who had only one more year left to run on his first professional contract at Villa Park and is said to have not entertained the idea of an extension as he sought more regular first-team opportunities.
However, many felt that the Austrian-born wonderkid would likely move abroad, with Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan believed to be interested parties overseas.
But Standard Sport understands that Blues boss Thomas Tuchel held a meeting with Chukwuemeka at the club’s Cobham training ground last week in order to persuade him to join Chelsea instead.
Chelsea had been thought to be fully focused on making further defensive additions to add to Koulibaly, with Southampton full-back Kyle Walker-Peters now in their sights after talks over Brighton’s Marc Cucurella.
Leicester centre-back Wesley Fofana and Inter Milan’s Denzel Dumfries are also thought to be prominent targets in that department.
