Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Austrian-born Nigerian midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka and defender Ben Chilwell are considering leaving the club in January to secure more regular playing time.
The announcement came ahead of Chelsea’s upcoming Premier League clash with Everton.
Chukwuemeka, who joined Chelsea from Aston Villa in the summer of 2022, has struggled for minutes this season, making just five appearances across the UEFA Conference League and Carabao Cup.
Despite an encouraging start to his Chelsea career, including scoring his first goal in a 3-1 defeat to West Ham, the Nigerian midfielder’s progress was hampered by a knee injury.
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Though he has since recovered, Chukwuemeka has found it difficult to break into the first team.
“There are players who unfortunately didn’t play a lot with us in all the competitions, like [Ben] Chilwell, like Carney [Chukwuemeka], and probably they are the first who want to leave because they work every day, they train every day, because they want to play games,” Maresca was quoted as saying by Football.London.
“And if they don’t play games, probably they are thinking to leave.”
