Chelsea must slam the brakes on transfer decision after David Ornstein's 'conversations' update - opinion

Chelsea are now being tipped to offload one of their key players from last season, but they may be making a misstep. The Blues are in the midst of a busy summer, and not just because of the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup in the United States.

Club chiefs are hard at work on new signings, and we have already seen Liam Delap and Joao Pedro join the Blues. More new arrivals are expected, including Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, but Chelsea are also being tipped to offload a winger as they look to strengthen out wide.

Noni Madueke is being linked with a move away two years after arriving and just months after concluding a season that saw him feature in 32 of the 38 Premier League games, scoring seven and providing four assists. He also scored three and assisted one in five Conference league appearances.

Speaking after the season, Madueke defended his boss Maresca. He said: "The gaffer is top. He won last year at Leicester and he won this year in his first year at Chelsea - and qualified for the Champions League. I don't understand why there would be criticism of him.”

On Chelsea’s season, he added: “It's fantastic. It's the culmination of a lot of hard work, a lot of dedication and we are super happy that we got the job done. I feel like we've come of age, don't you? I feel like we have, you know. I think the last few weeks, we've taken a leap in that sense.

"Of course, that's a success. Especially from where we've come from in the last few years. We know that Chelsea is a winning club. But there has been nothing in our minds apart from winning and we did that. Of course winning becomes infectious. Of course it does. It's a lot of the boys' first major trophy and we are super happy that we've done it."

In response to links involving Madueke this summer, Maresca has said: “Noni is our player, you can read a lot of speculation at the moment but we consider Noni our player for the coming season.”

But there have still been heavy links with Madueke and other clubs, including Arsenal. David Ornstein said on The Athletic Podcast: “I think a lot appeals to Arsenal about that profile, he can play on both sides, known to many of the Arsenal players, London based and Chelsea are not adverse to conversations about trading, that goes for pretty much any of their players you could say,

“Conversations more on the player side at this point, nothing club to club at the moment. It’s a fluid conversation at the moment – Madueke will have a say in it also, does every party want to make this happen?”

Chelsea are committing a misstep

Madueke was not ultra-consistent last season, but he is 23 years of age and another player who is being asked to do something that does not come easy to young players. Consistency at this level is very tricky for players with plenty of development still to do, and we saw the same with expected new Chelsea signing Bynoe-Gittens last season.

Madueke has shown moments of real class, and even Maresca has described him as “one of the best” players in the Chelsea squad. The winger has fitted in well at Stamford Bridge and has been fully bought into Maresca’s project despite being dropped for the odd game during the season.

Chelsea have decided to focus on young players, having the youngest playing squad in the Premier League last season, but a lack of consistency comes with the territory, and they must accept that with players like Madueke and Nicolas Jackson. This is not the time to give up on those players as they go through the usual ups and downs of development, and talk of them replacing Madueke with Mohammed Kudus is baffling.

Kudus had a very disappointing season of last, and yet he will cost close to £70million according to reports. Chelsea do need to strengthen this summer, but they need to take a step back and be careful not to be sucked into the urge to chase shiny objects when it comes to replacing key players to their project like Madueke and Jackson. Both have shown real potential and both are still early in their development cycle.

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