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If Noni Madueke finds time to head to Marbella for his annual personal pre-season training camp this summer, you probably won’t find Arsenal’s new signing frequenting any of the Spanish seaside city’s glamorous hangouts. “His peers are all partying – they’re at the beach clubs and stuff like that,” says the winger’s fitness coach, Saul Isaksson-Hurst. “But he’s turning up every day. Even I’m telling him: ‘You need one rest day, a couple of days.’ But Noni is so driven. He understands the importance of working hard – the more you put in, the more you get out. The reality is that he wants to do more.”
Madueke was spotted letting his hair down with Jadon Sancho at the Wireless festival in north London’s Finsbury Park last weekend, which was understandable given the week he had. Having been used sparingly by Enzo Maresca during Chelsea’s first five games at the Club World Cup, the 23-year-old flew back from the US last Friday, before the final, after an agreement was struck for him to become the sixth player Mikel Arteta has signed from Stamford Bridge since the Spaniard became the Arsenal manager in late 2019. Kepa Arrizabalaga trod the same path at the start of this month.
Of the previous four arrivals from Chelsea, perhaps only Kai Havertz can be described as having been a success. Willian, Jorginho and Raheem Sterling – who endured a disappointing loan spell last season – largely failed to impress. That may explain the opprobrium from some Arsenal fans that greeted news of Madueke’s impending switch. Supporters even launched a petition entitled #NOTOMADUEKE, though that had struggled past the 5,000 mark by the time the transfer was confirmed on Friday. Madueke, who has signed a five-year contract, is understood to have cost £48.5m plus up to £3.5m in bonuses.
According to Isaksson-Hurst, who first met Madueke when the player had just broken into PSV’s first team as a teenager, the noise is unlikely to have an impact on someone he describes as a “mentality monster”.
“Noni is very single-minded – he knows his quality,” he says. “Anyone who’s involved in football and development particularly knows what a talent he is. He’s still a young player and his potential is limitless. He’s one of the most exciting young attacking wide players in Europe. I don’t think it bothers him. [Criticism] is part and parcel of the sport, unfortunately – it’s water off a duck’s back.”
The speed with which Madueke fell out of favour at Stamford Bridge is understood to have surprised many in his camp, especially after he made his England debut last year. He scored the first senior hat-trick of his career against Wolves in August but managed only another four goals in the Premier League from a further 26 starts.
With the signings Liam Delap, Jamie Gittens, Estêvão and João Pedro adding to Maresca’s attacking options, Madueke sensed his opportunities would be limited and was understood to have been keen to join Arsenal, where Arteta is hoping he will provide much-needed cover for Bukayo Saka on the right and push Gabriel Martinelli to start on the left. “It’s difficult – he wants to play like any young player,” says Isaksson-Hurst. “He needs to go somewhere where he’s appreciated and he’s playing regularly.”
Joining a new London club will be nothing new for Madueke. He was spotted by Crystal Palace when he was nine and travelled across the capital from the family home in Barnet for three years. His father, Ify, who also acts as his agent and invested in a pedigree race horse called Princess Chizara that competed at Ascot in 2023, is said to have been relieved when Tottenham snapped up Madueke in 2014 given the shorter journey that also allowed his son to attend the prestigious St Columba’s college private school in St Albans.
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Madueke rejected an offer from Manchester United at 16 after starring for England at various youth levels and then turned his back on English football by moving to the Netherlands and PSV in June 2018. Sancho had swapped Manchester City for Borussia Dortmund the previous summer.
“That’s a big, bold move going abroad when you’re that age,” says Isaksson-Hurst. “Noni went there because he knew that like a lot of the young guys who go abroad now, they have more chances of playing first-team football. And he had several opportunities to come back earlier [than when he joined Chelsea in January 2023], but he just wanted to stay because he wanted to make sure he was playing. All the decisions he’s made are based on progressing and doing what’s best for him and his career, and being brave and always working outside of his comfort zone and doing it. Wherever he goes, he’ll be successful.”
