Arsenal has reached an agreement to recruit the winger of Noni Madueke from Chelsea, and there are many reasons why coach Mikel Arteta wants the Gunner to recruit another player on the Blues.
However, Madueke's recruitment deal is facing fierce opposition from Arsenal fans on social networks, with the hashtag #NOTOMADUEKE (without Madueke) was spread and an online recommendation was also created.
If the deal is completed as expected, Madueke will be the second Chelsea player to join Arsenal this summer, after goalkeeper Kepa moved at a fee of 5 million pounds. Earlier, the Gunners have recruited a series of Chelsea players since the summer of 2019, including David Luiz, Willian, Jorginho, Kai Havertz and Raheem Sterling.
Of course, Madueke is not at fault in Arsenal regularly signing a contract with the Chelsea players, but it is clear that he is suffering from the lack of confidence from fans. So why is Arsenal fans so angry when the club wants to recruit an English player?
There are several reasons, but the Chelsea element is the most important. Many Arsenal fans were bored with the club's constantly buying players from Chelsea – especially after the names like Willian or Sterling all disappointed heavily in the Emirates. They also do not like the idea of Arsenal to spend money to raise the model of buying and selling luxury players of Chelsea.
Another problem is that the transfer fee is too high, up to £ 50 million for an expected player who only plays a substitute for Bukayo Saka. In addition, Arsenal fans are concerned that Madueke's appearance may affect the development of young talent Ethan Nwaneri, who is still in the process of negotiating a new contract. Even, Chelsea is said to be naked to recruit Nwaneri in recent weeks.
Another problem is that Madueke's outstanding statistics at Chelsea are not really impressive since leaving PSV. After 67 matches in the Premier League, he only scored 13 goals and 5 assists.
The reaction from the fans may have been more active if Madueke had a explosive period at the end of 2024/25, but in fact, he was quite faint: In the last 11 matches in the Premier League, Madueke did not score and only had 1 assist. In all competitions from February to the present, the 23 -year -old has only 3 goals (both in the Europa Conference League) and 1 assist after 21 matches.
So what does Arsenal see in Madueke?
The reason why Arteta is determined to get Madueke lies in intensive data, which is much more positive than the number of goals or assists.
According to Opta statistics, Madueke is a potential player to explode into a true star. He belongs to the first group of Premier League in terms of the number of dribbles creating a shot and average shot per game.
In fact, Madueke averages 3.52 shots per match in the Premier League last season – more than any other Chelsea or Arsenal player. He is the player with the average number of balls that leads to the most shot in the Premier League last season – no one will take the ball straight to the goal and then finish as much as him.
In addition, Arsenal analysts also noted that Madueke won the ball more than Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli, two Arsenal's number one winger last season.
Only two winger, Savinho and Jeremy Doku of Man City dribbling forward than Madueke last season. And only three Premier League players have the number of touches in the penalty area on average each match than him.
The biggest problem is that Madueke has not been able to convert those opportunities into goals or assists, although it may also be due to the ungainly Chelsea attack. Arsenal coaching committee believes that they can improve Madueke's final handling, like the way they have done with Kai Havertz – a player who improves the goal of scoring from 0.23 to 0.33 goals/game from the time of moving to the Emirates.
Another factor that makes Madueke is highly appreciated is flexibility. He can play both wings, capable of finishing with both legs, with 34% of the last season shot is equal to the right leg (the legs are not favorable). In recent months, he has been used on the left wing, although previously playing on the right wing at Chelsea. This helps to increase the depth and flexibility for Arsenal attack.
Basically, Madueke will replace the position of Sterling, who was borrowed from Chelsea last season to kick two wings. Unfortunately, this is a non -effective deal as expected. Arteta clearly believes that the story will be different from Madueke, although most of the Arsenal fans are not convinced.
