Carney Chukwuemeka hitting form to fuel Borussia Dortmund
England U21 international Carney Chukwuemeka has hit a rich vein of form and Borussia Dortmund’s fortunes have improved too. A coincidence? We tell you why it isn’t...
After inking a five-year deal to return to Dortmund last summer following his promising loan spell from Chelsea in the second half of the 2024/25 campaign, Chukwuemeka told the club’s TV channel he hoped to “be the best version of myself” in 2025/26. After a slow start, his best version of himself is now coming to the fore.
The England U21 international has started Dortmund’s last three games – he started just once in the league in 10 appearances last season – and Niko Kovač’s side have picked up seven points in that run.
Watch: Carney Chukwuemeka scored in Hamburg on Matchday 10
It would have been a maximum haul of nine had Chukwuemeka’s first league goal of the season not been cancelled out by Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer’s extra-late equaliser in the Matchday 10 encounter in Hamburg.
“Schlotti [N.B. Nico Schlotterbeck] controlled the ball well with his head and I saw the chance to shoot. Thank God the ball went in. I was very happy,” Chukwuemeka told BVB-TV after opening his 2025/26 account before the shine was taken off his second strike in Dortmund colours by the 90+7-minute leveller. “(It’s) super frustrating! I think it’s down to us. We stopped playing after the first goal. That wasn’t good enough.”
The Austria-born midfielder certainly has been good enough as far as Kovač has been concerned recently. Though he has yet to add an assist to his Bundesliga goals tally this term, the 22-year-old has injected energy into the side.
He has used the ball carefully, completing 87 per cent of his passes – often in the most hectic areas of the pitch – while also working hard to regain possession by winning 55 per cent of his duels. In fact, his 17 “duels won” from an average of 31 per 90 minutes is the most successful ratio of any Dortmund player.
Add to that his 64 per cent successful dribble rate and the industrious seven miles a game he covers on average and you can see why Chukwuemeka has been a central figure in Dortmund’s recent sizzling form that has left them firmly cosseted in the Bundesliga’s top three.
He is, in fact, something of a talisman. He is yet to lose on a Bundesliga start – three wins and a draw so far – while none of the last 14 top-flight games he has featured in have ended in defeat (12 wins). The team has not even conceded a goal while he has been on the pitch in the last nine league games – he had already been substituted when Hamburg scored.
Dortmund fans will be wondering why it has taken time for Chukwuemeka to find top form, especially as Kovač had already spoken about him in glowing terms last February shortly after both had arrived at the club.
"The way he takes the ball and carries it, the way he immediately turns in the direction of play, that is really unique," Dortmund's head coach said after the 6-0 demolition of Union Berlin on Matchday 23, overseeing his first Bundesliga win since taking over from Nuri Şahin on 2 February. "He has very good acceleration and technique. The boy will give us joy, if he stays healthy."
Watch: Chukwuemeka - Dortmund's latest gem
He certainly is giving Kovač joy now, and the key to it has been match fitness. Though Chukwuemeka already knew the club, he missed pre-season training meaning he could not hit the ground running and he has been almost literally chasing optimal physical form since.
"Carney Chukwuemeka came in too late, I must say," said Kovač after giving him half-an-hour in the UEFA Champions League win over Copenhagen in mid-October in which he set up Felix Nmecha's second strike. "Karim Adeyemi and Maxi Beier have done well there too. But now over 30 minutes we have again seen how good he is."
And as good as Chukwuemeka has been, Kovač believes there is room for improvement.
"He's developed well, both physically and defensively. He needed to improve in those areas," said the Dortmund boss. “He's not quite at his best yet. We need to keep working on it a bit longer."
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