Enzo Maresca reveals he dropped Chelsea star after alarming training performance

Enzo Maresca brutally slammed Chelsea star Noni Madueke for his poor levels in training following the 5-1 win at Southampton on Wednesday.

Madueke was named in the Chelsea XI for the Premier League clash against the Saints at St Mary’s and he even got on the scoresheet.

But after the match, Maresca explained his frustrations over the player and has accused him of dropping his level as soon as he hits any type of form.

It is not the first time Maresca has called out Madueke after sending a warning to the Chelsea star over his training performances in August.

In a fresh attack on Madueke on Wednesday, Chelsea head coach Maresca said: ‘With Noni, I have a personal relationship, in terms of he can do much more.

‘In the moment that he starts to score or assist and is happy, he starts to drop a little bit.

‘The reason he was not playing [against Aston Villa] is because I don’t like the way he trained.

‘He has to understand that he has to train every day good, he has to be ambitious.

‘If he scores one tonight, he has to go for the second one, the third one.

‘He has to be ambitious, to give more assists. But overall, he’s doing great, he’s doing fantastic.

‘He’s doing even better in terms of numbers, in assists and goals. But Noni has to understand he has to work more because he can be much, much, much better.’

Madueke has registered five goals and two assists across 13 Premier League games this term – despite struggling for a spot in the XI – with Maresca mostly favouring Nicolas Jackson instead.

Chelsea paid £29m to sign England international Madueke from Dutch club PSV Eindhoven in January 2023.