'Here we go': West Ham and Everton beaten to 'clinical' Chelsea transfer

West Ham and Everton have been beaten to the signing of Chelsea midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka with the player set to complete a Deadline Day loan move to German giants Borussia Dortmund.

The 21-year-old has been widely expected to leave Stamford Bridge this month with minutes hard to come by under Enzo Maresca. The Chelsea manager continues to focus on trimming down his squad before recruiting new players in west London.

Chukwuemeka joined Chelsea from Aston Villa for £20 million in 2022 and has gone on to make 32 appearances for the side. The midfielder looked set for a breakthrough campaign under Mauricio Pochettino last term, scoring against West Ham in the second league fixture of that campaign, but has not made a single Premier League appearance this term.

West Ham to miss out on ‘clinical’ Chelsea midfielder

Speaking after his goal against the Hammers, ex-Chelsea captain Marcel Desailly said: “I like Carney Chukwuemeka because he is like an artist who comes onto the stage. He has got the ball. Now is my moment. Shine. You see the dribbling. He is sure about what he is going to do and he is clinical. I love it.”

The former Villain's development has been broken up by injury and he will now continue his progress with Borussia Dortmund. The German transfer window closes at 5 pm on Monday, six hours ahead of the English deadline, with confirmation of the Chukwuemeka loan seemingly imminent.

Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano took to social media platform X to push news of the deal towards his trademark 'here we go' stamp of approval. Romano confirmed that a deal was complete as he wrote: "Medical today for Carney Chukwuemeka at Borussia Dortmund, all set to complete loan move from Chelsea. Full salary covered by the German club."

Chukwuemeka follows in the footsteps of Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham as promising young English players to take their next steps with Borussia Dortmund, the German side earning a reputation for developing future stars.

Enzo Maresca continues to trim Blues squad

Speaking to the media in December, Chelsea boss Maresca hinted that Chukwuemeka could be given the green light to leave the club. He said: "There are players that unfortunately didn’t play a lot with us in all the competitions like Chilwell, like Carney.

"Probably they are the first [to say] that they want to leave because they train every day, because they want to play games. If they don’t play games probably they are thinking of leaving. Each player is a bit different situation, so we’re going to see if some of them are coming and knocking on the door to say, “I want to leave”, or something like that. It depends and we will try to find a solution."

West Ham had also been linked with a loan move for Chelsea midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who is also a target for Everton, with both the Toffees and the Hammers looking to invest in midfield.

David Moyes' side appear the frontrunners to complete a move for the player. TBR Football suggests that striker Armando Broja could be sent back to Stamford Bridge to end his loan move to Everton, which would free up the chance for Dewsbury-Hall to be loaned to Goodison Park. Premier League clubs can only take one player on loan from a rival at any point in time.

In other news, Championship outfit Millwall are 'in talks' with Tottenham Hotspur over a potential swoop for an 'outstanding' future midfield star.