Chelsea winger Noni Madueke has been watching footage of Bukayo Saka in an attempt to improve his own game.
Bukayo Saka and Riyad Mahrez are emerging as inspirations for Chelsea winger Noni Madueke.
That is according to The Athletic after speaking to Madueke’s personal football coach Saul Isaksson-Hurst.
Isaksson-Hurst has previously coached in the Chelsea and Tottenham setups and has coached a number of players in one-to-one situations.
Folarin Balogun, Rico Henry and Max Aarons are some of the key names with Isaksson-Hurst having an impact on a number of players.
Isaksson-Hurst has now worked with Madueke for the last couple of years and is trying to help him improve at Chelsea.
Noni Madueke studying Bukayo Saka
Isaksson-Hurst has now spoken to The Athletic about Madueke and his attempts to get better at Chelsea.
The 21-year-old hasn’t started a single Premier League game this season and has only played 44 minutes of minutes of league action.
Isaksson-Hurst notes that Madueke must be able to go both ways as a winger rather than become predictable by cutting in on his left foot time and time again.
Arsenal star Bukayo Saka and former Manchester City ace Riyad Mahrez are held up as great examples of that.
Both are left-footed wingers like Madueke with Isaksson-Hurst suggesting that Saka is ‘probably the best right winger in the world’ right now and a great player for Madueke to study.
Isaksson-Hurst of course wants Madueke to be his own player too, but footage of Saka and Mahrez are being studied.
“It is important for him to be able to go both ways,” said Isaksson-Hurst. “If you look at Saka, probably the best right winger in the world, that’s one of his strengths — going left and right. Mahrez as well. You just have to keep working on these things.”
“It is important to understand who the best players in those positions are. Who is having lots of success? What are the things they are doing? We chat about all that, although Noni is his own man and can be a different player,” he added.
Madueke’s Chelsea situation just got trickier
Madueke clearly has bags of talent; he has shown that since his days in the Tottenham Hotspur youth ranks.
20 goals and 14 assists in 80 games for PSV Eindhoven earned Madueke a move back to London with Chelsea forking out around £29million to sign him.
First-team action has been hard to come by so far and Madueke’s task has become even more difficult now.
Chelsea snapped up Cole Palmer from Manchester City before the transfer deadline – another English, left-footed winger who plays on the right flank.
Madueke was already struggling for Premier League minutes before Chelsea added Palmer; now his situation could be even worse.
Madueke will just have to take every chance he receives, attempting to show that he can become Chelsea’s Saka moving forward.
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