Madueke joined from PSV Eindhoven in January 2023. He is tied down until 2030 with the club able to extend his stay by an extra year. Newcastle were among those interested in signing him in the last summer and soon, he will have further competition when another right-wing option arrives in Brazilian wonderkid Estevao Willian, who turns 18 in April.
‘He (Madueke) responded very good at that time (when he was dropped for Villa) so there is no more than that. I expect the same this time. We never thought we were going to win every game but now we’ve lost and they just said to me that we lost on August 18 (to Manchester City) and then after two months (to Liverpool), and then after another two months (to Fulham). We know the reality is that you don’t lose a game every two months. Now it is a matter of how we react.’
Madueke will be back in contention for Monday’s trip to Ipswich, a clean slate ahead of Chelsea’s bid to return to winning ways. Maresca had told his team multiple times that if you add to the competitive nature at Cobham, you will be named in the squad, maybe even as a starter.
Maresca (right) is confident his tough love approach with Madueke (second left) will work
Strike two followed at the start of this month, as Madueke’s levels dropped in training and so Maresca retaliated by dropping him to the bench for their game against Aston Villa. He had started their last 11 Premier League matches but was a substitute for that victory, once more told by his boss that coasting through sessions at Cobham will not be tolerated.
The winger is enjoying an impressive season but Maresca demands complete professionalism
Anybody who watched this lacklustre loss – Chelsea’s first in the Premier League since October – could see how useful Madueke might have been from the bench. As impressively as they did their defensive duties, Jadon Sancho and Pedro Neto finished the full 90 minutes without ever creating enough chances from either wing, as only one substitute was used overall when Christopher Nkunku replaced Nicolas Jackson after 73 minutes.
What we do know for certain is Maresca is a coach who demands complete professionalism at Cobham, sources talking of a ‘fair but firm’ culture being created.
Maresca places significant stock in what he sees in training. Pulling into Cobham for a recent press conference, the car park resembled a drive-in cinema as a gigantic screen was sitting there on wheels, eating up real estate on the tarmac. Its traditional home is on the field where it is used during sessions to show the players clips from games for them to then work on. Maresca is hands-on, the gesticulator in the gilet, forever trying to extract that extra percentage.
Enzo Maresca omitted Noni Madueke from Chelsea’s squad for their defeat by Fulham
If a player is not performing as he should, Maresca will tell him privately, and then tell the world, as he did with Reece James in October when he criticised his captaincy by saying he craved a ‘proper leader’. That revelation, after a Conference League victory over Panathinaikos in Athens, Greece, took us all by surprise in the reporters’ huddle.
Speaking ahead of facing Ipswich, Maresca touched on the standards he wants to see being set in training: ‘For sure, the competition has to be higher. Not only for Noni Madueke, but also Renato Veiga was not in the squad and the reason is exactly the same for both of them. There is not any different reason, it’s just a technical decision.
