Chelsea have been wheeling and dealing again in the summer 2025 transfer window, and they’ve managed to sign some more of European football’s biggest attacking talents in Borussia Dortmund’s electrifying England international Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, top young striker Liam Delap, and the cerebral assasin Joao Pedro of Brighton pedigree.
Now, the Blues are focused on cleaning up the squad. They’ve already sent midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall packing to a new-look Everton, as the former Leicester City man already served his purpose as a depth option in bridging Enzo Maresca’s ideas to Stamford Bridge.
Next up on the list to clean out is another midfielder in 21-year-old No. 8/10 Carney Chukwuemeka, who spent the 2024/25 season on loan in the Bundesliga at Jadon Sancho’s favorite club, Borussia Dortmund.
Chukwuemeka didn’t distinguish himself too much in Dortmund, starting just one Bundesliga match and playing 10 in total, but it looks like he did enough to stay on Dortmund’s radar for a possible second move ahead of the 2025/26 season.
Chelsea midfielder angling to stay, just not with the Blues
Chelsea are actively shopping Chukwuemeka in order to clear out space and are preferring a permanent transfer in order to raise funds and make a clean break on a player whom they don’t see great upside in. And it looks like Chukwuemeka is more than happy to oblige and may want a permanent transfer even more than Chelsea do.
That’s because, according to a report from Sport Bild’s Maximilian Wessing, Carney Chukwuemeka is determined to stay with Borussia Dortmund for longer and has expressed his wishes to be a part of their project
Meanwhile, Chukwuemeka is reportedly “disappointed” with how Chelsea approach their players and no longer wants to be a part of the club, making it clear that he wants out and prefers to extend his stay with Dortmund by making a clean break with the Blues.
It’s entirely unclear what is meant by Chukwuemeka having problems with how Chelsea are run and treat their players. Implictly, it may be referring to their loan army and how they cycle through young talents in order to see who will stick long-term and has the potential to be a star, but that kind of in-house competition is honestly the hallmark of all the elite players in European football like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, and, in the past, Juventus.
Chukwuemeka wants out, Chelsea want him out, and now it’s up to Dortmund to make it happen. Chelsea may have to settle on a loan with an option to buy as the most likely option, since Chukwuemeka hasn’t shown that he 100 percent merits a permanent deal yet.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2011. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has contributed to sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. Joe’s work has appeared in ESPN, Bleacher Report, and Sports Illustrated. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling, respectively.