Chelsea loanee Carney Chukwuemeka's Borussia Dortmund move has already gone wrong as nightmare 2024/25 continues
Carney Chukwuemeka has already encountered a problem after his move from Chelsea to Borussia Dortmund.
The midfielder was not part of Enzo Maresca’s plans and only played 130 minutes in all competitions in the first half of the 2024/25 season.
After lots of speculation, he finally departed the West London club on deadline day of the January transfer window on loan with an option to buy.
Dortmund have made a habit of developing young English players in recent years, like Jobe Bellingham and Jadon Sancho, so many are expecting Chukwuemeka to flourish.
Here’s why the 21-year-old’s Bundesliga stint has started about as badly as possible.
Carney Chukwuemeka misses Borussia Dortmund vs Stuttgart
Chukwuemeka was set to make his Dortmund debut on Saturday afternoon in the Bundesliga match against Stuttgart. That was until the Chelsea loanee hurt his knee on Friday.
The club posted on X: “Carney Chukwuemeka is missing from the squad after suffering a knock to his knee in yesterday’s final training session.”
To make matters worse, Dortmund lost 2-1 at home in former Bayern Munich head coach Niko Kovac’s first game in charge.
Chukwuemeka had problems with his knee, ankle and hamstring at various stages of his two-and-a-half seasons at Chelsea.
Of course, the ex-Aston Villa man still has a long career ahead of him and the opportunity to develop into a world-class player.
However, it’s only reasonable to have concerns that his injury history and Chelsea’s mismanagement have held him back considerably to this point.
Where will Carney Chukwuemeka play for Borussia Dortmund?
When Chukwuemeka returns from injury – of which we don’t know about the timescale – he will not find it easy to break into Kovac’s starting eleven.
The good news is that the Croatian boss opted for a 4-2-3-1 formation in his first match, which involves three potential spots for the Englishman.
Chukwuemeka can either play as one of the two central midfielders or in the ‘number 10’ position. These were occupied by Marcel Sabitzer, Pascal Gross and Julian Brandt, respectively, against Stuttgart.
The competition for those places also includes Salih Ozcan and Giovanni Reyna so it’s really not an inevitability that he starts most matches.
But Blues supporters are well aware of what Chukwuemeka can offer on form and one would expect him to make a name for himself in Germany if given a run of games.
from Latest Chelsea News and Updates - The Chelsea Chronicle https://ift.tt/BX1S2aP
Post a Comment