Chelsea transfer news: Carney Chukwuemeka permanent exit confirmed, another starlet to follow?

Chelsea have announced that Carney Chukwuemeka has finalised a permanent transfer to Borussia Dortmund.

When signing the starlet from Aston Villa in a £20m deal in 2022, the perception was that Chelsea had pulled off a major coup in attracting one of English football's top talents.

However, rarely being viewed as first choice and a serious knee injury curtailed Chukwuemeka's efforts in becoming a long-term success at Stamford Bridge.

A loan stint at Dortmund for the second half of the 2024-25 campaign and the Club World Cup resulted in Chukwuemeka making 17 appearances, mostly off the substitutes' bench, with minimal fitness issues.

Nevertheless, it was not enough to convince Enzo Maresca to reintegrate the 21-year-old back into his first-team squad and a permanent or second loan switch to Dortmund has felt inevitable.

✉️ Carney Chukwuemeka. Until 2030. ✍️ pic.twitter.com/wsIJV3RHqe
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) August 26, 2025

Chukwuemeka gets Dortmund transfer wish

With Chukwuemeka having made an impression at the Westfalenstadion, Niko Kovac and club officials were always interested in re-signing him; albeit preferably on loan.

Instead, the England Under-20 international has signed a five-year contract with the clubs having allegedly settled on a £24m fee.

The deal is also reportedly expected to lead to another Chelsea player in Aaron Anselmino signing for Dortmund on a straight loan for 2025-26.

Not only did Chelsea need to sell Chukwuemeka to bolster their position with the Premier League's and UEFA's financial regulations, they did not want to allocate a foreign loan spot to Chukwuemeka when he had no future at the club.

Therefore, a permanent transfer was eventually negotiated to suit all parties, the clubs having already held a positive working relationship with Ian Maatsen having been loaned to Dortmund in the past.

Time for a fresh start for Chukwuemeka

Chelsea fans were eager for Chukwuemeka to succeed in West London having witnessed glimmers of his potential, a goal against West Ham United on the second weekend of 2023-24 raising expectations at the time.

Chukwuemeka would suffer a serious knee injury just minutes later and never regained his place under Mauricio Pochettino or Maresca.

He departs Chelsea with just two goals and one assist from 32 appearances, only accumulating 746 minutes, and it means that club officials can be satisfied with making a profit and having a sell-on fee included in the deal.

Although Chukwuemeka has made 65 appearances in his senior career, he has never completed 90 minutes, an astonishing statistic when two months short of his 22nd birthday.