New Delhi: Chelsea forward Noni Madueke has been in scintillating form in the new season and has been rewarded with his first international call-up for England. Madueke will be representing England alongside his teammates Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill.
The Chelsea trio were part of new England interim head coach Lee Carsley’s U21 England side that won the 2023 U21 European Championship[ and are excited to prove themselves on the senior level.
‘He knows my game and he’s a great manager, a great guy, so I’m looking forward to going and linking up for sure. A few of us that won the Under-21 Euros are going up, so it should be good. It should be really fun to see all the boys, just do our best and show everyone what we’re all about,” said Madueke to Chelsea’s media team.
Last Thursday certainly turned out to be an eventful day for Madueke. Coming hot on the heels of his first Chelsea hat-trick, in the side’s 6-2 Premier League victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers the previous Sunday.
First, Noni was promoted from the England Under-21s to the senior side as part of interim manager Lee Carsley’s first squad, ahead of UEFA Nations League fixtures against the Republic of Ireland and Finland.
Then he played his part in securing Chelsea’s place in the league phase of the UEFA Conference League with a 3-2 aggregate victory over Servette, helped by his goal in the first leg at Stamford Bridge a week earlier, despite a narrow loss in Switzerland.’
Madueke described it as a ‘great day’, having received the news via a phone call while in Geneva ahead of that Conference League tie.
The manager called me about an hour or two before the England squad came out [in the afternoon] and broke the news to me. I was in my room, just relaxing preparing for the game, watching SWAT on Netflix, and Cars said I should give him a buzz. I did and he told me that I was in the squad. I was super happy about it.
When announcing Madueke’s call-up, Carsley highlighted the progress the winger has made in his game at Chelsea. Nowhere has that been more apparent than in his goals return, having found the net four times in as many appearances in 2024/25, putting him well on his way to matching last season’s tally of eight already.
‘I think I’m in really good goalscoring form. My goalscoring has really improved over the last four or five months,’ added Madueke. ‘Also just my reliability. I think I’m churning out games where I’m at a consistent level and long may it continue.’
–IANS
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