Steven Gerrard is adamant Aston Villa is the right club for Carney Chukwuemeka to fulfil his potential and will offer him further opportunities to play, via quotes by Birmingham Live.
Chukwuemeka made his first-team debut in May under Dean Smith. But he only made two more Premier League outings under the ex-Villans boss before they sacked him last month.
Gerrard has since doubled the 18-year-old’s tally of outings in the space of just six games in charge. Chukwuemeka, though, is still yet to add to his sole senior start against Brentford.
The midfielder has made each of his three appearances under Gerrard from the bench for a total of 43-minutes. His latest outing at Norwich City on Tuesday lasted just seven-minutes, his shortest yet. But the teenager also registered his first goal involvement with an assist.
Gerrard addresses uncertainty around Chukwuemeka future at Aston Villa
Gerrard will offer Chukwuemeka further chances to play in the Aston Villa first-team going forward as he is firm in that the youngster is at the right club to continue his development.
The Guardian and talkSPORT claimed at the end of November that Chukwuemeka does not feel his first-team future is at Villa Park. A lack of opportunities to feature in the senior fold had frustrated the England U19 maestro, tracked by Liverpool and both Manchester clubs.
Chukwuemeka has become so disillusioned that he is no longer willing to sign a new deal with Aston Villa. His current contract ends in 2023, but Villa hope he will sign fresh terms.
Gerrard is also firm in his stance that Aston Villa is the right club for Chukwuemeka still.
“We believe this is the right place for him,” Gerrard said. “If anyone else thinks it’s not, then I would like to sit in front of them and discuss it.
“We don’t see a problem. He’s got 18-months left on his deal, we just need to let the kid play football.”
Gerrard explained Chukwuemeka role at Norwich
Chukwuemeka made his latest first-team appearance as Gerrard’s Aston Villa beat Norwich on Tuesday. He marked the occasion by assisting Ollie Watkins in the 87th-minute, but was not sent on to help the Villans raise their creative levels but to help shut out the victory.
Chelsea loanee Billy Gilmour began to worry Gerrard with how the midfielder was starting to control the game for Norwich. So, he sent Chukwuemeka on to interrupt Gilmour’s flow.
“We asked him to get around Gilmour because he was getting too many touches of the ball,” Gerrard added. “He did that job very well.”
Gerrard will hope Chukwuemeka continues to present a box-to-box presence over his next appearances for Aston Villa. He will also hope they are enough to change the teen’s mind.
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