Gary Neville makes U-turn over Arsenal star after Chelsea transfer mistake | Football
Gary Neville has made a quick U-turn over Arsenal summer signing Noni Madueke, suggesting Chelsea made a mistake selling the England star.
Eyebrows were raised when Arsenal spent over £50m to sign Madueke from Chelsea in July.
While a talented player and an England international, Madueke blew hot and cold during his two-and-a-half-year spell at Stamford Bridge, scoring 13 league goals.
Some Arsenal fans were surprised by Madueke’s large transfer fee and bemoaned the arrival of another player from Chelsea following the likes of Kai Havertz, Jorginho, Raheem Sterling and Kepa Arrizabalaga.
Madueke is yet to score or assist for Arsenal but produced an impressive performance in England’s 5-0 World Cup qualifying win over Serbia on Tuesday night.
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The 23-year-old scored England’s second at the Rajko Mitic and made runs that Manchester United legend Neville ‘didn’t know he had’.
Neville understood why Chelsea agreed to sell Madueke earlier in the summer but says he now looks like a ‘different player’.
‘I want to talk about Noni Madueke,’ Neville said on The Overlap. ‘I’ll be honest with you, I’d seen him play quite a lot at Chelsea and when Arsenal signed him I thought, I can see why Chelsea sort of let him go.
‘I tell you – what a different player at Arsenal, and in the England games in the last few weeks.
‘He’s obviously a lot better on the right and that was clear when [Bukayo] Saka went off injured the other week so I wonder if Saka could play on the left a bit more this season.
‘Arsenal have a few problems on the left with [Gabriel] Martinelli struggling a bit so maybe Saka could go back there.
‘Madueke looks one hell of a player on the right, some of the runs he made were really top level. I was looking at it as a full-back and thinking, “oh, I didn’t know he had that”.
‘He’s the young kid so maybe Saka, the experienced one, moves over. Saka is the better player, let’s be clear, but they could swap during games.
Mikel Arteta on Noni Madueke signing
‘Noni is an exciting and powerful young player, with his performances and numbers in recent seasons being of consistently high quality.
‘He is one of the most talented wide forward players in the Premier League.
‘At just 23, Noni already brings experience of club and international football, and he knows the Premier League very well.
‘Having seen the quality of Noni’s performances up close in recent seasons, we’re really excited he is joining us. His arrival will really improve our squad.’
‘Madueke got some stick when he joined Arsenal, some of the fans were really questioning it, but he looks good.’
Jamie Carragher believes it would be ‘hard’ for Mikel Arteta to justify moving Saka from his favoured position to accommodate Madueke.
However, he believes the former Chelsea winger has been England’s ‘best player’ under Thomas Tuchel, possibly giving the Three Lions boss a selection dilemma ahead of next summer’s World Cup.
‘Moving your best player is hard,’ the ex-Liverpool defender said. ‘The problem Saka might have with Madueke is when they’re both with England.
‘Hear me out here. I actually think Madueke has been the best player under Thomas Tuchel. It’s not been great but Madueke has played well, he’s been probably the best player.
‘It will be interesting to see when Saka comes back for England rather than Arsenal. I’ve always like Madueke, you don’t see many wingers are big and strong.’
Madueke will hope to open his account for Arsenal on Saturday when the Gunners return to Premier League action against Nottingham Forest.
Former Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou will be in the away dugout at the Emirates Stadium after he was named as Nuno Espirito Santo’s replacement at Forest.
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Gary Neville makes U-turn over Arsenal star after Chelsea transfer mistake | Football
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