Anthony Elanga is six weeks younger than Noni Madueke. He is set to cost Newcastle more than £55million this summer if a transfer is to be completed.
As Chelsea remain open to selling their own right-winger, and another Premier League rival is interested, this will surely be used as a good yard stick over a price. Arsenal are among the teams interested in Madueke.
Newcastle themselves have looked into a deal previously. Madueke cost Chelsea around £35million in January 2023 when he returned to England from PSV Eindhoven. Since then he has been on a steady trajectory of improving year-on-year.
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After a slow start to life at Stamford Bridge - played under the backdrop of eight players signing mid-season with a change of manager less than two months later and a changing room not big enough to fit the full squad in - Madueke has improved with time. He scored seven times with three assists last season.
Although his numbers per90 dropped from 2023/24, when he only started 13 games and played in 23 (clocking half of his 2,000 minutes for Enzo Maresca), Madueke was a regular threat on the right and his underlying metrics showed that. Despite producing less, Madueke's combined expected goals and expected assists per90 (xG+xA) continued to rise.
He has since lost his place at Chelsea to Pedro Neto and is instead covering on the left. Chelsea have signed both Jamie Gittens and Joao Pedro, who operate on that side, whilst Estevao Willian will join later this summer, Madueke's spot in the short and long-term is under threat and in doubt.
Chelsea are open to selling him for the right price and remain on the look out for other attackers who could come in. Mohammed Kudus is among them. As opposed to Madueke and Elanga, he has an £85million release clause at West Ham.
If Chelsea really are considering this sort of exchange, where their proven 23-year-old leaves to be replaced by a more expensive 24-year-old (who will turn 25 in August) and has similarly struggled in recent months, then they will want to get the right sort of price. Madueke is an England international who has been heading in the right direction.
Up until March 2025, Madueke was arguably Chelsea second best-performing attacker behind Cole Palmer, and maybe Nicolas Jackson. His injury and lack of output since has seen the picture change significantly.
Neto started to thrive in central areas and then on Madueke's flank when Maresca chose to try and exploit opposition full-backs in one-on-one situations. Madueke started brightly there despite not scoring and has been relegated to the firm backup at the Club World Cup.
As Arsenal try to find cover for Bukayo Saka on the right and competition for Gabriel Martinelli elsewhere, Madueke is deemed a versatile and more than capable option. He is one of several players being considered.
As is the case with Arsenal's pursuit of different strikers this window, the finances involved will be key. Chelsea, who have already spent over £110million on Pedro and Gittens, will not be keen to do anything for cheap.
Elanga, then, is an ideal benchmark for the cost. He is also 23, plays for a team that spent the majority of last season in the Champions League places, and has a similar profile.
Elanga, who moved from Manchester United to Nottingham Forest in 2023, has impressed over his two years at the City Ground. He has scored 11 goals and assisted 20 in that time, playing over 5,000 league minutes.
It backs up the hype around him at Old Trafford, where he excited but rarely got serious first team opportunities. He is a quicker, more transitional player who has thrived when playing on the counter-attack under Nuno Espirito Santo.
There are definite differences between Madueke and Elanga as players but the fees involved in two possible deals here, which also sees a Champions League rival splashing out to make changes to the team, are comparable. Both would allow profits at Chelsea and Forest whilst not representing a massive overpay from Arsenal and Newcastle by way of the modern market.
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Arsenal Manager Mikel Arteta, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus with the Arsenal Therapy Dog Win during the Arsenal Men's team group shoot at London Colney on September 18, 2023
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