A considerable development in the ongoing saga surrounding the future of Aston Villa starlet Carney Chukwuemeka has been forthcoming late on Saturday night.
The name of midfield talent Chukwuemeka, of course, has taken its place front and centre in the headlines at Villa Park over the course of the last couple of weeks.
This comes with the 18-year-old, widely regarded as one of English football’s finest up-and-coming youngsters, having been omitted from Steven Gerrard’s pre-season squad to have departed for Australia.
Chukwuemeka, for his part, has refused to put pen to paper on fresh terms in Aston, ahead of the expiration of his current contract in 12 months’ time.
Boss Gerrard therefore confirmed that:
“Carney is yet to sign a contract offer that has been in place for some time. I’ve decided the best thing would be to continue his training programme”.
LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 13: Steven Gerrard looks on prior to the Premier League match between West Ham United and Aston Villa at London Stadium on March 13, 2022 in London, England. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Despite the resistance of their midfield jewel, the widespread understanding, to this point, was that the powers that be at Aston Villa were ready to rebuff any and all interest in Chukwuemeka’s services this summer.
As alluded to above, though, on Saturday, reports pointing very much to the contrary have begun to spread like wildfire online.
As per transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, the Claret and Blue are now ‘open’ to the sale of the club’s academy product.
Not only that, but they are even understood to have gone as far as to inform interested parties of the club’s asking price for Chukwuemeka, in the region of £20 million.
Early indications, meanwhile, point towards La Liga heavyweights Barcelona as being the frontrunners to strike a deal, ready to step up their summer recruitment drive ever further on the back of high-profile moves for all of Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, Raphinha, and Robert Lewandowski.
Aston Villa are now open to selling Carney Chukwuemeka – they have set an asking price around £20m for the player who’s in the last year of his contract. ⭐️🏴 #AVFC
Barcelona lead the chase ahead of a host of European elite clubs, as revealed earlier this week ⤵️👀 https://t.co/qnDd39FtqL
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 16, 2022
