Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca insists he will call on Noni Madueke if needed in Tuesday’s Club World Cup semi-final against Fluminense despite Arsenal’s interest in the player.
Madueke is the subject of interest from the Gunners, who want to sign a winger this summer. The England international is understood to have agreed personal terms with the north London side and a first bid is likely to follow.
While Chelsea are not actively looking to sell the 23-year-old England international, who joined in a £30million deal in January 2023, they will consider appropriate offers.
Competition in attacking positions has grown at Chelsea in recent weeks following the signings of Liam Delap, Joao Pedro and Jamie Gittens, and with Kendry Paez and Estevao Willian also joining them this summer.
I can understand that, as a human being, when there is a lot of noise, it’s not easy to deal with
Talk of a potential exit for Madueke did not prevent Chelsea manager Maresca from handing him 36 minutes off the bench in their quarter-final 2-1 win over Palmeiras on Saturday.
Asked about the transfer speculation surrounding Madueke ahead of Tuesday’s semi-final against Fluminense, Maresca replied: “Personally, I think it’s the same noise as before the Palmeiras game.
“But we gave him half an hour and he was very good. So I don’t have any doubts that if we need Noni, he’s going to help us.
“At the same time, I can understand that, as a human being, when there are many noises around you, it’s not easy to deal with that. But hopefully he can deal with that.”
Maresca also explained that he will not be placing unreasonable goalscoring expectations on Joao Pedro, the versatile forward signed last week for up to £60m from Brighton.
“I prefer to have four or five players scoring 10 or 12 goals each than just one striker scoring 40 goals,” Maresca said. “You can see what we have done with Noni and what we have done with Enzo Fernandez.
“And we expect next season more goals from our attacking players. But the ones who are playing as a No9 for us, they know exactly Chelsea’s history.
“I think Joao can play in all the attacking positions for us. He can play out wide, he can play inside the pitch, he can play as a No9. The difference with Nico is that I see Nico just as a No9, whereas I see Joao in different positions.”
