A loan move to Strasbourg is an option for Chelsea midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka, football.london understands, but the Blues would need to recall one of their players from the French club.

As it stands, Andrey Santos, Djordje Petrovic and Caleb Wiley are all on loan at Strasbourg, owned by BlueCo - the consortium led by Todd Boehly. Chelsea have used the French club to loan players to in recent seasons in order to get them first-team experience in a 'top five' European league.

However, with three players already on loan at Strasbourg, Chukwuemeka would not be able to move there unless one of them is recalled this month. FIFA laws state: "A limitation on the number of loans per season between the same clubs: at any given time during a season, a club may only have a maximum of three professionals loaned out to a single club and a maximum of three professionals loaned in from a single club."

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Chukwuemeka is allowed to leave Chelsea this month as football.london understands the club are willing to let the 21-year-old leave, whether that be on loan or on a permanent basis. The former Aston Villa midfielder, who is yet to feature in the Premier League this term for the Blues, has a £40million release clause inserted in his contract at Stamford Bridge.

Sources have confirmed that Chelsea will not be willing to let Chukwuemeka leave for any fee less than the £40million clause. Signed in the summer of 2022 from Aston Villa for around £20million, Chukwuemeka was promised first-team football by former head coach Thomas Tuchel.

Tuchel, however, was relieved from his position just over a month later. Graham Potter took over from the German and Chukwuemeka finished the 2022/23 season with just 15 appearances to his name in all competitions.

Last season, again under new tutelage from Mauricio Pochettino, the England Under-20s international recorded even fewer appearances, featuring just 12 times in all competitions, albeit with injuries playing a big part. Fast-forward to the present and Enzo Maresca has told Chukwuemeka publicly on a few different occasions that he needs to leave the club to get first-team opportunities on a regular basis.

Chukwuemeka has played just five times for Chelsea this season - with four of them coming in the UEFA Conference League and the other one in the Carabao Cup victory over Barrow. In total, Chukwuemeka has played just 130 minutes this term.