Izuchukwu OkosiChelsea midfielder of Nigerian descent Carney Chukwuemeka is one of the most inspiring players in the team’s training sessions according to Chelsea insider Simon Phillips.
Chukwuemeka was signed by Chelsea from Aston Villa for £20m beating competitions from Arsenal and Barcelona.
Chukwuemeka who is eligible to play for the Nigeria senior national team through his parents played a crucial role in England’s U-19 side win of the Euro 2022 tournament with three goals and two assists.
Phillips, US-based English jazz, pop and rock drummer, songwriter, and record producer is a figure that knows the players at the club’s training ground, Cobhams too well and speaks highly of the youngster.
Phillips told Givemesport: “He’s been one of the names I’ve been given when I’ve asked who’s impressing Potter in training at the moment.
“Chukwuemeka has been given to me every time I’ve asked, so he’s obviously standing out in training. He scored those two goals in the game against Brighton, and he actually only came on at half-time, so he scored them in one half.”
The 18-year-old was a non-playing substitute in Premier League matches against Leeds United and Joe Aribo’s Southampton, and was on the bench in the Champions League games with Dinamo Zagreb and Red Bull Salzburg.
Chukwuemeka is currently on international duty with England U20s and captained the 2017 world champions as they thrashed Chile 3-0 on September 21 and also started in Saturday’s 2-1 win over Morocco.
Chukwuemeka was signed whilst Thomas Tuchel was in charge as manager on a transfer window that saw the likes of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Wesley Fofana, Raheem Sterling and Marc Cucurella arrive at Stamford Bridge with a few players sold by New owner Todd Boehly.
Chukwuemeka will hope to get more playing times at Chelsea in the Carabao Cup and English FA Cup competitions.
Chelsea’s game before the international break against Liverpool was postponed due to the funeral ceremony of Queen Elizabeth II last week Monday.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
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