Carney Chukwuemeka’s future at Aston Villa in question
Academy product Carney Chukwuemeka could leave Aston Villa this summer as tensions over a new contract continue to simmer.
Chukwuemeka, who struggled to break into Villa’s senior squad as a regular in 2021/22, has reportedly rejected a new deal with Villa and has not joined up with the first team on a preseason trip in Australia.
Fresh off an Under-19 European Championship title with England, Chukwuemeka is being courted by the likes of Barcelona as Villa struggle to lock down their top prospect.
Now in the final year of his current contract, Chukwuemeka–presumably unhappy with the lack of first-team playing time he received last season–appears to be forcing his way out of Birmingham.
If a new deal cannot be agreed upon before the January window opens, Villa would not only lose out on one of Europe’s brightest young stars, but they’d do so a cut-rate price.
Because of FIFA’s training compensation system, Villa would be owed a small fee of £287,000 should another club negotiate a deal with the midfielder in January.
Should Chukwuemeka re-sign with Villa and flourish over the next few seasons at the club, he’d likely fetch a considerable fee if he were to outgrow the club. Losing him for a quarter of a million pounds would be a travesty.
Further, what type of message could this saga spell for other promising youngsters in the academy, as well as academy targets?
Outside of Jacob Ramsey, how many academy products have successfully broken into the first-team at Villa over the past five years? If a starlet of Chukwuemeka’s quality can’t get a real shot in the Premier League’s 14th best team, what does that mean for other prospects?
Time will tell, but as Villa’s first-team trains on the other side of the globe–fellow U19 Euros teammates Tim Iroegbunam and Aaron Ramsey have joined that group, by the way–Chukwuemeka works at Bodymoor Heath, with the remainder of the academy.
Not a good look all around.
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