Does Chukwuemeka show the demise of a 90-minute player?

By

Football issues correspondent

Carney Chukwuemeka's name was trending all over social media this week.

Had the Borussia Dortmund midfielder scored a worldie? Maybe he had produced an outrageous piece of skill?

It was a little bit more strange than that.

The former Aston Villa and Chelsea midfielder has now made 97 senior appearances across all competitions - but somehow has never played a full 90 minutes.

The 22-year-old made his debut for Villa on the final day of the 2020-21 Premier League season against Tottenham.

He has started 18 games but always been subbed off. The closest he has got to a full game is the 82nd minute, twice.

That was in a 4-1 loss for Chelsea at Manchester United in May 2023, and a 1-1 draw for Dortmund at Hamburg in November 2025.

His other 79 matches have all been from the bench.

The breakdown of his games is 16 for Villa, 32 for Chelsea and, since his move in 2024, 49 with Dortmund.

This should be no slight on the player's ability, with Dortmund boss Niko Kovac describing him as "sensationally good".

"The way he takes the ball and carries it, the way he immediately turns in the direction of play, that is really unique," Kovac said after a 6-0 win over Union Berlin last year.

"He has very good acceleration and technique. The boy will give us joy."

What does this tell us about the modern game with five substitutes?

Do any other players come close, or is Chukwuemeka an exception?

The change in approach can be directly attributed to one clear event: Covid-19.

Football awoke from its slumber in June 2020, squeezing the end of a season into a couple of months.

The International Football Association Board (Ifab) stepped in and offered a temporary measure to allow coaches to make five substitutions rather than three.

It was extended for two seasons before being added as a permanent ruling.

Controversially, the Premier League opted out for two seasons before relenting and following the rest of Europe's top leagues from 2022-23.

"The most important thing is it can manage the workload of players better," Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said.

"It gives players the opportunity to be on the pitch and gives options to change and refresh the game."

More substitutes means more appearances. It also means fewer players stay on the pitch for 90 minutes.

Teams in La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1 have been more likely to use them.

In the five years before Covid, an average of 7.1 outfield players played 90 minutes across the top five European leagues. In the Premier League it was 7.2.

Since 2022-23, the average has dropped to 5.5 outfield players.

But the Premier League has propped that average up, markedly higher at 5.9 players who play 90 minutes.

La Liga and Serie A are at the opposite ends of the scale, making the most changes with 5.3 players staying on for the whole match.

Chukwuemeka has made the headlines as he approaches his 100th appearance without playing a full match.

But is Chukwuemeka out on his own, or are there other players in the same position?

BBC Sport first looked at players who played at least 50 games - players in the top five leagues only.

Between 2014-15 and 2018-19 with three subs there is not a single player who did not play 90 minutes at last once.

Expand that to the present day, including the era of five subs, and there are 10 players who qualify.

At the top of that list is Randy Nteka, a forward who joined La Liga club Rayo Vallecano in the summer of 2021.

Including a top-flight loan spell with Elche, the Angola international has played 106 league matches across five years and has not played 90 minutes.

Unlike Chukwuemeka, Nteka has at least managed to play two full games in the Copa del Rey.

Looking at 50+ all-competition appearances since Chukwuemeka's debut, only one other player has not played a full match.

That is Jeff Ekhator, a 19-year-old striker for Genoa in Italy who made his debut in August 2024.

The Italy under-19 international has played 51 games in Serie A and the Coppa Italia. His longest time on the pitch is 72 minutes in a 1-1 draw at home to Como in November 2024.

There is one stand out player who does not quite qualify: Alan Virginius.

The 23-year-old has played 166 matches, mainly for Sochaux, Lille and Young Boys, across all competitions since making his debut at the start of the 2020-21 season.

The France under-21 international has completed 90 minutes once, in a Swiss Cup semi-final defeat for Young Boys against FC Biel-Bienne in April 2024. He still did not complete the game, though, substituted 11 minutes into extra-time.

The closest Virginius has come to a league 90 minutes was in March 2024, on loan at Clermont Foot, when he was taken off in injury time of a 3-0 home loss to Toulouse.

Chukwuemeka, who won the Uefa European Under-19 Championship with England in 2022, this month switched his allegiance to Austria, the country of his birth.

Maybe he will get his first 90 minutes on the biggest of stages at the World Cup this summer.

At the European Football Clubs' (EFC) general assembly in October a subject cropped up which might well produce groans from supporters: adding another substitute.

Clubs held informal, private discussions about using 28-man squads - up from the current 25 - and six substitutes.

Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest were among those who attended from the Premier League.

Sources close to the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) told BBC Sport at the time that it had doubts if 28-man squads would help players with workload.

It would not stop them from travelling in a matchday squad or ease mental fatigue regardless of whether they play.

BBC Sport understands this has not been discussed by Ifab so, at present, there is no prospect of it changing.

But the clubs have been talking about it, and you would not be surprised if they do so again.

Chukwuemeka might be an exception at the moment. Add another substitute and the number of players who are rotated in and out is sure to increase.

And that means the number of players who are playing 90 minutes will fall again.