Chelsea's Sancho? Pochettino drops €35m star

Stuart Telford

• 28 Sept 2023 10:31 BST
• 3 min read

Noni Madueke has been left out of Chelsea's last two matchday squads despite being injury-free, with echoes of Jadon Sancho's situation at Manchester United.

Madueke joined Chelsea from PSV Eindhoven in a €35 million transfer last January, and made 12 Premier League appearances for the club in the second half of last season.

But Mauricio Pochettino has since arrived as manager, and has thus far preferred Raheem Sterling, Mykhailo Mudryk and even left-back Ben Chilwell in the wide attacking areas this season.

READ: €113m per win: Chelsea RUINING wonderkids with CRAZY transfer policy

Madueke wasn't named in the squad for Wednesday's EFL Cup win against Brighton, and Pochettino even had two goalkeepers on the bench for last Sunday's 1-0 loss to Aston Villa in Dorde Petrovic and Lucas Bergstrom.

When asked of Madueke's recent exclusion had been down to injury, Pochettino answered in the negative.

"It's about choice, it's about choice. Election," he said succinctly.

READ: Man Utd 'vulnerable' to FIFA charge over Sancho as Keane tells winger to show 'humility'

Sancho parallels

While Madueke hasn't publicly railed against his manager, unlike Sancho, who has fallen foul of Erik ten Hag's strict disciplinarian approach at Old Trafford, his exclusion does have some parallels.

Both are young wingers with international recognition for England - in Madueke's case up to U21 level - who arrived for significant fees under previous managers at their clubs.

And both have been left out despite being fit and available (Sancho's game time was diminished as Man Utd before his recent, public spat with Ten Hag).

It is a situation Madueke and Chelsea will hope to resolve quickly. Madueke is valued at €23.4m by FootballTransfers' in-house algorithm which makes him a valuable resource not to depend on.

Tottenham Hotspur were linked with a move for their former academy player before he joined Chelsea, and Leeds were also previously credited with an interest.

Indeed, United could do with an effective wide man with Antony and Sancho excluded and Alejandro Garnacho struggling to convince Ten Hag despite scoring against Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup on Wednesday.