Last Thursday certainly turned out to be an eventful day for Madueke. Coming hot on the heels of his first Chelsea hat-trick, in our 6-2 Premier League victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers the previous Sunday, there were to be more reasons for the winger to smile.

First, Noni was promoted from the England Under-21s to the senior side as part of interim manager Lee Carsley’s first squad, ahead of UEFA Nations League fixtures against the Republic of Ireland and Finland.

Then he played his part in securing our place in the league phase of the UEFA Conference League with a 3-2 aggregate victory over Servette, helped by his goal in the first leg at Stamford Bridge a week earlier, despite a narrow loss in Switzerland.

Madueke described it as a 'great day', having received the news via a phone call while in Geneva ahead of that Conference League tie.

He is in good company, with Chelsea teammates Levi Colwill and Cole Palmer also getting the call from Carsley, and all three know the manager well after being part of the side which won the European Under-21 Championship last year.

‘In terms of England, I’m made up by it,’ he continued. ‘It’s an honour and I’m blessed, I thank God for it. I can’t wait to link up with the boys.

‘The manager called me about an hour or two before the England squad came out [in the afternoon] and broke the news to me. I was in my room, just relaxing preparing for the game, watching SWAT on Netflix, and Cars said I should give him a buzz. I did and he told me that I was in the squad. I was super happy about it.

‘He knows my game and he’s a great manager, a great guy, so I’m looking forward to going and linking up for sure. A few of us that won the Under-21 Euros are going up, so it should be good. It should be really fun to see all the boys, just do our best and show everyone what we’re all about.’

When announcing Madueke’s call-up, Carsley highlighted the progress the winger has made in his game at Chelsea. Nowhere has that been more apparent than in his goals return, having found the net four times in as many appearances in 2024/25, putting him well on his way to matching last season’s tally of eight already.

‘I think I’m in really good goalscoring form. My goalscoring has really improved over the last four or five months,’ added Madueke. ‘Also just my reliability. I think I’m churning out games where I’m at a consistent level and long may it continue.’

At Chelsea, head coach Enzo Maresca stated at the start of the season he was happy with Madueke’s performances, but wanted to see consistency from him every day in training at Cobham as the next step in his progress. For the 22-year-old, it is a challenge he is eager to accept and succeed in to reach his full potential.

He said: ‘I feel like it’s only a positive. He wants to push me and wants to make sure I get the best out of myself in every single training session. Top players train to their fullest every single day, so that’s for sure what I strive to be as well.’