£29m Chelsea player thinks he’s suddenly more reliable after Newcastle United failed to sign him

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Newcastle United tried and failed to sign a winger during the summer transfer window.

Michael Olise was Newcastle’s top target, but he has taken his talents to Bayern Munich. He will be representing the Bundesliga giants in the Champions League, which sums up how difficult it would have been to bring Olise to Tyneside.

After the Frenchman, the Magpies had a variety of other forwards on their radar. Jarrod Bowen was linked with Newcastle, as was Pedro Neto. Newcastle also made an offer for Nico Gonzalez, only for the Argentina international to join Juventus.

Newcastle were interested in Noni Madueke

Noni Madueke was also a target, and at one point towards the end of the summer felt like the most likely attacker to arrive at St James’ Park.

It was reported that Eddie Howe is a fan of Madueke, while Newcastle believe Madueke has the level of potential they are looking for.

However, the transfer window slammed shut with the £29million winger still at Stamford Bridge.

Noni Madueke believes he is improving at Chelsea

The more Newcastle hoped to sign Madueke, the more he started to play for Chelsea.

He has enjoyed a bright start to the new season, after forcing his way into Enzo Maresca’s side. The 22-year-old has four goals in four appearances, three of which came in a 6-2 win over Wolves.

The other strike came in the Conference League against Servette, which was followed by some words of encouragement – or criticism – from his manager.

Maresca said Madueke needed to be more consistent in training, which was a suggestion that he might not be a good fit for Newcastle United after all.

Now Madueke has responded to Maresca’s comments on the official Chelsea website, and believes he is becoming a much better player as of late.

“I think I’m in really good goalscoring form,” he said.

“My goalscoring has really improved over the last four or five months. Also just my reliability. I think I’m churning out games where I’m at a consistent level and long may it continue.

“I feel like it’s only a positive [what Maresca said]. He wants to push me and wants to make sure I get the best out of myself in every single training session. Top players train to their fullest every single day, so that’s for sure what I strive to be as well.”

Newcastle will keep an eye on how much he plays at Chelsea ahead of January transfer window

Madueke is taking Maresca’s advice on board, and trying to become the player that Chelsea need him to be. He is also showing the kind of traits that Eddie Howe would look for, which suggests that he may well have been a good addition to this Newcastle United squad.

Given how heavily linked he was this summer, you would assume that Toon officials will be keeping an eye on Madueke between now and the January transfer window.

If he continues on his current trajectory, there is no way he will be available at the start of 2025. However, there is always a chance that his minutes could diminish at Stamford Bridge, given the amount of options they have in attack. Chelsea also signed Jadon Sancho on deadline day, which means more competition for Madueke.

As it stands, Madueke is one of Chelsea’s top performers, and showing why Newcastle would have been lucky to land him this summer.

As for Newcastle, they must continue with their current options until January after Paul Mitchell failed to improve Eddie Howe’s squad while the transfer window was open.