Noni Madueke is on the verge of completing a 52 million pound move to Chelsea’s London rivals Arsenal and it has caused quite the stir in both fanbases.

It is a move that brings a lot of questions to the forefront of a lot of people’s minds.

I’ll be talking about the move in quite a bit of depth in this article, giving my thoughts and talking about quite a lot of the things I’ve seen on social media and what I think about them.

Let’s get started….

So is Noni Madueke actually good or bad seeing everyone is saying something different?

I think the answer lies in the middle. I think there’s also an argument to be made that there is actually no right answer here, but that the answer depends on who he’s playing for and what context you are asking that question.

Not ideal for an article attempting to answer these questions, I know, but it’s the truth if you want to address the nuance properly. 

I think he’s a good player but it’s a meh signing for Arsenal but would’ve been a good player for Chelsea but is also a good sale for Chelsea.

I subsequently think he would’ve been a very good signing for Newcastle/Aston Villa and a meh sale for Chelsea in that instance. 

My rationale behind this is that Noni Madueke is inherently a nice profile. He is a direct winger that gets shots off, does stuff and takes players on.

He thrives in transition and has all the tools to hurt top teams, in theory.

The problem with Noni Madueke specifically is that the idea of Noni Madueke is much nicer than the reality of Noni Madueke. 

What there is to like isn’t really translated to what we actually get. Noni is nowhere near the efficient dribbler he was two seasons ago.

He looks out of control sometimes, makes poor take-on decisions, appears really clunky and frequently overruns what he’s trying to do.

His shooting is alright but rarely actually makes proper clean contact with the strike and his shot selection is frequently poor too. 

It appears as though, in the last couple of seasons, Noni Madueke has become more unbalanced physically and is still developing.

The only issue is that his game is not developing in parallel with his physique. He still presents the threat he always has, he just doesn’t actually carry out what he threatens. 

Ok, so he’s ineffective… he must be rubbish right? No, not totally.

Noni is still good. He gets into good positions and, if he sorted out his finishing, could easily have scored around 15 goals this season.

In fact, there’s a reasonable chance at some point he does score around that figure. The problem with Madueke and his potential is this:

• I don’t see good enough technique to guarantee he follows his data projected output.
• I don’t see good enough development and consistency to guarantee he follows his data projected output.

He’s also only scored four goals since August in the Premier League with three coming in a single game against Wolves.

This output and inconsistency in what he does well (e.g. can dribble outside and in, gets off lots of shots, good whipped crosses to the back post from the edge of the post, transitional threat – runner) is what concerns me.

However, Madueke can be a hard worker. He trains in the off-season and does a lot of personal work to improve.

He’s relentless on the pitch too, consistently taking on his man and getting shots off even if they don’t work.

This is a good thing and it’s always a good thing in a winger. However, What is a red flag is his inconsistency on the pitch work-rate wise and his commitment in training.

This isn’t some sort of fiction, this is a known problem, and one of the reasons Chelsea are happy to get rid.

Pochettino and Enzo Maresca have both called out Noni Madueke for his inconsistent application in training and have both dropped him from games as a result of it.

It’s also fair to suggest that we’ve seen this in real time, on the pitch, too.

After scoring within a few minutes against Manchester City, Noni Madueke went on to produce a true masterclass in not doing your defensive duty and costing your team the game. 

It’s this problem that justifies the sale for me – there is just no guarantee Noni follows his expected development curve and fulfills his potential given the problems I’ve highlighted above.

If Noni was a player that consistently put in the effort and was praised as a hard working player by all the managers at Chelsea, you’d have a lot more faith he would develop well and unleash his true potential.

After the 3-1 defeat to Manchester City, Noni proceeded to post a black and white image with a quote on Instagram.

It’s things like this that sow division in fanbases. It’s important to clarify that Noni wasn’t the sole reason Chelsea lost to City – James in the second instance below is also at fault.

But still, it’s not a great look when you lose your man, contribute to conceding multiple big chances due to poor defending, and casually jog back like nothing happened.

To top it off, posting on Instagram afterwards kind of shows a lack of awareness about how the game really went.

Ok, he gets into good positions to score too and has all these great metrics compared to other wingers but at the same time, you’d expect that.

Chelsea’s system is incredibly well designed at funnelling the ball into the wingers and giving them almost utopian situations to take advantage of space and 1v1 isolations against fullbacks.

Noni having good underlyings is expected given his profile and role.

What isn’t given, is Noni matching or exceeding his expected goals number and improving on those metrics. 

I just don’t see the consistency in anything he does that says it’s a very high chance he will end up ‘exploding’ and start putting up big numbers.

His inconsistency on the pitch, dodgy body mechanics and technique is what causes doubt in my mind that Noni could go right to the very top.

So why is Arsenal a bad move?

I just don’t see the logic in Noni moving to be a backup at Arsenal.

Could Arteta refine his work-rate and translate that into consistency on the football pitch? Maybe? 

But I just don’t get it from a personal perspective. Noni wants to be him. He’s a player that wants to be great and will keep going until he gets there.

It’s an incredibly good personality to have for a winger. He’s relentless. But will he get that at Arsenal? I don’t think so.

If he’s been signed to be a starter at left wing, it makes almost no sense as Noni just isn’t that good there.

If he’s been signed to be a backup to Saka, it still makes little sense as why are you paying 52 million pounds for a backup?

And for Noni, it still makes little sense. He’s settled at Chelsea, clearly has very good friends and I would assume enjoys it at the club.

He has good standing in the dressing room and Maresca was on a development path with him.

I just don’t see the logic behind going to Arsenal where he is just another player. 

It’s also why I’d think Newcastle and Villa would have been exponentially better moves for Noni than Arsenal.

Both are clubs where Noni would be one of the big players in the team. He’d command the reputation and standing on the pitch that he wants and that he thrives in.

They both also play more on the transition – this is Noni’s strength.

At Arsenal he’d be facing low blocks which he’s, other than his excellent crosses to the back post, relatively ineffective against. 

I also think the entire theory of Noni eventually matching his xG and other positive numbers and having his G/A ‘explosion’ is completely null, void and irrelevant if he doesn’t have consistent minutes.

If he left Chelsea due to fear of competition, why would he go Arsenal? 

There are so many things about the move to Arsenal that I just cannot comprehend. 

Final verdict – The Sale

I think Chelsea made the right decision. With the players coming in and with the expectation Chelsea probably make one more attacking signing this summer, £52m is simply too much money to pass up on.

Noni Madueke is a good player with potentially top potential and he’s someone that has great upsides if in an ideal environment.

If it was £52m to Newcastle or Aston Villa? I’d want more. But to Arsenal? It seems fair.

He, in my opinion, just doesn’t offer them £52 million worth of services.

It’s a shame. Noni is always someone I’ve liked and I was excited when he joined Chelsea in 2022.

But, as is the case in football sometimes, some things just aren’t meant to be and after three years at Chelsea I can’t help but feel this is one of those situations.