Chelsea attacker Carney Chukwuemeka
Carney Chukwuemeka continues to struggle for a breakthrough at Chelsea
The selection of a few senior Chelsea players for Thursday night's Conference League victory over Astana was telling. The unique circumstances surrounding the trip, including an additional 800-mile journey from Astana's home ground for a 3:30pm kick-off (UK time) in sub-zero temperatures, resulted in a heavily rotated squad.
This is not unusual for Chelsea in this competition, but manager Enzo Maresca took it a step further. It's fair to say that he and his coaching staff were the only ones who travelled to the middle of Asia likely to play any part in Sunday night's Premier League match against Brentford at home.
Given the physical demands of eight hours of travel each way, followed by a game and minimal sleep, Chelsea took almost no risks. Even regular Conference League players Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku were left at home, as was Noni Madueke, who didn't start against Tottenham.
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It is eye opening, therefore, that Carney Chukwuemeka made his first start for Chelsea since August 2023 and the second Premier League game of last season in this match. He may well have been left to the bench if Cesare Casadei hadn't picked up a red card against Heidenheim, reports football.london.
The midfielder has yet to play in the league this season and is clearly outside of Maresca's plans. A January move is expected, even if it won't be to Milan.
Reports suggesting that he will be off on a permanent or loan move to San Siro are wide of the mark but he is one of several that the club are prepared to see depart. For the 21-year-old, playing this match is just further proof of how far down the pecking order he is given the lengths Maresca went to in protecting his favoured stars.
Chukwuemeka and the centre-backs were effectively placeholders and a buffer to using those Maresca is reliant upon for the undoubtedly more important Premier League matches come the weekend. That is what the former Aston Villa man has been reduced to after failing to get a deal across the line over the summer in a bid for more minutes.
He might still have a future at Stamford Bridge but in the short-term it certainly looks like the decision to leave Villa has backfired. Not only was Chukwuemeka's £15million transfer deemed by many to be a lack of respect to the club that helped develop him into an England age group star and one of the most promising youngsters in the country, but the way it has played out has supported that notion.
Across almost two and a half seasons at Chelsea, Chukwuemeka has played just 32 times, scoring twice and assisting once. He has only started five of those games and is now on the periphery of Maresca's squad. If he was anymore important then he almost certainly wouldn't have been sent to Kazkahstan to start alongside four teenagers and a bench with only one player to have made their senior Chelsea debut.
Chukwuemeka has not even been getting much in the way of match action in Europe despite the level Chelsea are playing at. He has been behind Casadei as well as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, such are his current woes.
With the January transfer window approaching, Chukwuemeka finds himself among a number of Chelsea players who may be encouraged to seek moves away from the club for their own benefit as well as the team's. There is still time to turn it around in west London but for now his career is stalling and nothing says that quite as much as Conference League appearances in the freezing cold against a goalkeeper wearing a bobble hat.
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