His loss: Aston Villa player who preferred Chelsea to Liverpool

Chelsea have confirmed today that they have an agreement with Aston Villa for Carney Chukwuemeka. The player now travels to London in order to complete a medical and sign a contract. It was always highly likely that Villa sold their prized youngster this summer. Chukwuemeka’s contract expires in 2023, after all, and he could leave with minimal compensation. Reportedly, foreign clubs could have picked the teenager up for just £400k.

Chukwuemeka had no interest in renewing his contract, though. Villa essentially had to sell now if they wanted anything like a decent fee for the player and the Daily Mail had their asking price at £20m. While their hand has been forced here, it appears that Chelsea offered something that they were comfortable with.

More Liverpool news:

Chelsea confirm agreement

The Guardian wrote last season that Liverpool had eyes on Chukwuemeka. That’s entirely believable, given the Reds’ desire to sign elite young talent – Fabio Carvalho and Harvey Elliott show that. As does Calvin Ramsay, for that matter.

Liverpool’s big problem, though, was always that they couldn’t exactly offer Chukwuemeka first-team football. It would have benefitted him more to sit it out with Villa and assess his options in 2023. Chelsea, it seems, have convinced him that he’ll play at Stamford Bridge, though.

We still don’t quite see how they’ll make that work but Chukwuemeka does – that’s the only really important thing from Chelsea’s perspective. They’re now on the verge of signing a tremendous prospect and one that teammate Ollie Watkins labelled as ‘unbelievable’ last season. Let’s hope Liverpool don’t regret standing on the sidelines of this one.