Exclusive: West Ham and Aston Villa want to sign Chelsea playmaker who's available for £40m

Yesterday at 04:15 AM

TBR Football can exclusively reveal that Chelsea have made Carney Chukwuemeka available for transfer this month with West Ham United and Aston Villa keen on him.

Chukwuemeka’s time in West London has been far from a success with the midfielder struggling to break into the Chelsea first-team.

The Blues are now ready to let the 21-year-old leave in January and TBR Football have been made aware of his price tag following interest from the Hammers and his former club.

Chelsea set Carney Chukwuemeka ask price

Chelsea would ideally like to sell Carney Chukwuemeka and want £40 million for the midfielder, sources have told TBR Football's chief correspondent Graeme Bailey.

TBR Football understands that the Blues are ready to allow a host of names to leave in the January window and Chukwuemeka is one of the players they are keen to offload.

West Ham are looking to sign a new midfielder this month and the former Aston Villa player is someone they are interested in. Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is another name they are looking at.

Villa have also shown an interest in potentially bringing him back to Villa Park over two years on from selling him to Chelsea for around £20 million.

Getting £40 million for Chukwuemeka this month is pretty unrealistic as neither West Ham or Villa will pay that sum, so the West London club may need to relax their stance.

Why Carney Chukwuemeka must leave Chelsea this month

Chukwuemeka has yet to be named in Chelsea’s Premier League squad this season and has made just one start in total.

The youngster’s only start came in the Europa Conference League against FC Astana and even then he was withdrawn just after the hour mark.

In the Midlands, Chukwuemeka was seen as such a talented player and the direction of his career since that move in 2022 is disappointing to see.