Noni Madueke’s Greece audition is latest act in England coming-of-age story

Noni Madueke has a particular way of explaining things away. Direct, confident, a little dismissive – rather like how he plays. The Chelsea winger’s apology after the Wolverhampton affair at the start of the season featured a number of choice cuts.

“I just want to apologise to everyone that I might have offended,” Madueke said, after accidentally sharing a private message about Wolverhampton being a “shit place” with his followers on social media. “It wasn’t meant to be out on my socials like that. I’m sure Wolverhampton is a nice town and I’m sorry.”

Related: England fans ‘treated like animals’ in Greece, prompting investigations

Madueke has had a few missteps since his £30m move from PSV in January 2023. The former Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino ticked him off at the beginning of last season for going out partying while injured. Pochettino also raged towards the end of it when Madueke, together with Nicolas Jackson, tried to snatch the ball off Cole Palmer for a penalty during the 6-0 destruction of Everton.

When Madueke disappeared straight down the tunnel during last Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Arsenal at Stamford Bridge after being substituted, his team 1-0 down, the optics were not great. The Chelsea manager, Enzo Maresca, commented: “When you change a player they are never happy.”

Madueke is keen to set the record straight. “I literally went down the tunnel to go to the toilet and I came back 30 seconds later,” he says. “If you watch a lot of games when I come off I always go straight down the tunnel to go to the toilet. It is nothing major at all.”

The 22-year-old is not the kind of guy to let much affect him. The abuse from the Wolves crowd at Molineux was as relentless as it was inevitable. He responded with a 14-minute hat-trick in the second half, driving the 6-2 win that ignited Maresca’s tenure.

Madueke’s singlemindedness is pronounced. Without it, he would not have left Tottenham at 16 to join PSV. The plan was to get first-team minutes as quickly as possible before returning to England to show who he was and what he could do. Which is exactly what happened.

Everything is falling into place. It was a fight to establish himself at Chelsea but he started in each of the club’s final 10 matches of last season. Under Maresca, he has done so in 10 of 11 in the Premier League, missing only the opener against Manchester City when he was an unused substitute.

It is happening for Madueke with England, too. What stood out as he starred on his full debut in Thursday’s 3-0 Nations League win over Greece in Athens was his desire to seize the moment, the certainty he would do so. There was a fearlessness; he did not care about the pressure of the occasion, the must-win nature of the game, the problems and controversy of the buildup.

Madueke does not overcomplicate things. His game is about sharp changes of direction, explosive acceleration, the ability to move smoothly past his man, to have a go at goal. He tore into Greece, providing the spark England needed, setting up Ollie Watkins for the breakthrough on seven minutes. It was not the only chance he would create.

It was Madueke’s fourth cap, all of them coming under Lee Carsley this season; he played for him previously at under-21 level. And it was difficult not to see it as a coming-of-age performance. Bukayo Saka, England’s first choice on the right wing, is too young to need an heir to his position. He has competition; England a viable backup option.

“I have got a lot of belief in my ability,” Madueke says. “Even if it is not going so great, I still believe I can impact games. That is what I tried to do against Greece and thankfully it worked. Also at Chelsea … I have had some great moments this season and sometimes I have not been as good as I like but that is part of the process. I am always full of confidence and that does not change when I put on an England shirt.

“I feel like I did my job, I created the first goal and I was a threat pretty much until I came off. That is what I try to bring to my game every time I step on the pitch and thank God, it was perfect.”

Madueke made the point that he was not “coming for” Saka; he does not see him as a rival, rather a teammate he admires and tries to learn from.

The focus is on the next game, which is Republic of Ireland at Wembley on Sunday, when England will seek the victory that would guarantee promotion to the Nations League’s A section as winners of Group B2.

That said, Madueke will be keen to catch the “fresh eyes” of Thomas Tuchel, who starts work as England manager in January, and the goal is clear.

“I am not thinking about it to be fair … I am thinking about taking every day, every game and every session that comes,” Madueke says. “But, of course, the World Cup is a kid’s dream. It is one of those things that nearer to the time, I will start preparing for and try and make sure I am on that list.”