Where Chelsea’s Noni Madueke ranks in list of best 22-year-olds in Europe

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Chelsea winger Noni Madueke has made a brilliant start to the season under Enzo Maresca.

In the six Premier League games that Noni Madueke has played, he has scored four goals.

His latest came in Chelsea‘s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest at the start of the month, while his previous three all came against Wolverhampton Wanderers in August.

It has been claimed that Madueke has been showing a really good attitude at Chelsea this season.

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The best 22-year-olds in Europe right now

Cole Palmer has probably been the only player at Chelsea that has outperformed Madueke in the current campaign.

In fact, according to WhoScored, Palmer has outperformed every single 22-year-old in Europe’s top five leagues this season. They have given him an average match rating of 7.96, which is the highest among his age group.

However, Madueke has also made their top five, coming in at fifth below Bradley Barcola, Hugo Ekitike, Michale Olise and, of course, Palmer.

Had Chelsea’s summer gone differently, they could have had three players from that list all in their squad.

Olise was on Chelsea’s shortlist, but the winger ended up joining Bayern Munich instead of the Blues.

How Noni Madueke can pull closer to Cole Palmer

As good as Madueke has been this term, there is little chance of the England international surpassing Palmer.

That is not a criticism of him but rather recognition of just how insane his teammate is. He almost matched Madueke’s tally of five Premier League goals last season in just a single game last month after netting four times against Brighton & Hove Albion.

However, the above does not mean Madueke cannot improve and climb closer to Palmer’s level. To do that, he probably needs to improve his decision-making.

There are times when the former PSV Eindhoven man goes for the shot instead of looking up and playing a pass, and that is reflected in his assist numbers.

This season so far, Madueke has failed to set up any of his teammates in the top flight, whereas Palmer has done that on five occasions. Improve that area of his game, and Madueke could go on to become something really special.