With Carney Chukwuemeka and Aston Villa locked in a contract dispute, Chelsea took advantage of the situation and agreed to pay a rumoured sum of around £20m ($24m).
Chukwuemeka refused to accept an extension to his contract, which was due to expire in 2023, thus Steven Gerrard left him out of Villa’s pre-season tour of Australia.
Chukwuemeka, who will be 19 in October, made his Villa debut in May 2021 and played 14 times last season, though only two of those outings were starts in the Premier League.
In July, he had a major role in helping England win the European Championship for Under-19s.
In the previous few days I couldn’t get Chelsea out of my thoughts, so I’m just delighted and relieved that it’s all done,” said Chukwuemeka of his demanding schedule.
Chelsea is a dream come true for me. I can’t wait to go on the field, meet the players, and compete for championships with them.”
He joins Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly as the third new Chelsea player to join the club since Todd Boehly’s consortium took over ownership of the club earlier this year.
We are eager to see Carney in action at Stamford Bridge since he is one of the most intriguing young players in Europe,” stated Boehly.
Adding a young player of his caliber is a major coup for Chelsea, as manager Antonio Conte said: “We are happy to be able to bring him to Chelsea.”