Enzo Maresca was delighted to see Noni Madueke rewarded for his fine club form with an England debut – but warned the Chelsea forward not to let his standard slip.
Madueke has been one of the stars of Maresca’s first few weeks in charge, bagging a hat-trick in the 6-2 win over Wolves last month after scoring in the Conference League play-off victory over Servette.
Having been linked with a move away over the course of another turbulent transfer window at Stamford Bridge, the 22-year-old is now establishing himself under Maresca.
Such form saw him called up to Lee Carsley’s Three Lions squad for the wins over the Republic of Ireland and Finland. It was against the Finnish where Madueke made his senior debut and the winger provided an assist for Harry Kane to score the second of his two goals at Wembley in a 2-0 victory.
Maresca was pleased to see the Chelsea star rewarded but warned Madueke not to ease off from here.
“It’s a big achievement for all the players to join their international team, especially for Noni,” he said.
“We feel very happy for him. He is doing well. The only thing he has to do is not drop a little bit, otherwise it’s no good for him and he is going to lose all the good things he has done until now. He has to continue to work well, in the proper way.
“We feel happy for him, for Levi [Colwill] and the Portuguese guys like Renato [Veiga], as it was the first international call for him too, so I’m happy for all of them. For all of the players,.”
The Blues boss also revealed his initial assessment of Jadon Sancho following his loan move from Manchester United on deadline day.
“He has been exactly what I expected,’ added Maresca.
“He’s a very good player, a one-v-one player with quality in the last third. I’m sure he’s going to help us.”
Sancho could make his debut as Chelsea travel down to Bournemouth in the Premier League’s evening kick-off on Saturday.
