I had Noni Madueke down as a nice squad option and not much more. A month on, with Bukayo Saka injured and the right wing his to lose, I have to hold my hands up: the Arsenal winger has changed my mind.
It hasn’t happened by accident. Mikel Arteta has been unusually open about where the turn came from, and it says as much about the player as anything he has done with the ball.
There is still one box left to tick, though, and it is the one that decides whether this is a purple patch or the making of him.
What did Arteta say about Madueke?
After a stop-start opening to the season, Noni Madueke used the previous international break to train on his own rather than switch off. Arteta made a point of praising it after the 1-0 win over Hull City on 7 November.
“The way he reacted to that, I think, is a great example for the rest of the squad, which is, ‘I want to do more,'” Arteta said. “He went away, he started to train and was a different Noni. Since then, he has been incredible.”
That is a manager sending a message to the whole dressing room, not just to one player. When minutes dry up, this is the reaction he wants.
Attitude was never the problem
Here is the thing I got wrong. I assumed the doubts about Madueke were about his head. They weren’t. Coaches who have worked with him have spoken well of his work rate and his willingness to listen, and nothing he has done in an Arsenal shirt has suggested otherwise.
The real question was always consistency. On his day he is one of the most exciting players in the squad to watch live: he takes people on, he asks defenders questions and he makes things happen when a game is stuck. The worry was that those days came too rarely.
Lately they have been coming every week, and the difference is in the decisions. He looks quicker to choose the right option, but he has also learned when to slow it down and wait for the run inside him, something Gabriel Martinelli has never quite mastered.
The Hull game in numbers
The win over Hull was the best example yet. Madueke was Arsenal’s most dangerous player all afternoon, and the figures back that up.
| Madueke vs Hull City | Figure |
|---|---|
| Shots | 4 |
| Touches in the box | 14 |
| Dribbles completed | 6 of 8 |
| Duels won | 8 |
| Chances created | 4 |
Only Martin Odegaard created more chances, and it was Madueke’s shot, parried by Tzolakis, that led to the captain’s 72nd-minute winner. It was Arsenal’s 34th 1-0 Premier League win under Arteta.
Now it is about goals and assists
For all that, the goal went in off someone else’s boot. Arteta said it himself: “He knew he had three clear chances to score,” adding that “there are still margins we can work on, to make him more efficient.”
That is my only reservation now. In one of those moments he tried to take the ball round the keeper when simply going for goal would have done it. Wide players at a title-chasing club get judged on numbers, and his numbers have to start matching his performances.
The timing could not be better. With Saka out, Arsenal need someone on the right to carry the threat, and we have already argued that Saka’s workload has to be managed once he is back. A Madueke who scores and assists makes that a lot easier for Arteta.
Is he a big-game player?
This may be an unpopular view, but I think he is. He doesn’t shrink against good sides; if anything he enjoys running at better full-backs. Thomas Tuchel has left him out of England’s squad again for the November games, and if he wants a way back in, the next few weeks give him the stage.
A different kind of maverick from Eze
It is worth comparing him with Eberechi Eze, the other attacker fans argue about most. Eze is a flashes-of-brilliance player: the moment of magic in a tight game rather than the weekly talisman, and he is not a natural touchline winger in a system built around width.
Madueke is starting to look like the opposite. He is doing it week in, week out on the flank, which is exactly what a side chasing back-to-back titles needs while its best right winger is in the treatment room.
Verdict: Noni Madueke has earned the right wing
I was wrong about Madueke, and I’m happy to be. The attitude was always there; the decision-making has caught up, and Arteta trusts him. Add the goals he is creating for himself and Arsenal won’t miss Saka anywhere near as much as we feared. If January brings any business, it should be on the left, not the right.
