Noni Madueke has been working extra hard this summer following the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino at Chelsea. The 21-year-old winger was a bright spark for the Blues in the final games of the season and he now looks set to play a key role in the former Tottenham boss' plans next term.
Pochettino will officially start his role as manager on July 1, meaning he has a full pre-season to get his feet under the table at Cobham training ground. In the meantime, the the 51-year-old's squad has already begun to take shape with various players expected to leave and even more linked with arrivals.
Desperate to make a good impression and ensure that he isn't replaced, Madueke has been completing extra training sessions. In a video shared by Potent Sports, the Chelsea winger was seen doing a one-versus-one drill; he received the ball, put in a step-over to beat a mannequin before chipping the on-rushing goalkeeper.
In May, prior to Pochettino's appointment, Madueke all but confirmed the manager's arrival by sharing his excitement at the prospect of working with the Argentinean. He told Sky Sports: "I think he is a good manager.
"He has been in big places around the world and he was a great success in the Premier League. I am looking forward to working with and learning from him."
Then, when asked how the Blues plan to transform their fortunes next term, Madueke replied: "Just cohesion and pulling in the right direction. I think next season we need to go back to basics.
"The new manager needs to come in and everyone needs to get behind him in training for him and Chelsea to be successful and there’s no reason why we can’t be with the talent in his squad."
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Ian Wright is expecting Madueke to take the Premier League by storm if he can perfect his final delivery. Speaking on Match of the Day following the Blues' win over Bournemouth, the former Arsenal striker said: "I think today he made the difference.
"Frank started him at Arsenal and said the reason why he put him in was because of how hard he’s been working in training to try to get that consistency to try to get himself in the team, and he’s done it.
"He was very, very good today, gave Vina a lot of problems. The problem with him though, is his final ball. He holds it for too long and he’s going to have to learn quickly to make better decisions in that instance.
“He’s got this kind of ability to go past people and as time goes by he will feed it into the box, he’ll start to get that in his game, and once he does, Chelsea will have a real prospect on their hands."
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