‘It’s disrespectful’ – Rio Ferdinand says Chelsea star should be ‘given two-week fine’

Rio Ferdinand said Chelsea winger Noni Madueke should be given a two-week fine after his ‘disrespectful’ act against Arsenal on Sunday.

Madueke started on the right wing at Stamford Bridge on the weekend but was replaced by Mykhailo Mudryk shortly after Gabriel Martinelli fired the Gunners ahead.

The Englishman, however, appeared visibly enraged by the decision and stormed straight down the Stamford Bridge tunnel moments before Pedro Neto’s equaliser earned the Blues a point.

While he did eventually return to take his place on the bench, his actions did not sit well with Ferdinand who said he would be tempted to fine Madueke to teach the youngster a lesson.

‘You think (Danny) Welbeck or Tom Cleverly or Nani are going to storm off the pitch and throw their dummy out?’ he said on Rio Ferdinand Presents. ’It’s disrespectful to your teammates as well.

‘It’s a young team. Who are the experienced players who are going to go in there and say, “Woah, we don’t accept that here”.

‘And I understand his thinking but at the same time, I don’t understand why you are doing that.’

Reacting to the incident, former Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves added: ‘We would have never done it because Sir Alex (Ferguson) would have knocked your arse out.’

‘That’s where the manager comes in,’ Ferdinand hit back. ‘I think the manager protecting him is mad.

‘And that’s why I couldn’t be in there [as a manager] because I couldn’t come out and play the game where you say, “Yeah he was in the wrong but [he’s a good kid]”. Fined, that’s a two-week fine.’

Speaking after the game, Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca insisted he could understand Madueke’s frustration and had no problems with his reaction.

‘The problem is when you change a player, they are never happy,’ he said.

‘Probably the only way to be happy is after the Wolves game where he scored a hat-trick and we changed him, so he was happy. It’s not only about Noni, it’s about all the players.

‘It’s a good thing because they want to be there until the end. But in that moment, we thought in different ways, probably Pedro with Timber could be a little bit more aggressive – and also with Misha. So it was a tactical decision, no more than that.’

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