Chelsea greenlight attacker’s sale after Ipswich Town launch January coup

Chelsea are willing to sell Carney Chukwuemeka in January and have fielded an approach from Ipswich Town, while TEAMtalk can reveal how much a transfer is likely to cost.

The Blues have started the season brightly and sit third in the Premier League table. However, Enzo Maresca and co are keen to capitalise on their fast start by making further additions in the upcoming winter window.

Chelsea are currently working on adding a central defender to their ranks. To facilitate such a move, the club are ready to part ways with several stars who have seen their importance to the side diminish under Maresca.

One of those players is Carney Chukwuemeka and sources have stated Ipswich Town are very keen to add the attacking midfielder to their ranks.

Chelsea view the rarely-used 21-year-old as a sellable asset and this stance has alerted Ipswich to the possibility of a deal.

Sources have stated that the Tractor Boys have enquired into the possibility of a transfer in January and would be keen to add him to their side.

Kieran McKenna’s team are battling to stay in the division and find themselves in 17th place at present, just one point off the drop zone.

However, the morale-boosting first win of the season against Tottenham arrived prior to the international break and they are determined to add more quality and depth in January to help secure their Premier League status for next season.

Chelsea are open to offers for Chukwuemeka and are hopeful of securing a permanent sale in the winter window.

Sources say that Ipswich are not alone in showing interest and some Serie A sides like AC Milan are also mobilising.

But for the time being, Ipswich are well placed to secure a deal having also taken the first steps towards a move by launching an approach.

In the previous summer window Chelsea were seeking hefty sums of around £40m for Chukwuemeka who is contracted to Stamford Bridge until 2028.

That is roughly double the £20m Chelsea paid when plucking Chukwuemeka from Aston Villa in 2022.

But sources state that a cheaper deal some way below the £40m target could be done in January. That is in large part due to Chelsea’s determination to get Chukwuemeka off the books to help fund signings of their own.

Chelsea are monitoring the likes of Antonio Silva at Benfica and want to sell players to keep them in line with PSR regulations.

READ MORE: The key contract details of every Chelsea first-team player: Expiry dates, weekly wages, agents…

Latest Chelsea news – Nkunku, Dewsbury-Hall exits

In other news, Christopher Nkunku has been told he’d be “mad” to leave Chelsea for Manchester United. Nkunku is dissatisfied with his playing time under Maresca and talk of a January switch to Old Trafford is gathering steam.

Meanwhile, Chelsea are being heavily linked with a move for Benfica defender Tomas Araujo, who has become a key figure in their side this season.

The 22-year-old has a mammoth €100m (£83m / $106m) release clause in his contract, but that will not seemingly put the Blues off with reports in Portugal claiming Chelsea are ready to make contact over a possible January transfer.

Any move for the centre-half could be funded by more high-profile departures at Stamford Bridge and a report on Tuesday suggests the Blues are also open to the exit of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who has also found Premier League minutes hard to come by. Aston Villa are being linked with a loan-to-buy move for the former Leicester midfielder.

How are Maresca’s unwanted players performing?

By Samuel Bannister

Chelsea managed to offload most of the players they didn’t want to keep this summer, but were still left with a few whose exits they had explored. How have those players been doing since?

Ben Chilwell

Maresca made no secret of the fact that it was deemed to be in Chilwell’s best interests to leave Chelsea over the summer. However, the left-back wouldn’t budge and was reinstated to the first team in mid-September, making his comeback in a Carabao Cup win over Barrow. It remains his only appearance for the first team this season, though.

Carney Chukwuemeka

Like Chilwell, Maresca publicly admitted he would have preferred for Chukwuemeka to leave in the summer, in his case due to competition in his position. Chukwuemeka has thus far been limited to one outing in the League Cup and two appearances in the Conference League.

Deivid Washington

On deadline day, Washington seemed set to join fellow BlueCo side Strasbourg, either on loan or permanently, but neither move went through. His only first-team call-up since for Chelsea was for the Barrow game, but he remained on the bench. Washington has scored twice and provided one assist in just 81 minutes of action in the Premier League 2.

Noni Madueke

Chelsea considered letting Madueke go in the summer, 18 months after buying him, but he stayed put. He has enjoyed the biggest revival of any of their other could-be-castaways, scoring four goals in 10 Premier League matches so far this season, including a hat-trick against Wolves.

Cesare Casadei

Despite playing under Maresca last season while on loan at Leicester, Casadei faced an uncertain future this summer. After staying, he has featured four times in the League Cup and Conference League, though is yet to feature in the Premier League under Maresca.