Leafing through the souvenir album of his career, Emanuel Emegha will undoubtedly have a smile on his face when remembering his year 2025. And what a year! With Strasbourg, the 22-year-old striker finished the previous year with a record of 14 goals and 3 assists in 27 appearances in all competitions. For this 2025-26 season, the native of Den Haag already has 6 goals and 2 assists. All in 8 matches and 479 minutes of play. Because it must be remembered that the player was bothered by an ischio injury which caused him to miss 9 matches with the RCSA. A club that he will leave in the coming months whatever happens. On September 12, the Alsatian team announced that it had reached an agreement with Chelsea for its transfer.
A transfer that goes badly in Strasbourg
“Chelsea Football Club has reached an agreement to sign striker Emanuel Emegha, who currently plays for RC Strasbourg in Ligue 1. The Dutchman will officially join the club in 2026.” In the process, Emegha, who will remain with the family since Strasbourg and Chelsea are linked by BlueCo, explained his decision: “It’s the best for my career: I want to go as high as possible, to play in the C1, the World Cup. I could have signed for clubs participating in the Champions League this summer but the overall project of Strasbourg and Chelsea appealed to me. From now on, I want to guide Racing in Europe. With this group, we started something great and I wanted to see it through to the end. I will give everything for the club this season. I also spoke to the coach about it and his opinion was important to me.”
But his decision was strongly contested by some supporters. A banner “Emegha, pawn of BlueCo. After changing your jersey, return your armband” was notably deployed during a meeting. Faced with the outcry from the fans, Marc Keller stepped up to defend his player. But the divorce has been recorded between certain fans and their captain, who still has a few months ahead of him before heading off to England and discovering his new club. But above all, a different atmosphere awaits him because the Blues fans are already getting impatient. This is what explains The Sunwho wrote: “Chelsea fans are eagerly awaiting Emegha’s arrival.”
Chelsea fans are already asking for it
The English media added: “Strasbourg striker Emanuel Emegha has scored four goals in just five appearances in Ligue 1 (…) At least one Chelsea striker made a resounding return this weekend. But Blues supporters will have to wait until the arrival of Emanuel Emegha, while their frustration with Liam Delap continues to grow. Delap, 22, struggled against Wolves in his first Premier League match since injuring his hamstring in August. Meanwhile, Emegha, 22, scored twice for partner club Strasbourg on his return from a similar injury, taking his tally to four goals in just five Ligue 1 appearances. There are currently no plans to bring forward his transfer, despite Chelsea’s need for a reliable centre-forward.
The Sun concludes as follows: “if Chelsea brought Emegha to London in January, it would drive some of the Strasbourg supporters crazy who appreciate the Dutchman’s goals which put their team in the race for the Champions League (…) Some Blues supporters are already starting to get impatient with Delap and think that Emegha would do a better job. Would Emegha do better? Any comparison between him and Delap must come with a caveat. The history of the Premier League is full of strikers who shone in foreign championships but failed to establish themselves in England. What is undeniable is that Strasbourg captain Emegha has far more experience of top-level football than Delap. As well as being the 6th top scorer in Ligue 1 last season, he also found the net in the higher divisions of Austria and the Netherlands, with Sturm Graz and Sparta Rotterdam.
He is expected as the messiah
The English publication specifies that Emegha creates more clear chances and has a better performance this season with a goal approximately every 60 minutes, while recalling that he has only played 5 matches. English football specialist, Salim Baungally tells us more about the high expectations for Emegha. “Today, Chelsea’s problem today is more the attack than the defense, even if it is not top-notch. There are attackers. At the forefront, Guiu is average. Delap is very good but he was seriously injured and is only just coming back. He’ll have to get his tempo and rhythm back and maybe he’ll be back. He showed certain qualities at Ipswich. He was very interesting when he was in 9.”
He continues: “Last year, the one who scored a lot was Cole Palmer. That was the danger for Chelsea. But his second half of the season last year was disastrous and then he was injured and he’s just coming back. In the end, he barely scores anymore. That’s what’s embarrassing. So at Chelsea, there is no one left to score. Which is annoying. Emegha gives the impression of being a 9 who could bring danger. That’s why some are asking for it. We have to see if he can surpass those who are disappointing today. There are a lot of players we believed in at Chelsea. We have to see if he will manage to overcome the disappointment caused by these players. If his competitors still have a few months to reverse the trend, the Dutchman knows he is eagerly awaited by fans and the press.
A place to be made with the Netherlands
Football London follows his every move since the announcement of his signing. The English publication also mentioned his recent call-up to the Netherlands national A team. “Emanuel Emegha continues to shine at Strasbourg, while Chelsea are closely monitoring his progress ahead of his move to Stamford Bridge in 2026. Emegha’s performances at Strasbourg have been so convincing that the striker was called up to the Netherlands national team for the first time earlier this week. Uncertainty over Wout Weghorst’s fitness makes Emegha an additional option for Ronald Koeman ahead of the Netherlands’ World Cup qualifiers against Poland and Lithuania.
Same for theEvening Standard who writes: “the Chelsea striker continues his rise and reaches another important milestone. Future Chelsea striker Emanuel Emegha has received his first call-up to the Dutch national team. The Dutch federation announced the news last Tuesday in a press release. “Ronald Koeman summoned Emanuel Emegha to his group at Zeist. The attacker is called in as reinforcements due to the state of health of Wout Weghorst. The latter had to forfeit and Emegha will have a chance to seize. Less experienced, he is a promising talent from the new Oranje generation with whom he hopes to write a new page full of success in 2026. A year which will already be special with Chelsea and a possible participation in the World Cup.
