Borussia Dortmund are planning to begin discussions with Chelsea about a permanent deal for loanee Carney Chukwuemeka, a report has claimed.

The Austria-born England under-21 international had no place in Enzo Maresca’s plans at Chelsea this season, moving to Dortmund in January in search of first-team football. Chukwuemeka made a promising start to his spell in the Ruhr region but continued to be dogged by injuries.

Concerns over the midfielder’s fitness prompted Dortmund to overlook the option of making his loan deal permanent, which presented a significant headache for Chelsea, who were keen to offload the 21-year-old this summer. The club had included a €35m (£29.4m) purchase option in his loan deal.

However, Fabrizio Romano states that Dortmund have had a change of heart. The Bundesliga outfit are said to be very much interested in extending Chukwuemeka’s stay beyond the summer, although they may try to agree a lower fee.

Manager Niko Kovac is certainly a keen admirer. “Carney is a very good footballer who has now found himself in a situation he’s never had before,” the Croatian boss gushed this week. “He didn’t get as many minutes as he did here at Chelsea. Like every player, he needed a certain amount of time to get going. And then he got what everyone wanted here: the playing time he needed.

“It’s normal to have ups and downs. You have to give a player like that the opportunity. If he had already been a regular at Chelsea, we would never have gotten him.”

When the prospect of a permanent transfer was put to Kovac, he wasn’t so emphatic. “We’ll discuss that after the season,” the former Bayern Munich manager deflected. “We’re very happy to have him. He’s already shown his abilities several times. I personally like him a lot.

“But what happens in the summer depends on many factors. Where will we end up at the end of the season? What does Chelsea say? What’s possible for us?”

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