Noni Madueke has capitalised on the opportunity to impress in the Chelsea starting lineup, with one former Premier League star giving the youngster some advice to improve his game
Ian Wright offers Noni Madueke brutally honest advice amid Eden Hazard dream (Image: Photo by Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Ian Wright has heaped tremendous praise on Noni Madueke following Chelsea’s 3-1 win over Bournemouth, but insists that the youngster must improve his end product. The 21-year-old winger played a major role in the Blues’ victory at the Vitality Stadium as proved to be a constant threat down the right-wing.
While Madueke didn’t chalk up a goal or an assist, he was very impressive and lifted the travelling supporters from their seats. The England youth international’s impressive performance follows his display against Arsenal earlier in the week, scoring the west Londoners’ only goal at the Emirates Stadium.
Madueke has capitalised on his opportunity in the starting lineup, showing the next Chelsea manager exactly why he deserves to spearhead the club’s project. However, if he is to lead the Blues’ frontline like Eden Hazard once did, Wright has urged him to improve his final product.
Speaking on Match of the Day, as quoted by the Metro, the former Arsenal striker said: “I think today he did [make the difference]. It’s his fourth league start, Frank started him at Arsenal and said the reason why he put him in was because how hard he’s been working in training to try to get that consistency to try to get himself in the team, and he’s done it.
“He was very, very good today, gave Vina a lot of problems. This was the problem with him – the final ball. He holds it and holds it, in the end this is what he’s going to have to learn quickly to make better decisions in that instance.
“He’s got this kind of ability [to go past people], you’re thinking as time goes by he will feed it [in the box], he’ll start to get that in his game, and once he starts getting that in his game then you can see Chelsea have got a real prospect on their hands because he looked very good today.”
Lampard was also very complimentary of Madueke. Speaking to the club’s YouTube channel, the Chelsea caretaker boss said: “Noni was very sharp, considering he was not so well on Wednesday, Thursday. He trained yesterday.
“I thought he was really good against Arsenal in a tough game and got his goal. And again today, he’s got a fantastic one-on-one ability to go past people. I like him as a lad, he’s got really good energy.
“He will know that because he’s hungry, and I want that. It’s been a breath of fresh air, him coming in, and he’s training well to deserve that.”
While Madueke is still some far from emulating what Hazard managed at Chelsea, the winger is keen to follow in the Belgian’s footsteps. Upon his arrival in January, he said: “I’d probably have to say Eden Hazard. Just a ‘get you off your seat’ type of player, so exciting in terms of the flair and being able to get people off their seat, create and stuff. There’s defo similarities but I hope to be as good as him some day.”
Source: football.london