£20m Chelsea player has had a frustrating pre-season tour, it’s gone so much worse than last year

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Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the United States reached its conclusion on Wednesday with a defeat to Real Madrid, and it’s been quite a frustrating summer so far for one player in particular.

Chelsea leave the US with one win, one draw and three defeats from their friendly matches. Most importantly, new head coach Enzo Maresca has had the time to work his squad of players.

The Blues will now face Inter Milan at Stamford Bridge this Sunday in a final friendly before the Premier League begins a week later.

One of the most interesting dynamics in the squad going into the new campaign is the midfield positions because there’s a lot of competition for places. Unfortunately, Carney Chukwuemeka has been caught in the crossfire this summer.

• READ MORE: The three most likely ways Chelsea’s midfield could line up next season

Carney Chukwuemeka has had a frustrating tour

Chukwuemeka, who cost Chelsea £20m (Sky Sports) two years ago, has had a really strange pre-season tour.

Chukwuemeka didn’t impress against Wrexham during the trip’s opening match, despite playing the full 90 minutes. He followed that up with a half of football against Celtic to get more minutes into his legs.

However, the 20-year-old midfielder’s not played a single minute since. It’s quite astonishing that he’s been an unused substitute in the recent matches against Real Madrid, Manchester City and Club America.

Maresca’s continued to get a good look at most of his squad in these friendlies, but it seems like Chukwuemeka has already slipped down the pecking order.

If the Englishman doesn’t feature in Sunday’s friendly match with Inter Milan at Stamford Bridge, it’s not looking good for him going into the new 2024/25 campaign the following weekend.

Chukwuemeka is a box-to-box midfielder that can’t get a look-in right now when he’s competing against teammates such as Enzo Fernandez, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Christopher Nkunku and Moises Caicedo. There’s still superstar Cole Palmer to be reintegrated into the squad, too.

A stark contrast to last summer

If you rewind to one year ago, Chukwuemeka enjoyed a brilliant pre-season when Mauricio Pochettino was Chelsea boss and played his way into the starting line-up for the start of the Premier League. It’s frustrating that things haven’t worked out the same way for him this time around, though.

He actually played in all five matches in the pre-season tour of 2023, excelling as a No 10 under Pochettino.

Chukwuemeka has had to watch Blues teammate Christopher Nkunku thrive as the advanced midfielder in the last couple of weeks, which must be frustrating for him to see on the sidelines.

Would the youngster be better off searching for a move in what’s left of the window is his pathway is blocked? Journalist Fabrizio Romano reported via YouTube in June that Chelsea have no intention of loaning out Chukwuemeka this summer.