Chelsea winger Noni Madueke believes he made the right decision to leave Tottenham Hotspur after seeing other talents fade away at Spurs.
Madueke has spoken to Sky Sports about his career and his time in the Tottenham ranks.
Madueke noted that Tottenham had a ‘great academy’ and he was enjoying his time there after leaving Crystal Palace.
However, Madueke saw a number of talented players ‘get lost’ in the Tottenham setup and he feared the same happening for him.
That’s why Madueke rejected a scholarship at Tottenham and instead decided to join PSV Eindhoven back in 2018.
Madueke felt that he could leapfrog his peers by making a move to PSV as he quickly played first-team football against men.
That certainly paid off as Madueke excelled in the Netherlands before being sold to Chelsea for £29million in January.
“Tottenham was a great academy and they’ve got a great development plan,” said Madueke. “I’d been offered a scholarship agreement at Tottenham but I’d seen a lot of the boys – that were good as well – just kind of get lost in the system and I just didn’t want that for me.”
“Going to PSV is not going to harm my development at all and if I’m good enough, I’m going to play quick in the first team, so that was really my mindset. I’m thinking ‘if I jump the queue, I’ll just be better than all my peers because whilst they’re playing Under-18’s and Under-21’s, I’ll be playing against men’,” he added.
Noni Madueke exit is tough pill to swallow for Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham actually beat Madueke’s Chelsea 2-0 on Sunday with two goals from homegrown players.
Harry Kane and Oliver Skipp were both on the scoresheet as Tottenham claimed bragging rights in a London derby.
Yet it’s hard not to think about the possibility of Madueke being in the Tottenham side as a homegrown talent too.
Whilst Kane has been a star and Skipp is showing promise, Tottenham’s academy ranks have slowed down in terms of producing first-team players.
Kyle Walker-Peters had to move on, Harry Winks faded away and Japhet Tanganga’s development has stalled.
Tottenham do need more talent coming through the ranks and that they couldn’t convince Madueke to stay is a blow.
Madueke is yet to make a real impact for Chelsea but he could have been a real first-team contributor for Tottenham.
Instead, he will now spend the coming years with Chelsea and will no doubt love to show Tottenham what they’re missing.
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