Noni Madueke won’t change his upbeat demeanour and attitude – even if he is dropped by Thomas Tuchel during the World Cup. The Arsenal star has started England’s opening two group games of this summer’s tournament, which have resulted in his side picking up four points.
But against Ghana on Tuesday night, he was unable to threaten as much as he did against Croatia, and Bukayo Saka again replaced him on the wing. Saka has been managing an Achilles injury that dogged the end of his season with the Gunners.
However, with him now nearing a return to full fitness, some believe Saka will soon get the nod over Madueke from Tuchel to start. But despite both battling for the same position for both club and country, Saka and Madueke are close friends off the pitch, with the former once admitting: “I don’t know how it works, but it does.”
Staff have reportedly said that Madueke has a ‘goldfish memory’ and the capability of immediately shrugging off a mistake and ‘going again’. While the Daily Mail also claims that he has been tasked with stretching defences for the majority of the game before letting his Arsenal team-mate do the rest.
And if Saka is given the nod from the start, Madueke’s former England youth coach Ian Foster believes that the 24-year-old’s attitude and behaviour will not change. “Noni speaks well, speaks honestly,” he told the Daily Mail.
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“I’d always try to create challenging conversations which will set them up. He’ll be brave in those meetings. You’ll challenge them tactically, but to speak freely and handle those types of challenges is different. You can see the effect he has on his team-mates.
“When you’re going away for five weeks, living in each other’s pockets, it can be stressful. Some haven’t been selected in the past because of that. His attitude and behaviours will not change if he starts or finishes or isn’t involved.”
Addressing Saka’s fitness following Tuesday’s game, Three Lions boss Tuchel said: “He seems to be more and more ready, and will hopefully push, and then we will see what is coming.
View 2 ImagesNoni Madueke and Bukayo Saka during an England training session(Image: (Eddie Keogh – The FA/The FA via Getty Images))
“He’s getting there, he has more and more training sessions, so he needs to have more sessions now, two sessions, to be ready for Panama. But Noni tried everything and he did well as well, so it’s not only about Bukayo, but it’s good when he’s back.
“Today he got some minutes under his belt. Hopefully there is no reaction and he is good to go.”
Before the German added: “We’re in a good place, still. It was difficult. They did it well and I knew it before that we play in a difficult group.”
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