Chelsea boss Graham Potter impressed with youngster Carney Chukwuemeka during the training camp
According to Football.London, Chelsea manager Graham Potter has been mightily impressed with young midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka during the training sessions in the World Cup break.
The young Englishman, who joined Chelsea in the preceding summer window for £20m from Aston Villa, took part with the senior team in the mid-season training camp in Abu Dhabi.
Potter has seen his grit, determination and quality and got impressed with what he saw. It may not be beyond the realms of possibility that the 20-year-old gets regular first-team minutes soon.
Chukwuemeka is yet to get an extended period of time on the pitch. He came on very late against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the league back in October. It was the 28-minute cameo against Brentford two weeks later when his performance was eye-catching, to say the least.
With N’Golo Kante still out due to an injury and his future increasingly in doubt, there is a space in midfield for someone like Chukwuemeka to fill. Add that to the fact that Mateo Kovacic may miss a couple of games upon the season’s resumption as he was with the Croatian World Cup till the 17th of December, and there is definitely an opportunity.
As much as the 20-year-old shouldn’t feel burdened to impress everyone if he gets a chance, there shall be an expectation from his side to do well and hold onto the chance given to him.
We saw Potter giving young Lewis Hall a couple of starts in games before the World Cup break. Even during his Brighton and Hove Albion days, we saw him handing out opportunities to bright young players and developing into something very good.
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Based on that history and knowing how impressed Potter has been with Chukwuemeka off late, we won’t be surprised if the latter starts against Bournemouth in our first league game back on December 27.