Valued £30M: Spurs starlet who left for £0 is now crazy good & better than Johnson

Ange Postecoglou is a very talented manager, and while football stories come and go like the wind, Daniel Levy, the chairman of Tottenham Hotspur, is probably going to look forward to a long haul with the Australian in charge.

Despite the fact that Spurs’ season has been characterised by inconsistency once again, there is a vision, a purpose, and synergy that speak of the potential down the road under Postecoglou’s tutelage. As of 25 games played, Spurs sit five points behind Aston Villa in fourth place in the Premier League.

However, Wolverhampton Wanderers, who have already defeated Postecoglou’s club in the league, have recently defeated Tottenham at home, maintaining the team’s ebb and flow once again.

However, the problems from the previous season are nothing like the ones being faced now. In March, Spurs finished the season in ninth place, forcing chairman Daniel Levy to fire Antonio Conte. As a result of the problems, Harry Kane decided to depart for Bayern Munich.

The tide is shifting. Tottenham has a strategy, and it is hoped that little victories will be gained over the next months and years to put an end to the years of inconsistency and accuracy in the market and on the field.

Levy is raising a crop of young players that is as talented as any on English soil, but Tottenham has to make sure that potential is correctly evaluated and that bright prospects don’t go, as was the case with Noni Madueke’s departure a few years ago.

Noni Madueke’s tenure as SpurS player

Naturally, Madueke hasn’t yet established himself as Chelsea’s first-choice player, but the 21-year-old winger is one of the country’s most gifted young players and has a chance to shine at Stamford Bridge.

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Many people are not aware of the attacker’s humble origins, but thanks to his extraordinary lineage, the prodigy was in fact signed by Tottenham and even participated in the U18 Premier League in 2016–17.

In an interview with Sky Sports, Madueke discussed this early stage, saying, “Tottenham was a great academy and they’ve got a great development plan.” I was given a scholarship at Tottenham, but I didn’t want that for myself because I’d seen a lot of lads, who were really excellent, just sort of get lost in the system.

“That was actually my mindset—moving to PSV won’t hurt my development at all, and if I’m good enough, I’ll play quickly in the first squad. “If I jump the queue, I’ll just be better than all my peers because I’ll be playing against men while they’re playing Under-18 and Under-21,” is what’s going through my mind.

Lost in the commotion of youth football, Madueke took a different path at the age of sixteen, moving to PSV in an attempt to develop into a future all-star.

He’s back in England with Chelsea now, and Spurs may still be kicking themselves for not keeping him in north London.

The start of Noni Madueke’s Chelsea career

Since completing a £30 million deal from Dutch Eredivisie powerhouse PSV Eindhoven in January 2023, Madueke has made 31 appearances for Chelsea. At that time, he gained notoriety for his electrifying performances, which impressed talent scout Jacek Kulig with his “crazy good” ball handling skills.

Madueke was part of the relentless inflow as Chelsea’s new management sought to build on the smoking ashes of Roman Abramovich’s machine-like success in west London and make profitable investments, but so far things haven’t worked out.

To be fair, despite spending most of his time on the bench under Mauricio Pochettino, the five-foot-nine sensation has scored four goals and provided one assist from only eight starts across all competitions, which is sufficient proof that he has the makings of a premier winger.

Madueke is among the top 1% of offensive midfielders and wingers in Europe’s top five leagues for attacking penalty area touches and progressive carries, the top 3% for successful take-ons, the top 2% for clearances, and the top 16% for blocks per ninety. These statistics are based on FBref.

Madueke has the potential to develop into one of the Premier League’s most dangerous attackers if he can improve his finishing touch and decisive decision-making in key situations. His agility is already putting him in the upper echelons of the game.

Mostly a right-sided wide player, Madueke would be a great addition to Postecoglou’s team because of his ability to advance and his technical talent, which fit in well with the Australian’s fast-paced, fluid offence.

Maybe he wouldn’t start every week at this early stage of his career, like at Stamford Bridge, but if his youth development had been managed more tactfully, he could be pushing for a significant role down the N17 right now, which could have avoided the need to spend a lot of money signing Brennan Johnson last summer.

Comparing Noni Madueke to Brennan Johnson

Johnson, who scored ten goals in all competitions last year, was a key component of the City Ground team’s successful battle for survival when he inked a £47.5 million deal to join Tottenham from Nottingham Forest.

Over the previous several months, the Wales international has shown some encouraging play, starting 13 Premier League games and recording three goals and four assists.

Though he only dribbles 0.6 times per game on average, Postecoglou would probably want to see more intensity and penetration when in control of the ball given his fast-paced profile.

In contrast, Madueke averages 1.1 dribbles per Premier League match despite playing little (his previously mentioned FBref metrics support the idea that he is the better dribbler). He also completes 86% of his passes, which supports the technical precision that Postecoglou values in his players.

Even if Madueke hasn’t exactly been able to fit into Pochettino’s plans, there’s no denying that the Englishman possesses scary skills that might still make him one of Europe’s best wingers.

To be fair, Johnson is still very early in his career and has shown glimpses of the elite talent that made Levy willing to pay such a premium price for his services.

However, Madueke might have been promoted to the first team and Johnson’s signing would have never happened if Tottenham had been a little more meticulous in their transfer activities in previous years.

In the end, it remains to be seen whether celebrity will have a more prosperous career…

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