I saw £30m Chelsea player prove he should start vs Manchester City after performance vs Real Madrid

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Chelsea’s pre-season tour of the United States concluded overnight with their final friendly fixture of the trip.

The trip ended in defeat for Enzo Maresca’s side. While results are never the most important thing when playing in pre-season, there will no doubt have been a desire to record more than one victory of their tour of America.

Last night saw them defeated 2-1 by Real Madrid, with defensive woes rearing their head in the first half for the club again.

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There will no doubt be worries for supporters less than two weeks away from their opening Premier League fixture against Manchester City, although Marc Cucurella, who has been working at Cobham, should be present in the defence after not joining the tour this summer.

One player who did take last night as his opportunity to stake his case to Maresca that he should start is Noni Madueke, who has now found the net in his last three fixtures this summer.

Noni Madueke has earned himself start for Chelsea vs Manchester City

The England U21 star actually ended last season in a really promising light, and has carried that form into pre-season. Madueke’s performance against City last weekend also impressed greatly off the bench.

Club captain Reece James hinted people may well be sleeping on him coming into the new season, and there is now genuine excitement this could be a serious breakthrough campaign for the winger.

The difficulty with starting Madueke would be where to put Cole Palmer in the side, with him clearly the club’s most important player even if he hasn’t registered a minute in pre-season yet.

Maresca can move Cole Palmer central

However, there is an opportunity for Maresca to give him a go in the middle ahead of a midfield duo, which will consist of two of Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and Romeo Lavia.

This would allow for Christopher Nkunku, who also enjoyed a positive summer, to either feature on the left, or down the middle if he needs, given that Nicolas Jackson has still not made his return from injury in this pre-season either.

Madueke likely needs a big campaign to put off any talk of signing a new winger in the near future. However, it is fair to say he looks motivated to do just that over the next nine months.