Journalist Dean Jones has said that Aston Villa will be ‘gutted’ internally at Carney Chukwuemeka’s move to Chelsea, GiveMeSport report.

The Lowdown: Chelsea deal

Chukwuemeka’s future was a hot topic of conversation during pre-season, with Steven Gerrard leaving him out of a tour to Australia due to his contract situation.

The 18-year-old was thought to be holding out for a staggering £100,000 per week and has now signed for Chelsea in a deal worth £20m. Gerrard spoke out following the move, admitting he had to ‘set a precedent that no-one is as big as the club or the academy’,

The Latest: Jones’ comments

Talking to GMS, Jones said that Villa are ‘gutted’ and ‘really disappointed’ regarding Chukwuemeka’s exit, despite receiving an eye-catching fee.

“I don’t think there’s any price really for them that would have been good because he’s one of the best young players in the world and they’ll be gutted that he’s left them so early.

“It’s such a hard thing for these clubs, when you bring through someone so exciting and then can’t tie them down to that next deal that really gets the proper value out of them and allows you to actually get them into your team. So, they’re really disappointed about it.”

The Verdict: Made sense?

Chukwuemeka was into the final 12 months of his Villa Park deal and clearly had his heart elsewhere, so cashing in appeared to make sense.

A £20m fee for a player who had made just 16 first-team appearances in the Midlands is no disaster either, but only time will tell if that proves to be a steal from the Blues' perspective.

It’ll be interesting to see how the midfielder develops at Stamford Bridge and whether or not Villa reinvest that money in another young midfielder to replace the Englishman.