Reports came out this week suggesting that there is a £40m release clause in the contract of Chelsea midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka.
It was transfer expert Fabrizio Romano that reported it, and he also says Chelsea would sell him for a good offer, but aren’t interested in loaning him out.
— Chelsea Dodgers (@TheBlueDodger) July 2, 2024
Chelsea yesterday announced the signing of midfielder Kieran Dewsbury-Hall from Leicester City, which I think is a good signing and a top player.
It frustrates me when I see things like ‘signing a Championship player’. Yes, he DID play in the Championship last season, but he also spent the four seasons before that playing in the Premier League!? Some criticisms of the board and things like that are just a bit lazy in my opinion.
What I think we can criticise, or perhaps be more concerned about, is what effect this signing will have on other players, namely Carney Chukwuemeka.
I’ve mentioned on here a few times that selling Conor Gallagher is something I’m not necessarily against. But selling Chukwuemeka, if we did do that, would be. We’ve heard here that Chelsea would be open to a good offer for him, but aren’t actively looking to sell and do hold a big belief in his ability. Yet he has this release clause that actually is not massive…..
Chelsea need to keep Chukwuemeka, and if we do sell, I’ll be annoyed. However, a good loan move is something that I would back, WITHOUT any buy option – but that now doesn’t look like it will happen. He needs to play, and bringing in Dewsbury-Hall is only going to decrease those chances now, which I am a bit frustrated about.
But I do rate Dewsbury-Hall and I think for £30m (£25m when you include the £5m fee we are getting from Michael Golding), is a very good price for him.
When we exclusively revealed Chelsea’s interest in Dewsbury-Hall last summer, I made sure to watch him a lot last season, and I’d already seen a lot of him before that too. I had a feeling the interest could come back when Enzo Maresca was announced, even though it still took me by surprise and I’d not heard about anything recent.
He’s a very good player and offers so much. He’s a real all-rounder and can do a bit of everything, as well as being a real work horse. As you will see from Luke’s article yesterday, his numbers are great too.
So I have mixed feelings about this one, but I do think he’s a very good player and this is a good price for him.
Simon Phillips
