Chelsea’s loss against Manchester City certainly had its fair share of negative takeaways, but one Blues star has just made a really impressive statement with his own individual performance.
The Blues were beaten on Saturday night 4-2 by Man City in a pre-season friendly. Interestingly, the English rivals meet again in their opening fixture of the new Premier League season on 18 August.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca is clearly still getting to grips with his squad of players. For example, speaking in his post-match press conference after the Man City defeat, Maresca explained trialing Malo Gusto at left-back in pre-season.
Chelsea’s final match of their United States trip is on Wednesday against Real Madrid. Afterwards, they face Inter Milan next weekend in their final warm up match before the 2024/25 campaign begins.
- READ MORE: Enzo Maresca stresses £50m Chelsea man is an important player for them after Manchester City defeat
Noni Madueke has just proved his point
If Chelsea winger Noni Madueke is looking to prove he belongs in the starting XI next season, he just sent out a real statement with an excellent showing for 45 minutes versus Man City.
The 22-year-old attacker started on the bench for the latest pre-season game. However, he was introduced at half-time by Maresca, which was more than enough time for him to make his mark.
He was fast, direct and positive on the right wing. Most importantly, the £100,000-a-week ace (Salary Sport) was directly involved in a couple of goals as well.
Madueke did superbly to get to the byline and assist Raheem Sterling’s volleyed goal with his cross. He then got on the scoresheet himself in the closing stages with a calm low finish when one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
According to his personal football coach Saul Isaksson-Hurst in The Athletic, Madueke’s done lots of work on his finishing this summer. It looks like the hard work has paid off for him!
He’s fighting for that starting position
Madueke’s looking hungry during this pre-season schedule and has now scored in back-to-back games as he aims to impress his new head coach.
There’s obviously competition for places in the wide positions, especially if Cole Palmer ends up playing there when he’s back with the group, but Madueke is putting together a compelling case for himself to suggest he suits Maresca’s system. Let’s remember that he finished last season in strong form, too.
FotMob has provided the individual statistics from Madueke’s second-half display against Man City:
- Match rating – 8.0
- Minutes played – 45
- Goals – 1
- Assists – 1
- Shots on target – 2/2
- Chances created – 1
- Big chances missed – 1
- Accurate passes – 13/16
- Touches in opposition box – 5
When everything ticks for Madueke at the same time, he really can be a special attacking threat. If he wants to elevate himself to the next level, it’s about doing it on a consistent basis week after week.
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