The talented midfielder looked destined to make a major impact last season after he featured prominently during the early stages of Mauricio Pochettino's reign.

Indeed, the former Aston Villa player scored in the second game of last season, a 3-1 defeat at West Ham, but sustained a knee injury shortly afterwards and spent the next four months on the sidelines.

Chukwuemeka made his comeback in January against Fulham, but he was used on only nine further occasions by Pochettino with all of his appearances coming as a substitute.

The competition for places is only likely to increase once new manager Enzo Maresca gets his feet fully under the table and Chelsea accelerate their summer recruitment drive.

According to Fabrizio Romano, the Blues have already turned away several loan offers for Chukwuemeka and have pointed to the fact the player has a PS40 million release clause in his contract.

Chukwuemeka's hopes of forcing his way into Maresca's plans took a dent, meanwhile, on Tuesday after Chelsea confirmed the signing of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from Leicester City.

'I have made it pretty public about what I think of the new head coach [Enzo Maresca]. He is fantastic. He is top,' Dewsbury-Hall told the Chelsea website.

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'I personally fell in love with the way he wanted to play and I know a lot of the other lads did as well.

'I am very confident coming here that he is going to implement his style and that the lads are going to buy into it and are going to enjoy it.

'With more time working with it, it will look more natural and when that happens, it is going to be really good for the football club.'

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