Months after heading for the Aston Villa exit door under a dark cloud, Carney Chukwuemeka was finally handed his Chelsea debut on Saturday and Mason Mount has stated on Instagram that moment was ‘deserved’.
The 18-year-old was signed by a different manager at Stamford Bridge – Thomas Tuchel – but despite the German’s sacking, he has still earned his first senior minutes as Graham Potter’s men beat Wolves 3-0.
The highly-rated midfielder, who secured a £20 million transfer to the capital ahead of his contract expiring at Villa Park next summer (Sky Sports), came on for the last five minutes of the game.
During that period, he has watched Chelsea change managers as well as playing for the club’s U23s.
There’s no doubt that Chukwuemeka would have earned more minutes and starts at Villa than Chelsea, but it will be interesting what path his career will now go down.
Nonetheless, following Chukwuemeka’s debut, he posted on his IG ‘just the beginning’, with the midfielder being praised by current and former teammates.
England international Mount posted: “My boy. Deserved.”, whilst Conor Gallagher added “Well done brother.” And the likes of Tyrone Mings, Ezri Konsa and Cameron Archer also praised the player.
BRIGHT FUTURE FOR CHUKWUEMEKA
He may have left Villa Park in a way that distanced himself and the fans, but it still doesn’t hide away from the top talent Chelsea have at their disposal.
What’s even better for Chukwuemeka is that he has a manager in Potter who likes to work with younger players and he has a track record of developing them.
The only issue is that there are an array of players ahead of Chukwuemeka at the Bridge, and whilst the club will allow their new manager to build, he still needs to deliver results rather quickly, which might mean going for more ready-made players that might just push ahead of Villa’s FA Youth Cup winner.
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