Chelsea had an interesting summer transfer window to say the very least. They have welcomed quite a few new faces. The likes of Joao Pedro and Estevao are already making their presence felt in the first-team. It would not come as a surprise if Alejandro Garnacho makes his debut for the Blues this weekend against Brentford.
On the other hand, Chelsea have let quite a few players leave as well. Most of them were not in Enzo Maresca's plans. But there were some who were getting consistent game time.
One of them is Noni Madueke. He starred for England in midweek, scoring in a 5-0 win over Serbia. And lately, there have been suggestions that Chelsea might have made a mistake parting ways with the English winger, who joined Premier League title and London rivals Arsenal.
As reported by Metro, Gary 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."
Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher suggest Chelsea made big transfer mistake
Chelsea fans are not too fond of some of the recent takes from Jamie Carragher as a pundit. And the Liverpool hero seemed to suggest that Madueke has been England's best player under the management of Thomas Tuchel. He said:
"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."
Of course, Chelsea fans will know that Madueke is a decent player. But it always felt like he had a ceiling and was pretty close to it. The winger would have great games from time to time. But then, he never really built on that and was inconsistent.
For all the praise that he has gotten at Arsenal, he has yet to score or assist for them. And no matter what you think about Madueke, it is pretty easy to see that Estevao has a higher ceiling. Now, it remains to be seen whether the Brazilian is able to fulfil his potential or not. But for Chelsea, it might very well have been worth the risk. In Pedro Neto, they have someone who is just as good, if not better. The Portuguese winger needs to work on his output as well, but it has improved lately.
As for Madueke, we can only wish him the best of luck. If he exceeds all expectations and becomes a world-class player at Arsenal then Chelsea's decision would be categorised a mistake, not before that.