Chelsea know that any loan move for Carney Chukwuemeka to fellow BlueCo-owned outfit RC Strasbourg will require some transfer juggling this month. The 21-year-old could yet depart to Ligue 1 for the rest of the season, football.london understands.

Chukwuemeka is one of a number of Chelsea players that is free to leave in January, but an insistence on having his £40million release clause met either now or via an obligation to buy in the summer, is proving problematic again. After falling out of favour and struggling with injury under Mauricio Pochettino, the same was true last year.

In two-and-a-half seasons at Stamford Bridge, Chukwuemeka has only started four Premier League matches, scoring just once. That came almost 18 months ago in a match away to West Ham that saw him pick up a damaging knee injury, halting his promising career.

He is yet to feature under Enzo Maresca in the league either, with appearances limited to the Conference League. Even then, he hasn't always been selected as Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Cesare Casadei, and even Renato Veiga get the nod instead.

Now, as Chelsea consider his future and look to find a resolution before the February 3 window deadline, it has not been ruled out that he might end up under Liam Rosenior at Strasbourg. The club, who are in mid-table in France, have been a common go-to for Chelsea since being purchased by the Clearlake Capital-Todd Boehly ownership as part of their multi-club group.

Last season Chelsea sent young attacking duo Angelo Gabriel and Diego Moreira to Strasbourg on loan, whilst Andrey Santos saw his time at Nottingham Forest cut short before heading to join up under Patrick Vieira. Both Angelo and Moreira departed over the summer, bringing in over £20million combined, a break-even for the pair.

Santos, once more continuing his development away from Chelsea, two years on from being signed, is performing as one of the best loanees across Europe. With Maresca not trusting his backup midfield options behind Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez in the first-team - plus Romeo Lavia's continued fitness issues - many have called for him to be recalled.

This would create not only the room for Chukwuemeka should a switch to France be seriously entertained, but also offer an immediate replacement for Rosenior. The pair are completely different profiles but both have significant attacking quality.

Santos is not expected, right now, to return to Chelsea mid-season. The plan is to assess him at the end of the season, football.london understands, with an integration into the senior squad likely to follow in the summer.

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With the Brazilian set to stay, as it stands, that leaves one of Djordje Petrovic or Caleb Wiley to make way. The decision, if it is to be taken, appears relatively straightforward.

Although Chelsea's goalkeeping situation has been labelled as a big reason they will fall short in the title race - and could now impact their ability to finish in the top four - Petrovic is clearly not seen as the answer. Despite impressing with his displays after replacing Robert Sanchez as the No.1 under Pochettino just over 12 months ago, he was sent out on loan only one season after joining.

Chelsea would, it is known, have considered a sale for Petrovic last summer as well, as long as they could recoup the price paid for him in 2023. With questions over his ability to play out from the back in a possession-heavy side, Petrovic saw Villarreal's Filip Jorgensen come in to fight with Sanchez.

The latter is still undoubtedly Maresca's man, yet his uncertainty on the ball and inconsistency regularly causes Stamford Bridge to hold its breath when watching him. Jorgensen is still very much back-up and has been fine, if nothing more, when called upon in Europe or for fleeting league minutes.

As for Petrovic, although Strasbourg have the fifth-worst defensive record in Ligue 1, he has a positive expected goals denied rate, which ranks him as the seventh-best in the division. As the cemented first-choice for Rosenior, a move back to Chelsea is nonsensical.

The same cannot be said for Caleb Wiley. He was signed by the Blues from Atlanta United over the summer for just £20million. A mobile and attacking left-back, Wiley was, for a time, pursued directly by Strasbourg themselves.

He has been out of the picture for much of the season, though, with injuries curtailing his European breakthrough. The 20-year-old's last game came over six weeks ago with a shoulder problem now seeing him out.

Wiley has only started three league matches, with two of those coming in the opening fortnight of the season. Instead, he has missed 10 games (and counting) through injury and will, once fit, face a battle with Moreira, incidentally, to regain his place.

So, if there was a player who needed to return in order to put Chukwuemeka in the clear then it is Wiley. For Chelsea, it is one of many loan incidents that they are looking out for.