Mauricio Pochettino has laid down the law to Chelsea’s young players after admonishing Noni Madueke for being caught partying while he was injured.
Madueke has not played since picking up a muscle injury while on duty with England’s Under-21s and there was intrigue over his failure to make the bench when Chelsea beat Brighton in the Carabao Cup last Wednesday.
Pochettino said the winger’s absence against Brighton was down to fitness rather than indiscipline, but the head coach made it clear that he had seen a video of the former PSV Eindhoven player partying earlier this month. The Argentinian has addressed the issue with Madueke, who has not been a regular since moving to Stamford Bridge in January, and he added that he wants better standards from Chelsea’s other youngsters.
“It is clear,” Pochettino said. “This video, we were talking about that with him. I think it is a thing that we need to avoid. All the players need to know that when we are a player of Chelsea to try to avoid these things. It wasn’t a big issue but we always need to avoid these types of situations.
“I think it is really clear that he needs to avoid it. But he is recovering from the national team and we will see if he is fit and can be involved and selected. But we talk about what you are asking me because it is a thing that the young players need to improve on. Not only him. Many, many players need to be professional and to have respect because of the badge we have here.”
Pochettino suggested that Madueke has a chance of being involved when Chelsea visit Fulham on Monday. “In my opinion he is working really hard to get the levels that we want after his injury,” he said. “He came back from the international break maybe 10 or 12 days ago. Now he feels well and he is recovered. Now he is trying to get fit to be on the same level as the team.”
