Simon Johnson of the Athletic is out on the preseason tour of the USA with Chelsea, giving him a good chance to get to know some of the players and storylines as they start to develop.
His first long piece is all about Noni Madueke, and we can see why. The winger is in a very interesting position right now. He’s not one of the golden boys, the players guaranteed their status because of their excellent form, their recent arrival or their monster transfer fees: the likes of Cole Palmer, Moises Caicedo, Malo Gusto or Enzo Fernandez.
But equally he’s not been so poor that he’s on the list of players who we’d happily sell if only we could get a decent fee: Mykhailo Mudryk, Benoit Badiashile and so on.
Madueke has not really shown the consistent ability to be a player who elevates us, but he’s got the tools and perhaps just needs the coaching and the system to go to another level.
Johnson noted that Palmer is “being earmarked by [manager Enzo] Maresca for a more consistently central role.”
Palmer played off the right a lot last season, crowing the right wing selection and keeping Madueke out of the team at times. If Palmer goes central, Madueke should have a chance to establish himself. But he will need to work fast – there’s a constant stream of transfer links to right wingers (like Michael Olise), and next summer wonderkids Kendry Paez and Estevao Willian will arrive.
A huge summer, and then a huge season
So Madueke has to do two things – firstly show what he can do in these preseason games, try to persuade the sporting directors that he is up to the challenge as our first choice right winger this season. And then, through the season, he has to go to another level in terms of quality and consistency and prove that he should still be in the mix when reinforcements arrive next summer.
