Arsenal have agreed personal terms with Chelsea’s Noni Madueke and are weighing up a move for the £50 million-rated forward, but Micah Richards has signalled concerns over where he would fit in the team. This comes amid the ongoing pursuit of forward recruits before the commencement of pre-season. Arsenal have accelerated their hunt for attackers and have identified Madueke as a key player who could strengthen the frontline. That said, interest in yet another Chelsea player has come with its own concerns, with a former Premier League defender questioning the club’s decision.
Micah Richards admits he is “scratching his head” over where the winger would slot into the Arsenal side. Often utilised on both flanks, Madueke is predominantly a right winger. With this in mind, it is difficult to understand where he would play, considering the presence of Bukayo Saka.
Richards questions Madueke’s role in the squad
Speaking on The Rest Is Football podcast, Micah Richards said:
“I like Zubimendi. We saw him in the Euro final, when Rodri came off. Very good player, tactically really good. He’s good on the ball, really good awareness in midfield. Gyökeres is a really good striker. I think a striker is more important than getting Madueke in first.
“Madueke… where is he going to play? He’s been playing for Chelsea on the left recently. I really like him as a player, but I like him on the right and he’s not going to play ahead of Bukayo Saka, is he?
“So, I’m scratching my head on that one. I agree [that they need two players in every position]. But Saka is always fit normally, until he got that really bad injury.”
Price tag and youth development add to the confusion
The signing of Madueke is a difficult one to comprehend due to a number of telling factors. The Bukayo Saka factor is certainly the biggest. The England winger is the undisputed first choice on the right flank and rarely misses a game due to injury, barring last season. There is a clear need to manage his workload, but the development of Ethan Nwaneri could also be affected.
Chelsea’s £50 million valuation of the player further calls the club’s transfer decision into question. It is a high price to pay for what appears to be cover for the ever-available Saka.
It is a difficult signing to fully justify, but Gooners will have to be supportive if he eventually joins the club.
What are your thoughts on a potential move for Madueke?
Benjamin Kenneth
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Madueke is 2 footed and can play on both wings. He will be an able deputy for Saka nd can also play on the left when Martinelli is down on form. However, 50 mn pounds is too much and maybe 40 mn would be ok.
Nah!
Why oh why would we do this and block the path for Nwaneri – with Nwaneri looking a better player than Madueke already.
Unless Arsenal have made a hash of his renewal negaotiations and now have to sell Nwaneri – cue a rapid return to anger from the stands if that happens. It will be Arteta / Berta Out in 5 mins — so surely they cant get this this wrong?? .
Just dont see an upside here
If it happens to me it will be like the Havetz sign. Why spend so much on a player that we don’t really need when we could use the money to get a player we do really need. Get eze, kudos ahead of this guy. Morgan rogers, Anthony Gordon. If we had spent the money on a striker at the time of buying Havertz we would have won the league already. Are we making a similar mistake. Many scratched their heads then and this one is also a real head scratcher
Why oh why are we offering Chelsea 50 million for one of their backups?
So possibly £115 million to Chelsea for two bench players? (Havertz and Noni)
So we will lessen Nwanarei’s minutes, in favor of a bench player from Chelsea? Rather give minutes to Nwaneri who produced last year.
Would love to know whom to pin this on, Berta or Arteta? Bad move in my opinion,
maybe we should shop the bin at Utd as well,
I am horrified to learn the behavior of a lot of Arsenal supporters on social media, where they protest against Arsenal buying Madueke. Unfortunately, we have some supporters here who do not do the club any good and paint a wrong picture of a real Arsenal fan. We are all entitled to our opinions, but we must behave properly.
Madueke is in my opinion a very exciting player, who is a goal-scoring winger who had a very good 2024-25 season. He is young, dynamic and a challenging player who can do the unpredictable. At the same time, he has a good eye for his teammates in the attack. At 23 years old, there is plenty of potential for further development. He will probably do well with his national team colleagues, Saka, Rice and Eze (if we do sign him)
I will take Maduake in a heartbeat if we are paying between 30m to 35m that will be after we have brought in a new striker. But for 50m, absolutely no.
I know it is not my money but if we keep overpaying for players who are just backup in their parent club, put it might put us in problems in future. Look at the players we have brought in under Arteta that important are no more important to the team anymore, how many of them can we sell on on significant profit. Non, and it was because we overpaid for them.
We are losing a lot money on transfers because we don’t buy well and sell well.
It’s really Abit over 50mil which I honestly think is too much. May be 40 or abit less would have been perfect. But in all , forget our hype on nwaneri , madueke is a much better player. He can perfectly use both legs and play from both wings. And how are we sure saka would be fit for most games? Madueke ticks all the boxes.
Football really do have untouchable players if only trophies follow up we are moaning about this deal..sit take a chill pill and know your star boy is been set for greater heights and not been stuck in untouchable injury last season says alot too we can smell it dnt be shy saka needs this competition and star boy might take time with that injury to master and be unpredictable in his drives…..and fast track M.A. seen it and dont wanna waste any time to slot in Madueke
Football really do have untouchable players if only trophies follow up ….we are moaning about this deal..sit take a chill pill and know your star boy is been set for greater heights and not been stuck in untouchable injury last season says alot too we can smell it dnt be shy saka needs this competition and star boy might take time with that injury to master and be unpredictable in his drives…..and fast track M.A. seen it and dont wanna waste any time to slot in Madueke and remember M.A will polish Madueke