Aston Villa Nigerian teenage sensation Carney Chukwuemeka is attracting interest from European giants Bayern Munich and Juventus.
Chukwuemeka, 17, is highly-rated by Villa and signed his first professional contract last October.
The central midfielder has impressed for Villa’s development squad this season and is being tipped to shine for England at the Under-19 European Championship in Romania this summer.
He had been in line to make his senior debut against Liverpool in the FA Cup earlier this month, but was ruled out following a coronavirus outbreak at the club.
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Chukwuemeka was training with the first-team in the lead up to that match and, though he didn’t test positive for coronavirus, had to self-isolate under government guidelines as he was inside the first-team bubble and therefore could not return to the development squad to play.
And according to talkSPORT, Bayern and Juve are just two of the clubs that are keeping a close eye on Chukwuemeka’s development, but they are yet to formalise their interest in him.
Villa chief executive Christian Purslow, speaking at the Villa Supporters’ Trust AGM last year, labelled Chukwuemeka as one of the best young prospects in England.
“We have one right now, probably the best 16-year-old in England, Carney. Absolutely no debate, he’s starting for the U23s.
“That’s what you want with your 16 year olds. Not people who are not quite breaking into the first team, but staying around on contracts because it isn’t quite happening.”
talkSPORT understands Villa have no intention of selling Chukwuemeka at this stage and are keen for him to continue his progress with the club.
If he was to pursue interest from abroad, Chukwuemeka would follow in the footsteps of a number of young English talents in opting to make the move overseas.
Jadon Sancho, Jude Bellingham and Jamal Musiala are all now playing in Germany and impressing, at Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich respectively.
2 Comments
I don’t see this one opting to represent Nigeria. I see him following through to represent the Three Lions in the future.
So he is English. Period.Let’s learn to be putting these things in their proper perspectives and not unnecessarily skyrocketing our hope.
The ‘very best’ who know they stand a huge chance of making the ranks in their countries of birth don’t get to choose Nigeria.
These foreign born guys are indeed talented.
Yes, they are all very good players. But even if they are all as good as, or even better than Messi, one interesting fact about football is that individual players don’t win trophies. Teams do. Even Maradona in 1986 needed the help of others like Burruchaga, Valdano, Brown, Batista, Pompido the goalie, etc, to succeed.
If individuals won trophies, Messi would have several international trophies by now, instead of a big fat zero. There are so many other big stars over the years who excelled as individuals, but have empty trophy cabinets.
My point is, it is not acquiring the allegiance of a multitude of foreign born talents that will take us to the promised land of international football. It is building a formidable team WITH WHAT WE ALREADY HAVE. Better to build a team with players who deep in their hearts have chosen Nigeria, than to be begging some foreign born boys to come and play, when their heart is not in it.
And as I said earlier, teams win trophies. We all watched in shock in 2004 when Greece with largely unknown players, subdued a Zidane-led France to win the European Cup. In 1992, Denmark did the same, with largely unheralded players.
Let’s focus on building a formidable team with READILY AVAILABLE players. If a foreign born decides to join us, and he is better than what we have, fine. If not, we can still do wonders with the talent we currently have.