Newcastle United and Aston Villa are reportedly among a number of clubs keeping tabs on the situation of Noni Madueke at Chelsea.
The 23-year-old moved to Stamford Bridge from PSV Eindhoven for a reported £29.5m in January 2023 having previously spent time in the academies of Crystal Palace and Tottenham Hotspur.
Madueke has since scored 17 goals and registered seven assists in 74 appearances for Chelsea across all competitions, recording eight goals and seven assists in 28 games so far this season.
The five-cap England international, who is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury, has struggled for consistency with the Blues this term and his attitude in training has been questioned by under head coach Enzo Maresca.
Madueke is under contract at Stamford Bridge until June 2030, but speculation over his long-term future at Chelsea has begun to surface.
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Newcastle, Villa keeping tabs on Madueke
A recent report claims that AC Milan – who currently have Joao Felix on loan from Chelsea – have expressed an interest in signing Madueke ahead of the summer transfer window.
According to talkSPORT, Premier League duo Newcastle and Aston Villa are also keeping an eye on the Chelsea winger, who is one of a number of players the Blues may consider selling in order to raise funds for new signings.
Newcastle have been tipped to target a new right-sided winger in the summer after allowing Miguel Almiron to re-join Atlanta United on a permanent deal in January.
Jacob Murphy has impressed throughout this season on the right flank, but there is little competition for the 30-year-old as both Anthony Gordon and Harvey Barnes prefer operating on the left.
Villa, meanwhile, could push to recruit a new winger if they decide against signing one, or both, of Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio – on loan from Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain respectively – on permanent deals this summer.
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Madueke among many facing uncertain future at Chelsea?
Considering Madueke’s age, his length of contract and the fact that he is English, Chelsea are expected to ask for at least £50m for Madueke, according to TEAMtalk, and that valuation could rise to around £60m.
Speaking to Football Insider about Chelsea’s possible summer clear-out, football financial expert Stefan Borson said: “They clearly still believe in very long contracts despite the situations they’ve found themselves in with [Mykhaylo] Mudryk and many other players.
“It’s not like these players they’ve signed on seven or eight-year contracts are all working out. I would say they absolutely are not working, and they’d like to move a lot of them on.
“Looking from the outside, it still seems like a very odd approach on the contract side, but to be fair, the details of those contracts may allow for earlier exits than the full terms.”
Madueke is nearing a return from injury and is hoping to be back in action at the beginning of next month, but whether he returns in time to play in Chelsea’s next Premier League match at home to Tottenham – another club who have been linked with the winger – remains to be seen.
