Awkward: Noni Madueke calls player Chelsea tried to sell “underrated, unbelievable” | OneFootball

If you had to pick one player who has been the protagonist of this Chelsea season so far, you’d probably go with Noni Madueke. He had a great preseason, has scored some goals, made his England debut, and really locked down the right wing position in the first team, building on the progress from the end of last season.

So perhaps it’s no wonder that he was the chosen squad member to do some media work with Sky Sports ahead of tomorrow night’s game with Bournemouth. They got him to talk his way through Chelsea’s summer signings (and a few other Chelsea related concepts) and rate them with one word each – a rather fun and revealing exercise.

Of course he was always going to be positive about the new additions – but you can read quite a lot into his answers too.

Madueke’s take on new players and more

It’s something of a Rorschach test, a bit of word association. Chelsea – pride, Jadon Sancho – baller, etc.

You can see the full interview in the clip embedded here:

Pedro is “lightning in transition” with a “nice final ball,” Joao Felix is “intricate” (Noni accidentally revealing his private school education there, playing for England is a “blessing.” We then got a tour of his music taste and his thoughts on his new manager too: “the guy doesn’t sleep on details.”

Most interesting of all was him talking about Carney Chukwuemeka. Madueke called him “underrated” and “unbelievable”, noting his “physical prowess” despite his tender years. They’re clearly good mates, and it shows.

“Getting the ball off him is a myth man… his time is coming. That’s my brother.”

That’s a little awkward, given the midfielder has been exiled from the squad and told by Enzo Maresca he as recently as today that won’t get any minutes this season…