Noni Madueke has apologised for a post criticising Wolverhampton which appeared on his Instagram account the night before the Chelsea forward’s hat-trick against Wolves.
The message on Madueke’s social media used a swearword to describe “everything about” the city, which he swiftly explained had been posted to the wrong account while saying viewers had noticed it “too fast”.
“I just want to apologise to everyone I might have offended,” Madueke told Premier League Productions after his 15-minute treble helped the Blues win 6-2 at Molineux for their first Premier League victory under new manager Enzo Maresca.
“It is just a human mistake, an accident. It wasn’t meant to be out on my socials like that. I’m sure Wolverhampton is a nice town and I’m sorry.”
Noni Madueke accidentally posted his feelings about Wolverhampton last night to his main Instagram instead of ‘close friends’…
He now has a second half HAT TRICK against Wolves. Insult AND injury 😅 pic.twitter.com/NRg8JBfeo4
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) August 25, 2024
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Madueke Instagram post created ‘pressure’
The 22-year-old endured an unimpressed reception from the home fans hours after the post. “In terms of the boos, I expected it,” he said. “It is part of the game. You have to be able to play under that sort of pressure.”
Nicolas Jackson did little to further endear Chelsea to locals by appearing to goad home supporters after taking 98 seconds to head the opening goal on Sunday.
Wolves equalised twice during the first half, only for Madueke to intervene decisively with three strikes all assisted by Cole Palmer.
Substitute Joao Felix lashed in their sixth at the end of a week in which Maresca praised Madueke but conceded that he does not know whether the England Under-21 international will be at the club after the transfer window closes on Friday evening.
23 – Noni Madueke is the 23rd different player to score a Premier League hat-trick for @ChelseaFC, more unique hat-trick scorers than any other side in the competition. Smorgasbord. pic.twitter.com/9nyj4Gni0h
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) August 25, 2024
Madueke ‘happy’ for Maresca
“Everyone saw what he did at Leicester last year,” Madueke said of the Italian, who publicly called for him to find greater consistency in training.
“He is mad about the details. Even in the first [Premier League] game against City [2-0 home defeat], there were some nice patterns of play but we just couldn’t finish it off.”
Having scored in Chelsea’s 2-0 first-leg win over Swiss side Servette on Thursday, Madueke wants to finish the job and qualify for the Uefa Europa Conference League after the away second leg on Thursday (7.30pm BST).
“It is a great day today,” he added. “I am happy [Maresca] has got his first Premier League win for Chelsea and we go onto midweek in Geneva.”
