Noni Madueke in action for Chelsea at the Club World Cup (Photo by Francois Nel/Getty Images)
You’ll likely have seen by now that Arsenal are closing in on Noni Madueke, and that their fans are NOT happy about it.
The Gunners are close to an agreement with Chelsea over the England international, as per the Athletic and others, and there have been more than a few eyebrows raised about the deal.
Not only is Madueke not really a player in a position Arsenal need, but he’s also looking set to be pretty expensive for a player who hasn’t really been that good for Chelsea at any point.
This has led to a ‘No to Madueke’ petition started by Arsenal fans, which reached 2,000 signatures yesterday and is now over 4,000 at the time of writing.
Meanwhile, see below as the Telegraph’s Sam Dean sums up the strong reaction he’s seen to the Madueke news, saying he’s never seen anything quite like it…
On this Noni Madueke situation and the strength of the online reaction from Arsenal fans… can anyone recall a similar response from supporters (online or otherwise) to a potential big-money transfer? Off the top of my head, I can’t remember seeing anything quite like this.
— Sam Dean (@SamJDean) July 9, 2025
Is this all a bit of an overreaction? After all, Madueke is only 23 years old, and looks like he has it in him to be a decent squad player for Arsenal, with last season proving a harsh lesson that the club lacked depth in attack after becoming overly reliant on Bukayo Saka in particular.
Not everyone at Chelsea is happy about Noni Madueke leaving
It’s also interesting to get a Chelsea perspective on this, with Will Faulks, editor of Chelsea News, speaking to CaughtOffside to defend the progress Madueke had been making at Stamford Bridge.
“It’s easy to understand why Arsenal fans aren’t too keen on signing Noni Madueke – for all his talent he can be very frustrating, and plenty of Chelsea supporters aren’t too bothered to see him go,” Faulks tells CaughtOffside.
“But the Gunners should give him a chance – he’s increasingly productive in front of goal, and in a well structured side like Arsenal it’s easy to see him improving even more and ironing out the weaknesses that remain in his game.
“There are almost as many Chelsea fans frustrated by the sale as there Arsenal fans who are against the move. Plenty of Blues feel they’ve suffered through two and a half years of developing the England winger; only to now sell him just as he’s about to go to a new level. It will interesting to see which side end up feeling they got the best of this deal a few years down the line.”
Would Madueke be a good signing for Arsenal?
When we polled our followers on this, here’s what we found…
Would Madueke be a good signing for Arsenal?
— CaughtOffside (@caughtoffside) July 10, 2025
At the time of writing, over 1,000 fans have voted, with 46% saying Madueke could be a good signing for Arsenal, while 40.%% voted no, with the remaining 13.5% undecided.
Perhaps this suggests the vocal crowd of Gooners setting up petitions aren’t necessarily the most representative, even if they attract a lot of attention.
Still, Madueke and Arsenal will likely be aware of the noise this deal has generated, and it could be a challenge for Mikel Arteta to help his new signing settle in.
We’ll have to see what Madueke can do on the pitch for his new club, but there’s enough bad feeling in the air already to suggest that he won’t exactly have that long to win the Emirates crowd over.
