Barcelona continue their search for a new central midfielder and their hunt has now taken them to the shores of the Premier League because according to a report in Sport, the Catalans are interested in signing Chelsea’s Carney Chukwuemeka.
Carney Chukwuemeka joined Chelsea in 2022 from Aston Villa however, his move to Stamford Bridge has not been a major success. In these two years, the midfielder has featured in only 27 games for the club.
Chelsea’s uncontrolled spending in the transfer market has been a major issue for Carney Chukwuemeka because last season, he played only 223 minutes of Premier League football across 9 matches.
The midfielder’s current market value is only €15 million and his deal with the club expires in 2028. Chelsea are in no hurry to offload him but the Blues currently have as many as nine central midfielders in their squad so if Barcelona make a good enough offer, the La Liga outfit should be able to land the 20-year-old.
A few weeks ago, Chelsea had rejected an offer from AC Milan to sign Carney Chukwuemeka but that was because Milan wanted to land him on a loan deal. Barcelona, on the other hand, want to sign him permanently and right now, they are in talks with the midfielder’s representatives to try and agree on personal terms.
Where will Carney Chukwuemeka fit in at Barcelona?
Hansi Flick has added Dani Olmo to his squad but as per reports, the new Barcelona manager wants to add a new central midfielder before the new season begins.
The recent injuries to Gavi, De Jong and Pedri have been a rude eye-opener for the manager who now feels he will need to add more depth to the midfield position.
Paying €30-35 million for the Chelsea midfielder should not be a big ask for Barcelona but they will struggle to convince him to join them. Chukwuemeka is way down the pecking order at Chelsea but things won’t be that great at Barca either because if he joins Camp Nou, he will be the fifth-choice central midfielder.
The 20-year-old will massively struggle to get constant game time at Barcelona because Hansi Flick will prefer to use the likes of Gundogan, Pedri, and FDJ before him.
Overall, it is not a bad idea to bring in someone like Carney Chukwuemeka as a squad player but Barcelona will have to try really hard to convince the youngster to join them.
