Madueke problems leading to Chelsea exit as Arsenal set to complete transfer

Arsenal are closing in on a £52m deal for Chelsea winger Noni Madueke, whose career at Stamford Bridge has not been all plain sailing after running into problems with manager Enzo Maresca last season

Chelsea star Noni Madueke is about to join London rivals Arsenal in a £52million deal - and the problems that have plagued his time at Stamford have now been laid bare.

Madueke is set to become the latest player to make the switch from Stamford Bridge to the Emirates to bolster Mikel Arteta's options on both wings.

He will sign a five-year deal with Arsenal after agreeing personal terms on a switch across the capital in a move that has proved to be divisive across the fanbase.

It remains to be seen whether Madueke will get any more first team football with the Gunners than he does currently with the Blues. The 23-year-old still managed 27 starts in the Premier League out of a possible 38 but appears to have fallen out of favour with boss Enzo Maresca.

Madueke joined Chelsea from PSV in January 2023 for an estimated fee of £28.5million, but according to a report from the Daily Mail, figures from the club don't believe he has kicked on in that time.

There have also been concerns over Madueke's discipline and attitude, having twice been dropped by Maresca over claims of poor training performances.

The Italian said his decision to drop him from the matchday squad travelling to Fulham on Boxing Day last season was a "technical decision", having previously left him out of the group that played away at Aston Villa.

And even after scoring in a 3-1 win over Wolves in January, Maresca said he wanted an "immediate" improvement from the player, claiming he "stopped playing" after scoring the third goal of the game.

"He can improve in the last third, but probably after he scored the goal he stopped playing," he said. "This has to be one thing we need to improve immediately. Never happy if you score one or two - always you have to go for more."

This summer Madueke - who has 20 goals and nine assists from 92 games - has been part of Chelsea's Club World Cup squad but he has only started two out of their six games in total.

He started the 2-0 win over Los Angeles last month but only played eight minutes of Chelsea's 3-1 defeat to Flamengo. He then started against ES Tunis but had to settle for substitute roles against Palmeiras and Fluminense. The speculation could have influenced Maresca's decision making and he admitted there had been "noise" around Madueke's future before the semi-final clash against Fluminense.

"Personally I think the same noise where before Palmeiras came, you see we gave him half an hour and he was very good, so I don't have any doubt that if we need Noni he is going to help us," he said.

"At the same moment I can understand that as a human being when there are many noise around you it's not easy to deal with that, but hopefully he can deal with that."