Noni Madueke of Chelsea once turned down Man United (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Noni Madueke has shown immense improvement with his performances for Chelsea this season, and it’s worth remembering that Manchester United missed out on him a few years ago.
Madueke made a name for himself with a move abroad early in his career, as he ended up shining at PSV Eindhoven before Chelsea brought him back to English football.
Before that, Madueke had spells in the academies of Crystal Palace and Tottenham, but the Guardian claim he turned down Man United before deciding to join PSV.
The Red Devils must be kicking themselves about this now, as Madueke is one of the most in-form attacking players in the Premier League this season, scoring four goals and being man of the match twice, as per WhoScored.com‘s ratings.
Chelsea fans will be delighted with Madueke’s development as it took him a bit of time to fully settle at Stamford Bridge, but he’s now looking a far more effective and dangerous player, and clearly a lot better than United’s Brazilian flop Antony, who plays in a similar position as a left-footed right winger.
Noni Madueke transfer: The latest in a long line of Man United misses
Madueke always looked like a player with big potential, so it’s not too surprising that MUFC tried to sign him when he was available a few years ago, but he’ll now just have to be added to the long list of top talents the club missed out on.
Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham are other recent examples, as confirmed by former United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, as cited by the Independent.
It has also been widely reported (by the Mirror and others) many times that United also looked to be in the mix for big names like Gareth Bale and Cesc Fabregas when David Moyes was in charge.
We’ll see if Madueke goes on to have as big a career as some of those other names, but it must be pretty painful for United fans to watch him shining week in, week out when he could have joined them for a fraction of what expensive flop Antony cost them.
