Madueke vs Maresca: Chelsea star issues response to public criticism

Noni Madueke has insisted that Enzo Maresca is the perfect manager for Chelsea, despite the fact his attitude in training has been heavily criticised by the Blues boss.

The England international started 11 consecutive Premier League matches from late August to the end of November, but he was dropped to the substitutes bench for Chelsea’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday.

Madueke returned to the starting XI with aplomb against Southampton in midweek, registering a goal and an assist during a 5-1 rout, but after the game Maresca revealed that his performances in training must improve.

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“With Noni I have a personal relationship, in terms of he can do much more,” Maresca told reporters. “In the moment that he starts to score or assist and is happy, he starts to drop a little bit.

“The reason he was not playing [against Aston Villa] is because I don’t like the way he trained. He has to understand that he has to train every day good, he has to be ambitious. If he scores one tonight, he has to go for the second one, the third one.

“He has to be ambitious, to give more assists. But overall, he’s doing great, he’s doing fantastic. He’s doing even better in terms of numbers, in assists and goals. But Noni has to understand he has to work more because he can be much, much, much better.”

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What has Noni Madueke said?

Despite Maresca’s criticism, Madueke believes the Italian is the ideal coach to lead Chelsea back to the top of English football.

“He [Maresca] is honest and truthful,” Madueke said ahead of the Blues’ crunch Premier League clash against Tottenham Hotspur.

“He tells the truth and he is a man you can trust. That’s all you want from a coach.

“He is not necessarily a coach that is trying to be best friends with everyone, but he is a coach that is straight with everyone and fair to everyone. That’s what you need at a top club like Chelsea.”

Madueke has scored six goals and provided two assists in 16 games across all competitions for Chelsea so far this season, while his Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) currently stands at €33 million.