Aston Villa and Newcastle among clubs tracking England international Chelsea star | Football

Chelsea forward Noni Madueke could be sold this summer, with the likes of Aston Villa and Newcastle United keen on the England international.

The 23-year-old has been involved on a regular basis this season under manager Enzo Maresca, but not a guaranteed starter.

It was a slow start for the forward after joining from PSV in 2022 but has built up his position in the Stamford Bridge squad and has netted eight goals in 28 appearances in all competitions this season.

However, talkSPORT report that the five-cap England international is one of a string of players Chelsea are willing to sell this summer to bring in new signings and attempt to balance the books.

Aston Villa and Newcastle are believed to be among the interested parties, but they will not be alone, with Tottenham also thought to be tracking Madueke.

The London-born forward spent time in the youth ranks at Spurs before moving to PSV in 2018, where he made his professional debut.

Madueke has had some issues since joining Chelsea, with Maresca revealing that he dropped the former PSV man to the bench for a clash with Aston Villa in December due to his attitude in training.

‘Noni can do much more,’ the Italian said earlier this season. ‘He can do much more. The moment he starts to score or assist and is happy, he starts to drop a little bit and the reason why he was not playing is because I do not like the way he trained.

‘He has to understand that he has to train every day good. He has to be ambitious. He scored one tonight, he has to go for the second one and the third one. He has to give more assists.

‘But overall, he is doing great, he is doing fantastic. He is doing even better in terms of numbers. Noni has to understand he has to work more because he can be much, much, much better.’

Madueke was surprisingly dropped from the matchday squad entirely for a Boxing Day defeat to Fulham, with Maresca asked about the choice but only saying it was a ‘technical decision.’

This may well have been Madueke’s third strike as he had first been reprimanded back in August.

After the winger scored his first goal of the season in the Europa Conference League play-off against Servette, Maresca firmly reminded him he must ‘understand he needs consistency in training’.

Madueke responded positively to that criticism, though, saying: ‘I feel like it’s only a positive. He wants to push me and wants to make sure I get the best out of myself in every single training session.

‘Top players train to their fullest every single day, so that’s for sure what I strive to be as well.’

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