Africa's Most Valuable U21 Player Linked With Move To Chelsea

Published: December 16, 2019

Villarreal winger Samuel Chukwueze is being linked with a move to Chelsea in the January transfer window, according to reports emanating from the British press.

The Telegraph says Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has a transfer budget of £150 million to spend next month and he is looking to bolster his squad with offensive players.

It is claimed that Chukwueze is on the list of wingers being targeted by Lampard, the others being Borrussia Dortmund's Jadon Sancho, Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha and Bayer Leverkusen's Leon Bailey.

This is not the first time the Diamond Academy product has been linked with a move to a Premier League club as he had attracted genuine interest from Arsenal before sealing a move to Villarreal in the summer of 2017, while Liverpool and Leicester City are among his admirers in England.

At 30 million euros, Chukwueze is the joint most valuable African U21 player, according to transfermarkt.com, an honour he shares with Real Madrid-owned Morocco right-back Achraf Hakimi.

The Super Eagles rising star has a contract with Villarreal until June 2023 and has a release clause of 63 million euros.

Predominantly an inverted winger, Chukwueze has scored 11 career goals in 54 appearances for Villarreal's first team and has produced five assists.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel