Aston Villa decided to cash in on a number of promising academy graduates during the summer transfer window as Unai Emery seemingly judged that they would not be involved this season.
Aaron Ramsey, Keinan David, Jaden Philogene, and Cameron Archer were all sold on permanent deals, two of which were to fellow Premier League clubs with Archer and Ramsey joining Sheffield United and Burnley respectively.
The Villans have been able to uncover a number of excellent talents through their youth system over the years and they profited from another one in the summer of 2022 when they sold Carney Chukwuemeka to Chelsea.
How many appearances did Chukwuemeka make for Villa?
He came up through the academy, which meant that he did not cost a single penny in transfer fees for the club, and established himself as a regular at U18 level first as the talented gem made 26 appearances at that age group.
Chukwuemeka scored ten goals and provided eight assists for the U18s and that earned him a move up to the U21 team on a consistent basis during the 2020/21 campaign.
The England youth international went on to play 29 U21 matches for Villa and contributed with three goals and five assists from a central midfield position.
He did play two Premier League games for the first-team under Dean Smith during the 2020/21 season but it was Steven Gerrard who exposed him to senior football for more than a handful of outings.
Chukwuemeka played 12 top-flight matches throughout the 2021/22 campaign and recorded his first senior assist for the Villans against Norwich.
In total, the teenage ace racked up 16 senior appearances for Villa and 11 of those came during Gerrard’s tenure in charge, which shows that the former Rangers head coach showed the most faith in the England U20 international.
How much did Villa sell Chukwuemeka for?
The Villans cashed in on the then-18-year-old for a reported fee of £20m as fellow Premier League side Chelsea swooped in to secure his services last year.
This shows that Gerrard unearthed gold for Villa as he exposed the talented youngster to top-flight football at such a young age and his displays seemingly did enough to convince the Blues to splash out a huge transfer fee for him.
The club made a monster profit on the central midfielder who they paid £0 to sign as they brought the towering 6 foot 2 dynamo through their academy system before selling him to bolster their funds.
Since making the move to Stamford Bridge, Chukwuemeka has played 17 times for Chelsea in all competitions and scored his first Premier League goal against West Ham United last month.
The 19-year-old midfielder started the first two games of the campaign for Mauricio Pochettino’s side, which included his strike against the Hammers, but then suffered a knee injury at the London Stadium and is now expected to be out of action until the start of October.
Chukwuemeka, who talent scout Jacek Kulig once hailed as a future “superstar in the making”, now has plenty of years ahead of him to develop and improve to establish himself as a key player for Chelsea and Villa will surely be looking on and hoping that their former academy star enjoys an impressive career.
