Four reasons why Chelsea want to sell Noni Madueke to Arsenal in £50m transfer confusion

When two nominal rivals complete a transfer for a starting player on either team, there are questions being asked. Why is one willing to get rid, and why does the other want that player in the first place?

That is where Arsenal and Chelsea are at with Noni Madueke. Here is a 23-year-old England international with two-and-a-half years of Premier League experience to his name, a steady improvement over time, no imminent contract expiry, and who is still yet to reach his peak.

Chelsea are open to selling him and Arsenal are keen to buy. For many, it looks like a strange piece of business, though. If Chelsea have real issues with Madueke or don't see him as being worth keeping, then why are Arsenal paying what will be over £50million for him?

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And if Arsenal, a club on the rise and off the back of finishing ahead of Chelsea for the third season in a row, want Madueke, why are Chelsea fine to let him go?

This is not a deal dictated by finances. Arsenal are not making Chelsea an offer they cannot refuse for a player they are desperate to retain. There is an eagerness and willingness from all parties to make it happen. That suggests that there are reasons

It perhaps mirrors Kai Havertz's move from Stamford Bridge to the Emirates Stadium in 2023. Arsenal supporters were left questioning the £65million fee for a player so clearly on the way out and unwanted by Chelsea.

Blues fans may have felt they got the better of the deal after Havertz's struggles, but his importance to Arsenal for the past 18 months cannot be understated. He has found a role under Mikel Arteta with 22 league goals and 10 assists from 51 starts, not all of them as a striker.

Maybe the price is hefty for Havertz's output, but he has been more than serviceable. The Madueke comparison is a fair one. You could argue that Madueke is on a better trajectory right now.

Whereas Havertz had stalled and, in truth, never really got going at Chelsea despite his flashes and patches of form, certainly not living up to the hype and expectation from his early years in Germany,Madueke has shown gradual growth over time since his January 2023 move back to England for around £35million.He has had a poor 2025 but still contributed more than in 2023/24.

Madueke has become more important during his stay, doubling his minutes (despite an injury earlier this year) and mainly holding down a place in the starting XI under Enzo Maresca. Up until March, he was the preferred right-winger over Pedro Neto.

What has happened since has changed that. Now, with reports that Madueke has agreed personal terms with Arsenal ahead of club-to-club talks, the direction of travel is clear.

Chelsea have never made an attempt to shut down interest from elsewhere in Madueke or the stance that he was available at the right price. Since the start of the summer, the public stance has been that he was not untouchable and that offers would be listened to.

He was not put on the market, per se, but it is only semantics which separate the two. Reading between the lines, Chelsea were effectively welcoming talks for him.

But again, why? Madueke finished as the third top scorer in the league last season for Chelsea. Only Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson, and Enzo Fernandez had more goal contributions, and Madueke ranked behind only Jackson and Palmer per90.

His underlying metrics are strong with expected goals and assists (xG+xA) ranking him in the top four per90 for any Under-23 Premier League player last season. Despite this, Neto eventually won the right-wing spot and hasn't let it go.

His Club World Cup performances have kept Madueke stranded on the left, where he is not a natural. Although there were a few bright sparks there, Madueke's output has dropped significantly since the turn of the year.

From a hat-trick in his first game to just four more goals in 32 appearances (26 starts) and none since January 25. Madueke only assisted one league goal in 2025, stretching back across 17 matches.

Having been the go-to right-winger, things changed in December. “Noni can do much more,” Maresca said after dropping Madueke to the bench for a 3-0 win over Aston Villa.

“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 restored to the team a few days later and managed to both score and assist in a 5-1 rout over Southampton. He also assisted from the bench against Villa.

Maresca's comments are not the only time Madueke has been questioned. His attitude and application on the field have been reason for frustration from the stands as well.

At times, Madueke goes in and out of games and can look to be playing his own game. The Conference League final was an example of this.

With Chelsea remaining active in the market for alternatives (after signing Joao Pedro and Jamie Gittens), they have continued to be alert to potential additions. Mohammed Kudus is one, whilst Alejandro Garnacho is another.

They will already have Estevao Willian to provide cover, support, and competition in the squad next season. He is not yet ready to play a major role and will need carefully managing and integrating, but that is not the limit of Chelsea's expansion outside of Madueke.

Geovany Quenda will arrive in 2026 and is extremely highly rated. He is another who will need to adapt to a new league and is still extremely young, but Chelsea have their eyes on other players in the long term.

Therefore, with Maresca having previously questioned Madueke, his form dipping, and transfers for the future already being in place, the picture starts to be become a bit clearer. Madueke has lost his place in the best Chelsea XI, rightly or not, and his part-time position on the left is going to new players as well.

So when Chelsea get wind of clubs sniffing around, it does make sense to move forward. Madueke would represent a net profit of at least £15million (possibly more, depending on a final price) and is an even bigger win on the accounts.

If there are questions over his fit, and then the money is put on the table, then maybe it does make sense for everyone. Chelsea would arguably be losing their second-best winger, but it is someone who is out of form, probably out of the strongest team, and who faces ever-increasingly competition.

Arsenal see it as a chance to buy a talented, still developing player in their age bracket, with friends in the squad.Chelsea will back themselves to find someone else able to fill the whole in the squad.