Manchester United legend Gary Neville has admitted that he was wrong about Arsenal’s summer signing Noni Madueke.
Gary Neville was not entirely convinced by Arsenal’s big investment in signing Noni Madueke this summer. The Manchester United legend was quite open about his doubts regarding the move. While he criticised the transfer a few weeks ago, the former Valencia manager has since taken a U-turn on that stance.
Neville earlier pointed out that the former Chelsea attacker had significant consistency issues and that he was not that great when it came to performing under pressure. But having watched him in action at Arsenal, the former Manchester United skipper now believes the 23-year-old could have a massive impact on their team.
Neville changes stance on Noni Madueke
While speaking on The Overlap, Nevillie admitted via Caught Offside, “I’ll be honest with you, I’d seen him play quite a lot at Chelsea and when Arsenal signed him I thought, I can see why Chelsea sort of let him go. I tell you – what a different player at Arsenal, and in the England games in the last few weeks.”
Noni Madueke joined Chelsea at the start of 2023. The former PSV Eindhoven winger had a decent spell at the West London club, as he was involved in 92 matches and ended up contributing towards 29 goals. Last season, he was involved in 46 matches and contributed towards 16 goals.
While those are decent numbers, the Blues were not confident about the Englishman being one of their key attackers moving forward. As a result, they decided to make significant investments to reinforce their attack and opened the door for his departure.
Madueke proving critics wrong
Arsenal saw the opportunity and snapped Noni Madueke up for big money. Mikel Arteta’s decision to fork out a significant fee to sign the 23-year-old received widespread criticism, and Neville was one of those who had a lot of doubts about the move.
The Manchester United legend felt the Blues had done wonders to get him off their books and, at the same time, raise a significant sum. However, Madueke’s recent performances for club and country have changed the former United skipper’s opinion.
Not only has the former Valencia manager changed his stance, but he now believes the 23-year-old could do wonders for the North London club. The Englishman has shown a lot of maturity at Arsenal, and on the back of his performances, Neville feels he could contribute meaningfully to Arteta’s team.
Madueke will continue to feature in the starting XI with Bukayo Saka still nursing an injury. While Saka’s return could have an impact on his minutes, the former Chelsea forward is capable enough to feature in multiple positions, which will give Mikel Arteta a lot of tactical flexibility.
