Chelsea star sends message to Cole Palmer as Pochettino embarrasses Cucurella

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When Chelsea have needed one of their new big-money signings to step up, it has often been Noni Madueke willing to oblige. The winger was the best of a bad bunch during the terrible run under Frank Lampard last season, drawing praise from the former interim head coach after a goal in the Blues’ 3-1 defeat by Arsenal in May. 

And it was the 21-year-old who hauled Chelsea out of a deep hole when they found themselves losing against League Two Wimbledon in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night. Madueke was one of Chelsea’s best performers and won the penalty from which he struck the equaliser. 

It came after Robert Sanchez’s clumsy challenge handed Wimbledon a penalty, which former Brighton youngster James Tilley thumped down the middle. Given Chelsea’s penchant for talent from the South Coast club, a subsequent huge bid for Tilley cannot be ruled out. 

All the more embarrassing for Pochettino’s side was the necessity on bring on £170m worth of talent to overcome fourth-tier opposition. It was the second-most expensive of the lot, Enzo Fernandez, whose first Chelsea goal finally overcame the Dons. 

But Madueke’s positive performances in his fleeting appearances for the West Londoners make a reported move for Cole Palmer all the more baffling. The addition of the Manchester City man, who has shared England U21 minutes with Madueke for the last few years, only serves to limit the respective game time. 

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Wide-ranging reports suggest Chelsea are set to pay an eye-watering £45million for Palmer, not a dissimilar fee outlayed for Madueke. It is further evidence of a club that seems to lack a clear plan for squad building. 

While Madueke continues to impress, there are few Chelsea signings from the last 18 months that epitomise the wayward scattergun approach quite like Marc Cucurella. A player who had shone in a very particular system at Brighton was signed for a whopping £62m.

It seemed a sizeable fee for a player with just a season of Premier League football under his belt. And the Spaniard has hardly justified that huge fee. 

Pochettino has preferred Levi Colwill over Cucurella this season, despite adopting a style more akin to the one the latter played in at his former club. When the 25-year-old was finally given his chance to impress the Argentine, he failed. 

Cucurella might have been looking nervously at the bench when just moments after a misplaced pass in the 30th minute, Pochettino summoned Ben Chilwell to warm up. While Cucurella was ultimately not substituted, the move had shades of Mikel Arteta hauling off Nuno Tavares in a rare start 30 minutes into Arsenal’s FA Cup defeat at Nottingham Forest two years ago. 

Tavares never recovered from the embarrassment of the moment and played just nine more times for the Gunners after that game in January 2022. Cucurella’s evening did not get quite as bad as Tavares’s did, but you get the sense that his time at Stamford Bridge is just as uncertain. 

Manchester United have been linked with a move in a desperate attempt to cover for their injured left-backs, Luke Shaw and Tyrell Malacia. The alternative is likely to be sitting on Chelsea’s bench for the remainder of the season.

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